his year in
cinema turned out to be a solid one, with more very good films than can fit on a top 10
list and enough great ones for me to rave about.
Bernardo Bertolucci returned to form in a big way
with his stunning, nostalgic look at the passion
of Paris in 1967, when movies, sex and politics exploded
and—before the violent riots escalated—anything
seemed possible. Michael Pitt plays Matthew, a student
from the United States studying in Paris and watching
as many films as he can at the legendary Cinematheque
Francais. When protesting the government closing
the Cinematheque, he meets a brother and sister,
Isabelle (Eva Green) and Theo (Louis Garrel), and
moves into their apartment when their parents go
away on vacation.
While the world around them is imploding, the three
dreamers form a unique friendship that’s sometimes
exhilarating, sometimes sexual, sometimes awkward
and sometimes a combination of the three as Matthew
feels his way into the twins’ already unique
bond. Bertolucci captures the cinematic spark of
the time both by inserting clips from classic films
like “A Band of Outsiders” and “Scarface” and
visually referencing great moments from past films.
But Bertolucci creates completely new moments as
well—a shot of a race up the stairs through
the bars of an old elevator, the introduction of
Isabelle chained to the doors of the Cinematheque
as she reveals that she has always been free—to
communicate the excitement of the time, before young
Matthew has to wake up to the real world.
Richard Linklater made one of the best—and
most unexpected—sequels of all time when he followed
up his 1995 romance “Before Sunrise” with “Before
Sunset.” The film revisits the characters nine
years after Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie
Delpy) met by chance on a train in Amsterdam and
decided to spend the evening together before he went
back to the United States and she to Paris. Linklater
follows Hawk and Delpy through the streets of Paris
with a subtle, observational style that looks simple
but could have turned disastrous in the hands of
a less capable director. This time around, the characters
are older, wiser and less idealistic, but still feel
the spark of communication and passion that made
the first film so magical.
Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator” takes
on one of the most curious figures in American history
with an energetic spark that captures both the spirit
of a forward-looking genius and his tragic flaws.
Concentrating on the earlier years of Howard Hughes’s
life,before he became a complete recluse but when
his obsessive-compulsive behavior and fear of germs
was still a problem, Scorsese depicts the remarkable
life of a man whose obsessions led both to glory
and self-confinement. While other directors might
have turned Hughes’s behavior into a freak
show, Scorsese—aided by the best performance
of Leonardo DiCaprio’s career—conveys
the emotional impact of Hughes’s crippling
fear. Here is a man that could take on the biggest
airline while it had help from the U.S. government
and challenge the Motion Picture Board’s prudery,
but couldn’t open a door because it was covered
in germs.
In an age when most films don’t make any sense
when you actually think about them, Shane Carruth’s “Primer” demands
that all its implications be considered. With a miniscule
budget of about $7,000, Carruth redefined the science-fiction
genre with a story that starts out in a boring suburban
landscape and turns into the most accurately twisted
and incomprehensible time travel film ever made.
After three viewings, I understand most—albeit
not all—of the film, but the emotional arc
of a strained friendship comes through even in the
first viewing. While there have been other puzzling
films that require multiple viewings, there has never
been anything quite like “Primer.”
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The great Senegalese director Ousmane Sembene’s “Moolaadé” is
about female circumcision, more accurately referred
to as genital mutilation. And while this subject
matter alone will make some people believe that this
is not a film they want to watch, Sembene’s
film is a layered, lively drama that deals with both
cultural change and the bravery it takes to enact
it. Collé (Fatoumata Coulibaly) is a strong
woman who was unnecessarily injured and scarred due
to genital mutilation, and takes several young girls
who don’t want to be circumcised into her home,
where a spiritual spell denies the townspeople the
right to enter and take the children. Radios and
other couriers of knowledge and information are shunned
as the elders attempt to force their tradition upon
women who are no longer convinced that it’s
the only way to live. Sembene examines how the protest
affects the different parts of the community, while
reminding us that knowledge is the ultimate weapon
against cultural oppression.
While I admired the style and energy of 2003’s “Kill
Bill, Volume 1,” it didn’t all come together
until the second half of the movie came out in 2004.
Quentin Tarantino’s homage to grind-house films
began with an overwhelming pastiche of action eye
candy, and concludes by deconstructing the revenge
genre. The second installment includes considerably
more of the writer/director’s brilliant dialogue,
and while nothing matches the stunning volume of
the first half’s climax, the more intimate
fights are even more engaging because of the personalities
behind them. Tarantino gives Uma Thurman’s
determined performance as The Bride the payoff she
and his brilliant scenes so richly deserve.
The funniest film of the year, Alexander Payne’s “Sideways” is
both painfully and hilariously observant of the human
condition. Paul Giamatti stars as Miles, a struggling
writer, junior high school English teacher, wine
enthusiast and only mildly reliable friend from San
Diego who takes his old friend Jack, played by Thomas
Haden Church, to wine country as a celebratory trip
before Jack’s wedding in a week. They’re
there to taste, golf and, Jack makes clear, to have
sex with some women other than his fiancé.
Giamatti grounds the comedy with his character’s
overly serious outlook. Unable to get over his two-year-old
divorce or communicate the ideas of his novel to
anyone, Miles fumbles through despair, drunkenness
and moments of clarity in his attempt to reclaim
a satisfying life. The screenplay by Payne and Jim
Taylor, based on Rex Pickett’s novel, is a
clear choice for adapted screenplay awards.
