I know, you can't see
everything, which is why I'm posting this even though I still have a couple of 2005 films at home to watch. The longer I work at a theater, the more obsessive I'm becoming about what's out there, and what I need to see. As years go, this one was decent. I almost had too many films to put in my top ten, but since I first saw it in July (how fitting), the number-one film has firmly remained in that position. My only eligibility criteria is that a film has had a theatrical run in Boston within the calendar year.
THE TOP TEN
1. ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOWDespite its very nature, whimsy is difficult to pull off without seeming cute, glib, or self-indulgent. In her marvelous, utterly original debut feature, Miranda July depicts a community of lovable, lonely citizens who often seek solace and release through whimsy: a ten-year-old girl dutifully acquires items for her hope chest, an even younger boy half-innocently surfs an internet chat line, an adult performance artist (July herself) conspires to save an unquestionably doomed goldfish. But the beauty in July’s offbeat, delicate comedy lies in how these dreams and desires continually come into play with reason and reality. She makes strong arguments for both sides, and the connections that develop between her subjects carry considerably more weight than you’d expect from a work so steeped in whimsy. She also proves an exemplary director of children: the hilarious “back and forth forever” scene is already a classic.
2. MYSTERIOUS SKINIntense and ultimately shattering, Gregg Araki’s first film in six years initially astonishes because it contains a depth you rarely saw in his previous work. In adapting Scott Heim’s ten-year-old novel about pedophilia and growing up gay in small town Kansas, he’s created a film that has more to say on either subject than anything else I can think of. With breakthrough performances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt (an impressively long way from THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN!) as a hustler and Brady Corbet as a traumatized young man obsessed with alien abductions, the film expertly, and not unflinchingly, explores the fantasy worlds each boy has constructed. The devastating, sobering final acts may destroy them, but the resulting bond depicted between these two characters is surprising in its poignancy.
3. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCEDavid Cronenberg’s pulp comic adaptation is undeniably violent, but none of the bloodshed is gratuitous, for its bread and butter is not to shock, but to intelligently probe: what makes a man commit a violent act, and more importantly, can one ever escape an inherently violent life? From its suitably creepy opening Hitchcock homage to its powerful, daringly inconclusive dinner table scene at the end, Cronenberg’s film is a startling, intricately plotted thriller that features career-best work from leads Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello, plus a superb supporting cast: Ed Harris and William Hurt have never been scarier.
4. 3-IRONWith each film, Korean director Kim Ki-Duk takes a further leap into uncharted waters. The protagonist here spends his time breaking into people’s homes while they’re away, but doesn't steal anything. Instead, he merely “occupies” them, taking up residence, doing the laundry, fixing broken appliances, and leaving everything in its rightful place. Complications arise when he’s secretly discovered by a woman and her abusive husband. Nearly dialogue-free and with a neat, mystical turn in the narrative two-thirds of the way through, the film approaches pure poetry in its sound design, use of physical space, and fascination with what is seen and what is not always apparent.
5. DOWNFALLWho’d want to sit through a two hour plus epic about Hitler’s desperate last days? Well, you should, especially when the result is as riveting as Oliver Hirschbiegel's adaptation of the documentary BLIND SPOT: HITLER’S SECRETARY. As Hitler, Bruno Ganz pulls off the seemingly impossible feat of humanizing the crazed dictator while never obscuring his innate evilness. Further aided by a solid ensemble (especially Corinna Harfouch as Mme. Goebbels, carrying the film’s most haunting, wrenching scene), Hirschbiegel's well-paced epic is economical and immediate—no small feat given its subject’s immensity and familiarity.
6. THE SQUID AND THE WHALESpeaking of economical, at eighty minutes, Noah Baumbach’s autobiographical study of divorce and joint-custody in mid-80s Brooklyn contains not one wasted moment or a superfluous note and ends exactly when it needs to. Jeff Daniels is a revelation as a pompous yet obviously scarred writing professor/failed novelist, and the rest of the primary cast (Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline) keeps him in good company. Baumbach doesn’t necessarily sympathize with his extraordinarily unlikable characters, but through all the sharp dialogue, wit and remarkable attention to detail, he never fails to make their pain present and plausible.
7. DOUBLE DARE
Here’s a documentary that deserves at least half as large of an audience as the one that flocked to MARCH OF THE PENGUINS. It simply profiles Jeannie Epper, the veteran stunt woman whom three decades ago doubled for Lynda Carter in WONDER WOMAN, and Zoe Bell, a New Zealand-native coming off a long stint as Lucy Lawless’ stunt double for XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS. As Bell travels to America to find work, she becomes Epper’s protégé. The friendship they strike up is infectious and genuine, but so is the enthusiasm and obvious affection director Amanda Micheli has for her two subjects.
8. THE BEST OF YOUTH
I debated including this since it was conceived for television, but viewing each half of this six-hour miniseries were two of the most involving and enjoyable experiences I had in a movie theater this year. Marco Tullio Giordana’s familial epic may not break any new ground, but in personalizing thirty-odd years of Italian history, it does so with the gusto and intimacy of well-plotted, generously stuffed novel, aided by a terrific cast and a sublime period soundtrack. As the film’s early idealism gives way to tender (but unsentimental) nostalgia, you can’t help but feel overcome by its cinematic sweep and resounding humaneness.
9. TROPICAL MALADY
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s visually stunning fever dream of a film is a blazingly original head-scratcher. Starting off as a seemingly straightforward, refreshingly matter-of-fact gay romance between a Thai solider and a young man from the provinces, it builds up erotic tension and longing to their absolute breaking points, only to abruptly morph into an experimental, wordless folk tale with the leads recast as mystical, predator/prey figures. Jarring and more than a little obtuse, nonetheless, its phenomenal images have stuck with me almost more than those of any other film on this list.
