AND THE BEST MOVIE OF 2009

I am very eager to recap the eight (that's right eight!) films I saw at WIFF 2010.

But first let's quickly cap up my favorite movies of 2009

#10. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
9. AFTERSCHOOL
8. OBSERVE AND REPORT
7. RED CLIFF I AND II
6. STAR TREK
5. IGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
4. SILENT LIGHT
3. A SERIOUS MAN
2. THE WRESTLER

ooooo, I want to see all of them again!

NUMBER ONE:

CORALINE

I noticed with some surprise how #1 for 2009 happens to be in the same somewhat narrow category of film genres as #1 of 2008, since both Wall-E and Coraline are animated films geared for all ages. Despite my love of artistic violence and my distaste for movies that have characters that don’t act authentic to their gritty realistic setting, I seem to be most enthralled with movies that use the animated medium and the ability to literally create a fantastic world that taps into the pure escapism of cinema. I might go into a new film ready to analyze a style, or see if a performance matches up to the accolades it received, but when I want to just watch and be entertained, nothing seems to match the innocent and multi-sensual pleasure of a good narrative animation.

While Wall-E borrowed elements from a multitude of favorite genres and previous movies to make a perfect film catering to everyone, I think Coraline moved me in a more personal, tender way. Pop-up books were a real treat when I was a kid, with moving paper parts on each page adding new dimensions to child book illustrations while keeping in anchored in a literary medium. Coraline basically brought to life the most amazing pop-up book imaginable.
And with my interest in alternative animation growing, I also very much enjoyed that the film did not shy away from very dark imagery. Scenes could be both cute and the settings for nightmares, a juxtaposition of the evil and innocent that adds appropriate complexities to the movie and treats the audience like adults.

With particularly dazzling but somehow homespun visuals, Coraline continued the excitement I remember many moons ago of seeing Nightmare Before Christmas in an Oklahoma theater on Halloween night. As my viewing habits mature I can appreciate the grown-up storyline more while reminiscing on childhood fantasies, from the lighter and darker places of my psyche.

[I also eagerly picked up the Blu-Ray with 3D glasses of this movie, but I haven't had the time to watch it yet. This is still my #1 despite only a single viewing.]

Film festival report will be next!

Almost too late Tuesday

It's coming... my 3rd trip to the Wisconsin Film Festival!

You think I would want to hold off on the movies, but being home sick gives you a chunk of idle time that can't go unwasted (or wasted for that matter).

BIG FAN (2009)

Via Netflix Instant... I had heard a lot of nice things about this Patton Oswalt leading performance in a movie written and directed by the screenwriter of The Wrestler. It was great, with one of the best twist endings I have seen in a long time. I was pumping my fists in the air and how fooled I was about how the movie was going to end. Good job tricking the seasoned film-viewer!

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967)

Free James Bond on HD on Demand! After watching Bond films for a while now that have two influences on me. First, they make me want to travel... everything is shot so beautifully. Second... they tap into a base instinct to objectify women, but objectify them tastefully. I giggle at the garishness.

Out Sick... Film's the Cure

BONNIE AND CLYDE 1967 (Blu-Ray)

One of Time Magazine's 100 Best Films, this film bounced up to the top of my viewing list in a unique convergence of my movie watching and reading habits. Nixonland, a history of the sixties and the conservative movement that came highly recommended by many political blogs I follow, referenced this movie as a key to understanding the counter-cultural movement of that era. What's interesting is the subtle ways a hippie anti-authoritarian mentality is represented by a movie about 1930s gangsters. I definitely think I saw it differently with a political sensitivity as I thought of the references Nixoland makes to this movie. As a cinematic experience, I think it really moved at a solid pace and was over before I thought deep characterizations could be developed. But I think that's what made this film so groundbreaking... a surface level of violence and throw-caution-to-the-wind narrative that made future films like this more acceptable.

BATTLE IN HEAVEN (2005) Netflix Instant

Carlos Reygadas, who directed Silent Light and Japon, with this film in between, stands firm as my challenging pet indie director. All three of these films have been disturbing, sexually graphic, and very patiently paced, but I never have seen long steady shots of landscapes be made so deliberately to further a film's vision. One technique I found interesting in all three films is the use of non-professional actors. While distracting (maybe even moreso if I didn't need the subtitles) the use of them seems more appropriate when the Director makes the location and scenery the star. You can have any person on camera stare into the horizon contemplatively without saying a word... it takes great skill to film the environment around the character in a way that you internalize the character's struggles.

