20. Away We Go
Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Jeff Daniels, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Sam Mendes's Away We Go is probably the most feel-good film on any part of this list. It is about a couple expecting a child who decide to go on a road trip to figure out where they want to raise their kid. Not to say that the film is completely happy-go-lucky; in fact, the bulk of the film focuses on the many different aspects of marriage, from growing apart to growing too close, from the inability to begin a family to the inability to keep one together. The innate comedic sensibilities of the actors are evident throughout the film, especially with John Krasinski, who, in my opinion, steals the show almost every time he is on screen. Capped with surprisingly earthy cinematography, great locations (from Arizona to Montreal to Florida), and a soothing soundtrack by Alexi Murdoch, Away We Go is one of the best comedies of the year.
Best Moment: When Burt starts yelling at Verona in the car to get his unborn child's heartbeat up.
19. A Prophet
Director: Jacques Audiard
Starring: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup
The third foreign film on the list, A Prophet plays like a French prison version of The Godfather. Malik, a prisoner, becomes a member of a Corsican mafia gang within the prison. This leads to the usual mobster plotlines, such as hitman contracts, drug dealings, and Malik's rise within the mafia. What sets this film apart from most mobster films is the unusual things that periodically occur. At one point, Malik has a prophetic dream of a car hitting a deer; a few days later, the car he is in hits a deer. The prison scenes are also very graphic, including a murder that haunts him throughout the film. Probably the biggest strength of the film is the acting. As this is a foreign film, I do not know the actors, but I cannot recall one bad performance in the entire film. The film is two and a half hours long, so I would not recommend jumping into this one blindly, but if you are interested in complicated plots or mafia stories, I would definitely think about checking out A Prophet.
Best Moment: Reyeb's murder.
18. Ajami
Director: Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani
Starring: Shahir Kabaha, Ibrahim Frege, Fouad Habash
The fourth foreign film on this list, Ajami tells the disjointed crime story of an Israeli family whose lives are altered following a drive-by shooting. When the family is forced to pay the victim's family restitution, two brothers resort to criminal circumstances to avoid stronger punishment. Confusion is a main theme within the film, presented both by the film's plot and through the non-chronological order that the story is told. This confusion can be taken as an overarching ideal pertaining to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is also presented in shrunken form here. Similarly to A Prophet, Ajami may be too confusing for its own good to some people, but for those willing to give it a chance, this film will not disappoint.
Best Moment: The showdown with the police.
17. I Love You, Man
Director: John Hamburg
Starring: Paul Rudd, Jason Segel
This is, by far, the most re-watched film on this list. I've watched this film at least 30 times; I've fallen asleep listening to the soothing cover ballads of Rush or the manly philosophizing of Jason Segel. Deeply rooted in the Judd Apatow genre of comedy (Funny People, Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin), I Love You, Man extends its fairly basic premise (a guy is getting married but has no friends to pick a Best Man from) into a feature-length comedic gem. Though not for everyone, ILYM walks the middle ground in comedic maturity between the endless fart jokes of Grown Ups and Step Brothers and the pompous hipster jokes of Sideways. Rudd and Segel build believable chemistry with each other, and the earlier "man dates" work even better in spots. In fact, I can't think of a joke in the entire film that completely missed.
Best Moment: There's too many to choose from, but if I had to pick off the top of my head it'd be the scene where Rudd calls Segel for a man date a la Swingers.
16. The White Ribbon
Director: Michael Haneke
Starring: Christian Friedel, Ernst Jacobi
Foreign film number five is The White Ribbon. This film focuses on a mysterious set of circumstances affecting a German town in the months before the beginning of World War I. The usually quiet town is stricken with things such as murders, suicides, pedophilia, and arson (obviously) and the new town schoolteacher attempts to get to the bottom of things. Usually known for his graphic horror films such as Funny Games and Cache, director Michael Haneke brings a discomforting and uneasy feeling to the entire film, infusing a bit of mistrust and suspense surrounding everyone and everything. Shot entirely in black and white, the cinematography is simultaneously beautiful, archaic, and bleak. Extremely slow moving and somewhat disturbing, The White Ribbon is not for everyone, but for those open enough to give it a try, it is a film that will stick with you long after you turn it off.
Best Moment: When the farmer's son destroys the field of cabbages.
