It’s been a long time since we had a film from John Waters —the “Hairspray” and “Pink Flamingos” helmer hasn’t made a movie since 2004’s “A Dirty Shame.” But the polymathic pope of bad taste has remained an active presence in pop culture since, with his book “Carsick” being published just last year. He certainly keeps up with cinema, publishing an annual, always idiosyncratic Top 10 list.
In recent years, he’s named films as seemingly disparate as Terence Davies’ “The Deep Blue Sea” and David Cronenberg’s “Maps To The Stars” as his favorites, and his 2015 list, revealed today on Artforum, is full of surprises as ever. Waters includes blockbusters, including “Mad Max: Fury Road” and Kenneth Branagh’s “Cinderella” (the latter in the second position, saying he “fucking loves this Disney film”), awards pictures like “Carol,” acclaimed indies like “The Diary Of A Teenage Girl” and “Tangerine,” and even the widely-derided likes of Gaspar Noé’s “Love.”
And the top pick? Andreas Horvarth’s “Helmut Berger, Actor,” which screened at Venice this year and which paints a portrait of the actor, a favorite of Luchino Visconti. As Waters says, “Maybe the best motion picture of the year is also the worst?” As ever, it’s a fascinating list, and you can check the whole list below and the write-ups from the filmmaker over at Artforum.
10 LOVE (Gaspar Noé)
9 FLY COLT FLY: LEGEND OF THE BAREFOOT BANDIT (Adam Gray and Andrew Gray)
8 TANGERINE (Sean Baker)
7 THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL (Marielle Heller)
6 CAROL (Todd Haynes)
5 MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (George Miller)
4 TOM AT THE FARM (Xavier Dolan)
3 THE FORBIDDEN ROOM (Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson)
2 CINDERELLA (Kenneth Branagh)
1 HELMUT BERGER, ACTOR (Andreas Horvath)