My favorite films of 2010 (Part One)

I needed a place to rant and ramble about movies I watch. I wanted to start blogging. What better way than to start blogging about my favorite films of the past year. 2010, that is.

Now I use the word favorite and not the word "best" because it is anyway what "I" think is best not what actually IS the best. Whatever I think is best inadvertently becomes my preference, my opinion. One question that has bothered me for long now is who decides BEST anyway? Objectivity when it comes to films or any form of art is completely futile. A collective opinion, either an awards body or an audience (read box office) may decide what is best and worst. Not me. I can only tell you what I enjoyed, what appealed to me the most/ least. Ironically enough, this also is a mere opinion of mine which you could completely disagree with. Albeit, I would like you to read on.

I decided to break this into categories (just so that I can include more and more films and not just do one Top Ten sort of a thing). The categories are thus: English, Indian, Foreign, Animated, Documentaries and one for all the bad ones. (English also is a foreign language for us but in my defense - 1. The English colonized our country 2. I want to include more movies)

Here I go.

TOP TEN FILMS OF 2010 (ENGLISH)

1. 

Christopher Nolan's masterpiece. This picture combines almost everything I want to see when I enter the theater. An original, awe-inspiring, daring, entertaining, genre-bending masterpiece. Hans Zimmer's music is one of the best film scores ever created. The last half hour is most riveting final moments you will see all year at the movies. The thing that makes Inception a great film is the yearning Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) has to return home. It's what we all want. Everyday. Subconsciously, home is real. It is the most real place on this planet. (Ask E.T. or Dorothy if you don't believe me)

Detailed review already published here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=428951644500

2.  

If my idiosyncrasies did not come in the way, this film would have topped this list. Clint Eastwood once said "Direct every scene like it's the most important scene in the film". In very few movies, it shows. Rarely do all departments of film come together so coherently to tell the story in the only and the best way possible. This miracle happens here.

Is it a Facebook movie? Does it say anything about the way we communicate in this century? Is it a movie of "our time"? 

No. 

Is it a movie about the person who created Facebook? Is it the classic story of one man's rise to power? Is it a movie for "all times"?

Yes.

 If I have to chose the "best" picture of the year, it is this. Don't quote me on this. Quote the movie, bitch.

3.  

 Darren Aronofsky caught my attention when he made The Fountain in 2006. That film of his is one of my favorite films of all time. Black Swan is a worthy film in Aronofsky's cannon. Taking a leaf out of the The Red Shoes (1948), wherein the story of the ballet becomes the story of the ballerina in reality, and combining it with Polanksi's psychological horror trilogy - Repulsion (1965), Rosemary's Baby (1968) and The Tenant (1976).

Aronofsky creates an experience which is visceral, cerebral, psychological and even physical. I could feel my gut knotted up by the end of the movie. Natalie Portman has outdone herself. Easily the best female performance since Charlize Theron in Monster. I love the fact that the camera literally follows Natalie Portman. This "Stalker-cam" doesn't even leave her when she is performing on stage. We are never the audience, we never watch the ballet from afar. We are always with her, in her mind. Man, that's scary.

To quote the great Michael Powell, the director of The Red Shoes (1948) (which you must watch, there would be no Black Swan if this movie didn't exist)

"For ten years we had all been told to go out and die for freedom and democracy; but now the war was over. The Red Shoes told us to go out and die for art."

Die for art, they did.

4.

 

Who says remakes are bad? Joel and Ethan Coen are probably the only filmmakers who can prove the opposite. It takes something to remake a movie which is considered an iconic Western and boasts the only Oscar-winning John Wayne performance. Not just remake it but make it better. That something is called talent.

