In addition to my top 10, I’ve compiled a list of ten additional noteworthy films from this past year, which under other circumstances might have contended for the list proper. In alphabetical order (sort of):
A Girl Cut in Two/The Romance of Astrea and Celadon- like The Duchess of Langeais, two vital, albeit very different, new films from masters of the French New Wave. Wily Claude Chabrol’s Girl is a scathing comedy of manners that turns on a dime into a crime story, while Eric Rohmer’s Romance is an enchanting comedy/morality play. In both cases the filmmakers, both upwards of 75 years old, have made films that are more engaging and vibrant than most works by directors half their age.
Frozen River- a striking feature debut from Courtney Hunt, in which two hard-luck women seize upon an opportunity to make their lives better, even if it means stepping outside the law. Melissa Leo, always a dependable character actress, carries the story on her capable shoulders.
In Bruges- the trailer for Martin McDonough’s film advertised it as a laddish crime caper in the Guy Ritchie vein, but the film itself was much sadder and wiser, albeit with a lot of big laughs as well. Colin Farrell is looser and funnier than he’s ever been, and Brendan Gleeson will break your heart.
My Winnipeg- his frenzied imagination chock full of Oedipal traumas and classic movie ephemera, Guy Maddin makes some of the most infectious films around, and My Winnipeg is one of his best. Nice to see Ann Savage, immortal star of Detour, six decades down the line and deadlier than ever.
Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037- as a former piano student I’m admittedly biased, but no movie this year captivated me with its portrayal of pure process than Ben Niles’ documentary about the creation of a Steinway grand piano. This went largely unnoticed when it toured the country earlier this year, but hopefully it’ll find an audience on DVD.
Paranoid Park- 2008’s best Gus Van Sant movie wasn’t Milk but rather this film about a teenage skateboarder who accidentally kills a security guard. Assisted by an awkward yet completely convincing performance from newcomer Gabe Nevins, Van Sant conveys the alienation of teenage life far more successfully here than in 2003’s more-lauded Elephant.
Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind- John Gianvito’s film is the simplest film on this list, alternating shots of headstones of heroes of the American Left with shots of wind rustling through trees. Yet in many ways it’s also the most experimental, turning a memorial to activists past into an honest-to-goodness call to action, a rallying cry to those who wouldn’t have had them die in vain.
Speed Racer- the Wachowski Brothers’ irresistibly high-octane stab at a mega-budget kids’ movie is the candy-colored fever dream of a pair of guys reared on video games, comic books, Matchbox cars, Saturday morning cartoons, and the idea that ninjas make anything cooler. Is this why the vast majority of critics couldn’t quite get a handle on it? As Marty McFly once said, “I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it.”
Trouble the Water- for sheer scope, Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke was the defining cinematic statement on Hurricane Katrina, but for sheer you-are-there pull, this is an ideal companion piece. Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s documentary is anchored by one of the year’s most compelling figures, an aspiring rapper named Kimberly Rivers Roberts, whose decision not only to weather the storm but to document it on video made this film, and all the understanding it provides, possible.
And finally, the year’s worst film…
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
My disdain for the Beverly Hills Chihuahua trailer has been well-documented here. Guess what? The movie’s even worse. What’s more, that damned trailer is an out-and-out lie, luring children to the theatre (dragging their parents kicking and screaming behind them) with the promise of full-scale CGI Chihuahua production numbers. Once they’ve bought the ticket, only then do they discover that there’s no singing and dancing to be found, replaced by the world’s laziest canine road movie, in which the spoiled princess Chihuahua voiced by Drew Barrymore gets lost in Mexico and has to find her way home, facing non-threatening yet nonetheless vague offensive stereotypes along the way. The worst part is that I actually found myself missing the scene from the trailer, and I wasn’t the only one, as evidenced by the seven-year-old who turned to me an hour in and asked me when the dogs were going to start singing. At least the trailer had some style to it, some desire to entertain, however misguided. How unfortunate that it all turned out to be a ploy designed to separate unsuspecting parents from their money while dumbing down their already undiscriminating children.
