Under the best of circumstances, a ‘best of the year’ list is an arbitrary and somewhat silly way to sum up a film-going year. It makes even less sense to do one outside of a major city in the US, as many films that are technically from one year won’t be seen in other places for several weeks at least. In lieu of making a list I’d find sorely lacking upon seeing some of the films I either haven’t had a chance to see or have not yet been released here (I am particularly looking forward to Never Let Me Go, Let Me In, True Grit, The King’s Speech, and Black Swan), here are some films and moments I took note of this year:
Most overrated film of the year:
It would be easy to go with The Social Network, which is annoyingly tagged as great…but at least that is a good movie (it would win for most overrated score, though, with its banal and pseudo-deep empty score). The same cannot be said of The Kids are All Right– a clichéd, borderline offensive film made from a weak sitcom script, posing as a good film through the prestige and talent of its actors. Its two likable main actors are tasked with breathing life into boring stereotypes, and the most interesting character is tossed out for being too interesting and problematic for this simplistic story.
Film I most misjudged upon initial viewing:
Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island – Warning: Spoilers ahead. Not all of my problems dissipated with a second viewing (the Holocaust imagery still felt crass), but it is the only film I’ve experienced where its twist changed the genre of the story. From a somewhat gothic horror-thriller film with a twist ending to a painful emotional journey. The first time around everyone is slightly creepy- the second time, you realize that almost all of them are trying to help our hero. There is also a striking amount of overlap between this film and Inception – both films involve constructed narratives, and the notion of a fake catharsis solving a real conflict.
Film that gets both better and worse the more you think about it:
Christopher Nolan’s Inception. As time goes by, the film makes less and less sense, and its literal mindedness draws attention to faulty logic. On the other hand, its ideas about creating genuine emotion and healing through a bit of trickery – a lie, a dream, a movie – are interesting, perhaps even radical. The ending of this film shows a main character that no longer cares about whether what he’s seeing is real, as long as it serves his purposes.
Israeli film of the year:
Infiltration. Not only is it the best, but it is also the most Israeli film of the year. Patriotic and guilt-ridden, genuine and sardonic, optimistic and cynical…Dover Kosashvilli provided the richest and most ambitious narrative Israeli film in recent years.
Favorite film I was not looking forward to at all:
Adam McKay’s The Other Guys. This film looks particularly good with a dearth of good comedies, but even if it were one of many, this is a funny, witty movie that even manages to be a little bit subversive. Mark Wahlberg shows a knack for understated comedy, and Will Ferrell drop the ridiculously confident a-hole act for a quieter, more relatable cop with an extremely attractive wife. It drags a bit towards the end, but this was the most pleasant comedy of the year for me.
3D still sucks:
Not only does it make boring and unimaginative movies dark and ugly to boot (Alice in Wonderland being a prime example), but it makes movies that are pretty good (if redundant and repetitive) like Toy Story 3 far uglier and less memorable than they should be. The technology isn’t there yet – 3D should only be used when it has an actual purpose beyond adding to the ‘awesome’ factor and ticket price (In retrospect, it’s something of a miracle that Inception wasn’t burdened with a fake 3rd dimension). It is telling that it is more effective and integral in a movie that is essentially a ride, like Tron than to any real movie with real ideas and characters and vision.
Worst studio film of the year:
Iron Man 2. It’s every bit as square and clueless and commercially driven as any other big summer action film, except it tries to suck up to audiences by the lie that it is fun for those who like cool things.
Most stimulating enigmatic film of the year:
Bruno Domont’s Hadewijch. It is a film about bad religion, about how religious fanaticism is the same whether Christian or Muslim, yet is not a simple anti-religious diatribe. A multi-faceted work with an ending that is infuriating on a literal level yet completely sensible, acknowledging that a story can have more than one ending, and that both can be inevitable and crucial.
Most ponderous and tiresome enigmatic film of the year:
Womb. A travesty- an utterly outrageous premise unconvincingly explored. It treats incest as a cool thing to make a movie about, when it has absolutely nothing philosophical to say; the only ideas to take away from this film are depressingly literal and very silly. It has meaningless pretty shots that are supposed to imply some sort of existential pondering, but come off as filler between one ridiculous scene and the next.
Most striking opening shot:
Our main character dancing by herself in a field in Bong Joon-Ho’s Mother, a dance that will be repeated to devastating effect.
Most thrilling single shot:
Although the final shot of the film is an absolute gem, nothing thrilled me in the theater as much as a note passed through a crowd to Alexandre Desplat’s conspiratorial score in Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer.
Best film from 2010 that is technically from 2009:
Jaques Audiard’s Un Prophète. No narrative captured my imagination more fully than this film’s, and no main character made as much of an impact. His path, from good to bad is powerfully rendered (few deaths on film this year have been as harrowing as the first one in this film), and shows a man who freely compromises his soul, and can live with that fact.
Reasons to be optimistic for 2011:
New films by Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Terence Mallick, David Cronenberg, Michel Gondry, Brad Bird, Kenneth Branagh, Gus van Sant and David Fincher.
SHLOMO PORATH
