1) No Country for Old Men
No Country for Old Men is a dark, chilling, quiet, enthralling thriller with a simple story that plays out with perfectly elegant pacing and a good dose of dark humour. When Llewellyn Moss discovers a bag of cash at the site of a drug deal gone wrong – many dead and wounded in the desert – he decides to keep the money for himself. But the psychopath serial killer, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), with a deceivingly harmless goofy bowl-cut hairdo, knows Llewellyn’s secret, and chases after him, killing anyone in his path, just for the hell of it. Meanwhile, the good-natured sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) is on Chigurh’s trail, to arrest him, and Llewellyn’s, to protect him. The film is a long chase, a psychological thriller that has the patience to follow these characters, slowly, cautiously. The dialogue is sparse, but meaningful, especially the Sheriff’s monologues. The murderer is puzzling, frightening and fascinating, killing person after person by blasting each in the head with an oxygen tank, usually intended for killing cattle.
True to the Coen Brothers’ style, No Country for Old Men is, at times, hilarious, with a sick, dark sense of humour and very clever dialogue. When the cops come upon the scene of the drug deal gone wrong, with a dozen dead bodies spread out, one deputy comments “That’s a dead dog” – they shot the dog, too – and the Sheriff responds “yes it is” with such detachment that it’s impossible not to laugh. It’s a joy to hear these characters talk when they do talk. And when they don’t, it’s a joy to watch the long, tracking shots, the landscape, and just appreciate the beauty of the filmmaking. I sat through No Country for Old Men with a knot in my stomach from the suspense, and a grin on my face from pure enjoyment. I left the cinema aware that I had just seen a masterpiece that I would happily see again and again.
2) Lust, Caution
Ang Lee’s masterpiece, Lust, Caution, achieves perfection in so many ways, with a tight script, a miraculously visually dazzling look – from the spectacular cinematography to the wonderful period production design – and graceful pacing. You know from early in the film that you are watching greatness unfold, and you leave completely satisfied. Lust, Caution tells the story of a group of young students who attempt espionage to help overthrow the Japanese government controlling China in the 1930s. In particular, it is the story of Wong Chia Chia, a young woman who gets involved with a revolutionary theatre troupe, and because of a crush, also ends up in the middle of an espionage plot. She becomes the contact with the Japanese power, befriending the wives of the men in power, and wooing a man into bed with her. It begins as a game, a way to pass the summer, with childish notions of grandeur. But when the man she courts ends up a cruel, heartless, vicious, creep that nigh well rapes her, the summer game becomes a reality. She is deep in the thick of things, helpless, acting, and shockingly in love with this horrible man.
The film was criticized for its explicit sex scenes, achieving an NC17 rating in the United States. But these scenes are not at all gratuitous. The film must show us these violent sex scenes, bare bones, because Wong’s greatest problem is that no one understands the abusive relationship she finds herself in, because no one sees, physically, how she is entrenched in her job. Lust, Caution is chilling and suspenseful; the story unfolds with such perfect grace and flow. Yes, we can predict much of what will happen, but I never felt cheated; quite the opposite. Each plot development is rewarding. The film sets up the plot cleverly and follows through perfectly from start to finish. I never felt bored, and I never felt that the film took a false step. The acting is very good, but this movie is about the structure of the story, about the mesmerizing movement of the camera, and the way Ang Lee ties everything together with such brilliance. This is not just a great movie this year; it is a great movie for the ages.
3) Away From Her
Away From Her is the story of a woman, Fiona (Julie Christie), who suffers from Alzheimer’s and decides to check herself into a nursing home to spare her husband, Grant (Gordon Pinsent), from the despair of caring for her as her situation deteriorates. The couple have been happily married for many years, though there is some ghost from their past that still haunts their relationship, to some extent. They find a home for her, though Grant is extremely reluctant to leave her in the hands of the creepily perky Wendy Crewson, who boasts about the abundance of natural light in the nursing home. Fiona adjusts to her new life and her condition deteriorates to the extent that she forgets her husband; he is still madly in love with her, and the film is very much about him coping with his wife’s condition.
Away From Her takes an unsentimental look at the reality of Alzheimer’s. Several years ago, another film about Alzheimer’s, The Notebook, sentimentalized the effects of the disease without ever dealing with the real grief, guilt, anger, confusion, and devotion that the people involved do and should feel. Away From Her never resorts to such Hollywood cliché: the emotions are true and raw, and the film, intentionally and deservingly, is devastating. With fantastic performances by a great cast, this caring, little, heartbreaking film is true to its characters and subject matter – an excellent film.
