THE FILMS OF SOFIA COPPOLA
Granted, during this decade she has only had two films. Yet, I am here to proclaim that Ms. Coppola is the real deal with the cinematic eye of a visionary and, as with the very best filmmakers, she is slowly building her own film language. I think the film world has yet to truly take her seriously, despite her enormous success, Oscar nominations and Oscar screenplay win for her sublime "Lost In Translation." I am wondering if there are still perceptions that she is coasting on her Father's vast film legacy. Ms. Coppola quietly arrived as a film director with her dreamy and effective 1999 adaptation of "The Virgin Suicides." That was followed by her highly acclaimed "Lost In Translation" (2003), a movie that I will reveal has ended up on my list of the Top 25 of the decade--so, I'll talk more about that film later. But, I think it was her visually and thematically stunning "Marie Antoinette" (2006) where her commitment, talent and vision fully arrived and she announced herself as a creative force to be reckoned with. That film, with its minimalist dialogue, modern rock soundtrack, and sumptuous visuals, in which every single shot looked like a perfectly composed photograph, all told a story that was about the hermetically sealed and empty coccon of celebrity and the exploitation of youth. That film had a lot on its mind if people were willing to listen and I am happy to read that despite being ignored by the bos office and many critics, she has pressed onwards and finished her fourth film, to be released in 2010. I hope she stays true to her artisitic vision as she continues to make films, and the success she has already seen with "Translation" will hopefully and deservedly return to her.
THE "HARRY POTTER" SERIES
If I were to make a listing of my favorite books between the years of 2000-2009, J.K. Rowling's seven volume masterpiece of the boy wizard Harry Potter would rank near the top of such a list. Rowling's writing took me completely by surprise because as much I enjoyed her lively Roald Dahl inspired tale of the first novel, I was enraptured at the depth that revealed itself over the couse of the subsequent six novels. I loved the books so much that I actually did not want any of them to be transformed into movies. Her writing is so vivid, so visual that I really didn't know what a movie could add to the experience. But, mostly, I was afraid that Hollywood would taint them source material and dumb it down for mass consumption. Then, with a simultaneous blend of curiosity and begrudgment, I went to see "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (2001) on this opening day (mostly fueled by the involvement of Director Chris Columbus and Roger Ebert's four-star rating) and by the conclusion, I muttered to myself, "Sensational!! That's exactly how I pictured it!"
The entire film series has followed suit with presentations that belie Hollywood's usual cynical and callous take on big-budget, mass audience productions. The film series has shown that when Hollywood wants to produce something of high quality, it will and with the six films made so far, all directed by Columbus, Alfonso Cuaron, Mike Newell and David Yates on board for the final four films, they have increasingly grown into a collection that I hope will be revisited for many, many years to come. They have earned their success through their casting, their locations, set designs, special effects and their obvious love for the beautiful source material--which I hope fans that have not read the series will flock to. That said, the films have earned their status on their own right as well, first functioning as an excellent companion series to the novels and slowly becoming a highly rewarding film series on its own.
THE FILMS OF WES ANDERSON
This man immediately became one for me to seek out after I saw "Rushmore" (1998), his wry and melancholy ode to adolescence and unrequited love. Yet, over this past decade, Writer/Director Wes Anderson has exceeded my expectations with a collection of films all detailing the lives and times of fractured families, consistently headed by patriarchal dreamers and scoundrels. Within "The Royal Tenenbaums" (2001), "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" (2004), "The Darjeeling Limited" (2007), and his first foray into animation with "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (2009), Anderson gives us highly artificial worlds and landscapes filled with laconically delivered ironic humor that may be oft-putting to some viewers. But, underneath the artifice is a deeply thoughtful and emotional world, filled with hard truths and layered sadness about lost loves, unfullfilled dreams, death and mourning. One of my favorite scenes in any Anderson movie occurs during a flashback sequence in "The Darjeeling Limited." Brothers Owen Wilson, Adrian Brody and Jason Schwartzman, all heading to their Father's funeral, make a disasterous detour to obtain their deceased Father's sports car from an auto shop. The comedy Anderson mines from the pain of loss makes for a bitterweetness of the highest quality and it is that combination, which exists in all of his wonderful films, that makes them stick firmly as experiences to treasure.
"THE SQUID AND THE WHALE" (2006) Written and Directed by Noah Baumbach
Wes Anderson's occassional writing partner is a filmmaker in his own right. He arrived with a deeply perceptive tale of post-college ennui entitled "Kicking And Screaming" (1995) and followed up wth an underseen yet lovely and literate romantic comedy, "Mr. Jealousy" (1997) starring Eric Stoltz. But, this film is his best to date.
