Here we are again at the tip-top of my personal list. The following ten films represent the very best of the best out of all of the films I viewed in 2011 and I hope that you enjoy perusing this list as much as I had piecing it all together.
Just as with the other three installments in this annual series, full reviews for all of the films are housed on this site and I will gladly point you in the right direction if you wish to read any of them. So, without any further hesitation...
MY TOP TEN FAVORITE FILMS OF 2011
10. “HANNA” Directed by Joe Wright
This was my favorite action thriller of the year and sadly, just as with his 2009 drama “The Soloist,” Director Joe Wright’s latest film was ignored at the box office this past Spring. What a shame, dear readers, what a shame, as this film was a hallucinogenic, kinetic, brutal, scary, surreal blast to the senses which at times, recalled the visionary works of Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch and Ken Russell yet stood firmly as a Joe Wright experience. Saoirse Ronan gave a spectacular performance as the titular heroine, an isolated teenage girl raised to be an assassin by her ex-CIA agent Father (Eric Bana), who ventures for the very first time into the world and is relentlessly hunted by a hungrily tenacious, flame haired CIA analyst (a truly spooky Cate Blanchett). While “Drive” received all of the praise last year, I felt that this film was superior on all counts. Like “Drive,” ”Hanna” emulated the tone and visual aesthetics of a European styled thriller, but unlike “Drive,” this film completely transcended the genre and gave me an experience unlike any I have had before. From Wright’s endlessly creative cinematography, vivid collective of characters, fluid and furiously paced actions sequences set to a purely innovative, percussive, pulsing score by The Chemical Brothers, “Hanna” is already ahead of the curve. Yet what was most surprising and enthralling for me was how much I loved how the story’s symbols, structure and iconography all filtered from fairy tales, a bold texture that gave this film a rich, unique layer that set it apart from every other action film of the year. For me and my sensibilities, Joe Wright’s “Hanna” was a perfect example of how to take tried and true ingredients and serve them in an exhilaratingly fresh and boldly creative way.
9. “BEATS, RHYMES AND LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST” Directed by Michael Rapaport
Out of all of the wonderful music documentaries I saw in 2011, this was, far and away, the very best, all the more impressive as this film was the directorial debut of actor Michael Rapaport. You can tell from every single frame of this film that this documentary, which chronicles and celebrates the music and legacy of the untouchable rap group A Tribe Called Quest was a labor of love. Just as Martin Scorsese and Cameron Crowe accomplished with their music documentary films (“George Harrison: Living In the Material World” and “Pearl Jam Twenty” respectively) I appreciated how Rapaport elevated his film to reach beyond the standards of a typical music documentary and again, transcend the genre. This film provided me with a musical and social education into the history, legacy and community of hip-hop music, especially during the era in which the music and its listeners and fans were striving for a newfound ancestral consciousness and self–respect. Additionally, Rapaport delivered a film that possessed not one, not two but all four members of the band as individual subjects so profoundly interesting and compelling that Rapaport could have easily made four different films which solely focused upon each member! To that end, the beautiful core of the film captures the strained lifelong friendship and creative relationship between the band’s yin-yang lead rappers, the dapper and more esoteric Q-Tip and the streetwise, down-to-Earth and diabetic Phife Dawg. The film’s greatest sense of irony just fascinated me. That these two men, so loquacious, so magnetic, so gifted with words, within their lyrics as well as interview subjects, being able to communicate so freely and easily, seemingly with everyone except each other. And yes, the excellent soundtrack, which grandly features all of A Tribe Called Quest’s landmark songs, booms with sonic euphoria.
8. “WAR HORSE” Directed by Steven Spielberg
A magnificent, beauteous, proudly old-fashioned and unapologetically emotional film about a young man’s unshakable bond with the horse of the iron will during World War 1. Steven Spielberg, the visual storytelling master that he is, has always been able to amazingly, powerfully reduce viewers to their most basic and even most primal emotions. For some viewers, this particular feat could be seen as nothing more than a shameless form of manipulation designed to make you have an experience the film has not legitimately earned. I can understand that sentiment completely, but Steven Spielberg is always one to know exactly when to push, when to hold back and most importantly, he always understands precisely what each film he makes happens to be and what it needs. This film in particular needs to race past intellect and plunge uncompromisingly into the deep of emotion and Spielberg delivers the goods and then some. “War Horse” is essentially a fable and a folktale as filtered through the westerns, war films and tear jerkers of Hollywood’s past and the experience as a whole is sumptuous, visually resplendent, beautifully acted and yes, it reduced me to a puddle of tears…and I am not ashamed to admit it either.