This epic story of a girl's journey to avenge her father's death is retold with the psychological underpinnings that were missing in the original film. The most wonderful addition is Mattie's (Hailee Steinfeld) relationship with LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) which forms the heart of the film. The ending of this one is more befitting than the sappy excuse in the original. Roger Deakins (perhaps the best cinematographer working today) reinvents the images of the Ol' West typified by the likes of John Ford and Howard Hawks. The genre of the Western is back. Truly. (Can Mr. Tarantino make a Western now, please?)

5.

 

There are many similarities between Shutter Island and Inception. No, not the fact that it's got Leo DiCaprio. But you know, the dead wife. The protagonist's incapacity to differ between reality and fantasy. The maze. Yeah all of that deep stuff.

The difference? Martin Scorsese. You may think Inception is hard to follow, more complex but it is actually this one. This is more of an art film, Inception being more of an entertainer. More commercial. This one has sadly got little awards traction when it is Scorsese's most accomplished effort since Casino (1995).

What makes this great and one of my favorite Scorsese films? Yes yes, the Hitchcock homages, the Jack Tourner touches are a definite drool-inducer for me. But the thing that truly sets this apart is the "Unreliable camera" device. I'm sure you've heard of "unreliable narrator" device before, in literature, even in movies. (The Usual Suspects comes to mind). But I'm talking about the camera showing us things which was probably false. Probably the whole film. Simply put, the master is still at the top of his game.

6.

 Hereafter begins with a terrifying opening sequence. We forget that global tragedies is made up of hundreds of thousands of personal tragedies. Eastwood is more interested in telling a story about fate and loss than about revealing the mysteries of the hereafter. The hereafter here is not the afterlife but the aftermath of a tragedy. It is more about life than about death. This is one of Eastwood's most bleak yet surprisingly optimistic films. 


A poignant and profoundly moving film experience. One that lingers with you long after the film is over. 

Click here for full review.

7. 

Ryan Gosling is probably the greatest actor of our generation. I was in awe of him when I saw him perform in Lars and the Real Girl (2007). That performance made me fall in love with this actor. There is no other actor who I can watch and keep watching like him. Last time this happened to me was with Robert De Niro. Apart from this actor turning in another great performance (Seriously, no Oscar nomination!? Seriously?). The film is a heartbreaker.

(Spoiler ahead)

The thing that makes this movie a devastating watch is that it doesn't give any reason, any logic as to why their marriage broke. Just like there is no reason why they fell in love. (It just happens, right?) Ergo, it becomes everybody's love story. Everybody's relationship which begins happy and ultimately (read inevitably) falls apart. This falling apart is so delicately handled in this beautiful debut by Derek Cianfrance that my tear ducts decided to cease control from my brain.

Also, isn't that title just so beautiful? Blue Valentine.

8.

 

Sofia Coppola gallantly returning from the battle of a big budget film finds home ground again. This is similar territory, the Sofia Coppola we loved in Lost in Translation (2003). The hotel, the actor, the loneliness, the ennui, the failure to communicate, the pole dancers, the press conferences, it's all here! The protagonist in this film is what Bill Murray from Lost in Translation would have been, if he was working in Hollywood today. This one is even more sparse than Lost in Translation, in terms of plot. Hardly one here. Not much is said here. The dialogue is minimal. Lesser than even what is required. But as captivating and marvelous.

We've seen movies about actors. (Or than horrendously narcissistic TV show) They all show how the glamorous life is the good life. Sofia doesn't think so. Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff in an underrated performance) is at that point in life where his life is meaningless. There is no glorification of the Hollywood lifestyle here. In fact, we hear him saying "I'm not even a person". The perks that Hollywood stars receive are all distractions for him to confront himself. Since he himself realizes he is no demi-god (a delusion most actors live in, no offense), when he breaks down in the end, it doesn't seem like a cliché. His self-image is deduced to that of a human being and we do empathize. We may not be followed by paparazzi everyday but we know what meaninglessness is. We have all felt it. It is aptly titled as well. We live our lives mainly thinking we are going somewhere but are we really going anywhere?

9.

