Monday, January 03, 2011

Review of 2010: Films, new and new-enough

It was tough to whittle down to a top ten of my favourite new or new-enough movies that we watched in 2010, but here goes...

Last year they were listed in no particular order. This year I have attempted a scale, but it remains approximate.

1. Madeo
2. Inception
3. The Disappearance of Alice Creed
4. The Ghost
5. El Secreto de sus Ojos
6. Un Prophète
7. The Social Network
8. The White Ribbon
9. Fish Tank
10. Monsters


7 comments:

elgordo said...

Estimado Blogador,

I would appreciate your recommendation for current books by Guatemalan writers. What do you think of Rey Sosa? In your opinion, is there a recent book that is indispensable reading? Shamefully, I am not at all familiar with Guatemalan fiction apart from the expected.

Inner Diablog said...

I really enjoyed two novels by Rodrigo Rey Rosas - Lo Que Soño Sebastián and El Cojo Bueno. The latter is about a kidnap conspiracy here in Guatemala. Rey Rosas went to live in North Africa and fell under the wing of Paul Bowles, so many of his excellent short stories are located over there. The only other contemporary Chapin writer I have delved into is Arturo Arias. His 'Cascabel' was set during the civil war and has a fascinating female protagonist. I also have 'Sopa de Caracol' on my shelf, but have yet to read it.

Inner Diablog said...

Actually, we both misspelled the poor man's name..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Rey_Rosa

Inner Diablog said...

I think I might also have read The Beggar's Knife, but I can't remember a thing about it :-)

elgordo said...

Gracias.

scott said...

Not sure if Francisco Goldman is considered a Guatemalan writer (who writes in English) but his stuff is great too, elgordo, if you haven't already read it.

Inner Diablog said...

Scott is right, Goldman qualifies. Though I think the work that will stand the test of time will be 'The Art of Political Murder', ostensibly a non-fiction work about the assassination of Bishop Gerardi, couched in the idiom of the whodunnit.

I do know of one other Guatemalan contemporary novelist (and Professor at the Rafael Landivar)- Osvaldo Salazar. I met him in London a few years ago when he was plugging his novel, FROM THE DARKNESS at an event organised by the embassy. It is based on the true story of the 'gourd poisoning' in 1939.

I have a copy, but in English and am holding out for finding a Spanish version some day. (I might have to send him an email and ask...)

Some translations are terrible. I realise now that I hated Rulfo's Pedro Paramo because I read it in English and the translator of at least one of Garcia Marquez's novels should be shot.

Here's Salazar with Ex-Prez.

http://noticias.ufm.edu/index.php/Mayor%C2%A0Arz%C3%BA_visited_the%C2%A0Quauhquechollan_Linen_Cloth