Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Top 100 Films: 40-36

I thought to myself, as I stared at my horribly, horribly inaccurate Oscar predictions, just what could I do next with The Library of Babel. That's when I remembered this long-languishing project, started last summer to coincide with the launch of this blog. Time to finish what I started. Here's the next installment of 5 films from my personal top 100.

40.
Gosford Park marks the final indulgence to the murder mystery genre on my list (yet both mystery and murder abound in forthcoming selections, just not together) and it’s taken a rare moment of clarity for me to bump this back a few spots in favor of even more deserving films. Hell, I think Gosford Park is perfection, and it’s not even Robert Altman’s best film. More on that later.

But it’s nonetheless a masterpiece of craft, with a sprawling ensemble that is entirely essential to the upstairs/downstairs clash of classes at the heart of the film. Equally mindful of its roots in the mystery genre and Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game, it’s still through and through an Altman picture, where characters only glimpsed in select moments are drawn together in a much grander design. One is tempted to single out Helen Mirren or Maggie Smith, but deserving Oscar nominees though they are, this is a collective effort built on strings of interactions both public and private and not one of the cast dampens the proceedings. From Michael Gambon as the surly master of the house and Kristen Scott-Thomas as his icy wife right on down to Kelly McDonald and Emily Watson as the perceptive help, the actors weave a net of intrigue that conjures doubt over just exactly who saw/heard what.

Most impressive it the feeling of restlessness that Altman wraps us into with his wandering camera. An hour passes before murder disrupts the order of Gosford Park, but by then we’ve spent half the film sharpening our eyes because amid the simmering tensions and secret rendezvous, something clearly is about to snap. Proving why Altman is so perfectly matched for the genre, we only get snippets of conversations, leaving open the question as to what our characters are up to in those unseen moments. Other dialogue plays out in the background, and quite commonly multiple conversations occur simultaneously. The aural complexity of Altman films is unmatched (save, perhaps, for Playtime) and in that capacity alone Gosford Park moves beyond the typical trappings of the murder mystery and creates something entirely its own. Surely one of the greatest late career films of all time.


39.

A bleak and harrowing ghost story of three sisters gathered together as one slowly passes into death, Cries and Whispers is a personal high water mark for just about everyone involved – Sven Nykvist, Ingrid Thulin, Liv Ullmann, even Ingmar Bergman himself. It’s also perhaps the most unlikely Best Picture nominee there ever was, for it’s not only foreign, but relentlessly depressing right from the start. It’s a movie with mortality ever on the mind, where life, sanity and family bonds balance on a razor’s edge (and speaking of razors, how ‘bout that scene with the broken glass). This is heavy stuff, but it’s not without payoff, taking an ethereal form and bringing closure to unending hours of pain and suffering. Intrinsic to the overwhelming mood of the film is Nykvist’s lush red palate. Few films so thoroughly justify the existence of color, for without those thick as blood rooms to surround them, the characters might seem out of step with the high tragedy bearing down on them. Bergman uses these walls to insulate us in contemplative vision, and from there he cycles us through all the stages of death, from terror to grief to acceptance.


38.

One of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s earliest films still remains my favorite. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant unfolds in the cluttered loft of a clothing atelier and from within we witness the gradual and complete breakdown of the queen bitch of all cinema. Petra is a soul-swallowing monster presiding over a haute court and it’s no challenge to find sympathy for those under her employ. The framing is nothing short of intimidating. Characters are frequently positioned within the guise of stone-faced mannequins or in the shadow of the looming canvas adorning one particularly open wall. But it all works in service to the eventual realization that beyond the intimidation, beyond the monstrosity, Petra von Kant is human. Such a turnaround is the great accomplishment of the film, a triumph as a study in both character and location.


37.

What a fascinating double feature The Exterminating Angel would make when paired with Luis Bunuel’s later The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. The plot here is the inverted form of the other: a group of the aristocratic elite sit down at a dinner party and find themselves incapable of leaving. From there things begin to crumble – the walls for instance – but the fact remains that something, somehow, is preventing anyone from vacating the premise. Enter the livestock, not to mention a bear, and watch the mounting confusion in the face of the frivolous habits those wacky bourgeoisie still cling to. From Bunuel we expect nothing less than hilarious absurdity, but in his finest moments (and this is his very finest) he treats us to pointed social satire that is anything but hard to comprehend. The Exterminating Angel may often seem inexplicable, but that’s the point. So are the petty elite.


36.

