Enjoy It While It Lasts
Project 365 here 365Pieces
Jan 8th, 2011 @ 2:10 am
My Films of the Year
Last year I only did a top 5 but I have seen far more movies this year (and more good ones at that) so this year I’m doing a top 10.
There has been a lot of talk of how this year wasn’t a great year for movies but I have to disagree. Maybe it’s because I saw more than I normally would have but there seemed to be something worth going to see every weekend.
As well as that, there are many films I could have easily put in but didn’t. Can we have a moment of silence for Pyjama Girls. It was the funniest movie I saw this year so I feel like it deserves a special mention. I feel the need to justify my decision though. It was hilarious, yes; intentionally funny but often unintentionally funny. I’m all for unintentional laughs but it got to the point where these people were so pathetic that I couldn’t even laugh. And I don’t think that’s the effect they were going for. We were being shown the “harsh realities” of these girls’ lives but it wasn’t harsh; they chose to be little shitheads and not do the right thing. There is ignorance but then there is just plain stupidity. Fair enough, this is a criticism of the people in the movie but the movie was awfully flawed as well. Nothing major (I still stand by my 4/5 rating) but I mean, the messy direction and the horrendous score need to be taken into consideration (also, ever heard of cinematography?). I suppose the fact that I had so much to say about it merits it being in my list but every other movie in my list is far better. I will, however, award Maya Derrington’s Pyjama Girls the Teenage Pieces Grand Prix. Ok.
But now, the big guns. Brace yourselves: Here are my top 10 films of 2010.
10. A Prophet
This came out way back in January and for a long time it wasn’t going to be on my list. I was given the DVD for Christmas though, and upon rewatching it, I realised how brilliant it actually is. This French crime drama follows a 19 year old Arab, Malik, who is sent to jail and essentially fights his way to the top of the prison hierarchy. It gives nothing away to say that he begins his journey at the bottom and leaves prison an overlord. Tahar Rahim’s performance is without. a. doubt. some of the best acting I have ever seen. He enters a boy, and leaves a man. Add to that the superb direction, the spine-tingling supernatural elements, the unforgettable kill-him-with-a-blade-hidden-in-your-mouth-scene, the gritty setting and a wonderfully ironic score/soundtrack you have one of the best films of the year. I’m sure if I was in my 30s it would be higher, but it felt a tad overlong to me. That’s my only complaint.
9.Monsters
I only saw this little film a few days ago (but it came out here in December so I count it as a 2010 film), and I am still unsure as to whether it really is better than A Prophet, but Monsters was amazing. It is set 6 years from today and there are alien life forms quarantined in Mexico (the ‘Infected Zone’). A photographer is required to collect his boss’ daughter from an uninfected part of Mexico and bring her home to the U.S. Basically, the plan doesn’t work out and they have to go THROUGH THE INFECTED ZONE. Crazy, right?
When I heard that this movie had been compared to Lost In Translation I was a tad confused. The comparison isn’t lost on me (see what I did?) now, though. While this is a “monster movie”, it’s much more of a love story. Don’t go to see this movie expecting Godzilla (but see the movie anyway, please) because we rarely see the creatures. The main focus of the film is the relationship between the two leads.
The movie can also be viewed as a metaphor for Mexican immigration into the U.S. The director has said that any parallels were unintentional, but when you close a scene with a line that goes something like “It’s like we’re closing ourselves in” (or some other, deeper was of saying it) you know that the allegory was meant to be there. Furthermore, are the creatures everyone is so afraid of even the “monsters” of the title? If all of this sounds a bit pretentious to you then I urge you to see the film. While the metaphor isn’t exactly sublte, Monsters is one of the most interesting and visually engrossing films of the year. It has a golden script, it looks amazing (possibly the best of any movie from 2010) and made the most of a teensy budget. District 9 meets Lost In Translation in the best way possible.
8.Let Me In
I didn’t plan on including this film on my list. Yes, it is easily (and when I say easily I mean that in any other year this could be number 1) one of the best of 2010 but LTROI was my favourite of last year so I felt the need to add some variety. I was being stupid though because, like I said in my review of it, Matt Reeve’s version of the story stands firmly on its own two feet as one of the best American horror films ever. I won’t harp on about it too much, but this movie was criminally ignored by the (horror movie-going) public. Help a friend out and buy the dvd when it comes out. See what I wrote about it here.
7. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Best Harry Potter yet. Best audience I’ve ever watched a film with. An amazing experience all around. Simple. See what I wrote about it here.
6. Up In The Air
Another January film, but this time it’s one I knew would always make it onto my list. It came out in America in 2009 so you’ve probably heard everything about it at this stage but let me just say a few words. Anna Kendrick owns in this film (as does George Clooney). Who knew the girl from Twilight could act? We all knew Clooney could act but he really shows what he’s capable of here as the high-flying ~corporate downsizer who begins to question everything he believed in. it has one of the funniest scripts of the year, the best credits sequence of the year, a nice diverse range of colours and some very relevant themes. The part where Natalie fires the 57 year old man in the room next to him was really relevant to me as well so it has stayed with me throughout the year.
5. Princess & the Frog / Toy Story 3
I know it seems like a cop-out putting the two animated films together but I can’t decide which is better. For me, they are so different that it shouldn’t really matter that they’re animated and tied for 5th place. P&tF is a throwback to classically hand-drawn animation while TS3 represents all the new and exciting possibilites of animation. They were both emotional roller-coasters. P&tF was a cluster-fuck of audiovisual joy while TS3 practically tore your heartstrings out. I’ve writte about both of them at some point so if you’re interested the P&tF post was in February and the TS3 one was in August.
4. Of Gods & Men
I never properly finished my review of this movie ( I don’t think I will) but it absolutely deserves to be so high in my list. The first half of this movie is flawless. I can not fault it anywhere. A slightly messy middle section makes it just below a 5 starrer but it doesn’t take away from it’s heart-breaking ending. I wrote about the plot here so I’m not repeating it, but what a story! It’s the stuff that the worst melodrama is made of but the director and screenwriter take it and make it into something in a league of its own. How it didn’t win the Palme d’Or is beyond me. it’s an acting masterclass, it has wonderful choral music, a brilliantly un-religious message and a final shot that was engrained in my mind for weeks (and still is). I was speechless after seeing it and I am still at a loss for words. I think the LightHouse are still showing it. Please see it; you won’t regret it
3. Another Year
I said basically everything I needed to say in this post but I just feel like repeating myself. It contains two brilliant performances and has arguably a more complex script than Inception. Mike Leigh delivered a (kill me now) touching picture of happy and unhappy people, one which will be looked at in years to come as a masterpiece of subtlety. It was going to be my number 2 but the film in that spot barely beat it…
2. The Social Network
As much as I hate myself for having two incredibly American films (heya Conor!) at my number 1 and number 2 spot, they entirely deserve to be there. It’s not that I’m anti-American but it just seems so typical to have TSN in my top 5. I’m over that though; The Social Network is one of the masterpieces of modern cinema. If you’ve seen it you know what I’m talking about. Whip smart, funny, beautiful (and I really mean it), relevant to today yet timeless, The Social Network will clean up at the Oscars this year. And while I would prefer if my number 1 choice did, I think TSN is deserving of all the praise it’s being given. I wrote an english essay about it here so I’ll leave it at that (but I take back my 4.5/5 rating. It’s a 5/5er the more I think about it).
1. Inception
It was always going to be Inception. No film has ever left me as lost for words as this one did (and you all know I can talk). I don’t know what to say to you if you don’t like this movie. People who dislike this film seem to have a problem with a visionary director trying to make the summer a smarter time for cinema-goers. Do I? Of course not! Chris Nolan proved himself (in my eyes anyway) to be the genius everyone is saying he is. This movie is smart (Why do people hate on it for explaining its own alternate universe?), slick, eargasmic, orgasmic, eyegasmic and just amazing. I posted on it here so I’ll stop at this. It just gets my goat when people purposely hate this movie for “trying too hard”. I’m sorry but a film this ambitious doesn’t come around all that often. Even more rare is a movie that pulls it off. Inception does that and takes it further than I could have imagined. It’s the best film of 2010 and the one which will be discussed most in years to come (along with TSN) but they’re not even my real reasons for loving it. I love it because it is entertaining. Cinema is the best entertainment in my eyes and when you leave the cinema breathless you know you’ve been thoroughly entertained. Just amazing.