The great British director MIke Leigh’s “Vera
Drake” is heartbreaking in its simple storytelling
of a loving mother and kindhearted woman who—without
pay—performs illegal abortions to help lower-class
women who have no other options in life. Imelda Staunton
gives a brave performance as an older woman who skillfully
manages her household and looks after her neighbors
while performing secret operations and harboring
a secret past. Leigh’s tragedy examines the
differences in classes in 1950s England while depicting
a woman who has nothing but the best intentions,
and is an ignorant innocent in a world of corruption
and hypocrisy.
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Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind |
Michel Gondry’s “Eternal Sunshine of
the Spotless Mind” is a dizzying study of romance
that falls into none of the traps of the standard
romantic comedy. While less scientific than “Primer,” the
fictional technology in the film is also more about
ideas than eye candy. Charlie Kaufman’s screenplay
plays on the history of a relationship after it has
ended and the main characters, played by JIm Carrey
and Kate Winslet, decide to erase each other from
their minds as a form of retaliation. Gondry creates
the feelings of a perfect moment that lingers even
after a relationship has gone sour, while creating
the bizarre interior of a memory being erased. Kaufman’s
screenplay uses elements of science-fiction and romance
to create a completely original examination of the
joy and turmoil of relationships.
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Harry
Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban |
Alfonso Cuaron brought the third episode in the
Harry Potter series to new levels of cinema and performance
with “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” The
third film in the series opens up the setting of
Hogwart’s School with visually amazing locations
that weren’t in J.K. Rowling’s book,
and expands the emotional depth of the first two
films. Daniel Radcliffe as Potter, alongside the
charming Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, has aged with
the series and under Cuaron’s direction has
achieved a new level of maturity. Luckily, Cuaron
keeps the wonder and discovery in heavy supply as
well.
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Twelve
Tied for Eleventh Place |
OK, OK. So this section usually contains 11 films,
but I miscounted and don’t want to cut any
of them out. If there were room, I would have been
proud to have any of these on my top ten list.
Mario Van Peeble’s “Baadasssss!” is
a loving and honest look at the mad production of
his father Melvin’s (whom he plays) black cinema
landmark “Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss
Song.” Anchored
by Don Cheadle’s brilliant performance as a
politically uninvolved hotel manager who helps protect
his family and many other people from the Rwandan
genocide of 1994, Terry George’s “Hotel
Rwanda” skillfully captures the horror and
humanity of the tragedy.
Gabriele Salvatores’s “I’m Not
Scared” beautifully explores the surreal loss
of innocence of a small Italian town through the
eyes of a young boy who discovers friendship and
betrayal in unexpected places. “The Iron Giant” writer/director
Brad Bird’s “The Incredibles” combined
the director’s creativity and emotion with
the magic of Pixar’s 3-D computer animation.
With its impressive cast, Bill Condon’s “Kinsey” makes
a powerful film about standing up to societal restrictions
and finds a cohesive narrative in a complex life.
Brad Anderson’s atmospheric “The Machinist” features
an amazing performance by Christian Bale as a skeleton-thin
insomniac. Joshua Marston’s “Maria Full
of Grace” offers an honest look at the life
of a Colombian drug mule. Jean-Luc Godard again tinkers
with cinematic form with “Notre Musique.”
The oppressive life in Afghanistan under the Taliban
is mercilessly depicted in Siddiq Bramak’s “Osama.” Sam
Raimi improved on his original film and freshened
up the super-hero genre with “Spider-Man 2.” Kevin
Macdonald’s reenactment documentary “Touching
the Void” recreates a harrowing near-death
mountain climbing experience. And Jean-Pierre Jeunet
reunites with his “Amélie” star
Audrey Tautou to examine a wartime mystery of love
and intrigue in “A Very Long Engagement.”
Special mention
should also go to these 30 films, all of which deserve
a look: “The Agronomist,” “Aileen:
Life and Death of a Serial Killer,” “Bad
Education,” “Closer,” “Collateral,” “De-Lovely,” “Dig!,” “Enduring
Love,” “Fahrenheit 9/11,” “Finding
Neverland,” “The Five Obstructions,” “Garden
State,” “Good Bye, Lenin!,” “Harold
and Kumar Go to White Castle,” “Hellboy,” “Intimate
Strangers,” “The Manchurian Candidate,” “The
Mother,” “Ray,” “The Return,” “The
Saddest Music in the World,” “The Seagull’s
Laughter,” “Silver City,” “Sky
Captain and the World of Tomorrow,” “Spring,
Summer, Autumn, Winter and…Spring,” “Super-Size
Me,” “Tarnation,” “The Terminal,” “Twilight
Samurai” and “Undertow.”
And no one should have missed the restored prints
of classics by Italian filmmakers: Gillo Pontecorvo’s “The
Battle of Algiers” and Frederico Fellini’s “La
Dolce Vita.”
Special mention, with rights reserved to include
them on a future list if and when they receive U.S.
release, goes to Paolo Sorrentino’s “The
Consequences of Love,” Shona Auerbach’s “Dear
Frankie” (due in March), Nimrod Antal’s “Kontroll” and
Kore-eda Hirokazu’s “Nobody Knows” (due
out in New York City in January).
jeremy@red-mag.com