So much love and hate encircles The Lord of the Rings series that it’s nigh impossible to take a position on it without being labeled either a hopelessly devoted fanboy or a genre-loathing curmudgeon. For the haters, your dissent is noted and understood, (fantasy flicks aren’t everyone’s cup of tea) though your reduction of the movie to a boring story about walking and gay hobbit love have gotten old. Whichever you may be, it’s hard to dispute that the trilogy ranks among the most startlingly ambitious works of contemporary cinema, hell, across all cinema. And as an adaption, it largely works, successfully matching my imagined versions of characters and locations and keeping the greater part of hundreds of pages of text intact. A spotless transition it does not make, but in translating the story to the big screen, one couldn’t ask for much more.

One thing I’ve always loved is how the remarkable ensemble is built on less than obvious casting choices (unlike, shall we say, Harry Potter). In no particular order, my favorite performances across the films come from Bill Boyd (Pippin), Bernard Hill (Theoden), John Noble (Denethor), Miranda Otto (Eowyn), Sean Bean (Boromir) and the incomparable Andy Serkis making cinema history as Gollum. Not a one of them bringing start power to the roll, but each surpassing all expectations I had for their characters. Surrounded by the lush landscape of New Zealand, tucked within a gorgeous blend of set design and digital imagery, the performances keep the film from losing sight of its characters amidst the sea of CGI magic (hello Avatar!). But look at me, I’m starting to sound like a fanboy. Fuck, oh well.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Final Oscar Predictions

My yearly Oscar predictions, informed by my painstaking efforts to take in as many of the nominees as possible. That effort was mostly successful, but notably I've not seen Precious, The Blind Side, The Young Victoria, Il Divo, The Princess and the Frog and most of the foreign language nominees.

Best Picture
The Winner Is: Inglourious Basterds
Should Be: Inglourious Basterds
Wish Was Nominated: The Brothers Bloom

Why? Well, call it a hunch, though not an entirely unfounded one. Avatar may be more beloved, but it also has more haters, who are sure to stick it at the very bottom of their ballots. The Hurt Locker has the upper hand for sure, but the Basterds won the SAG ensemble award and if anything can upset in the Best Picture race, this is it.

Best Director
The Winner Is: Kathryn Bigelow
Should Be: Quentin Tarantino
Wish Was Nominated: Michael Haneke

Why? Because she deserves it, not just because she's a woman, but because she did an exceptional job directing what's proved to be the first notable film on the Iraq War. Of course, Tarantino was even better - and for that matter, Bigelow's been better too, just watch Strange Days and Near Dark - but I'd be shocked if anyone walked away with the award.

Best Actor
The Winner Is: Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
Should Be: Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
Wish Was Nominated: Joaquin Phoenix - Two Lovers

Why? Because The Dude needs to get his due. It's about time.

Best Actress
The Winner Is: Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
Should Be: Carey Mulligan - An Education
Wish Was Nominated: Kim Hye-ja - Mother

Why? I don't know. Because fate is cruel. Or because there is no God. Something like that.

Best Supporting Actor
The Winner Is: Christophe Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Should Be: Christophe Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Wish Was Nominated: Peter Capaldi - In the Loop

Why? It's one of the great supporting turns of the decade. He'll be the best winner in the category since at least Chris Cooper, maybe even since Kevin Kline.

Best Supporting Actress
The Winner Is: Monique - Precious
Should Be: Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Wish Was Nominated: Melanie Laurent - Inglourious Basterds

Why? Because she is an unstoppable force of nature. Too bad since in a less locked-away year, Farmiga could have had a real chance.

Best Original Screenplay
The Winner Is: Inglourious Basterds
Should Be: Inglourious Basterds
Wish Was Nominated: The Brothers Bloom

Regardless of what happens in Best Picture, this award is pretty solidly in Quentin's hands. Either it'll go hand in hand with a swell of support for the movie, or it'll be his consolation prize.

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Winner Is: Up in the Air
Should Be: In the Loop
Wish Was Nominated: The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Why? Worthy winner, and probably the only award Up in the Air is going to see. Strong category too, which I rarely say about Adapted. Just like with Original and QT, this is a chance to give a consolation prize to Reitman.

Best Animated Film
The Winner Is: Up
Should Be: The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wish Was Nominated: Ponyo

Why? Why is Ponyo not here? Why is Up so beloved? So many questions. Little confusion as to what's going to happen here.

Best Foreign Language Film
The Winner Is: The White Ribbon
Should Be: The White Ribbon
Wish Was Nominated: Mother

Why? Wow, this one is so not already decided. All the films are reportedly excellent, and The White Ribbon is the only one I've had a chance to see. I have no idea how these will collectively play to voters, and even still, last year Foreign Film gave us one of the bigger upsets in modern Oscar history with Departures winning. Anything could happen here, but I suspect it's a showdown between The White Ribbon and A Prophet, just like it was at Cannes (where the Haneke film won, but that may have been Isabelle Huppert's doing).

Best Documentary
The Winner Is: The Cove
Should Be: Anything but The Cove
Wish Was Nominated: La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet

Why? People feel so bad for exploited animals that they're willing to side with insane people to make them feel like they're taking a stand on the issue.

