It was an “interchangeable” year – no better or worse than some, events and influences neither as meaningful nor meaningless as many might consider. This was especially true for movies. From a Spring that promised major box office significance (Watchmen) and yet delivered little of same, to a Summer so up and down that theme park rollercoasters grew jealous of its whiplash ways. Fall is never very important – film wise, and when awards season rolled around, the usual suspects (Nine, The Lovely Bones) were struggling while another big budget popcorn blockbuster wannabe (Avatar) showed up and stole most of the little gold man’s proposed thunder. And out of that series of hits and misses, amongst the dross and the delights, we critics are supposed to create something semi-definitive? Good luck!
Indeed, 2009’s Best-Of list could have been compromised of many more than the requisite ten. It was one of those years where the movie of the moment could easily grab the spotlight, only to watch its placement sink slowly under the always annoying weight of the November/December push. That may explain why (500) Days of Summer, District 9, Adventureland, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Coraline, The White Ribbon, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans, or Drag Me to Hell aren’t sitting closer to the top. It may also hint at how something as beloved as Star Trek could consistently tumble down from its Summer high position as virtually unbeatable. Lists are like that. It takes time, and the entire 12 month perspective, to set things in order – and even then, you’re probably wrong.
Yet there are still several questions about this final title tally. Indeed, any one of the Top 10 could, arguably, end up in the number one spot. It’s not really a coin flip – it’s a matter of immediacy (and imagine how much harder it is trying to determine a Best-Of for an entire decade…) mixed with that most human of mental faults – the lapsed memory. Rest assured, in a few years, we’ll look back on 2009 and wonder how we championed X or ignored Y, and even with the realities of such decisions marked down and measured, we’ll still be no closer to a consensus. So here it is, like it or not – SE&L’s Top 10 Films of 2009, starting with:
10. Anvil: The Story of Anvil
Director: Sacha Gervasi
If it didn’t keep reminding you of its documentary roots, if it didn’t keep showing you signs of abject reality where satire and spoof might also fit, Anvil: The Story of Anvil would seem like a nu-generation take on that classic mock-doc spoof, This is Spinal Tap. The truth, however, is simple and quite profound. Director Sacha Gervasi has created one of the great masterpieces of the music business, a seminal statement of pipe dreams and true possibilities that along with the psychological struggles of Some Kind of Monster and the friendly competition of Ondi Timoner’s DiG! exposes the artistic process for what it really is – a painful and brutal series of disappointments.
9. Up
Director: Pete Docter and Bob Peterson
Perhaps it’s time to stop wondering and simply believe. Every year, like cinematic clockwork, we critics hear about the latest release pending from Pixar and our thoughts notoriously turn to the big question – will this be the one? Will this be the well-meaning movie from Lassiter and crew that actually fails? Well, those looking for the bullseye on the back of these geniuses can definitely rest easy. Up is not the target for an elongated discussion on the company’s first failure. Instead, it’s yet another trophy in a digital display case loaded with such accolades. It’s as serious as Wall-E, as action packed as The Incredibles, and hides a mysterious core of sadness which the company has never really explored – until now.
8.. Where the Wild Things Are
Director: Spike Jonze
If you want proof that Spike Jonze delivered the most daring movie of 2009, just look at the faces of the families exiting his take on the Maurice Sedak kid lit classic. Instead of a bunch of wise ass monsters mocking little forlorn Max with a series of snappy pop culture quips, the brilliant director of Adaptation. and Being John Malkovich uncovered the true meaning of the time-honored tome. Indeed, this is a film about the discomfort of growing up, of psychological issues transformed into hairy, raging beasts of unrest. Like walking into the still struggling mind of an aging pre-adolescent, Jonze confused those hoping for a lunkheaded live action Shrek. In turn, he delighted those who demand more from a movie – family friendly or otherwise.
7. Star Trek
Director: J.J. Abrams
It’s hard to express in mere words how wonderful J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot is, especially for a worn in the wool die-hard Kirk cultist like yours truly. It’s a silly, grinning from ear to ear experience, a ‘wow’ that works overtime to keep from ever letting you down. From the moment we learn of our heroes’ hamstrung youth, to the final confrontation that will define their legacy for star dates to come, there is reverence and a much needed revitalization. This is more than just a ‘remake’ or a ‘reimagining’. This is brilliant filmmaking artistry filtered through a deep appreciation for what Star Trek stands for, for the years it held the lantern for serious science fiction while other efforts traveled toward the ‘dark side’ of action adventure commerciality.
