All that glitters

The 84th annual Academy Awards are over. The Artist dominance was there in the major categories, but not as much so as I'd anticipated. Artist and Hugo split 5 each; Hollywood clearly loved celebrating the movies that celebrate film. This I understand, and while I cannot speak for Artist, Hugo is far from the revolutionary medium-invigorating family fantasy that many claim it to be. 

The year was disappointing also because of the numerous titles missing from major categories. Much has been said on the omissions of Drive and Melancholia, and although the majestic Tree of Life scored some big nominations, it was clearly a courtesy call - "thanks for coming Mr Malick, but your film is too divisive and we don't know what to do with it". The existential epic even lost out on what I thought was a done deal, the Best Cinematography award. This, too, went to Hugo. Let me be clear: what Tree of Life achieved with its evocative and poetic imagery functions on a much higher level than Hugo's cute camera-going-through-the-clock-now-the-floor-now-it-spins cinematographic digital choreography. 

And then Viola Davis lost Best Actress to the much loved and over rated Meryl Streep. Meryl Streep. She was fantastic in Doubt not too long ago, where her character had to be contained; then again, Davis was superb in only a few minutes of screen time in that same film. That Streep won for The Iron Lady is saddening, and from all I've heard and read it should not boost the hearts of her fans to know that their dancing queen won an award for this film. In all honesty, this was a "thank you for 30 years of your life" award. Keep in mind that more than half of Academy voters are middle aged white males. 

What made me happy? An eccentric green lizard named Rango, in a classically told 2-D animated film that won Best Animated Feature. The Film Editing win for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Also, Angelina Jolie's right leg. 

The Best Films of 2011

Let’s talk about the films of 2011.

Below is my top ten list of the best films of the past year. What qualifies as a 2011 film? Any film that was released in South Africa in 2011, either cinematically or on DVD, or any film that rolled over from late 2010 into 2011 either cinematically or via a January DVD release. Also, any film that came out in cinemas internationally in 2010 and had DVD releases in 2011 but never got any sort of release in South Africa. It’s unsettling how many great movies never reach SA screens or stores, but I sort of understand the thinking: who’s going to watch a Thai spiritual meandering on the big screen? I have never understood why non-American reviewers use an American release table for their lists.   

Honourable mentions

Javier Bardem was quiet and sensitive in the downbeat Biutiful, a trying but rewarding Spanish film about death that could only be made by Inarritu. Juliette Binoche was luminous and vital in Kiarostami’s Certified Copy, a film that cleverly plays with itself and audiences as it complicates the relationship between its two central characters – or does it? I’m still not sure. 

David O. Russell’s The Fighter was far more than just another sports movie, with Christian Bale winning an Oscar and Amy Adams doing supporting work. I still think that the film was too condescending towards some of the female characters though. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II was the perfect finale to a great franchise, and Alan Rickman deserves special mention for what he does with the character of Snape. If Part I was all tension and build-up, Part II is a Helms Deep showdown featuring characters we’ve invested in for over ten years. The year’s best animated film is Sylvain Chomet’s heartfelt, almost dialogue free The Illusionist. It tells the story of a stage magician who is left behind by the world and its many new innovations and technologies, and his new friendship with a young woman who finds herself traveling along with him. It’s sad and beautifully animated – hand drawn.

The funniest film of the year was Brit Armando Iannucci’s In the Loop, a rollercoaster political satire of great sophistication. The British had a considerable Oscar presence in February, with Tom Hooper’s  delightful The King’s Speech taking Best Picture and Director, as well as Best Actor for Colin Firth. It’s the kind of film that the Brits make best: a character-focused period drama with a sure positive payoff.

I have fallen in love with South Korean cinema, and Boon Jong-ho’s Mother is one of the best, a gripping thriller about a mother (never named in the film) driven to prove her mentally challenged son’s innocence as he is arrested for the brutal murder of a young girl. The animated titular lizard of Rango starred in the year’s second-best animated feature; any film that so closely studies the conventions of the western and has time to reference Apocalypse Now and Hunter S. Thompson is worth the effort. Another type of animation featured in the rousing Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a better-than-it-should-have-been prequel to one of the most famous science fiction films. It features Andy Serkis as lead primate Caesar, and the great John Lithgow as a father struggling with Alzheimer's while his scientist son (James Franco) looks for a cure.

Finally, The Social Network is a near great film – a pity that the final third runs out of steam as it fails to maintain the energy that the first two thirds of the film showed. Fincher’s framing is, as always, worth seeing in itself. 

I do not have a “worst of” list, but surely the most disappointing film of 2011 considering the talent involved is Joe Wright’s Hanna, aka The Bourne Bore, aka I Was a Teenage Killer And Also I Can’t Blink.

And now, the best films of 2011 – that is, the best films I saw in 2011 that coexist on a list where their positions might change in a day or a year from now (with the exception of the top three, which will in all probability stay the top three in that specific order). The list below proves again, and it should come as no surprise, that the most fascinating films happen when the psychology and philosophy of characters and viewers are engaged.  Keep in mind that it is impossible to see every single film, and I have missed many, including such potential greats as Incendies and In a Better World. So be it.

          

10. CARLOS 

Edgar Ramirez is the star of Olivier Assayas’ film about the infamous international terrorist. The five-hour plus film does not glamourise its subject, nor does it pander to action or thriller conventions. 

9. SKOONHEID 

The best South African film in years, Oliver Hermanus’ drama about desire and repression is unsettling and thought provoking. I know of many people who do not like the film at all; I have a suspicion it’s more about these peoples’ feelings towards the film’s content than the film itself. Seek it out, but not for sensitive viewers.

8. THE CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH

Harrowing Chinese anti-war film about the Rape of Nanking; the black-and-white imagery is uncompromising, and the film not easily shaken. Again, not for sensitive viewers, but as with Skoonheid, nothing is sensationalised.   

