Post by Her 69 Eyes on Jan 5, 2010 20:52:48 GMT -5
I'm sure everyone has catching up to do, including myself, but what's your current top ten looking like?
10. THE HURT LOCKER
Perfectly executed suspense sequences. Not overdone with style and visual flourishes - it's gritty, raw, and you get a real great sense of space. The "sniper" scene is as gripping as anything i've seen this year, the heat literally translating through the screen.
09. ANTICHRIST / THIRST
I hate doing double picks, but these two effected me in similar ways. I loved the courage of both films - by the end, it's astounding to reflect on how Chan-wook and von Trier got from Point A to the sheer insanity of Point Z. Both feel like epics, and are perhaps the two most audacious films I saw all year.
08. MOON
I've found that, over time, i've only grown more fond of the film. Sam Rockwell is tremendous, and the world is utterly convincing despite being under enormous monetary constraints. There's no "twist" ending, and Jones never mistakes his audience for dumb. Because he doesn't go for cheap thrills (the killer in Danny Boyle's "Sunshine"), the film always feels true to itself and completely maintains it's intensity throughout.
07. ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL
A touching, bittersweet documentary about men with a passion that transcends all questions of practicality. Anvil may never make it big, but these men, even through their enormous hardships, are fully aware that they're living the dream even whilst pleasing only a handful of fans.
06. TREELESS MOUNTAIN
It's rare that children are used as protagonists in films without any sense of condescension. The logic displayed by the heroes here is questionable at best, but director So Yong Kim fully praises a child's sensibilities and unquestionably paints them as beyond-their-years, if slightly oblivious to how things really work.
05. FISH TANK
This doesn't get a US release until 2010 (January), but since it's out elsewhere i'm considering it eligible. The film feels like "Thirteen", although without all of the cliches. Like "Treeless Mountain", it respects a teenager for what she is - whereas other films ("Thirteen" included) would depict a similar character as nothing more than suicidal, promiscuous and temperamental. The last half hour is shocking, but yet it always rings true.
04. THE BEACHES OF AGNES
Documentary as the accumulation of a lifetime's worth of memories. Rarely do you feel so connected to a filmmaker - Agnes Varda doesn't bore us with relentless biographical details, but rather shares the anecdotes that would lead us to further understand her relationship with the universe. An enormously playful, exciting documentary that confirms (as if we needed the confirmation) Agnes Varda as a treasure, one of the world's best living filmmakers.
03. MARY AND MAX
I don't believe that this has gotten a US release, and that is simply appalling (it has, thankfully, made the short list of films eligible for the Animated Feature Academy Award). The visual style is a tremendous achievement, enriching every frame with fully-realized environments. The writing, somehow combining humor with the darkest depths of misery, and finally culminating with something purely sentimental, is also one hell of a feat. The film is one, more than any on my list, I would recommend to anyone.
02. A SERIOUS MAN
I loved this film so much the first time around that I took my mother to it. I'm convinced that she thinks it's the worst movie ever made. Some of her complaints are just - nothing happens, nothing is wrapped up, no character goes through a significant transformation. The film is relentless in it's bleakness. But what the Coens have done is create their most memorable, rich world to date. No matter how small, every character, through the nuances of tremendous performance, becomes living, real. The exact opposite of, say, Michelle Rodriguez in "Avatar" or Susan Sarandon in "The Lovely Bones" (my nominations for the two most useless characters in 2009 cinema).
01. UP
The film, moreso than any of the year, feels timeless. I can see myself watching it in 10, 20, 50 years. How the hell did Pixar manage to make a buddy movie, involving an old dude, a boy scout, a giant bird, and a talking dog, so utterly heart-wrenching? I agree that the movie starts off simply groundbreaking and, by the end, becomes really good - but I haven't been as moved by anything else this year. I've seen it four times thus far, and the magic has yet to wear off.
Honorable mentions: Adventureland, Brothers, Still Walking, Up in the Air, The White Ribbon
10. THE HURT LOCKER
Perfectly executed suspense sequences. Not overdone with style and visual flourishes - it's gritty, raw, and you get a real great sense of space. The "sniper" scene is as gripping as anything i've seen this year, the heat literally translating through the screen.
09. ANTICHRIST / THIRST
I hate doing double picks, but these two effected me in similar ways. I loved the courage of both films - by the end, it's astounding to reflect on how Chan-wook and von Trier got from Point A to the sheer insanity of Point Z. Both feel like epics, and are perhaps the two most audacious films I saw all year.
08. MOON
I've found that, over time, i've only grown more fond of the film. Sam Rockwell is tremendous, and the world is utterly convincing despite being under enormous monetary constraints. There's no "twist" ending, and Jones never mistakes his audience for dumb. Because he doesn't go for cheap thrills (the killer in Danny Boyle's "Sunshine"), the film always feels true to itself and completely maintains it's intensity throughout.
07. ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL
A touching, bittersweet documentary about men with a passion that transcends all questions of practicality. Anvil may never make it big, but these men, even through their enormous hardships, are fully aware that they're living the dream even whilst pleasing only a handful of fans.
06. TREELESS MOUNTAIN
It's rare that children are used as protagonists in films without any sense of condescension. The logic displayed by the heroes here is questionable at best, but director So Yong Kim fully praises a child's sensibilities and unquestionably paints them as beyond-their-years, if slightly oblivious to how things really work.
05. FISH TANK
This doesn't get a US release until 2010 (January), but since it's out elsewhere i'm considering it eligible. The film feels like "Thirteen", although without all of the cliches. Like "Treeless Mountain", it respects a teenager for what she is - whereas other films ("Thirteen" included) would depict a similar character as nothing more than suicidal, promiscuous and temperamental. The last half hour is shocking, but yet it always rings true.
04. THE BEACHES OF AGNES
Documentary as the accumulation of a lifetime's worth of memories. Rarely do you feel so connected to a filmmaker - Agnes Varda doesn't bore us with relentless biographical details, but rather shares the anecdotes that would lead us to further understand her relationship with the universe. An enormously playful, exciting documentary that confirms (as if we needed the confirmation) Agnes Varda as a treasure, one of the world's best living filmmakers.
03. MARY AND MAX
I don't believe that this has gotten a US release, and that is simply appalling (it has, thankfully, made the short list of films eligible for the Animated Feature Academy Award). The visual style is a tremendous achievement, enriching every frame with fully-realized environments. The writing, somehow combining humor with the darkest depths of misery, and finally culminating with something purely sentimental, is also one hell of a feat. The film is one, more than any on my list, I would recommend to anyone.
02. A SERIOUS MAN
I loved this film so much the first time around that I took my mother to it. I'm convinced that she thinks it's the worst movie ever made. Some of her complaints are just - nothing happens, nothing is wrapped up, no character goes through a significant transformation. The film is relentless in it's bleakness. But what the Coens have done is create their most memorable, rich world to date. No matter how small, every character, through the nuances of tremendous performance, becomes living, real. The exact opposite of, say, Michelle Rodriguez in "Avatar" or Susan Sarandon in "The Lovely Bones" (my nominations for the two most useless characters in 2009 cinema).
01. UP
The film, moreso than any of the year, feels timeless. I can see myself watching it in 10, 20, 50 years. How the hell did Pixar manage to make a buddy movie, involving an old dude, a boy scout, a giant bird, and a talking dog, so utterly heart-wrenching? I agree that the movie starts off simply groundbreaking and, by the end, becomes really good - but I haven't been as moved by anything else this year. I've seen it four times thus far, and the magic has yet to wear off.
Honorable mentions: Adventureland, Brothers, Still Walking, Up in the Air, The White Ribbon