So here goes....
Top 5 films of the year
5)A Single Man (Tom Ford)A visually exquisite piece of cinema that was simultaneously poetry to the eyes as well as the ears. Restrained, absorbing and delicately shattering, Tom Ford's first feature film was a period film of style that also achieved substance, notably by Colin Firths subtly devastating portrayal of a man aching with grief yet finding beauty in the simplest of forms. Beautiful.
4) Four Lions (Chris Morris)Easily the most quotable film of the year and one of the funniest. Chris Morris' suicide bomber comedy is easy tabloid fodder but the film manages to pull laughs from an extremely incomprehensible situation. The final scene manages to encapsulate the horror of the predicament and remains with you long after the credits roll. That and the sight of the Honey Monster at full pelt.
3) The Social Network ( David Fincher)Who would have thought a talky film about the birth of Facebook (the devils work) would be so damn intriguing. If Mark Zuckerberg is really a intelligent yet pathetic and slimy piece of work then Jessie Eisenberg plays him to a tee. Equally affective were Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin and Armie Hammer (great name) playing both twins via CGI Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (great name also). The trailer also contained one of the best uses of song for the year with a choir version of Creep that was spine tingling.
2) Inception ( Christopher Nolan)The anti blockbuster blockbuster was the thinking persons summer extravaganza of the year. Leonardo Di Caprio gave his second performance of the year as a man bordering at the edges of sanity and stricken with guilt over a lost wife (see also Shutter Island). He was complimented by a great cast, in particular Joseph Gordon Levitt and Tom Hardy-a future star in the making and new object of affection in our household (more so by my other half proving his a man's man that it is ok to like). The visuals were dazzling without detracting, the plot was dense but enthralling and Di Caprio again proves himself to be the go to guy for mentally tortured, multi layered characters. Some may argue that it was clever (or tried to be) for its own good, but embrace the spectacle and just be glad that this blockbuster wasn't a remake or a sequel for once.
1) Winter's Bone (Debra Granik)Winter's Bone hardly troubled the multiplexes yet those who sort out this film were richly rewarded. The story of Ree Dolly, an Ozark mountain girl, trying to find her drug dealing father in order to keep the family home is one of simplicity that grips the viewer into a truly absorbing redneck noir thriller. The film has a sparse, subtly menacing quality to it, aided by the cinematography, each frame a microcosm for a land that is unforgiving and brutally insular. It is a film this reviewer would like to aspire to and one that gets under the skin like a winters chill and once takes hold, is hard to shake off.
Special mention to
The squirm while you watch award:
Dogtooth (Giorgos Lanthimos)- The story of three teenagers confined to an isolated country estate by their own father is one of the most thought provoking and somewhat controversial films of the year. I did not include this in my top 5 of the year, purely because it is a film i would not watch again. And maybe that is the point, it is such an eerie, calculated piece of cinema that should be experienced, though not for the faint hearted, and will make such an impact on the viewer that it will not be forgotton, for better or worse.
The guilty pleasure of the year award:
Whip It! (Drew Barrymore)- A teen movie about a misfit schoolgirl finding escapism and fulfillment from her small town syndrome by playing Roller Derby sounds like a plot that in other hands, may have been another mawkish High School Musical type affair. But in the directorial debut hands of Drew Barrymore, Whip It! becomes a punky spunky girl power ride. With feisty female leads and a genuine heroine to root for, the film is a joyous ode to the the odd girl rites of passage and made me want to get my skates on. By the way in case you were wondering my Roller Derby name is Disgrace Kelly :)
Re-release of the year
The Red Shoes (Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger)- This was the first time I have seen this 1948 classic and I was grateful that I had the chance to witness it on the big screen. A glorious, sumptious movie that follows a young ballet dancer who is torn between her love of the dance and the man she loves. It was a film that reminded of the absolute beauty of cinema and how, if you are in love with the medium, like myself, that it continues to dazzle and astound. The infamous Red Shoes sequence is a dazzling tour de force of cinematography and editing and left me with tears in my eyes at the wonder of it all.
