Robert E. Yahnke Professor College of Education and Human Development University of Minnesota

258 Appleby Hall 128 Pleasant St. S.E. Univ of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN 55455-0434

612-625-0504 fax: 612-625-0709 tty: 612-626-1014 ryahnke@umn.edu

The best films of the year? Another top twenty list?   Oh, no, you say. But bear with me. One of my favorite tasks on the first day of my introductory film class in the January term is to share a list of what I consider to be the year's best films.  Any such exercise is by its nature an impossible and futile task.  I also try to keep the list updated when I view films from previous years, either in theaters or on videotape. I present this list to you only to share what appeals to my taste.  I'm distinctly middle-aged, and yet I'm committed and passionate about my love for films.  I have been teaching film since 1976.  At first I knew little more than my freshmen college students knew about the medium.  The idea then was to stay one step ahead of them.  I had recently completed a decade of film-viewing (in the 1960s) that had contributed significantly to my maturing and the coalescing of values that was the basis of my identity.  (See Growing Up on the Films of the 1960s in Cinema History--another section of Films: Research & Resources.) 

As I have matured as a film viewer, I have been drawn to international cinema, independent films, and American films that provide three-dimensional characters facing complex and ambiguous moral dilemmas.  Typically I prefer drama over comedy or social satire.  I prefer richly variegated characters over intricately wrought plots.   I prefer films that provide solid perspectives on complex social issues.  I have little time or attention span for action/adventure films.  Most films are peddled to audiences as harmless entertainment or diversions.  The French word divertissement comes to mind.  "Chewing gum for the mind" also comes to mind.   The gospel of the marketers is obvious: audiences should never be made uncomfortable or unsettled by films, characters, plots.  Social issues should be sanitized and made palatable.  Buddy films should be one-dimensional and action-oriented.  As for me--I want more from films than these limitations impose.   I want films to challenge me, confront me, encourage me, and remind me of the uncharted depths of the human psyche. 

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