Now Playing: The Best Films I Saw in 2005
OK—-the usual caveats apply: “Best of” lists suck, these are films shown theatrically in Denver this year—some are older, others haven’t been released yet, I didn’t see everything, they are not listed in any particular order. Also, since I listed my honorable mentions a couple of weeks ago, I have thought of some other ones, which are included here.
Why We Fight (d. Eugene Jarecki) Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911 was high on my list last year for its troublemaking sense of outrage, but Jarecki’s film is a better all-around analysis of the reasons we now find ourselves embroiled in a colossal misadventure halfway around the world. Not interested in propping up easy targets for our disgust (although neocon apologist William Kristol does a great job of being one all on his own), Jarecki presents interviews with people on all sides of the political spectrum, showing us the heretofore invisible lines connecting a retired New York City cop, a Vietnamese refugee, a young man considering enlisting, and the pilots who dropped the first bombs of the Iraq War. Using Eisenhower’s famous farewell speech as a framing device, Jarecki posits a thesis that the war is a result of something more insidious than partisan politics on either side of the aisle: the military-industrial complex, unchecked, quietly determining foreign policy. In this context, David Eisenhower’s memory of his father warning him, “God help this country when it has a president that doesn’t understand the military,” is more terrifying than anything Moore’s alarmist film could conjure.
Tsotsi (d. Gavin Hood) Hood’s adaptation of Athol Fugard’s novel (written in the 1960s, but not published until 1989) updates its action to the post-apartheid slums of Soweto. It is a testament to both Hood and Fugard (and, sadly, to the lack of progress in the world) that the material remains both relevant and utterly shattering. Anchored by a riveting performance by Presley Chweneyagae and some great supporting work by the ensemble cast, this story of a young gang leader who begins to question the senseless violence of his lifestyle when he accidentally abducts a baby in a stick-up gone wrong leaves an indelible mark on the viewer. Tsotsi’s subject matter and stylish camerawork will draw comparisons to City of God when Miramax releases it stateside next year; and although I loved that film as well, this film is an altogether different thing thanks to its heart and sense (though tiny) of hope. Kudos to Hood for presenting the film in Zulu, Xhosa, and Afrikaans rather than pandering to American audiences by using English or, worse yet, dubbing it. I just hope Miramax has the good sense not to replace the incredible soundtrack, which features songs by Zola (who also has a role in the film), with the latest disposable rap act, as it has been known to do.
The Devil’s Rejects (d. Rob Zombie) There may be more of the titular deportees now that Hell has surely frozen over with my inclusion of a Rob Zombie joint on a best-of list. I guess I’d better get used to it, because the more I think of it, the more Zombie’s minor exploitation classic stands apart from the weak, intellectually bankrupt horror fare served up in unnecessary remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Amityville Horror. From the rollicking, stylish credit sequence scored to the Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider,” Zombie gets us to sympathize with his family of murderous hillbilly freaks on the run, and then indicts us by pulling no punches when it comes to presenting their acts of extreme violence and sadism. Here, Zombie has been able to synthesize his obviously vast knowledge of movies (and not just horror movies) into a stylish and cohesive film that’s more than just a collection of in-jokes and references for the horror geek crowd. Zombie also proves he’s a credible director, getting great performances from everyone from the gruesome leads to TV and B-movie mainstays such as PJ Soles, Priscilla Barnes, and Ken Foree. I may never watch this film again—it’s just too rough a trip—but it’s been a long time since a genre film had such a profound impact on me. Watch it alongside Oliver Stone’s reprehensible Natural Born Killers for an object lesson in how to do this kind of film the right way. Perhaps the film’s most amazing achievement can be found on the DVD release—a director’s commentary track that is actually engaging and informative, proving that beneath his heavy metal image lurks an intelligent, thoughtful guy who really knows his way around a film camera. I’ll be interested to see where Zombie goes next—having mastered the grindhouse aesthetic, can he turn his gifts on another genre, or will he end up repeating himself?
A History of Violence (d. David Cronenberg) Another film that indicts the audience for its enjoyment of screen violence, A History of Violence proved that even commercial Cronenberg is better than 90% of Hollywood’s output. The straightforward plot (adapted from a graphic novel) doesn’t prepare you for its abrupt tonal shifts into slapstick and graphic brutality. And what to make of the fact that its (extremely well-staged) sex scenes made the audience at the screening I attended more uncomfortable than the violence? Great lead performances from Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello, with a great supporting turn by Ed Harris--who’s always better as a bad guy--and a totally bizarro cameo by William Hurt, who appears to be having more fun than should be allowed. When the final credits roll, you might be tempted to leave with a shrug, but the film gets under your skin and infects your consciousness like something out of a…Cronenberg movie…
Oldboy (d. Chanwook Park) A film from 2003 that finally got a release here so that those of us without all-region DVD players could find out what all the buzz was about. The middle film in Chanwook Park’s loosely related “Revenge Trilogy” starts with an ingenious premise that seems a bit contrived, then builds to a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, complete with an almost unimaginably perverse (in terms of both the action onscreen and the violation of the relationship established between filmmaker and audience) denouement. Yet the film’s coda seeks to recover some shred of the humanity stripped from the main characters by the all-encompassing desire for revenge. Min-sik Choi gives a haunting and utterly convincing performance with very little dialogue, and director Park’s visual sense, already a strong point of his previous films, reaches new heights here with indelible images such as the brilliant single take dolly-shot of Choi fighting his way down a long corridor full of thugs. I don’t think it would be possible for this film to be remade for American audiences by Hollywood, and that’s an infinitely good thing; I just hope that the audience response was sufficient that we won’t have to wait another three years to see the just-completed third installment, Lady Vengeance.