7. “BRIDESMAIDS” Directed by Paul Feig
This was the year’s very best comedy and a triumph for Kristin Wiig, who co-wrote the film and gave a stellar starring performance as Annie Walker, a women in early middle age caught in a downward spiral in the trajectory of her life. Her beloved bakery business has failed, forcing her to take a dead end job at a mall jewelry store and co-habitate with two bizarre, stingy, corpulent siblings. She is unromantically involved with a callous, rich weasel. Even her car seems to be barely holding onto existence, as evidenced mostly by a pesky, broken tail-light. Making matters worse is her lifelong best friend’s (Maya Rudolph) engagement, which consumes Annie with tremendous fears that her friend’s bright future may spell the beginning of the end of their friendship. “Bridesmaids” was the one comedy this year that understood better than any other, that comedies are not always about the jokes, and comedies as vulgar as this one know that there needs to be a pure context for the nasty words and actions to work at their best. Wiig, Peig, Producer Judd Apatow and the entire cast work overtime to ensure that “Bridesmaids” is first and foremost about a story and characters and that both elements are rooted in reality, sometimes a painful reality, thus making the outrageousness that ensures honestly funny. For all of the talk about the now infamous bridal shop/explosive gastrointestinal disaster sequence, for me, the film’s tour de force was the extended comedy section set during the ladies’ failed plane trip to Las Vegas. It was a sequence where all of the social cues were stretched to their most hysterically uncomfortable lengths and all of the actresses, especially the wonderful Melissa McCarthy, broadened and deepened their characters in the process. “Bridesmaids” is a film about failure, class warfare, envy, jealousy, self-loathing, depression, and the difficulty of maintaining a treasured friendship bond as we age. And it was all so riotously funny and truthfully romantic to boot!
6. “THE DESCENDANTS” Directed by Alexander Payne
After seven years away from filmmaking, Alexander Payne delivered his finest film to date with this emotionally overwhelming comedy drama. George Clooney stars, in the best performance of his career, as Matt King, a Hawaiian attorney and self-described parental “understudy,” who is forced to take the family reigns as his wife lies in a coma after a boating accident. Confounding matters profusely is the discovery that Matt’s wife was not exactly who she seemed to be. This revelation twists his feelings of remorse, guilt, anger, grief and love into uncharted territories as he gradually makes the round to family and most crucially, during his relationships with his two daughters, a 10 year old and a belligerent, ferociously foul-mouthed 17 year old (Shailene Woodley, in a surprisingly excellent and pitch perfect performance). What made this film earn a spot of this list is, again, the attention to making this story go that extra mile and transcend everything we have seen and know about family drama films. I greatly appreciated the attention devoted to the concept of personal paradise and the elusive nature of truth and how that relates to our perceptions of the people we love. Yes, those perceptions can alter once secrets are revealed but, Payne questions, do those unearthed realizations truly change who the person in question happens to be? Clooney delivers his inner struggle with that exact quandary with gravity, and a nuanced, unforced humanism that anchored the film beautifully. “The Descendants” is a film about real people in real situations behaving realistically and with the full three dimensional canvas of real life. Every single character in the film is allowed to breathe in this luxuriously paced film. Once you think you have a particular character completely figured out, Payne surprises you by having those characters slowly emerge and reveal layers of their personalities, which ultimately enriches the experience as a whole by allowing the audience to walk in their shoes for a while and question what you would do if placed in their situations. “The Descendants” is a film of mourning and profound elegiac sadness yet it is not a depressing film, as it allows much space for great blasts of sharp humor and stinging dialogue. And the final scene is one of the very best final scenes in any film I saw in 2011.