10. GRIZZLY MANTimothy Treadwell, an inimitable cross between Mr. Rogers and Carson Kressley, a figure as excitable and passionate as he was delusional and disturbed, would be a treasure trove for any documentarian, as would the hundred-plus hours of footage he shot living with wild bears in the remote Alaskan wilderness. But only veteran German filmmaker/weirdo Werner Herzog could alchemize them into an endlessly captivating meditation on man’s relationship to nature, and how one man’s unique madness summed up his life’s essence and inevitably caused his downfall.
THE NEXT TEN(in alphabetical order)
2046As sequels to monumental films go, Wong Kar-Wai’s long-awaited one to IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE ain’t bad: muddled and overlong, but still a compelling cinematic hall of mirrors.
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
A very good adaptation of Annie Proulx’s masterful short story; Heath Ledger gets the Charlize Theron Award for turning in an exceptional performance most would’ve guessed he never had in him.
CAFÉ LUMIERETaiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien pays gentle tribute to Japanese legend Yasujiro Ozu, affectionately capturing the hypnotic, day-to-day rhythms of the latter’s country and, in particular, its subway system.
CAPOTEThe only person rivaling Ledger for the year’s best performance is Philip Seymour Hoffman, who successfully embodies the diminutive author while moving far beyond mere impersonation.
LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF
Instead of spending hundreds on a class, film students/aesthetes should try to track down a copy of Thom Anderson’s idiosyncratic but highly illuminating documentary about the most-photographed city in the world, and what we choose to show and see in a film.
MURDERBALLThe year’s most puzzling box office failure, this remarkably unsentimental study of competitive wheelchair rugby players puts most fictional “inspirational” sports films to shame, both in its emotional tug and absolutely thrilling matches.
MY SUMMER OF LOVE
Somewhere between a teen lesbian romance and an insightful class study, Pawel Pawlikowski’s second feature is like a beguiling fairy-tale come down to earth, with excellent lead performances from Emily Blunt and Nathalie Press, the latter sort of a young Sissy Spacek as re-imagined by Peppermint Patty.
NOBODY KNOWSNot a Disney-friendly tale of orphaned kids overcoming odds or a finger-wagging societal critique, but something more realistic and effective that plays out a potentially tragic situation with honesty and grace.
WALLACE AND GROMIT: CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT
Stuffed with satire, delightfully bad puns and sight-gags galore, this clever homage to THE WOLF MAN easily lives up to the earlier shorts, while providing great voiceover work for dastardly Ralph Fiennes and heroine Helena Bonham Carter.
WILBY WONDERFULWonderfully sweet ensemble comedy from Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor that paints a detailed, notably cliché-free portrait of a Nova Scotia island community.
TOP FIVE FESTIVAL FILMS1. C.R.A.Z.Y.Rivaling July’s film as my favorite of the year, this one-of-a-kind, French Canadian coming-of-age/coming out tale often plays like a dazzling cross between VELVET GOLDMINE and a David Sedaris childhood essay.
2. CLEAN
Scheduled to finally open this April, Oliver Assayas’ study of self-actualization and redemption features his ex-wife Maggie Cheung in a magnificent turn as an aspiring singer/recovering drug addict.
3. CACHE (HIDDEN)Just missing this year’s deadline (it opens in Boston Jan. 13), Michael Haneke’s ingenuous thriller could very well make my top ten in 2006.
4. SHANGHAI DREAMS
I’m hoping Zhang Yimou eventually goes back to making films like this delightful one from Wang Xiaoshuai, which follows a teenage girl living in a provincial China town in the early ‘80s.
5. TWELVE AND HOLDINGAudacious yet subtle, Michael Cuesta’s follow-up to L.I.E. fully clinches that awkward chasm between childhood and full-blown adolescence, and he gets exceptional performances from his unknown young actors.
TOP FIVE REPERTORY SCREENINGSin no particular orderTHE CONFORMISTArguably more innovative and important than THE GODFATHER, Bertolucci’s long unavailable masterpiece popped up both at the Coolidge (as part of a retrospective for Coolidge Award honoree cinematographer Vittorio Storaro) and in a week-long run at the Brattle in all of its spectacular, 35MM glory.
THE WARRIORSA must-see for anyone who wants a sense of what New York used to look like, circa 1979, and much better (and almost as much fun) as THE APPLE.
THE PASSENGER
Another lost gem, this Antonioni film from 1975 became a surprise hit in its re-release. Easily the filmmaker's most accessible, engaging work, it’s now revelatory as Jack Nicholson’s missing link between CHINATOWN and ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST.
DONKEY SKINJacques Demy’s vaguely psychedelic, fractured fairy tale from 1970 has to be seen to be believed—how can you not love a movie where Catherine Deneuve spends half her time walking around with a dead animal draped over her head?
MY GRANDMOTHERExceptionally bonkers, long-banned silent-era Soviet satire presented with a live soundtrack from the Beth Custer ensemble. Hardly anyone attended the Coolidge screening in November; thankfully, it’s now available on
DVD.
OTHER EXCEPTIONAL FILMSAll of these receive at least 4 stars out of 5 (in alphabetical order).
The Beat My Heart Skipped, Breakfast on Pluto, Broken Flowers, Brothers, Cowards Bend The Knee, The Edukators, Funny Ha Ha, Good Night and Good Luck, Head-On, The Holy Girl, Howl's Moving Castle, In The Realms of the Unreal, Junebug, Kings and Queen, Kontroll, Look At Me, Serenity, A Tale of Two Sisters, Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride, Tony Takitani, Watermarks, The World.
