The Top Ten of 2008

I might sneak in a viewing of Benjamin Button or the Spirit before the year ends, but I might as well close the books on my film-viewing year.

Some disclaimers: I don't go to movies at theaters a whole lot so the Ten on this list are not necessarily great movies, but merely the 10 greatest that were released in theaters this year. Fortunately, I went to my first film festival in Madison in April of this year, so by counting a few really unique gems from that venue, the final 10 will be better in quality than if I limited my film input to those available in multiplexes (and let's not even talk about how things would be if I limited by entire film-watching to Rockford-only theaters). Film festival entries are indicated by an asterix.

A special honorable mention to There Will Be Blood and Sweeney Todd, which were released just at the end of last year to open the movies up for Oscar contention. There Will Be Blood was one of the film's so mesmerizing I had to see it twice in theaters (second time in the now-closed cheap theater in Rockford). I think Chicago the movie was the last film I did that with.

10. HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY - The joy of White Castle (that I discovered much too late) was that the anarchic approach to the humor in that movie established a comedic expectation of complete suprise and hilarious incorehence. The sequel was full of goofy stuff but was uneven at parts. With a movie that I am not required to take seriously, don't bother with the exposition and throw in more farts and gross-out gags in between the giddy satire and redneck mocking. I wouldn't mind.

9. BURN AFTER READING - Give credit to the Coen Brothers for throwing another cinematic curveball, this is one of the few movies where the suprise was not what the ending was, but how quickly it ended. Repeat views might reveal more subtle genius, but despite the great acting and play on DC thriller cliches, this film seems like an afterthought. I wanted to laugh or be mesmerized more. After No Country for Old Men, though, I did want to at least smile and live in a world that wasn't cold, dark, and muderous, and Burn helped a little bit.

8. EN LA CIUDAD DE SILVA* - A pure obscure artsy movie if there ever was one, this considerably dialogueless film has a hypnotic effect as the camera follows an artist through the beautiful streets of Paris as he follows and observes potential art subjects, all young women of course. Not an easy film to describe, but despite its experimental structure it flows real well. If you loved how Europe was filmed in Before Sunrise or Before Sunset, you're going to like this.

7. THE ART STAR AND THE SUDANESE TWINS* - This was an incredibly compelling movie about an avant-garde artist who specializes in exhibitions featuring live, in the flesh, colorfully costumed (or naked) models. The artist finds an interest in adopting impoverished Sudanese twin infants away from their impoverished family in war-torn Sudan. The artist almost fits the charicature of the snooty European aloof elitist, and when you hear her describe why she wants to adopt these kids combined with her artistic themes of explotation, you are unable to decide whether to be open-minded and appreciative or her sacrifice, or be revulsed at her attitude and her ideological motivations that move her to take these kids away from their home.

6. YOU, THE LIVING* - A follow-up to the Swedish film Songs from the Second Floor by the same director, this is purely an extension of that film's style to lighter (but still portentious) themes. The biggest cinematography catnip for me has been the Kubrickian static shot, that seem to serve as living, breathing, paintings, all the more powerful because that are many times of solitude where I stare into space feeling depressed and I imagine a camera filming my misery in an artistic way with perfectly placed props and scenery and characters in the background. Maybe that's just me. But You, The Living, meets the expectations set by Songs 7 years earlier, and it's just an amazing kind of film style that was worth waiting for.

Part II in a few days.