Hello:
Pulled from every theater I went to in Boston, NY, Los Angeles and Honolulu! Thanks to the BUFF the IFFB for their individual line-ups that help stock some of the lists. Probably the best year for US cinema in many years. Feel free to comment on this list and to hear some of your picks. Curious as to what you think and no, I think Inglorious Basterds was vastly overrated and not on any of these lists. The top ten is in order.
XO Generoso
TOP TEN OF 2009
1) Tulpan DIR: Sergei Dvortsevoy/ Kazakhstan
Documentary filmmaker Sergei Dvortsevoy's first narrative feature is nothing short of an astonishing masterpiece. A sailor, Asa ( Askhat Kuchencherekov) has come to the Hunger Steppe region of Kazakhstan to become a sheepherder but must marry in order to fulfill this role so he sets his sights on the only maiden in the area, the title character Tulpan who is brilliantly kept off screen for most of the film. Asa's performance in the film is remarkable as are the performances of the other actors but it's their work in conjunction with the work of the animals in the film that makes this experience miraculous in it's execution.
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2) A Serious Man DIR: Joel and Ethan Coen/USA
The Coen Brothers decided to walk away from heaving just simple misery onto their characters, here they adapt the Job of the Old Testament into a middle class, mid western Physics professor named Larry Gopnik. Larry is given all of the misery one man can handle from his brutally terse wife to his irreverent children, to his best friend who is sleeping with his wife. Larry is not whiny or pitiful but trying his best to amend these situations with attorneys, conversation and spiritual guidance from his rabbis which fail him in a multitude of brutally comic methods. Needless to say, this film is dark and funny but not the Lebowski-esque laugh out loud funny. No, this is the kind of funny that make you gasp, cower and deeply breathe again before laughter can be created. Is Larry's punishment on this Earth and act of God? And act of man? Or just is he just Schrodinger's cat? Whatever, it's the kind of darkness we all need to see more of in comedy.
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3) Üç Maymun (Three Monkeys) DIR: Nuri Bilge Ceylan/Turkey
Ceylan may be the best director to utilize and blend environment, location and character since the late great Michaelangelo Antonioni. A large part of this credit goes to his daring cinematographer, Gokhan Tiryaki who has been does more with tone and framing than some of the most experienced cameramen using 35MM. The story, sparingly written by Nuri Bilge and Ebru Ceylan as well as newcomer Ercan Kesal is moral tale where all of the indiscretions occur off camera leaving you to determine their severity. A family (father, mother and son) have all been affected by the loss of the youngest in the family, who eerily invade their conscience. How they approach life and those who wrong them is what makes this film Ceylan's best yet.
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4) The Hurt Locker DIR: Kathryn Bigelow/USA
Bigelow has indeed created her best film here. Rarely is the focus of a war film so exceptionally centered around a single man, bomb technician Sgt. William James (played to perfection by Jeremy Renner), every aspect of this character is flushed out via a multitude of nail biting defusing and hostile situations. We know he is excellent at what he does and unfortunately we know there is no limit to the amount of adrenaline he needs pumping through his body on a daily basis. Both men under his command are forced to deal with his thirst for pushing the limits and they are not happy about this but this is Sgt. James' world. A film that achieves this level of tension and such meticulous understanding of a character is rare.
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5) Must Read After My Death DIR: Morgan Dews/USA
The struggle of a suburban American family is documented in hundreds of hours of audio recordings, letters done by the family themselves. Their infidelities, hatreds and failures are all there to be seen. Credit to Dews for the construction of these materials, as he is family, his personal knowledge of what went on allowed him to create a truly heartbreaking portrait. In some ways this is similar to the documentary "Tarnation" which was released back in 2004 except that the declarations made by the people seem even more natural and at the same time so horribly wrong.