6. The Lovely Bones
Director: Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson should be prepared for some disappointment. Less than six years after he took the industry by storm with his amazing Lord of the Rings films, he’s set to deliver this “disappointing” adaption of Alice Sebold’s unusual novel. So far, the critics have not been kind. Unfortunately, they’ve forgotten how to “see” what a visionary like Jackson is striving for. Instead of going for something literal, or a pale police procedural look at ’70s American crime, the Oscar winner has tried to build his own Brothers Grimm fairytale out of whimsy and pain. From the breathtaking look at the space between Heaven and Earth to the amazing performances from his cast, this is one title destined to be ridiculed today, and revered sometime in the near future.
5. Up in the Air
Director: Jason Reitman
George Clooney is the good guy. He’s the superstar stud who always gets the girl, has it all figured out, and is destined to never stumble or fall along the pathway to fictional characterization success. Perhaps this is why Jason Reitman’s latest leaves such a lasting impression. Our amiable A-lister is none of those things here. He’s glib. He’s stuck in the mud. And he’s lonely, though he won’t admit it. While still strikingly handsome, his professional “downsizer” is a man fraught with more faults than answers. This leads to a diabolically brilliant denouement when our hero decides to try and break free…if just this one time. What he gets as a response will rewrite the notion of romance in comedies forever, as well as guarantee a few trips to the podium come Oscar eve.
4. Antichrist
Director: Lars Van Trier
Absolutely stunning in its visual flourishes, horrifying in its aggressive violence, and knowing in its psycho-sexual philosophical bent, Von Trier’s Antichrist is simply astonishing. It’s a structured walk through one woman’s terrifying mental breakdown, a deconstructed cry for relief and understanding. So obsessed with birth and biology that the symbols practically stand up and shout their intent, this is New Age therapeutics as Grand Guignol geek show. Like Dante’s Inferno, what we wind up with is a literal trip through Hell, a beautiful, beguiling place that holds many horrific truths barely simmering under its lush surface. Sure, limbs are hacked and body parts are beaten. But the most painful elements play out in that most private of places – the human mind.
3. A Serious Man
Director: Joel and Ethan Coen
Imagine a saucy, raunchy Joe Sarno suburban sex drama without the faux fornication or sleaze, a post-modern meditation on sour suburban belief retrofitted into one man’s descent into a personal Hell and you’d have some idea of the greatest inherent in this latest Coen Brothers masterpiece. In a symbolic game of misery one-upmanship, the siblings create a classic nebbish in Larry Gopnik, give him an equally iconic family (stoner son, adulterous wife, loser relative, rebellious daughter) and then unleashes the worst of real life upon him. He’s like Job without the Biblical significance. With the Jefferson Airplane continuously playing in the background and the constant reference to Judaism and dogma, the brothers take their own Hebrew teachings, skew them, and turn the clichéd self-loathing Jew into something spellbinding.
2. Avatar
Director: James Cameron
As it continues to make money, hand over fist, the inevitable backlash against James Cameron’s latest claim to filmmaking’s epic throne has already begun. Granted, the director set himself up when he referred to the narrative as “every storyline from every sci-fi book (he ever) read, all thrown together.” While a serious consideration of this amazing movie begs such a sweeping overgeneralization, it remains a point beleaguered by those desperate to dismiss his complicated computer generated vision. No matter the squabbles, this stands as one of 2009’s most important films, and not just for its overall special effectiveness. Indeed, Cameron reminds us of the two simplest pleasures of motion pictures – successful storytelling and inherent medium magic. He definitely delivers both here.
1. Inglourious Basterds
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Inglourious Basterds is an elaborate hoax, a farce founded on the notion that one well crafted cabal – and a glib Gestapo officer willing to sell out to secure his place in the post-war world – can lead to a fantasy finale with the leader of the Third Reich ripe for assassination. All throughout this brilliant genre deconstruction, Tarantino suggests that he was making the movie he wanted to see as a kid, with the Allies as anti-fascist superheroes, fierce fighting marauders righting the moral compass with fists, knives, and rapid fire automatic weaponry. Sure, it may all seem like a lark, the high spirits of a creative infant with too much time, money, chutzpah, and reputation to do anything small or simple. Indeed, if you look beyond the surface and remove all the inaccuracies, you’ll see something as true to the varying policies and philosophies involved as any WWII documentary.