7. DRIVE

A smooth, meticulous action thriller featuring the return of the mythological hero (Ryan Gosling). As usual, the hero’s trouble begins when he pursues a relationship with (literally) the girl next door (Carey Mulligan). One of the most beautifully shot films of the year, and with a fitting soundtrack. This bodes well for director Nicholas Windig Refn. The film's most memorable asset is Albert Brooks as the cold blooded Rose. May the Oscar come his way.

6. BLACK SWAN

Natalie Portman received a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of the steadily-losing-her-mind ballerina. This nightmarish and claustrophobic thriller demonstrates that Darren Aronofsky remains one of the most exciting contemporary American filmmakers.

5. OF GODS AND MEN

Xavier Beauvois’ Cannes favourite is a moving, human tale of ethics, religion and politics set in an increasingly unstable Algeria in the 1990s. Some have criticised the film for what the characters do towards the end, but to do that denies the quiet force of one of the most visually impressive films of 2011. It is a film to revisit and cherish.

4. DOGTOOTH

Greek filmmaker Giorgios Lanthimos has made, I think, the definitive dysfunctional family drama. The less you know about the film beforehand the better, and with its themes of incest and the gross manipulation of others, it makes for selective viewing. Of all the films on my list, this one is the least likely to work for anyone. Watch at own risk. Whether you adore or detest it, you won't be able to forget it.

3. UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES

I gave Uncle Boonmee a negative review earlier this year, and the joke is on me, the egg on my face: it is, in fact, a masterpiece. It was my own lack of understanding and, I suppose, my mood at the time of the original viewing that lead to my initial negative write-up. I’m not going to re-review the film, or edit my original review, so I’ll say it here: I was wrong, and now I can see. Uncle Boonmee is deeply spiritual (mortality, reincarnation, the presence of the dead among the living) and as deeply concerned with an increasingly materialistic Thai society in general. From now on, I’m rooting for Team Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

2. TRUE GRIT

Can the Coen brothers do no wrong? No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading (which gets even better the more you watch it), the existential hilarity of A Serious Man, and now this gripping remake of a John Wayne original. One the one hand True Grit is a well-crafted western with The Dude himself, Jeff Bridges, proving an unconventional and flawed heroic figure for young Hailee Steinnfeld’s spunky protagonist. On the other, True Grit is a typically Coen film in terms of quirkiness, characterisation and framing, which results in a genre film littered with moments of death and hilarity. It happens to have my favourite opening and closing scenes of all films on this list.

1. TREE OF LIFE 

Malick’s autobiographical-cosmological family drama is the most divisive film since Antichrist. Either people loved it, and loved it deeply, or they hated it, and hated it with much passion. I’m not going into the debate here except for saying that I understand where and how the film loses so many people, and that they all have my sympathy. An ambitious, life-affirming masterpiece by a master filmmaker. 

             

Concrete Jungle

Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive is a brilliant film. It is self-aware, highly cinematic and strangely involving for a film that downplays emotion in favour of aesthetics. The Driver (Ryan Gosling), we are told, just walked into a Los Angeles auto repair shop one day and started working there. He has no history, and the character is more mythological and iconic than he is recognisably human – except when it comes down to basic drives such as survival and vengeance. The Driver roams the street of Los Angeles like he’s charting a known labyrinth that only he knows in a world defined by concrete, lights and cheap diners.

He is a part-time stuntman, auto repair worker and part-time criminal cohort. People contact him to pick them up at certain places and drop them off at others; he is the central force in the thinking person’s The Transporter. His boss at the repair shop is Shannon (Bryan Cranston), who acts as a liaison of sorts between his favourite (only?) employee and Rose (Albert Brooks), a seriously shady figure whose partner, Nino (Ron Perlman), is more overt about his underground activities.

There’s also Irene (Carey Mulligan), who lives with her son Benicio (Kaden Leos) in the same apartment complex as the Driver. The three of them warm up towards one another, but when Irene’s husband is released from prison, events and characters take a dark turn – but not necessarily as one might expect.

As can be seen above, Drive boasts a strong cast, Brooks in particular. There’s brief but striking appearance by Christina Hendricks. Gosling’s hero figure is soft spoken and restrained, at least at first, a modern day Man With No Name who listens in on police radio transmissions when doing his job.

The film is violent, and the brutality and gore catches you off guard. In that sense, it’s violent in the same way as A History of Violence, which also used explicit violence to root its content in some sort of reality or authenticity. The film has a stunning sound track, one that is functional and not simply audio window dressing. The music frames Drive as ominous from the start, and certain songs are cleverly used to comment on and emphasise certain events. Refn’s choice of music is as premeditated as his images. Because most of all, Drive is a richly visual film that reminded me a bit of De Palma’s work. The film has a 1980s feel about it, though it’s clearly set in contemporary times. The look, the appearance of the characters – the Driver almost always wears the same white jacket with a yellow scorpion on its back, even when it gets dirty or bloody – the music, limited dialogue and editing speak to a visual sensibility one does not see often.

Drive is stylish, economic and unconventional filmmaking. It’s a violent thriller that knows itself (young Benicio at one stage talks about how easily one can identify a story’s villain) and plays with audience reactions as much as character reactions (see the elevator scene in particular, as well as when the Driver stumbles upon another character in dire straits in a parking garage).

Drive cements Refn’s reputation as another Danish filmmaker willing to pull a rabbit out of a hat now and again by refusing to strictly adhere to genre conventions. Yes, story wise the film paints in broad strokes, but the images are what sets the film apart, not the story. Refn’s previous film, the Viking neo-epic Valhalla Rising, achieved something similar, and here he’s told another story of a character who goes to hell.