4) American Gangster
American Gangster, set in the late 1960s and early 1970s, tells the story of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), a black, heroin drug lord in New York City, who kills mercilessly, directly and indirectly, yet takes his mother to church on weekends, has a loving relationship with his wife and family, and gives turkeys to the poor at Thanksgiving. In this drug business, everyone is corrupt, from half the cops, to the American soldiers in Vietnam who help ship pure heroin back to the States where Frank can sell it. On his tail is Detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), despised not just by criminals, but also by his fellow officers because he insisted upon honesty, turning in a million dollars of untraceable cash he found while on duty, and who now heads up a special drug unit. These are both smart men and misfits in their world: Frank is the new black kid in a business dominated by Italian mafia families and Richie is an honest cop.
In American Gangster, there is little dialogue, yet we follow a clear, intriguing story, with gun fire. In the hands of Ridley Scott, the film lingers on its subjects, has longer, sweeping shots, and a story with rich characters interspersed with and guiding the action from start to finish. American Gangster kept me at the edge of my seat, intrigued, frightened, curious, and most importantly, in suspense, without ever manipulating me.
5) Juno
Juno is a clever movie about a clever girl that acts stupidly. Ellen Page plays the title role of Juno, a smart, spunky, wise-cracking teenager who, curiously, has unprotected sex with her best friend, the geeky Bleeker (Michael Cera), and winds up pregnant. For no particularly logical reason, Juno decides against an abortion, intent upon carrying the foetus to term, which is why there’s a movie. Ignoring the somewhat unbelievable set-up, and the rather small disruption pregnancy seems to cause Juno, the film picks itself up to create a highly emotionally realistic character in Juno in offbeat but largely believable scenarios.
When Juno informs her parents of her recent pregnancy, after revealing the name of the father, her parents conclude, hilariously and insightfully, that they “know it wasn’t his idea”. Juno knows she does not want to keep the baby; about half the film is dedicated to the sterilized suburban husband-and-wife team she finds to take care of the baby once born. Juno befriends the husband: they bond and fight over music and movies. She also must grapple with her feelings for Bleeker, which keep creeping up on her, but not in the usual teen movie way. They are both too shy, scared, and immature to admit to their feelings, resorting instead to sarcasm, avoidance, and occasionally, hurtful behaviour. When Juno discovers Bleeker has asked someone else to prom, she reacts in a highly realistic manner that is unforced, and just right for her age.
Juno tells the story of realistic emotions in a totally unrealistic situation. But we can forgive the stupidity of the set-up because Ellen Page, as Juno, is so charming with biting little zingers and a great big, oh that cliché, heart. It’s not profound, but it’s a witty, fun movie that I could watch over and over and over again.
6) Sweeney Todd
Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd has a terrific cast that brings this dark, theatrical, bright red paint-like bloody, musical film to life in an almost perfect adaptation of the play, or as perfect as any adaptation of Sweeney Todd can be. Sweeney Todd is the story of Sweeney (Johnny Depp), the barber of Fleet Street, who returns to London after years of exile, to discover that his wife is dead and his beloved now-grown-up daughter is in the evil, paedophilic hands of her new guardian, Judge Turbin (Alan Rickman). Helena Bonham-Carter as Mrs Lovett and Johnny Depp as Sweeney make a perfect tag team with such presence, charm, detachment, and dry wit even while they are cutting the throats of the barber patrons and serving them up as meat pies.
The songs are well done, and Depp and Bonham-Carter sing well. Many of the songs tell stories of past events or dreams for the future. Tim Burton does a magnificent job of bringing these fantasies to life with dazzling visuals that are gorgeous, glamorous, and yet a little gritty, too. I was especially impressed by the song and scene between Depp and Carter when they begin plotting their plans for manufacturing human pies. They stand together looking through the window of their shop with such detachment, singing a cutting little ditty with such charm despite the gruesome nature of the topic.
Tim Burton does a magnificent job of creating this fantasy world from the sets, costumes, and props, to the long, moving shots, to the dank light, that is perfect in its dishevelled glory. There are a couple of scenes that don’t quite work, where the romance between the young couple seems over-the-top and forced, or when Sweeney is running around in the rain with blood on his hands, but this is easily overlooked. The young characters in the film have wonderful voices, though their acting is just okay. However, Rickman, Depp, Bonham-Carter and Timothy Spall give fantastic performances which make the film a completely worthwhile see. I smiled my way through most of the film, in awe with the visuals and delighted by the truly fantastic performances.
7) Encounters at the End of the World
In his latest exciting documentary, Encounters at the End of the World, which had its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Werner Herzog takes on Antarctica, the only continent he has yet to explore. Encounters tells the story of Herzog’s six-week trip to Antarctica, during which he stayed both in a main base camp, and travelled around the continent, including to the South Pole. The film gives us a glimpse of the eccentrics that gravitate to Antarctica and the fascinating research going on there, from the dynamic life of an iceberg, to life under the sea, to the study of volcanic activity.
Though the subject matter alone would make the movie a worthwhile see, Herzog’s eccentricities, his perspective, and his running yet unobtrusive commentary ground the film in a personal journey, without overtaking the subject matter as a lesser filmmaker, like Michael Moore, might do. Encounters is truly illuminating: it’s like a clever Discovery Channel movie that knows its audience well enough to both entertain and educate extremely well.