5. “MIDNIGHT IN PARIS” Directed by Woody Allen
This film was Woody Allen’s most entertaining, flat out wonderful film in several years. While it is a tired cliché to make that statement, especially for someone as prolific as Allen, who still releases a new film nearly every year, “Midnight In Paris” spoke directly to my love of literature, my status as a former English major and like his splendid “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (2008), it inspired travel and damn near made me want to race from the theater and get myself a passport! Owen Wilson stars in a most charming performance as Gil, a successful yet creatively unfulfilled Hollywood screenwriter who stumbles upon a wealth of enchantment in the beaming, lustrous, sublime City of Lights. What I loved so much about this film was how Allen, a realist and neurotic nihilist, created a film that was so unabashedly romantic. The love for writing coupled with the sights, architecture, culture and style of Paris was infectious to say the least. Yet, I appreciated how Allen balanced that romance about Paris and eras gone by with a certain realism, making a cautionary tale about finding oneself beholden to perceptions that simply are not entirely real and at the expense of the lives in front of us. Yet, despite that dark truth, “Midnight In Paris” was exuberantly joyful and playful as it illustrates that there are always things in our precarious world to discover, to marvel, to find supreme enlightenment, enchantment and elation from and with, especially under a starry, moonlight, rainy Parisian sky.
4. “HUGO” Directed by Martin Scorsese
This astounding film was my favorite from Martin Scorsese in nearly 25 years, a period during which he released no less than films like “Casino” (1995), “Gangs Of New York” (2002), “The Aviator” (2004) and the extraordinary crime epic “The Departed” (2007). The beauty of “Hugo” is unquestionable. Its artistry is undeniable. Its craft is impeccable and its vision, innocence and grace is rapturous. The story of an orphaned young boy (Asa Butterfield) who lives behinds the clocks and walls of a massive Parisian train station who is befriended by a literate young girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) as he explores an intensely personal mystery, which involves the girl’s Godfather (the excellent Ben Kinglsey), the mean old man who runs and operates the station’s toy store. It is a tale that begins simply within the glow of solitary melancholy and builds to an incredible emotional crescendo that magnificently encompasses the history and beginnings of motion pictures. I have stated repeatedly upon this site that “Hugo” represents exactly what films designed for families can achieve to be when filmmakers actually respect their audiences and do not treat them as soulless consumers. Films, especially those presented to children, can be artistic to the highest order, sophisticated, intelligent and emotional while also serving heaps of wonderful entertainment. “Hugo” accomplishes all of those feats and then some with Scorsese working at his creative peak once again. The visual palate Scorsese and his band of collaborators have created is so visually glistening and enrapturing that even though I saw this film in the 2D format, I would think that if one were to view a film in 3D, this film, even more than “Avatar” (2009), would be the very one to see. With his particular filmography, Martin Scorsese is definitely not the most obvious or logical choice to helm a PG rated fantasy, family film but once the film reached its conclusion, it was obvious to me that Martin Scorsese was the only filmmaker to helm this material.
3. “MELANCHOLIA” Directed by Lars von Trier
Now we arrive at the big three. In my mind, I see this film existing as sort of a “dark twin” to the film that sits in the number 2 position upon this list as both films possessed an artistic reach that extended the furthest out of every film I have seen this year or even in most years, to be honest. Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia” is a brazenly risky film in a time when most films have forgotten to take artistic risks anymore. Kirsten Dunst gives the performance of her career as Justine, a young woman gripped within the throes of a crippling depression, who destroys her own oppressive opulent, idyllic wedding day and eventually comes to her sister Claire’s (Charlotte Gainsbourg) home for convalescence. At the same time, a strange newly discovered blue planet named Melancholia is heading straight towards the Earth, presumably for a glorious astronomical event. While Claire, the caretaker of the two sisters, becomes increasingly unhinged with Melancholia’s arrival, a meeting she is convinced with destroy Earth, Justine grows calmer, expectant and filled with a disturbingly peaceful resolution concerning the inevitable end of all things. Certainly, “Melancholia” is not a film for everyone, especially as the subject matter is as devastating as it can possibly be. But, Lars von Trier’s uncompromising artistic vision, which is presented through a collection of grotesquely stunning apocalyptic imagery (the wordless, Wagner scored eight minute prologue and the film’s final images are truly some of the best sequences of the year), chilling performances, and a precise and intimate exploration of humanity’s downfall made this film a must-see experience and its greatness cannot be ignored. Best of all, “Melancholia” works grandly as a film that can be read literally and figuratively. Yes, we can take von Trier’s presentation of the end of existence at face value. But the film also works as a metaphor for depression and how depression can feel like a planet crashing into you, scattering every atom to the four winds forever. Perhaps, the destruction of the Earth is nothing more than Justine’s suicidal wish fulfillment for herself. “Melancholia” is an unforgettable experience that will stick with you and haunt you long after the theater house lights have begun to glow brightly again.
