T. J. WILCOX
1 Black Book (Paul Verhoeven) Resolutely suspicious of war stories told by victors and persistently hopeless—a fine parable for these dark days.
2 The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson) An unusual road movie, unconcerned with destination (or resolve), that revels in the details of its characters’ individual journeys (taken together) with exquisite baggage in tow.
3 Planet Earth (British Broadcasting Corporation) Essential viewing, this BBC series, recently released on DVD, contains the most compelling and spectacular nature footage ever committed to film. We fall into this at my house, sputtering and gesturing wildly at the TV screen (regardless of whether drugs are involved).
4 La Vie en rose (Olivier Dahan) I rolled my eyes like the rest of you at the suggestion of an Edith Piaf biopic—but it’s one of the best I’ve seen, ennobled by a superb performance by Marion Cotillard.
5 Superbad (Greg Mottola) A very funny and cringingly accurate musing on high school anxiety, complete with a drunken boy-on-boy “love” scene. What’s not to like?
6 The Sarah Silverman Program (Comedy Central) From the woman who made Paris Hilton cry (the night before her incarceration). I think Silverman gets away with murder—and I love to watch.
7 Blades of Glory (Will Speck and Josh Gordon) Watch it for the costumes alone! This movie made me gag—often with laughter.
8 Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg) Cronenberg has said, “I’m not interested in the mechanics of the mob . . . but [in] criminality and people who live in a state of perpetual transgression—that is interesting to me.” Some of you may agree.
9 Control (Anton Corbijn) The songs of Joy Division, to which this film pays tribute, seized me at an impressionable age. Control is (at least) a beautiful-looking tribute to its sound track, and Ian Curtis’s music has lost none of its enigmatic power.
10 Sicko (Michael Moore) Our health care system isn’t working. If this movie helps ignite a dialogue that will improve the situation, bravo. And while we’re at it, let’s impeach the president.
T. J. Wilcox is a New York–based artist whose most recent exhibition was at Metro Pictures in New York this past September.