8 ) Jellyfish
Jellyfish is a beautiful Israeli film – in plot, structure, and exquisite cinematography – about directionless people, whose stories are superb and utterly engaging. There’s the newlywed couple who are about to embark on their honeymoon, but with one glitch: the bride broke her ankle climbing out of a bathroom stall when she found herself locked in. They have a miserable vacation, both of them having second thoughts though still hopelessly in love. They meet a woman, a writer, in the top floor suite, who, as the wife observes, must be a bored, rich, middle-aged woman, because she’s certainly not here simply to write: “Dostoyevsky could write anywhere”. Back home, there’s the waitress from the wedding, who meets a young, lost girl on the beach, who cannot speak and refuses to take off the lifesaver disc around her waist. She exists somewhere between fantasy and reality, and it’s never clear whether or not she’s real. And there’s a budding actress with a grouchy old miser of a mother who can’t get along with her new Philipino caretaker that doesn’t speak Hebrew. The actress plays Ophelia in the funniest production of Hamlet I’ve ever seen which seems to involve robotic characters.
Jellyfish won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2007 and this prestigious recognition is quite well-deserved. The images dance and meander like the characters, with a stunning colour scheme, that would be worth watching even if the plot weren’t as good as it is. Jellyfish is a meditative slice-of-life tale that amuses, but is simultaneously quite heartfelt. It has a few perfect moments of beauty or pure cleverness that make it extremely quotable despite the language barrier – it’s in Hebrew with English subtitles. Jellyfish is a sweet little tale of no great importance, but with some insight into human nature.
9) Starter for 10
Starter for 10 is a feel-good rom com, much like 1987’s Some Kind of Wonderful because it is cute, funny, and romantic, with a very strong performance by James McAvoy. Even though the plot meanders and the freshman college student appears to never have to attend class, do readings, write assignments or take finals, it’s cute, light fun with some good eye candy for both the sexes. Starter for 10 stars the great James McAvoy as the awkward intelligent but sometimes idiotic Brian who stupidly falls for the dumb blonde Alice (Alice Eve) who, with his help, undeservingly steals his position on the trivia team. He is, in the words of Betsey Trotwood ‘blind, blind, blind!’, too blind to see the much better alternative: the gorgeous, smart, sassy, embittered, and even attainable Rebecca (Rebecca Epstein).
It is James McAvoy’s performance which carries the weight of the film and places it on my top 10 list for 2007. I have watched Starter for 10 many times, and with each new viewing, I notice some new, clever nuance in McAvoy’s performance. Consider the scene when he tells his mother, and his mother’s new boy toy, Dez, that he will be on television as a contestant on University Challenge. Watch how he eagerly awaits his mother’s approval, while simultaneously politely dismissing Dez’s congratulations. McAvoy has such energy as an actor; he brings depth and charm to what could otherwise be your average clichéd goofy romantic hero. The script is also reasonably clever, if not a little overly optimistic, in the way that the characters interact with one another, with shyness, awkwardness, and sarcasm. This is not a great film, but the 1980s soundtrack, coupled with some interesting characters, and very, very strong performances, make Starter for 10 a romantic comedy, coming-of-age story that is sure to endure.
10) I’m Not There
Though by no means a great film, I’m Not There gets mention on this list because it captures the spirit of Bob Dylan, the visuals are exquisitely dazzling, and Cate Blanchett gives a truly fantastic performance. Six different actors and actresses play different versions or sides of Dylan, but rarely move beyond the superficial. I’m Not There is not about Bob Dylan. It’s about the idea of Bob Dylan. The Dylan-esque characters have very little dialogue and are mostly washed away in mythic visuals and the Dylan soundtrack. It is about how we, the fans, interact with Bob Dylan, with this ideal, this cultural figure. He is only what we see him to be, we never know what he thinks.
Cate Blanchett steals the show as the most Bob Dylan-esque Bob Dylan, capturing his essence physically and vocally, but with more depth than pure caricature. She, or rather he, since her character is male, speaks in riddles, afraid to say what he means, yet saying so much by refusing to be direct, and instead, talking around everything. Her story is told in stunning black-and-white, and it’s the most visually complex part of the film, reminiscent of the visuals from Fellini’s 8 ½. I’m Not There has little to say, and it drags at times, but Blanchett’s performance and the fabulous cinematography, earn it a place on my top 10 list for 2007.
This review was adapted from a review originally published in The Gargoyle, the University College undergraduate newspaper at the University of Toronto (the top 5). The review of Sweeney Todd is adapted from a review originally published in The Cannon, the newspaper of the undergraduate Engineering students at the University of Toronto.
This review was [adapted from a review] originally published in The Cannon, the newspaper of the University of Toronto Engineering Students Association.”