Best Documentary Short
The Winner Is: China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province

Why? Didn't you hear? Earthquakes are in right now.

Best Live Action Short
The Winner Is: Miracle Fish

Why? Your guess is as good as mine. Actually it's not. I'm pretty good at arbitrarily guessing these short categories.

Best Animated Short
The Winner Is: The Lady and the Reaper
Should Be: The Lady and the Reaper

Why? I'm holding out that the genuine best of the bunch (and it's a good bunch) will prevail.

Best Original Score
The Winner Is: Up
Should Be: Up
Wish Was Nominated: The Last Station

Why? Lord knows I have my problems with Up, but that score is sublime.

Best Original Song
The Winner Is: The Weary Kind - Crazy Heart
Should Be: The Weary Kind - Crazy Heart
Wish Was Nominated: I've Got You Wrapped Around My Little Finger - An Education

Why? I never seriously contemplated any of the competition.

Best Sound Editing
The Winner Is: Avatar
Should Be: Avatar

Why? Far be it for me to doubt the potency of Avatar in these tech categories.

Best Sound Mixing
The Winner Is: Avatar
Should Be: Avatar

Why? Would voters really vote differently here than on the above. The answer is no.

Best Art Direction
The Winner Is: The Imaginerium of Doctor Parnassus
Should Be: The Imaginerium of Doctor Parnassus
Wish Was Nominated: The Brothers Bloom

Why? Well, let me clear this up. Avatar will win here. But Parnassus deserves to so much that I'm predicting it just because I want to believe in a just world.

Best Cinematography
The Winner Is: Inglourious Basterds
Should Be: The White Ribbon
Wish Was Nominated: Antichrist

Why? One of the toughest categories aside from Foreign Film to predict. I can't imagine The Hurt Locker and its shaky camera or the Harry Potter film to take it, but any of the other three seems plausible. I'm sticking with Inglourious Basterds.

Best Makeup
The Winner Is: The Young Victoria
Should Be: I just don't care
Wish Was Nominated: how about Drag Me to Hell

Why? I picked the pretty one. But really, who knows.

Best Costume Design
The Winner Is: Nine
Should Be: The Imaginerium of Doctor Parnassus
Wish Was Nominated: The Brothers Bloom

Why? I'm banking on the one voters are most likely to have seen.

Best Visual Effects
The Winner Is: Avatar
Should Be: Avatar
Wish Was Nominated: The Imaginerium of Doctor Parnassus

Why? Really? Must you ask.

Best Editing
The Winner Is: The Hurt Locker
Should Be: The Hurt Locker
Wish Was Nominated: The Brothers Bloom

Why? It's a war film about a bomb disposal squad. Tight editing done well - and it's done exceptionally well - is instrumental.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

If I Ran the Oscars

As the hurricane of glitz and gay and gold that is Oscar season reaches critical levels, I'd like to step aside for a moment and imagine just how much sweeter the show would be if I was calling the shots.

First thing to go would be that miserable Best Picture top 10. If you consider the top 5 to be those with corresponding director nominations, then we effectively traded 1 deserved nomination for An Education for 2 mediocre ones (Up and A Serious Man) and 2 I could entirely do without. In fact, I'm hailing District 9 as the worst nominee since Crash, maybe even since Jerry Maguire (Though not worse than that. It's hard to trump the triple threat of Cruise/Cuba/Cthulhu). Certainly, the top 10 brought diversity to the lineup, but the top 5 would still have had that in spades between Up in the Air, Precious and the war films of (alternate)past, present and future. Maybe if the new system had allowed a foreign film to slip through the cracks - and it's been a startlingly good year for foreign cinema - I'd be a bit more forgiving.

As for hosting, no disrespect meant to the team of Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin - I'm sure they'll ace the gig - but there could be no greater host of the moment than Conan O'Brien. Of course the late night scandal hit well after hosting duties had been doled out, but in my little world, Conan would have been signed up well before that went down.

And what I really wouldn't stand for is all this incessant tweaking with the ceremony itself. This year we have no time for the Honorary Oscar presentation (no Lauren Bacall! no Roger Korman!), but we can make time for John Hughes to get his own private send off video, an honor not granted to Altman, Bergman, Antonioni, Kurosawa and countless other influential directors that have kicked off in the last decade. That, far moreso than Sandy's likely Oscar win, offends me.

Lastly, there's the categories themselves. This years batch of nominees is decidedly average (for the sake of comparison, we'll call 2007 above average and 2005 far below), but as usual, I think I could do better. That means it's time for my yearly awards, and I think they look pretty swell.


