2008 was a mediocre year for cinema, but it did have a greater than average number of fine political dramas (such as “Milk,” “Frost Nixon,” and “W”), documentaries (“Encounters at the End of the World,” “ Body of War,” “Standard Operating Procedure,” and “Constantine’s Sword”) , horror films (“Let the Right One In,” “George Romero’s Diary of the Dead,” “Mother of Tears,” and “Teeth”) as well as French imports (“The Class,” ”Girl Cut in Two,” and “Tell No One”). Some of the films that were pushed for the Oscars (such as “The Reader,” “Revolutionary Road,” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) are just high profile snoozefests. The blockbusters (with a few exceptions such as “The Dark Knight,” “Ironman,” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) were more expensive, subliterate, and unwatchable than ever. Remember this is the year that “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” topped the box office reports for several weeks. Does any one need more evidence of cultural decline?
But the news is not all bad. Gus Van Sant had an astoundingly good year, and he had two films in my top five (both of them far better than his smarmy, Oscar winning “Good Will Hunting”). It remains to be seem if his monumental cinematic achievements will translate into awards (Oscar people take note), but frankly I have my doubts. I don’t ever remember a director having such a good year since Steve Soderbergh did both “Erin Brockovich” and “Traffic” in 2000. Sodenberg’s new film “Che” had many good moments, but not enough to justify the four hours plus running time. But it did seem shorter than any Austin Powers film.
Overall 2008 was a much weaker year for film than 2007, and I don’t think “The Dark Knight” and “The Duchess” would have made my top 10 in most years. Unfortunately, I was not able to see the newest film by one of my favorite film makers: Guy Maddin (“My Winnipeg”), as well as “Waltz with Bashir,” “Silent Light,” or Eric Rohmer’s Les Amours d’Astrée et de Céladon, so there may be a few holes to fill in the list. Now, without further adieu here’s my top 20 list (in order of quality), and a dozen honorable mentions. I have a weakness for fright films, so four horror films tied for the number 11 spot.
1. The Class-Compelling and timely French film focuses upon a multi cultural clashes in a class in a modern Parisian high school. Unlike many other high school films (such as “Dead Poets Society” and “Dangerous Minds”) most of the film takes place in the confines of a single class room. This is hands down the best film I have ever seen about education, and most other school films seem phony, dated or contrived in comparison. It was based on a novel written by an instructor, and the main character was played by a teacher. It heavily improvised and shot on a cinema verite style which adds to the gritty atmosphere of realism. In French with English sub-titles.
2. Paranoid Park-Gus Van Sant’s hypnotic, non-linear film about a murder in a skate boarding community is the one of the year’s most visually interesting and intellectually challenging films. This may be the”L’ Avventura “ of this year. Nothing much happens, but rarely has nothing represented something so well.
3. Rachel Getting Married-Anne Hathaway gives one of the year’s richest, most multi layered performances as an unstable woman who has just gotten out of drug rehab. Her whole family is worried that she will ruin her sister’s wedding, and her/love hate relationship with her sister is beautifully developed. The situation is not helped when she accurately (in one of the film’s best moments) announces: “I am Shiva the destroyer” during a wedding toast. This film also includes a fine cameo by Debra Winger- who deserves consideration for best supporting actress for a gripping but brief verbal confrontation scene. This is director Jonathan (“Melvin and Howard”) Demme’s best film in decades, and it had a greater emotional impact on me than any other recent film. The glorious after wedding party (including performances by Robyn Hitchcock) has to be seen to be believed.
4. Milk-Sean Penn completely transforms himself for a triumphant role as a great gay civil rights leader, Harvey Milk. This film is just as impressive as Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X,” and it is more inspiring than any other recent bio pic. It’s not just a story about a great civil rights figure it’s the story of a whole movement. And with recent developments in California law, this film is more relevant than ever.
5. Encounters at the End of the World-Werner Herzog’s cool, idiosyncratic documentary about Antarctica offers more dazzling scenes of natural beauty than any other film this year, and it also has an important environmental message. Where else can you find out about how to build an igloo or insanity in the penguin population? This would make a great double bill with Herzog’s previous “Grizzly Man.” The DVD package contains a fascinating discussion between Herzog and Jonathan Demme which is almost as good as the film.
6. The Visitor-A professor mourning his wife’s death accidently meets a young immigrant couple, and they help him reconnect with his emotions. The sweetest, most humanistic film of the year gets better every time you see it, and the Afro pop giant Fela Kuti’s music is used well on the soundtrack.
7. I Served the King of England-Amusing Chaplinesque Czech film about a man who survives Nazi and Communist rule without becoming politically committed. He wants to get rich above everything, and finds out that getting what you ask for could ruin your life. The comeback film by the Czech New Wave icon Jiri Menzel adeptly juggles broad, physical comedy and drama. It delivers on every level. In Czech with English sub-titles.
8. Constantine’s Sword-Enlightening and infuriating documentary about the history of religious bigotry was so potent that I had to rush right out, and read the sprawling 600 plus page source text.
9. The Duchess-Keira Knightly (in her best ever role) gives a heart wrenching performance as an aristocratic woman who marries the richest philanderer in England. She is trapped in a loveless marriage and imprisoned by societal limitations for women. The parallels with the late Princess Diana are obvious, but the cast brings this film to life and raises it above most other costume dramas.
