Monday, January 09, 2006
This has been an absurdly good year for movies. This year's crop has been marked by seriousness. The bulk of these films have explored weighty subjects, and in particular the nature of violence. And so, I begin with 10 films which deserve recognition:
The Runners Up: 20. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The latest installment is the most satisfying yet, coupling dark forces in the world of magic with the troublesome time of adolescence. The characters are developped amazingly well as they struggle with weighty issues of conscience. Marked by swift pacing and a decidedly nuanced approach at the various tones the story requires, the latest in the children's series grows more adult by the minute.
19. The Beat That My Heart Skipped. A thriller which builds slowly, sustaining interest all the way. A tale of a man deciding between the life his father runs with the underground mob, and the life his mother dreamt for him, a concert pianist. Riveting, the way the two worlds collide in this sensitive and thrilling movie.
18. Syriana. A complex, interwoven tale of international power and personal decisions. The sprawling ground covered is both insightful and affecting, offering not lessons, but rather observations of characters caught amongst larger forces. It's an intelligent and ambitious film which succeeds at every level.
17. Good Night and Good Luck. George Clooney's story of Edward R. Murrow's battle against Joseph McCarthy is inspiring, and ever-so-prescient. The film plays linearly, but powerfully, marked by stellar performances, a period feel with elegant black and white cinematography, and a powerful script which surges ahead. Not a moment is wasted.
16. Batman Begins. This film shows a sensitive and complex view of superhero Bruce Wayne. Battling not just evil, but his own fears and prejudices, Christopher Nolan produces a highly charged superhero held together by a thorough examination of the moral dilemmas confronting Batman. Both emotionally and intellectually engaging, it's an action film with not just a heart, but a mind.
15. Me and You and Everyone Else We Know. Of all the films I saw, this one still intrigues me with its simple charms and delightful whimsy months after viewing it. Miranda July's debut film is a tender examination of love and its meaning for different characters. Concerned less with broad strokes, she focuses on what each charactrer's details add to the interweaving tales of characters seeking love, acceptance, and happiness with magical results.
14. The Squid and the Whale. Noah Baumbach's excrutiatingly bitter and painfully funny comedy about divorce handles a messy subject with all the mess you can imagine. Between Jeff Daniels's flailing over-intellectual father and Laura Linney's condescending mother lies a sharp-toothed comedy about self-absorption and self-revelation, as deftly navigated by the two children caught in the midst of it all.
13. Nobody Knows. The latest film from Japanese director Kore-eda painfully chronicles the neglect and derilection of 5 children, abandoned by a oblivious mother. With subtle gestures, Kore-eda creates a devastating portrait of a family struggling to stay alive, let alone together. Heartwrenching without any instance of force.
12. Grizzly Man. Werner Herzog's thoroughly absorbing documentary about Timothy treadwell balances judgement against Herzog's own beliefs. Treadwell, who spent the bulk of his life isolated amongst the wild grizzlies of northern Alaska, is undone by his own fervent beliefs of his place in nature, which alternately frighten and enrapture. What emerges is a complex and compelling portrait of a man at the fringe of society, and the beauty of capturing him through Treadwell's words and Herzog's alike.
11. Pride and Prejudice. In terms of sheer enjoyment at the cinema, it's hard to beat this film. They've created a fresh version, adding to the two in existence, one which resonates with youthful energy, heady passion, and awkwardness. Keira Knightly and Matthew MacFayden are perfectly matched as headstrong individuals dealing with sudden irrational love, and are backed by a fine assortment of supporting couples. The film is smart and witty, showing the public and private sides of matchmaking with great agility and sweeping gestures.
And now, the 10 best of the year.
10. 2046. Wong Kar Wai's luminous followup to In the Mood for Love is an engrossing meditation on heartbreak, loss, and memory. The weaving tale explores the haunting effects of love lost across the years, and the irretrievable chances which have passed Tony Leung by. The film is painted in gorgeous light and color, and amidst the labyrthine plot comes a glorious and deafeningly sad cry of loss. It's not simply the most beautiful film of the year, but also the most intimately painful.
9. The Upside of Anger. Joan Allen and Kevin Costner are brilliant together as a bitter woman scorned by her husband's sudden flight, leaving her with four daughters, and a man who has watched his better days leave him with resentfulness and a middling talk radio sports show. The screenplay is sharp, and the pure enjoyment of watching these two share drinks, comfort, and eventually stumble into love is fantastic. Realistic and surprisingly emotional underneath the laughs.