Sadly, I just can't see it all. Grand Rapids has done me no favors in the world of art cinema, and while through my resourcefulness I've tracked down quite a bit, there's always more to see. Some notable films that I've not seen, (mostly) want to, and plan to post haste. Soon as I have the chance:

A Prophet
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Il Divo
The Milk of Sorrow
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
White Material
Ajami
Precious (I feel bad about this, but it didn't play here long at all)
Police, Adjective
Fish Tank
The Young Victoria
The Princess and the Frog
Me and Orson Welles
The Red Riding Trilogy
Blind Side (actually, just avoiding this one)

Kind of a long list, but it was once much longer. I feel fairly accomplished with what I did manage to catch, which includes everything nominated in the big 8 categories at the Oscars except Precious and Blind Side. Below are my proposed changes to the nominees, along with what I'd have win in bold. No ranking, although I'll include my top 25 of the year along with my Best Picture choices.


Best Supporting Actor
Peter Capaldi - In the Loop
Andrew Garfield - The Imaginerium of Doctor Parnassus
Anthony Mackie - The Hurt Locker
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station
Christophe Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

RU: Tom Waits - The Imaginerium of Doctor Parnassus

Best Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz - Broken Embraces
Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Rinko Kikuchi - The Brothers Bloom
Melanie Laurent - Inglourious Basterds
Olivia Williams - An Education

RU: Anna Chlumsky - In the Loop

Best Score

The Brothers Bloom
The Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Last Station

Ponyo

Up


Best Original Song
All is Love - Where the Wild Things Are
Boggis, Bunce and Bean - The Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Fantastic Mr. Fox AKA Petey's Song - The Fantastic Mr. Fox
I've Got You Wrapped Around My Little Finger - An Education
The Weary Kind - Crazy Heart

Best Cinematography
Antichrist
The Beaches of Agnes

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Inglorious Basterds
The White Ribbon



Best Art Direction
An Education
The Imaginerium of Doctor Parnassus

Inglourious Basterds

Ponyo

Where the Wild Things Are


Best Adapted Screenplay
An Education
The Fantastic Mr. Fox

In the Loop
The Last Station

Up in the Air


Best Original Screenplay
The Brothers Bloom
Inglourious Basterds

Moon
Mother

The White Ribbon


Best Costume Design
An Education
Bright Star

Broken Embraces
The Brothers Bloom

The Imaginerium of Doctor Parnassus


Best Makeup
Broken Embraces
Drag Me To Hell
The Imaginerium of Doctor Parnassus


Best Editing
Broken Embraces
The Brothers Bloom

The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds

The Limits of Control

Best Visual Effects
Avatar
The Imaginerium of Doctor Parnassus

Moon
Star Trek
Up


Best Foreign Language Film

35 Shots of Rum
Broken Embraces
Mother
Ponyo
The White Ribbon


Best Animated Film

Coraline
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ponyo

A fair sampling of the shorts categories, as well as documentary, and sound editing/mixing would be difficult. I'll abstain from those, with a note that I'm rooting for The Lady and The Reaper in animated short and anything but The Cove in documentary. I've actually seen two very good documentaries this year and both will make an appearence in my top 25.

Best Actor
Matt Damon - The Informant
Lluis Homar - Broken Embraces
Joaquin Phoenix - Two Lovers
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
Sam Rockwell - Moon

RU: Isaac de Bankole - The Limits of Control


Best Actress
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Antichrist
Kim He-ja - Mother
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Gwyneth Paltrow - Two Lovers
Rachel Weisz - The Brothers Bloom

RU: Saoirse Ronan - The Lovely Bones

Best Director
Wes Anderson - The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon
Boon Jong-ho - Mother
Hayao Miyazaki - Ponyo
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

RU: Spike Jonze - Where the Wild Things Are


And now...drum roll please...my top 25 films of 2009, culminating in my 10 Best Picture nominees. That's right, I can totally do that and still bitch about the academy when they pull that shit.

25. The Summer Hours
24. The Limits of Control
23. Avatar
22. The Beaches of Agnes
21. La Danse, The Paris Opera Ballet

20. Around a Small Mountain
19. Up in the Air
18. Coraline
17. The Last Station
16. 35 Shots of Rum

15. Moon
14. Broken Embraces
13. The Hurt Locker
12. Two Lovers
11. Where the Wild Things Are

10. Antichrist
9. The Imaginerium of Doctor Parnassus
8. The Fantastic Mr. Fox
7. In The Loop
6. Mother
5. The White Ribbon
4. Ponyo
3. The Brothers Bloom
2. An Education
1. Inglourious Basterds

And after all that, my top two are actually Best Picture nominees. I actually can't think of another year which that could be said of. Of course it was twice as likely to happen this year what with the expanded category and all, but maybe that's a sign I should stop bitching.

Nope. That won't stop me. I'll post Oscar predictions complete with further criticisms later this week.