2. “THE TREE OF LIFE” Directed by Terrence Malick
Where “Melancholia” may exist solely within the mental state of one young woman, Terrence Malick’s “The Tree Of Life” stretches its conceptual reaches even further. While the bulk of the film focuses on snapshot moments that traces the birth, evolution, tension and destruction of a Texas family in the 1950’s, Malick encompasses that story of piercing intimacy with the bold strokes of imagining the beginning of the entire universe. While the film, which even features the sight of dinosaurs, monumentally confounded many patrons, I really felt that this soul stirring experience utilized the backdrop of the universe to illustrate that the interpersonal story is representative of the life cycle that is inherent within EVERY story of EVERY living thing. Brad Pitt gave a performance of towering strength as the family patriarch or the representative force of nature while Jessica Chastain elicited equal power in her nearly wordless performance as the matriarch or the fragile state of grace itself. Yet, Malick’s visual palate is the true star of this film as every single frame could serve as the most meticulously and gorgeously designed still photograph. The spiritual nature of the film is also completely palpable through the visuals as even the many streaks of sunlight in the film felt to be the visual representation of the touch of God. Yes, this film is mysterious, cryptic, and obtuse. Yes, this film is demanding and presents a challenge for any audience, especially as you are required to perform some heavy mental lifting. Yes, this is an art film with a capital “A,” “R,” “T.” And yes, yes, yes, “The Tree Of Life” is also a primal experience that was intensely moving and inspiring. “The Tree Of Life” is not a passive experience and for all of its profundity and some would say, pretentiousness, this is a film that sincerely wants to communicate and engage with you. I actually have a friend who works at my local Sundance theater, where the film was screened throughout the summer, who expressed to me how much she appreciated its beauty but was put off because she felt that Terrence Malick’s arrogance with the creation of such beauty was oft-putting. To that, I stated that if I were a filmmaker talented enough to pull off an experience like this one, I’d be proudly arrogant too! For much of 2011, “The Tree Of Life” was my favorite film of the year. But that was until…
1. “THE ARTIST” Directed by Michel Hazanavicius
There was no other film released in 2011 that filled me with exhilaration more than this film, a legitimate black and white silent movie conceived and executed to absolute perfection. What made this one-of-a-kind film stand tallest for me was that “The Artist” is indeed representative of the very reason any of us ever view movies in the first place, as well as the very types of film that allowed all subsequent film styles and genre to exist. The experience of “The Artist” perfectly illustrates the emotional power that is conveyed through a collection of images. It is an example of the art and artistry of visual storytelling as its finest and Hazanavicius shows us all that great visual storytelling is all you need for a film such as this one. The incredible Jean Dujardin stars as a rich and famous silent film star whose entire world crumbles with the advent of sound technology. As he falls into crushing despair as he fears complete irrelevancy, he is watched over and ultimately saved by the absolutely beguiling Berenice Bejo, his once adoring fan and now rich and famous talkie film star.
I am finding it more than a little hilarious and more than a little disappointing that some people who have tried to view this film have had no idea that “The Artist” is a silent movie, so much so that some patrons have demanded their money back due to the lack of dialogue and all other sound effects to which we have all grown accustomed. But part of the beauty of “The Artist” is how Hazanavicius toys with our perceptions of movie sound to the point where we not only don’t miss the sound but the visual storytelling is so effective, we think we are hearing every thing anyway. We are blissfully lost within the story and the images.
“The Artist” is no mere throwback confection, or cutesy yet forgettable folly. It is not a hipster exercise of self-congratulatory style. This is a magical film. A joyous film that celebrates the glory found when making an unexpected yet tremendous discovery. I was enraptured, amazed, and rapturously entertained. My heart was not filled with affection for any other film in 2011 more than this one.
And there you have it. My review of 2011 is complete. What will 2012 bring? I cannot wait to find out!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment