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Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2011: Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights
We're huge fans of Arnold's Fish Tank and her short film work (especially Wasp), and we look forward in seeing how she can add the funk to a tiresome old classic. With her trusted right-hand man in cinematographer Robbie Ryan and a ballsy casting decision move of picking up a non-actor lead for the role of Heathcliff -- demonstrates she's still shooting from the hip. Add this to the Arnold aesthetic which is soaked in a realism, this might become a contempo classic and carry more weight now that this critic appreciates.
Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2011: Arnaud Desplechin’s Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian
Call this my "hail mary" pick of the Top 100 list, as the chances of Desplechin's project going into production and somehow being ready for 2011 are next to impossible. Fans of his more recent films Kings and Queen and A Christmas Tale should come to expect a different curriculum here with this.
Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2011: Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin
You can say we've been anticipating HHH's genre switching project for a while now, as we first got word of the project back in 2007. Working with a foursome of Takeshi Kaneshiro, Shu Qi, Chang Chen and Tadanobu Asano, this martial arts and fantasy film blend certainly makes us wonder what kind of aesthetic the Taiwanese filmmaker might employ.
Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2011: Alexander Payne’s The Descendants
Same ranking as last year, we're big on the narrative elements of the project and think it is well-suited for Alexandre Payne's styled humor. And who isn't a fan of the multi-tasker (dramatic/comedic) George Clooney?
Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2011: Antonio Campos’ Simon Killer
Campos' debut film left us shellshocked, disarmed and craving for more. With the synopsis below we imagine this to be a trippy, nightmare version of Before Sunrise and I'm guessing that'll have the same gravitational pull as Afterschool which propelled Ezra Miller's career. This Paris-based project comes equipped with an actor we like a lot in Brady Corbet, who works for foreign filmmakers Von Tier, Haneke as well as, up-and-coming indie helmers in Sean Durkin and Alistair Banks Griffin.