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6) Bakjwi (Thirst) DIR: Park Chan-wook/Korea
In these days of bloodless vampire films you almost begin to fantasize too much when faced with a potential genre jolt from the always inventive and potentially hazardous direction of Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Sympathy For Mr. Vengence). His new film "Thirst" is exactly what we needed here. Park's creation of Sang-hyeon (superbly done by Kang-ho Song), a Roman Catholic priest who is the purest of souls provides an excellent source for the conversion to evil, in fact this conversion is due to blood he receives after being a guinea pig for an experimental drug that could cure a deadly virus, giving him the noblest of intent. Once Sang-hyeon becomes a vampire he does not automatically turn to evil suggesting more of a choice that he tries for himself. What Park does so well here is creating the connection between a priest's repression of carnal desire and the need to feed from unwilling people. His eventual obsession for the wife of a childhood friend who is currently being victimized herself provides the catalyst for his eventual evils. Dynamically shot as all of Park's films and with sensational performances as well, this is equal to the director's finest work.
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7) Bronson DIR: Nicolas Winging Refn /UK
A sensational, stylistic biopic of England's most notorious criminal, Michael Peterson (aka Charles Bronson)..Well, maybe not most notorious...One can draw amazing parallels between Charles Bronson and another very notorious English gangster, the late Reggie Kray. As depicted in "The Krays" Peter Medak's highly underrated 80s films about vicious nightclub owner/gangster brothers, Ronnie and Reggie Kray, the latter brother Reggie too is near and dear to his mother (read: momma's boy), is oddly sensitive to homosexuals, and tries to maintain some sort of "normal" life while committing acts of ruthless violence. Most importantly though, unlike Reggie's need for cash is "Bronson's" usual motive for violence... fame. For this fame Bronson attaches a desire for grand spectacle in each beating to add to his notoriety and "empire' and these beating are as brilliant as one can depict on screen. We understand his background and it is not a labored process, no apologies here from director Nicolas Winding Refn on behalf of Bronson, it's all about the grand spectacle. Tom Hardy's performance is something rare, vicious and charming and so compelling. One can only imagine what the real Bronson thinks of this film and if anyone will "pay" for a misstep.
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8) Julia DIR: Erick Zonca/USA/France
Erick Zonca has not made a narrative film since 1999's "Dreamlife of Angels"...His new film "Julia" feels like a film that compiles ten years of his best ideas which in this case is a very good thing. Much can and should be said about Tilda Swinton's performance in the title role, she is nasty, desperate and like Zonca, Swinton seems to have been waiting a long time to deliver a performance as varied and as powerful as the one given here. Think of this film as an exaggerated version of the Dardenne Brother's noir effort from earlier this year, "Lorna Silence" a tale of a desperate woman willing to commit crime to survive, . Both films contain astute performances from the title character but so much about "Lorna's Silence" is the small gestures, emotions and choices that one makes with their back against the wall. Now apply the urban ethic of Cassavettes "Gloria" and you have "Julia". A rough, vulgar and all so rewarding film that hits you with a sledgehammer. This had a too short run here in Boston, see it quickly wherever you are.
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9) 35 Rhums (35 Shots of Rum) DIR: Claire Denis/France
Denis' newest can been seen as an homage to Ozu with it's so loving portrayal of a father and a daughter's relationship. Here Denis sets her non-dysfunctional family in a Parisian apartment complex where the pieces of the family's past take shape in the form of current residents. Denis allows the story to progress at a smooth pace never forcing the drama and in turn allows you to see all of the character's motives behind their decisions. Easily the best film Denis has done since 2002's "Friday Night".
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10) Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans DIR: Werner Herzog/USA
A hooker, coke and heroin infused post Katrina New Orleans crime freak show with Nicolas Cage embodying the spirit of Abel Ferrera's classic tale of a corrupt cop trying to make it all better through the vices that own his life. Here Werner Herzog (?) has let it all go, structure, plot, decency and gave the run of the joint to Cage who is at his best as a man without sense or even a remote idea of normal behavior for a police officer. So very entertaining is Cage's performance I had to remind myself if there were any other actors in this film, there are kind of... Eva Mendes plays a very attractive prostitute who is an even match for Cage in the vice department and Val Kilmer kind of shows up in a couple of scenes to have no real motivation at all. Stereotype abound and this makes N.O. look as close to hell on earth as anyplace could. Does this sound like a mess? It is, but it reminds me of how uptight most crime dramas are these days and if you stop being upright for a minute, how one diseased overacting cop can change it all!
