I saw the film The Royal Tenenbaums tonight for the second time. The first time I was so rapturously distracted by its production design and frame composition that I didn’t quite get wrapped up in the story. This time I did and I fell in love with the film, just as I did with Rushmore and Bottle Rocket, also by the same team. At this point, I can’t think of a better new film I saw in 2001 than this one. Lord of the Rings and The Man Who Wasn’t There are definitely right up there just behind it, but Tenenbaums takes the cake.

The best new film that wasn’t quite new was the 1999 Japanese film Cure, which I saw first at the Seattle Film Festival and then again at a short run here in town. And the best film I saw that wasn’t new at all was Baraka, in a stunning 70mm print at the festival.

I’ve got the beginnings of an article on Tenenbaums and the other two Anderson-Wilson films running around in my head. Hopefully I’ll make it happen and get Tablet to publish it.

Speaking of Tablet, the link to my column in my 12/21 dispatch, below, was broken thanks to their unfortunate archiving procedures. But I found the file on their site and have fixed the link for posterity.

In any event you can now read my new column, with reviews of Uzumaki, The Don and Bill Show, The Week Before, and Forbidden Tales. I also did a feature article on LOTR director Peter Jackson’s filmography.