I think I do anticipate this fellow's next film more than other modern directors. His style is so distinctive and evolving, that there are many possibilities to where he can go.

And some movies a day late

THE HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS (2001)

I was trying to remember why this was on my Netflix list... and it was from The Av Club's 19 Terrific Midnight Movies from the last 10 years list. Takashi Miike has made a few well-known cult horror films, and he also made a cameo appearance in Hostel. His extremely weird movie Gozu was actually one of the first random extremely obscure movies I chose to test the ability of my Netflix account to find any film out there for me to see. AV Club described Happiness as less inscrutable than most of his films... even calling it "brisk" and "bright" and there was an overall interesting film concept that sounded very intriguing, based on the idea that some of the horrifying moments were down in either claymation or live-action musical form. Well, it turned out to be as close to as weird and incomprehensible as anything an eccentric director would make. At a certain point late at night it's just hard to stay up to watch one incomprehsible albeit visually striking scene after another. So I had to split this movie up over two days. Absolutely out there, so an adventure for any film watcher.

CHEF'S SPECIAL (2008)

A selection from the WIFF 2009 available on Netflix instant, that was strongly recommended by my Madison friends as hilarious. And it's very amusing, containing actors recognizable from Almodovar films. This is a genre the WIFF program listed as a "Spanish sex comedy", and I think it's distinctive features for me are a wide emotional spectrum from serious to slapstick, not a terrible focus on narrative, and a light-heartedness that might be more appropriate for an episode of a sitcom.

2nd best movie of "2009"

2. THE WRESTLER

Given my (mostly) strict rule of limiting my 2009 list to all new movies seen in theaters that year, there are some that are going to be hard to remember at this very late date. Two of them take the top spots, so don’t blame me for keeping the soliloquies on these great films short.

15 months after I saw this movie, what I can remember the most that makes this film close to timeless is the emotional impact of this character based story and the complete perfection of Mickey Rourke’s performance. More remarkable is that this was Directed by Darren Aronofsky, who had previously made the movies Pi, Requiem for a Dream, and The Fountain in a hyperactive uncompromising style that signaled broader and more bizarre stories in the director’s future. I can’t put my finger on the thin thread of consistency between these movies, but I think The Wrestler is such a reality-grounded and performance-based story, that the ambitious filmmaker of great skill just has to adapt his camera movements and narrative leanings and fold it into the dynamic character’s journey while staying true to the film’s working-class setting. What might be a conventional story about a ‘broken hero’ who tries to make good, in turn becomes a powerful and intimate film-watching experience, especially in the interesting interplay between the masculine posturing of professional wrestling and the flawed fragile men behind the sport.

A movie like this should have served as an indie film curiosity for me, but it really tugs at your emotional strings. It especially impacted me by raising the question of whether receiving appreciation of what you’re good at is more important than whether those skills or qualities significantly improve your life or those of anyone else close to you.

#3 of 2009

3. A SERIOUS MAN

For those you following at home, I mentioned that a movie got demoted from the top spot. Well this is that lucky film. But you can't blame me for being so ecstatic at an odd film that nearly perfectly presented the particular neuroses and whimsies of the Jewish culture I grew up, and filtered through the incredible freewheeling cinematic style of the Coen Brothers. It was the double the cult movie watching experience... combining the "cult" I'm a part of through my culture and faith, with the teasing narratives, misdirections, and inconclusiveness that was played to its darkest ends with No Country For Old Men and to its completely ridiculous ends with Burn After Reading. Now that I've calmed down from the first viewing I realize that perfect concoction does not make for the most structured fully-formed movie watching experience. No matter... I felt this film hit me deeper because of my Jewish identity, even moreso because of the constant questioning of my devotion to Judaism that has been on the frontburner in the recent year or two. A Serious Man convinced me through its weirdness and charms that the incessant insecurities, occasional paranoia, and simple fun stories are all part of the journey.

One relevant movie

how appropriate that I had this out on Netflix over Oscar weekend!

THE HURT LOCKER (2009)

I'm going to defer a longer commentary on Oscar-caliber movies another time. I'll just say this was solid and interestingly filmed, but lacked the heft of anything I would consider a cinematic masterpiece. Whether the Oscars actually designate cinematic masterpieces is, again, another discussion.

I rewarded myself for a super top secret life improvement project tonight by watching a Comcast On Demand of all the Oscar nominated live action short films of last year. They were all excellent. Auf Der Strecke (On the Line) which didn't win the award taps into such an emotional range in a half hour with such a level power that feature lengths only dream of reaching.