I’m woefully late on this list, and I still have yet to see The King’s Speech, Another Year, Winter’s Bone, Never Let Me Go, Blue Valentine, and the Fighter but this end of the year corral is more for my mental closure than any fastidious bean counting. My top three this year fall into the category of gruesome formalism–beautifully composed works about unpleasant subjects. You won’t soon forget them, and I haven’t all year long…
10. Catfish
Perhaps the truer “facebook movie” this year, what happens when you fall in love with a digital copy? Joost and Shulman insert themselves into this funny, heartbreaking, and slight examination of what lengths people go to find themselves in others.
9. 127 Hours
How many times can one use visceral in a sentence. I couldn’t breath from about minute ten until the end of this gnawing, slot-canyon drama. Knowing the ending can’t prepare one for the exhilaration, claustrophobia, and ultimate release. It’s never felt so good to leave a theater before.
8. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
15 minutes of fame ruthlessly, strategically, and lovingly held on to for 50 plus years is a pretty amazing feat. If this serpentine career is the consolation prize, then I consider us all pretty damn lucky!
7. Waiting for Superman
As my movie partner can attest to I had a hard time not succumbing to Guggenheim’s blatant manipulation. I’m man enough to accept my tears, but is this country good enough to look after it’s most valuable resource? Definitely not if status quo keeps the wealthy at the top of the class…
6. The Other Guys
A comedy about the financial collapse on Wall Street is definitely not what I signed up for, but I left appreciative of the lesson in the laughter. McKay is one of few who understands that the path to enlightenment goes through Eva Mendes’ ugly ugly face.
5. The Kids Are All Right
And the adults have a lot to learn. I think the sole reason this film settled onto my list is Annette Bening. I am still flummoxed over her transcendent performance in Being Julia. I have no clue how her shrill, stressed out, and judgmental doctor actually warmed my heart. Now that I think of it she may be the only true adult in the film.
4. The Social Network
Why are we all on facebook? Is it truly about connecting or is it more about fashioning the perfect self that eluded one in college and life afterwards? Fincher approaches these questions through the lens of a bleak dystopia ruled by an embittered child-king. We are all the sad, obedient slaves.
3. Dogtooth
Dogtooth manages to successfully mix family drama, comedy, sci-fi, horror, and pornography into a perplexing whole! What is their not to love? Alien monster cats never had it so bad…
2. The Secret in Their Eyes
In America, the Thriller has become an uninventive wasteland for half-baked legal dramas and atmospheric horror movies without the gore. Apparently in Argentina they haven’t jettisoned the intricate set pieces, the wrenching human element, and the crackling suspense that makes the genre watchable. Be prepared to question your basic understanding of morality and justice…
1. Mother
I can’t describe what Joon-ho Bong does with a camera. It’s a slow, contemplative explosion buffeted by vague dialogue and shattered characters. I could not look away, not once. The tension was delicious, and I still don’t know to what purpose it was used, but it doesn’t really matter. Movies don’t always have to make sense to be masterpieces.
Honorable Mention: True Grit, The Arbor, Dog Pound, The Exploding Girl, and brilliantlove
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