10. The Dark Knight-Heath Ledger gives a mesmerizing performance as the maniacal Joker in this stylish, morally ambiguous action film (Ledger’s so good that the best scenes in this blockbuster action film are of him merely talking). Aaron Eckhart is almost as good as a tragic DA, Harvey Dent. Director, Christopher Nolan outdoes himself creating a visually arresting Gotham City. Sorry Tim Burton, but this is the definitive Batman film, and it may be the high point of the whole superhero film genre. Who would have thought that a franchise film would be a worthy project for Christopher (“Memento”) Nolan?
11- 14. George Romero’s Diary of the Dead-Writer/director George Romero finds a way to tell a story of a zombie outbreak from a fresh prospective. The movie asks what if zombies attacked today, and everyone had cell phones and digital cameras? We see the events rearranged, rearranged and falsified by the media for their own purposes. This latest zombie flick is no mere gore fest; it’s an often brilliant critique of how we process and gather information to create our own realities in today’s technology obsessed world.
Let the Right One In-Stark, terrifying tale of a weak and sensitive, 13 year old boy who is harassed by bullies. He is befriended who by a sad, androgynous vampire with a voice like silk. This highly effective, but slow paced vampire flick makes us question what it is to be human or female. This thoughtful, arty, and quasi-romantic film may be the anti “Twilight” or the horror “My Bodyguard,” Only it’s 10 times better. In Swedish with English sub-titles.
The Mother of Tears- An ancient evil reawakens, and one lone woman stands against an army of witches that seek to take over the world led by the powerful “Mother of Tears.” The more absurd and campy that Dario Argento’s shocking, wickedly funny surreal giallo film got, the more I loved it. Both Asia Argento and Coralina Cataldi Tassoni should be declared national treasures, and seeing this is splatter version of the Omen “meshed with “The Wizard of Oz” at the Music Box was the most fun I had all year. In Italian or dubbed in English.
Teeth-Creepy, disturbing and gutsy tale captures a horrific primal male fear in a brilliant Fashion. The dark Freudian character interplay between a chaste young evangelical girl and her hedonistic punk brother is fascinating.
15. Tell No One-Wry, understated suspense film is a rollicking ride that is almost worthy of Hitchock. It had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, and the ending is like “Cache’s” because it has some devastating cultural and social implications. In French with English sub-titles.
16. Slumdog Millionaire- This slick, fast paced film shrewdly combines a third world poverty theme with a reality TV/game show scenario. The best edited film of the year is one of this year’s most worthy Oscar nominees, although it’s no “City of God.” In English and Hindi.
17. Girl Cut in Two-Claude Chabrol’s riveting tale of a relationship between a newscaster and a dangerously unstable man has a devastating finish. Benoit Magimel gives one of the year’s best supporting performances. In French with English sub-titles.
18. Flow-Enlightening documentary about the struggle to control water distribution is disturbing for its implications for the future.
19. Body of War-First class documentary about an injured soldier who is treated heinously by the government. A crushing indictment of the government run military health care system would make a good double feature with Michael Moore’s “Sicko.”
20. Gran Torino-Eastwood is fabulous playing a bigoted army veteran who has his cultural assumptions challenged when he gets to know a neighboring Asian family. The ending backs off from the carnage in a clever way, and it is delightfully anti climactic.
A dozen honorable mentions (in alphabetical order)
The Changeling, Defiance, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Frost Nixon, Happy-Go-Lucky, I’ve Loved You So Long, The Last Mistress, My Kid Could Paint That, Obscene, Standard Operating Procedure, Vicky Christina Barcelona, The Wrestler
Other Good Films (in order of quality):
Reprise, Boarding Gate, W. Nothing but the Truth, Stuck, Allah Made Me Funny, Ironman, Turn the River, Wendy and Lucy, Cadillac Records, Stuck, Dark Matter, Dear Zachary, Roman de Gare, Snow Angels, Lou Reed Berlin, Gomorrah, Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Days and Clouds, The Duchess of Langeais, The House Bunny, Savage Grace, Doubt, What Doesn’t Kill You, Year My Parents Went on Vacation, Taxi to the Dark Side, Hunger, Burn after Reading, Last Chance Harvey, Gonzo, Wall E, The Grocer’s Son, Che, My Brother is an Only Child, Eight Miles High
Best film-The Class
Best director-Gus Van Sant for Paranoid Park and Milk
Best cinematography (tie)-Anthony Dod Mantle for Slumdog Millionaire
plus Christopher Doyle and Rain Li for Paranoid Park
Best actor-Sean Penn for Milk
Best actress-Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married
Best supporting actor-Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Best supporting actress- Lina Leandersson for Let the Right One In
Best original screenplay-Jenny Lumet for Rachel Getting Married
Best adapted screenplay- Guillaume Canet for Tell No One
Best soundtrack- (tie) Jan Kazmarek for The Visitor and Jean Lauise Aubert for I’ve Loved You So Long
Best makeup- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best comedy-Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Best animated film-Wall E.
Best trailer-Une Catastrophe (Jean-Luc Godard)
Most promising performer- Jess Weixlier for Teeth
Most promising director-Thomas Alfredson for Let the Right One In
Comeback of the year- (tie) Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler and Robert Downey Jr. for Ironman and Tropic Thunder
Promising Chicago based directors-Renay Kerkman and Thomas Realm
Worst Films of the year-Blindness, Elegy, Filth and Wisdom, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, My Name is Bruce, Punisher War Zone, Sex and the City the Movie, What Just Happened? Zombie Strippers