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SUPPLEMENTAL LIST: (NOT TOP TEN BUT QUITE CLOSE)
We Live in Public – DIR: Ondi Timoner/USA
An almost too slick documentary bio on internet pioneer, Josh Harris, the visionary founder of the internet television station, Pseudo, and creator of "Quiet", an Orwellian style art project in which 100 people were sequestered in pods in a Manhattan building only to be interrogated and around the clock filmed. "Quiet" was created in 1999 and we are to gather that director Ondi Timoner was either an inmate or a director during the 30 days of the project's existence. Due to this we assume, director Timoner has a personal relationship of some sort with Harris which allowed her access to his life in a very intimate way. Regardless of this relationship, this is an amazing story which is told through a myriad of eye candy techniques that seem a bit unnecessary but do not overtake the essential ideas. What remains is a portrait of man who grew up relating only to technology and his subsequent need to funnel life through the technology that he created.
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Le Silence de Lorna (Lorna's Silence) DIR: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne/BELGIUM
The Dardenne brothers have created a neo film noir that uses many of the elements of their trademark realist style to push a classic noir plot into a direction that so few films in that genre are able to do. Lorna (Arta Dobroshi) is in way over her head both physically and emotionally by agreeing to marry a hapless junkie named Claudy (well played by Dardenne Brother regular Jeremie Renier) to get her Belgian citizenship only to then divorce and marry a Russian for the same reason, all of this funded by desperate low level mobsters. The Dardennes do not create Lorna as the classic femme fatale, she has emotions and although early on her resolve is to do whatever is necessary, this resolve breaks down and creates an amazing character who is never allowed to let her guard down for even a second. She is constantly being put upon throughout the film and it's this pressure that allows us to see Lorna for who she really is.
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An Education DIR: Lone Scherfig/UK
Let's get this out of the way...Carey Muligan is a brilliant young talent. She is this film's central strength and does the most with her role. The casting in fact is also noteworthy, from Peter Sarsgaard's as the unscrupulous David, to Alfred Molina's overbearing father, to Emma Thomspon as the head mistress of the school. "An Education' is an acting showcase. The story is cliche in some ways but from a female perspective and social context it is a story that is so missed in the films today. Carey Mulligan's "Jenny" is faced with short options that in 1960s England were dim to say the least for a woman and the script bears out that struggle well. The style of the film is a bit on the flash which is odd coming from Lone Scherfig, part of the Danish Dogma movement (Italian For Beginners) . The editing method is a bit on the quick side which kills the emotion in a few key scenes but that is a small dent in an otherwise impressive collection of actors.
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Beeswax DIR: Andrew Bujalski/USA
Another small gem from Boston director Andrew Bujalski, who seems to be in a small minority of contemporary filmmakers who understand how the people of this current generation interact with one another. Much can also be said about the performance of director Alex Karpovsky who plays off the textured performances by twin sisters Maggie and Tilly Hatcher. The progression of the story and the acting flow naturally which works well with this kind of storytelling. So much happens here and none of it seems forced.
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The Girlfriend Experience DIR: Steven Soderbergh/USA
Soderbergh is not the first director to link the economy with the world's oldest profession but the non-linear narrative structure that Soderbergh comes up with here is quite interesting and makes the film infinitely watchable. Real life porn star Sasha Grey plays Chelsea who provides the title's service. Her relationship with her clients is actually more escort than streetwalker, providing supportive conversation, arm candy and in many cases not even sex. They (the clients) are looking for the boyfriend experience which is needed as the film's progress is in line with with the collapsing economy, Chelsea providing the ear for their frightened economic theories while she seeks out ways to improve her status as an upscale escort. Soderbergh wisely uses Chelsea's relationship with Chris, her live-in boyfriend who doesn't mind his girlfriend's profession as long as it's short and detached as a means to see her emotional structure more clearly away from the job. Her professionalism though is compromised by two emotional slips, one of choice and one of reaction to a caustic review that gives us great insight into Chelsea's true being. It is an interesting view of pre-election 2008 in relation to this life and choices.