"The Squid and the Whale," an autobiographical tale about the effects of a divorce on two boys in early 1980s New York, was the best film about divorce that I have seen. Baumbach not only shows how children can easily be the least important factor when parents split apart, but how those children can just as easily be used as weapons and collateral damage, when feelings of lost love between adults grows rancorous and raw. It just burrowed under my skin and even angered me to view these affuent, self-absorbed parents battle each other and become so unaware of the warning signs both of their sons are displaying to them. Obviously Baumbach has turned out well and by accounts on the DVD commentary track, his brother has as well. Even so, the pain of divorce can be handled in a myriad of ways but the clueless ways the parents (played by a never better Jeff Daniels and the always reliable Laura Linney) handled their situation, by making their children an afterthought, dumbfounded me and I wondered why these two people even had children at all.
SELECTED FILMS FROM JUDD APATOW
I say "selected" because the man produces so many films that there is just no way to incude them all as they all drift in levels of quality. I want to primarilly focus on his three Writing/Directing efforts, "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (2005), "Knocked Up" (2007) and "Funny People" (2009) as well as his productions of 2007's "Superbad" (Co-Written by Seth Rogen and Directed by Greg Mottolla) and 2008's "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (Written by Jason Segal and Directed by Nicholas Stoller).
All of those films, while being some of the highest comedic offerings the decade had to offer, Apatow and his band of campatriots have also reconfigured the vulgar comedy genre by delving smartly and sometimes uncomfortably, into the secret emotional world of men, how they relate to each other as well as themselves, the women they love and fear, their sexual complications and inadequacies and finally, their overall places in the world. They are also some of the very best romantic comedies around as they all have true romance in them and true sexual experiences in them, thus grounding all of the material in a refreshing honesty, no matter how raucous situations become. One of his films has reached my Top 25 as well...stay tuned...
OUR MEXICAN FILMMAKING TRIUMVIRATE:THE FILMS OF ALFONSO CUARON, GUILLERMO DEL TORO & ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INARRITU
I have grouped the works of these three immensely talented filmmakers together as they all happen to be the closest of friends in real life. The three have transformed cinema greatly over this past decade in a wide variety of films too wonderful to ignore...and one of them has reached the Top 25 listing as well. I must admit that I have not seen all of their films, but here are the ones I hope you revisit or seek out if you have not seen them already.
Alfonso Cuaron burst into the decade with the stunning "Y Tu Mama Tambien" (2001) which was followed by "Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban" (2004), a charming segment in the gorgeous anthology "Paris, Je T'Aime" (2006) and the astonishing apocalyptic "Children Of Men" (2006). I think that of the three directors, Cuaron's films are the ones I have responded to the most. I think what really captures me most is his cinematography and how he expresses so very much visually. He adds a certain level of grit to every film he makes, even one that is as glowing as his entry in the "Harry Potter" series...it always suggests the unrest that lurks whether it is a muderous wizard on the loose, or the conclusion of adolesence, or the feeling the the Earth will swallow us whole through our own worst devices.
Guillermo del Toro has fascinated himself primarily within the horror and comic book genres with his two "Hellboy" motion pictures but it was the devastating "Pan's Labyrinth" (2007) that blew me away. While I am not certain if that is a film I would revisit due to how emotionally wrenching it is, it is an awesome statement of how imagination has the power and capacity to heal, transform and soothe even in the face of the most unthinkable of real-world horrors.
For some reason, I still have not had the opportuity to view "Amorros Perros" (2000) but based upon the brilliance of the chronologically and globally jumbled narratives of "21 Grams" (2003) and "Babel" (2006), the subsequent entries into Inarritu's self-proclaimed trilogy, I feel that I need to get to my video store immediately to check it out. With the other two aforementioned films, he has created heartbreaking tapestries about the human condition itself, by depicting all of the barriers and circumstances that divide us and how we all relate to each other to obtain a sense of understanding. Even with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett's strong performances, what struck me the deepest in "Babel" was the story centered around an angry, deaf, sexually explicit Japanese teenage girl coupled with the music from Ryuchi Sakamoto. Her confusion and sadness is a feeling that proved to be unshakable and fully representative of the film as a whole.
"WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE: A REQUIEM IN FOUR ACTS" (2006) Directed by Spike Lee
I would say this is maybe the best documentary I saw over the decade and it was absolutely compulsive viewing. Spike Lee has been one of my favorite directors for almost 25 years now and his track record of filmmaking excellence is of almost uncomparably high quality. While not officially a theatrical release, this HBO film is a transcendent exploration of how America failed on absolutely every single account from science, technology, race, class, and governmental response to the citizens that elected them in the first place. By turns exhaustive amd infuriating, this film goes beyond the question of how a modern American tragedy like Hurricane Katrina could have happened but rather, a passionate, anguished cry of "Why?"
THE MATRIX TRILOGY/THE STAR WARS PREQUEL TRILOGY
A slight cheat as both trilogies began in 1999 and I am certain that the mention of George Lucas' epic would be a controversial pick. But first...I must give acclaim to the Wachowshi brothers, who emerged, seemingly from nowhere, with their forward thinking epic. For many people, I realize that the first film is the one that is most celebrated. But, I have to give it to the Wachowski's for adhering to their vision and completing their philosophical, technological, apocalyptic thirll ride. For me, this trilogy could be split into three definitive statements of "Birth," "Life," and "Death" as they all trace the life and times of Neo (Keanu Reeves) and his fight to free humanity from the dependence of the machines which have destroyed the world and transformed humans into batteries. While confounding at first, I was more than ready for the release of "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions" (both from 2003) and they did not disappoint. I appreciated the Wachowski's willingness to not simply deliver the same film two more times. They broadened their story and provided them with even more breathtaking visuals to propel the increasingly dense storyline. The final war sequence is exhausting and I have to say that the freeway chase in the second film is one of the most viscerally thrilling pieces of film I saw this decade.
But now, onto "Star Wars." Yes, it is a controversial pick for a Time Capsule as it has become more than fashionable for people of my generation to rip Lucas' space opera apart and decry that he has somehow raped our collective childhoods. I harbor no such feelings as I legitamitly loved all three films as they detailed the sad saga of how Anakin Skywalker (an unjustly maligned Hayden Christensen) fell to the dark side of The Force to become Darth Vader. To all of the criticisms that George Lucas has indeed raped our collective childhoods through juvenile stories filtered through wooden acting and terribly stilted dialogue, I say the following:
All six of the "Star Wars" films are fairy tales, myths and tributes to the science fiction serials of the 1930's such as "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers," and they are intentionally designed to emulate those films by utilizing stilted dialogue and wooden acting. It is an artistic choice Lucas has made to bring forth his particular vision. The films also have always been intended to be pitched at about an 8-12 year old level. That's the audience, they have never been meant to grow with us and they have never been adult stories.
For me, the prequels, just like the originals, completely satisfied the 10 year old that exists inside of me. I am completely in love with that place a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away and having that chance to revisit and see more of George Lucas' complete vision was enthralling to me. I loved feeling the speed of podracing as well as seeing Jedi Knights battling in their prime at the start of the fabled Clone Wars. The sound of an lightsaber igniting for combat, the eerie howl of the Tie Fighters, making that jump to light speed are all moments that made me first realize what power the cinema holds and George Lucas delivered on all counts for me.
Mostly, I defend George Lucas because of the simple fact that he told his story his way and that he did not listen to the desires of the fan base. Lucas is the one who has to live with this universe of his making and he has every right to do whatever he wishes with it, even if he alienates his biggest fans to do so. If that is not the definition of an independent artist, then I just do not know what is.
THE FILMS OF STEVEN SPIELBERG
My favorite filmmaker of all time is a natural born storyteller of the highest quality and this past decade, he has continued to challenge audiences and most importantly himself, to a amazingly prolific deegree. This is the man who could create the bleak futuristic visions of "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" (2001) and "Minority Report" (2002) and then alternate to the smaller scaled character studies "Catch Me If You Can" (2002) and "The Terminal" (2004). He could re-make "War Of The Worlds" (2005) and take what could have been a simply great "popcorn movie" and transform it into a hellish allegory of our post 9/11 society; a film which was then followed up, in the same year, by the brutal political treatise of "Munich" (2005). And hey, we even got a new Indiana Jones adventure to boot.His joy behind the camera is palpable, involving, inviting, celebratory and awesomely inspiring in the best possbile ways. And I have to say the one of those films has found a place near the very tip-top of my Top 25.
But...you know, this has gone on long enough...as I am certain you would agree.
So, the next posting in this series will be the first part of my personal TOP 25 OF 2000-2009!
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