 

By now, it is safe to say that every Mike Leigh film is special. With Mike Leigh you have the usual suspects like – conversations, soirees and violins. Another Year is a film which deserves multiple viewings. It is funny and it is painfully sad. Just like an Eric Rohmer film.

Lesley Manville plays Mary. She joins the ranks of Brenda Blythn (Secrets & Lies), Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake) and Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky) as the enigmatic, alluring women that Mike Leigh creates. Since Kieslowski, we haven’t seen a single director work with women so well.

At the start, it seems like a story of a couple who is perfectly happy and their soirees and gatherings (both happy and sad) and the people they meet. Except its not. Its about Mary. This is her story. Tom and Gerri (Yes they are called that, they joke about it too.. nice people) serve as a backdrop, not in the stereotypical sense though, they are pretty much a part of the story. 

We see Mary, desperate, 40-something, in love with Tom and Gerri’s son. She covets their happiness, she wants what they have. We don't see her at her home, her personal life. The purpose is clear, Leigh wants us to compare her and her actions within the social construct. The shot of Mary at the table, looking blankly, sinking inside, is etched in my mind since I’ve seen the film. This film in its essence talks about happiness and unhappiness. At the end, I felt so awfully sad for Mary that I wanted to know how her next year went. Will it be another year that just went by and she didn't find love? She didn't find happiness? Mike Leigh's tale is about people like her who confuse the two.

10. 

 Growing up is not all fun and games. Oddly enough vampires freeze in time and don't age at all. Seems like the mythology of vampires is the perfect milieu for a coming of age story. Move over, Peter Pan. 

This is the horror film of the year. The scares come from the atmosphere created by the dim and cold lighting. The characters and their actions. Not by a sound effect or a shocking incident. Matt Reeve's sophomore effort after the awesome Cloverfield (2008) surely does not disappoint. I loved the Swedish vampire film Let The Right One In (2008) but I liked this English-language remake a tad bit more. It had more emotional depth for me. The love story worked. The acting talents of the lead pair also helped. Chloe Moretz is an actress to watch out for. 

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

MONSTERS: It's finally here. The low budget alien invasion movie is finally here. The closing shot of the movie made me gasp.

THE TOWN: The other awesome heist movie of the year. Ben Affleck handles his second directorial outing with competence.

127 HOURS: The final moments of this film are pure movie magic. Lifted it from being a good movie to a very very good one.

THE GHOST WRITER: The Chinatown-ish ending and the Hitchcockian suspense Polanski creates is enough to watch this film. Another master showing everyone how it's done.

FLIPPED: It almost seemed like the innocence from love stories had vanished. Madeline Carroll's performance is too good to go unnoticed.

KICK-ASS: This is one superhero movie that should have been made by now. Now it is. The movie itself is pretty much kickass.

NEVER LET ME GO: Delicate, sublime and romantic. Totally overlooked.Great performances by Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan.

SCOTT PILGRIM vs. THE WORLD: A movie about a guy who has to defeat his girlfriend's seven evil ex-boyfriends? Is that cool or is that cool?

ALICE IN WONDERLAND: Tim Burton brings out the all the weirdness from Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland in her second trip to Um.. Underland.

PLEASE GIVE: A Woody Allen-esque, surprisngly heartfelt film.

GREENBERG: Greta Gerwig took me by surprise. Ben Stiller is one of my favorite comedians. Watching him do a movie like this was fascinating. He excels.

THE AMERICAN: George Clooney in a Le Samourai-ish film? I dig!

ANIMAL KINGDOM: In a jungle, only one lion is king. One of the best gangster films of recent years. Jacki Weaver gave me the chills.

EASY A: Hilarious! Emma Stone's star making turn. The best comedy of the year. Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson are the best parents ever!

ENTER THE VOID: The first 30 minutes of this film is sheer genius. I couldn't believe this was possible to do with film. It features the best opening credits sequence of the year.

Part Two. Tomorrow.