8. A History of Violence. David Cronenberg's tale is deceptively straight forward, and full of unexpected punch. Viggo Mortensen plays a man who heriocally saves his customers one night, launching him on a roller coaster of fame, garnering unwanted attention from Ed Harris, who mistakes him for a man. The subject takes on the question of changing identities, whether fame, violence, or the lack thereof can truly change a person. Maria Bello is stunning as his wife, and William Hurt is marvellously sinister in a small role as a Philadelphia mob boss. The action is taut with never a dull or shallow moment- everything has layers of meaning hinted at on the surface.
7. Match Point. Woody's best film in over 15 years is a acrid tale of social climbers in London. The cast of characters use whatever they possess to get what they want, whether money like the rich Hewett family (Emily Mortenson, Brian Cox, and Matthew Goode), sex (Scarlett Johansen), or cunning (Jonathan Rhys Myers). Chris (Myers) is a man whose sights are set on Chloe's (Mortenson) family's position, but can't help being seduced by Nola (Johansen), the struggling actress. Through calculations and miscalculations, Chris is increasingly finding the affair a dangerous game, accompanied by a chillingly cynical screenplay and ingenious twists of fate and luck along the way.
6. Junebug. A charming, intelligent chamber drama concerns cultural clash, taking no sides, but remaining faithful to all characters. When a Chicago lawyer takes his art-collector wife back home to meet his rural North Carolina family, its met by unfulfilled expectations and awkward silences, too often filled by Amy Adams heartwinningly chatty sister in law, this years most memorable character. It's not a comedy, but a thoughtful, delicate examination of characters out of their element. From the mother's derisive, pragmatic comments to the wife's patronizing attempts to accomodate, to the stony silence of the two brothers caught in the middle of the battle lines, it's a film with the pleasure of an excellent novel, with real, imperfect characters who grow with one another.
5. The Constant Gardener. Fernando Mireille's followup to City of God is a powerfully persuasive look into a pharmaceutical conspiracy and a lovers death, combining the personal and the political seamlessly. Ralph Fiennes's mild-mannered diplomat is thrown in with the audience into a turbulent mess of politics, assassination, murder, and poverty after his wife (Rachel Weisz) is killed. His ensuing search for the culprit uncovers more than he bargained for, one which wrestles effectively with the notion of implicit guilt in permitting things to happen. The film's style is kinetic and stylish, and features finely tuned and spirited performances from all involved.
3. Brokeback Mountain. Ang Lee's tender, understated love story is richly textured by fine performances and a laconic script. So much of the films power relies on what cannot be expressed by the characters. It's a tale of an accidental love, neither released nor embraced, which simulataneously unites and drives apart two men. Ledger's inability to embrace emotional commitment on any level is a sly mix of practicality and his own flaws, while Gyllenhaal's more romanticist is blinded to the problems which befall them. The emotion is quiet, but gut-wrenching, with such searing acuity towards the increased internalization of love, guilt, and loneliness.
2. Brothers. A Danish film with such sharpness for a family's dynamics and how slowly they evolve. Two brothers, Michael and Jannick, occupy the role of good and bad son respectively. Upon hearing that Michael's plane has crashed, Jannick finds himself in a position of needed responsibility for the family. What evolves from this and other sharp developments is a look at what happens when family roles are abruptly displaced and the sometimes comic, often dangerously brutal effects. The characters react not just to the events and to each other, but primarily to their own minds: guilt, prejudices, and rivalries come to the surface, producing a compelling and thorough examination of characters coping with people they don't know as well as they thought.
1. Munich. This year's best film is its most daring and intelligent. Spielberg's epic examination of Israel's retaliatory violence against Palestine for the slaughter of its Olympic team, easily his best since Schindler's List (and possibly ever), is a brave and powerful examination of an ongoing conflict, reframing the debate in terms of human lives. Eric Bana is assigned to lead a team to assassinate 11 Palestinians behind the massacre. What begins as a straightforwardly familiar movie of thrilling espionage becomes more and more complicated, both in the physical efforts to assassinate, but also in the moral quagmire the crew finds them in. Spielberg's darkly honest look at bloodshed spares no comfort while Tony Kushner's screenplay is nuanced and powerful in its language. By not taking sides, he achieves a higher position, one of thorough examination of difficult questions: when is violence legitimized? Does family or nation take precedence? How is treason defined? The film resonates with such issues and treats them with the gravitas and throroughness they deserve. The film is gritty, riveting, and occasionally nearly impossible to watch, but Spielberg's focused masterpiece provides one of the most enriching experiences in cinema history.
There you go! And for the record, here are 10 films I've not seen, thus not factoring in (at this point): The Best of Youth Head-On Hustle and Flow Kung Fu Hustle Kings and Queen March of the Penguins Murderball Mysterious Skin The New World Walk the Line
10:23 PM