15. A Town Called Panic
Director: Stephane Aubier, Vincent Patar
Starring: Stephane Aubier, Jeanne Balibar, Nicolas Buysse
Yep. Foreign film number six. If you ever get a chance to watch A Town Called Panic, you will probably be immediately reminded of the Adult Swim show Robot Chicken, primarily because the characters are action figures whose movements are recorded through stop-motion animation. However, the depth of character development and ingenuity of storytelling achieved in A Town Called Panic are light years ahead of anything Robot Chicken could ever hope to accomplish. Panic is the story of a Native American, a cowboy, and a horse and their travels around the world, including an underwater adventure and a journey to the center of the Earth. The animation is beautifully bad, carefully put together to look as simple as possible. What really pulls this film together, though, is the three main characters. A Town Called Panic may look simple, but the personality and originality of this film are far better than almost all the animated films coming out of Hollywood today.
Best Moment: The scenes on the way to the center of the Earth.
Director: Terry Gilliam
Starring: Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is definitely the most inventive film on this list. Which is good, because the film's lead actor, Heath Ledger, died halfway through filming. Instead of starting over with a new lead actor, director Terry Gilliam met the challenge and merely switched his script around. The story focuses on a magician and his daughter and their arch-nemesis and an assortment of backstabbings, but that's not what matters here. What matters in Imaginarium is the Imaginarium itself, a false mirror that leads the subject into a world powered entirely by the subject's imagination. This concept leads to an impressive amount of visual creativity and originality. The concept also allowed Gilliam to finish the film: when Ledger's character leads a subject into the mirror, his character transforms as well, into either Johnny Depp, Jude Law, or Colin Farrell. Only Terry Gilliam could create a film this weird and (plot-wise) sporadic that is also a must-see for fans of Heath Ledger and creative filmmaking.
Best Moment: The first time we enter the Imaginarium.
13. Moon
Director: Duncan Jones
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
Moon may be the best science fiction film I've seen in the past 15 years. The film tells the story of a man whose job is to oversee the productivity of robotic mining equipment on the moon. The problem is that this man is alone on the moon for three years. Boasting beautifully monochromatic cinematography and an amazing performance by Sam Rockwell (he's basically the only character in the entire film), Moon would deserve a spot on this list even without the perfectly crafted twist that appears halfway through the film. As it is, though, this is one of the best films from one of the best years for film in a long time. Sadly, because of the financial successes of the lesser District 9 and Avatar, Moon was all but forgotten by most people. For your sake, check it out.
Best Moment: When Sam finds the damaged space rover.
12. The Hurt Locker
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty
Here it is: the Best Picture winner. I have a couple of friends who find this film to be vastly overrated. To be honest, when I first watched it, I enjoyed it but agreed that it didn't deserve to win Best Picture. However, I began to appreciate the film more as time passed and I thought back to what I had actually seen. From the accuracy of the military uniforms to the more realistic explosions to the lesser known actors in the film, The Hurt Locker achieves a standard of realism that is rarely found in a war film. The slow pace of the film accurately emulates the pacing of the War on Terror, where very little will happen for long periods of time, but when they do, the action escalates extremely fast. The actors inhabit their roles naturally: soldiers are portrayed as men doing a job instead of an elite class of bodybuilders and the natives are portrayed ambiguously to emphasize the confusion between friends and foes in reality. The cinematography is gritty, especially the only gunfire scene in the entire film, which is shot flawlessly. The Hurt Locker has spoiled me for future war films, and I will not and cannot accept anything less than the spectacular realism found here.
Best Moment: The aforementioned gunfire scene, or the final bomb defusing scene.
11. The Road
Director: John Hillcoat
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron
This is may be the most well-acted film I've seen since The Thin Red Line. Viggo Mortensen (one of the most underrated actors around) gives the best performance of his life in a role he should have been nominated for, Kodi Smit-McPhee gives the best child performance I think I've ever seen (I hate kids), and Robert Duvall and Charlize Theron play their roles perfectly for the 5 or 10 minutes combined that they are on screen. The meat of this film, though, lies with the interactions between the father and his child and the apocalyptic world they are thrown into. Although their plight is not relatable in the slightest, their relationship is: a boy and his father who, no matter what else happens, must stay together. As the film progresses and their relationship begins to strain, both emotionally and physically, we are reminded of our own family problems and even of our own mortality. Many people find the completely dark tone of the film to be too bleak and depressing, but isn't that the point? The Road is probably the most depressing film of 2009, but it is also the one I recommend to almost everyone I know.
Best Moment: When Robert Duvall showed up and I didn't realize it was him, and then 20 minutes after his character left, I was like... holy shit, that was Robert Duvall.
No comments:
Post a Comment