King Kong (d. Peter Jackson) Yes, it’s too long. And overindulgent. A couple of subplots could have been shed without injuring the plot. It contains more cheese than a deep-dish pizza. Who freaking cares? Had Peter Jackson trimmed it down to 2 hours, it would have been a lean, CG-driven action spectacular…just like 10 other movies that come out this or any other year. In indulging his love of cinema and the 1933 original, Jackson produces a big-screen spectacle that’s both epic and personal, an incredible thrill ride, and (against all odds) a convincing love story between a giant ape and his human girl.
Grizzly Man (d. Werner Herzog) Werner Herzog’s oddly affecting portrait of Timothy Treadwell, the bear lover who was eventually killed and eaten in the Alaskan wilderness, is much more than a simple examination of the man, which would have been interesting enough. Herzog, with typical technical excellence, examines his view of the relationship between man and nature--which he sees as indifferent, chaotic, and brutal—by contrasting it with Treadwell’s, which enshrined nature as a paradise. Beyond that, Herzog explores the kinship he feels with Treadwell as a filmmaker, sharing a filmmaker’s appreciation of the construction of narrative as well as of the accidents that add unforeseen beauty to a film. In allowing Treadwell to speak largely for himself, Herzog creates empathy for a man who was at best misguided and at worst insane; but he also creates an ironic undercurrent which would have been lost on Treadwell: this man, who by all accounts wanted to shun human society and become a bear, earns our sympathy because we see his passion, along with his ignorance and self-centeredness—his essential humanity, in other words.
More Honorable Mentions:
Sin City (d. Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller) – A stunning technical achievement, yes, but what made this film was the way it unapologetically rubbed our noses in the pulpy (notice I don’t say noir) sleaze of Miller’s graphic novels. Rodriguez could have avoided the DGA flap by inventing a new title for himself-—most of the film was already “directed” by Miller’s cinematic panels. Still, Rodriguez deserves credit for bringing them to bloody life onscreen--Lucas’ greenscreen epic seemed completely inert by comparison.
Save the Green Planet! (d. Jun-hwan Jeong) - Jeong’s remarkably assured debut provides another strong argument (as I’ve been saying for a couple of years now) that South Korea is producing the most consistently well made and entertaining films of any country today. Despite the ending, which lets the protagonist off the moral hook, this film is completely riveting from start to finish, carrying the viewer along through a rollercoaster ride of tonal shifts from horror to comedy to elegiac sadness, all told with a distinctive and confident visual sense. Truly a one-of-a kind film.
Munich (d. Steven Spielberg) – I’m not in the camp that would fault Spielberg for creating a slick, suspenseful thriller that makes the audience question its desire for bloodshed. Hell, A History of Violence did the same thing. Nor can I fault him for not creating a big emotional beat on which to end the film (which has been one of my problems with all of Spielberg’s “serious” films, save the excellent Catch Me If You Can.) No, the thing keeping this off my “best of” list was that, despite the fact that this was Spielberg’s most morally ambiguous film, he still has a tendency to paint with too broad a brush—all the Palestinian victims are depicted as intelligent, friendly family men, as if the shaky moral ground of murder for the sake of revenge isn’t quite enough. That, and the climactic baptismal sex scene/Munich flashback was simply preposterous and took me completely out of the movie. Still, the scene in which the team symbolically violates a female assassin with zip guns is one of the most discomforting things I’ve ever seen in an American movie—I didn’t think Spielberg had those kind of grapes, to be honest.
Good Night, And Good Luck (d. George Clooney) – A top-notch effort from Clooney and his very talented ensemble cast. Well done in just about every respect, the film fails only in that it can’t conjure up any real dramatic tension, a shortcoming tacitly acknowledged by the writers (Clooney and Grant Heslov) by their inclusion of a tangential bit of plot about a secretly married couple on Murrow’s staff. Still, a well-acted, well-made film that makes us long for the days when the news media actually cared about such trifles as journalistic integrity.
3-Iron (d. Ki-duk Kim) – Lo, another South Korean film, but one that has little in common with the others on this list save its excellent craftsmanship. 3-Iron is a haunting and lyrical tone poem more in the vein of Wong Kar-wai, this film never tips its hand as to “what it all means,” instead offering a meditation on themes of alienation, loss, and freedom. The ending can be taken both literally and metaphorically, and is absolutely beautiful.
Haven’t Seen But Maybe Could Have Made the List: Capote, Brokeback Mountain
Wish It Had Been Better: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (bring back Cuaron!)
What Was All the Fuss About? Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Really Wanted to Like, But Was Disappointed By: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Posted by alangton
at 12:28 PM MST