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Stingray Sam DIR: Corey McAbee/USA
Someone has to give Corey McAbee the funding to make more than one film every nine years! Stingray Sam is a another unique and completely entertaining science fiction western musical comedy done in short segments as the Flash Gordon serials were...Here you follow Stingray and the Quasar Kid as scam their way in finding and rescuing a young girl (played to wide-eyed perfection by Willa Vy McAbee, daughter of Corey) and to bring her back to her father. Each segment features a song by McAbee's band American Astronaut and the songs do not disappoint. This is truly "event" filmmaking which I would gladly see anytime. I want more Stingray Sam!
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Il Divo DIR: Paolo Sorrentino/Italy
Paolo Sorrentino's stylized and unique biopic on Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti excels due to it's uncannily restrained performance by Toni Servillo in the title role. As the viewer you watch in amazement as Andreotti sidesteps every scandal with his carefully chosen words and controlled expressions. The same words that define his relationship with his wife and God as we gain greater insight into his motivations. A stunning work.
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Antichrist DIR: Lars Von Trier/Denmark
"He" (Willam Dafoe) and "She" (Charlotte Gainsbourg) begin the film with and act of love which is immediately challenged by the accidental death of their young son. "He" is a therapist, emotionally dead and brutally controlling and "She", overwhelmed by grief has studied witchcraft and those studies may have drawn her to the conclusion that woman and their ability to produce offspring are inherently evil. They descend to Eden, a cabin deep in the forest where her fear is confronted, his controls is exerted and where evil is brought out. It is not a surprise that by the end of this film there is a dedication to Tarkovsky, as so many elements of his film making, especially that of Andrei Rublev, come into play here both in visual style and detached dialog. The epilogue scene in and of itself seems pulled from Takovsky's Rublev giving a nod to imbalance against the natural world. Their child is dead by fate and the only culprit they both feel is the mother. Much will be made of the sadomasochism in this film, which at times is tough to take, but is necessary to illustrate the contempt both characters have for the evil they feel is inherent in women.
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Aruitemo Aruitemo (Still Walking) DIR: Hirokazo Kore-Eda/Japan
Hirokazo Kore-Eda delicate non-melodramatic take on a family, who after 12 years is still coming to grips with the death of their eldest son, who died while rescuing a young boy from drowning. Kore-Eda carefully observes this family as the gather for one day on the anniversary of the accident. Death is a familiar subject to the director as he has studied loss in his previous films, "Maborosi" and" After Life". There are no large dramatic outbursts here, only the small regrets, sometimes voiced, mostly seen through facial expression and gesture. A well acted and at times surprising candid film about an family that may never fully mend.
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THE WORST OF THE YEAR BY FAR (EITHER DRAGGED TO SEE THIS ON A DATE OR JUST A REALLY BAD ERROR IN JUDGEMENT)
Kimjongilia DIR: NC Helkin/USA
A painfully short-sighted account of the current North Korea as done by American director NC Helkin. Accounts of the wretched state of the dictatorship are given by North Korean refugees in heartfelt testimony but the factual basis of the claims made seems thrown together here. All of the scenes of genuine human suffering are thematically pulled together with the help of interpretive dance which I found inappropriate. A more factual film with less concern about visual entertainment would've been a better treatment of the subject matter.
I Love You, Man DIR: John Hamburg/USA
Easily one of the most dreadful experiences I have had in a movie theater in some time. I usually find Jason Segal and Paul Rudd funny but this tired sort-of remake of a fairly mediocre Patrice Laconte film, "Mon Meilleur Ami" is a pure waste of time. In the Laconte film the main character's lack of friends is due to his fanatical devotion to work and his interests involving art. As we are in the USA, "I Love You Man's" hero is friendless due to his feminine nature and desire to please his woman. Add in some old gay jokes, projectile vomiting, fart jokes and an appearance by the band Rush and you have a very unfunny waste of time.
(500) Days of Summer DIR: Marc Webb/USA
Earlier last week I watched Pasolini's 120 Days of Sodom, a film complete with some of the most mind numbing displays of sexual perversity and physical torture. That compared to "500 Days of Summer" is really a feel good joyride I would take again. "500 Days of Summer" represents a new age of "whine as you go" comedies for this generation (Away We Go and Nick and Norah fit well here). These are films in which characters hope that they are given things solely on their ability to constantly whine and complain about their dreams only to achieve them due to their entitlement. In "500 of Sodom, I mean Summer" the main character who is bereft of any humor, drive or backbone for that matter, whines about not having the girl, then when he gets her he whines about the status of their relationship which sets you up for the eventual whine about losing her. All of this is done in a "inventive" way of mixing up their 500 day relationship in a non-linear narrative (done before) so we don't believe that we are getting the same whine around that we have recently been getting in droves. The half a star I give the film is for Zooey's eyes which are quite sparkly.
Gentlemen Broncos DIR: Jared Hess/USA
So, without being too negative and to not give away too much of the storyline let me please sum up "Gentlemen Broncos"...Imagine if you will a third generation script of Wes Anderson's is found in a subway toilet by a drunken, amyl nitrate influenced Todd Solondz and Harmony Korine. After getting beaten up by slightly less intoxicated cops, the pair decide to re-write the script in the back of circa 1977 leather bar that only plays one-hit wonders of the early 1970s as a theme that evening. When they leave the bar at 4AM, they run into a even more intoxicated Michel Gondry who has glued his hand to a Lego penis he just made for a video of a Daft Punk song he already made a video for ten years earlier. Gondry then decides to shoot the script while watching the DVD of "Be Kind Rewind" in slow motion. Though that may sound appealing, it's really not, not at all. The one star goes to Jemaine Clement who does the most with the nothing character of a jerk science fiction writer. And even the most ardent Farrelly Brothers fan will be in awe and then bored of the multitude of bodily fluids and breast jokes being thrown around this movie. Edited down as quickly as one would do when handed such a disaster, this may go down as the worst film of this decade.
REDISCOVERED TREASURES (HAVEN’T SEEN THEM IN YEARS BUT WAS BLOWN AWAY BY THEM AGAIN)
Straight Time DIR: Ulu Grosbard/USA
It's been said that Hoffman who produced and co-directed (not credited) Straight Time was not happy with the final results which is a shame as some of his (Hoffman's) finest work is on display here. Hoffman cast much of this film which is a veritable who's who soon to be legendary actors, Theresa Russel, Harry Dean Stanton, Kathy Bates..All of whom turn in brilliant textured performances. Hoffman's performance is at his usual best but the character Max Dembo has flaws in his actions, he is set up to be much smarter than his actions would indicate and that is a huge problem within this film. A criminal's human weaknesses are excepted behavior (as in Elmore Leonard's novels they are essential to the character) but here bad judgments are consistently being made by Dembo and that contradicts his intelligence. This weighs down the plot and leaves too many holes in the storyline. All that said this is a rare glimpse into some of the finest acting of it's era and should be sought out.
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Trans-Europ-Express DIR: Alain Robbe-Grillet/FRANCE/BELGIUM
Robbe-Grillet has always been a unique storyteller...From the bizarre horror script he wrote for Renais' Last Year and Marienbad to L' Imortelle, he has always found new ways to to play with the structure of film narrative. "Trans-Europ Express" follows that innovative tradition in his narratives. Jean-Louis Trintignant plays both himself and his alter-ego smuggler in the film whose moment by moment actions are being written during filming by the director and screenwriters who are on the very same train he (Trintignant)is riding. The progression of the images and over-narration is also unique and highly entertaining. An amazing film experience.
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When Generoso is not sitting in uncomfortable movie theater seats or cooking delicious Italian cuisine, he can be found booking and promoting experimental music and film around MIT, or heard on their radio station, where his "Bovine Ska and Rocksteady" is a true institution in broadcasting Jamaica's best 60s imports.
Check it out in the greater Boston area on WMBR 88.1 or anywhere in the world at http://wmbr.org
Here's wishing him a speedy recovery from his recent surgery, and here's a picture of him and I crushing poor Sarah:
