Top Films 2012

My list of the top films I've seen this year.  There is no particular ranking.  Some of these films are new releases and some are old. Also, it would take me weeks to give all of these films the special attention they deserve. 

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm (1968)

William Greaves

A significant experimental documentary about the process of filmmaking.  Worthy of noting is Greaves' creative use of split screen processing.  I hope more people discover this film.

One of the first films I watched in film school was Un Chien Andalou (1929) and I remember being shocked by its experimentation. The ending of Simon of the Desert is surreal, outrageous, and absolutely brilliant. The chamber drama of The Exterminating Angel had me laughing.  At the same time, I kept thinking - he shot a masterpiece that takes place in a music room!

 

Fish Tank (2009)

Andrea Arnold

  A British film about Mia (Katie Jarvis) a 15-year-old lonely and isolated teenager who has a talent for dancing and becomes attracted to her mother's boyfriend, Connor (Michael Fassbinder).  This is a gritty and emotional drama.  It is interesting to compare this film with Silver Linings Playbook... 

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

David O. Russel

I love David O. Russell's work.  This is a mash up of genres and a lot fun.  Reminded me of the madcap films of the 1930s. Great acting - especially De Niro's performance. 

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson continues to make interesting coming of age drama/comedies.

Skyfall (2012)

Sam Mendes

This is clearly up there with the great films of the Bond franchise.  Javier Bardem's long take entrance and monologue about rats was absolutely brilliant.  Great action film that actually raises some interesting points about transparency, surveillance, and terrorism in the digital age.

Room 237 (2012)

Rodney Ascher

A highly engrossing documentary about the various interpretations of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.  This documentary demonstrates how time-shifting technologies are impacting spectatorship, allowing viewers to closely exam the moving-image. 

The Leopard (1963)

Luchino Visconti

Made by one Italy's best filmmakers.  Long, slow, beautiful, and ethereal.  The wedding sequence at the end is unbelievable.

From Here to Eternity (1953)

Fred Zinnemann

Excellent melodrama before the attacks on Pearl Harbor. 

  

Bernie (2012)

Richard Linklater

One of the best performances of the year.  Black should be nominated for an Academy award.  I love the structure of the film - reminded me of Bob Fosse's Lenny (1974).

Death of a Cyclist (1955)

Juan Antonio Bardem

Made by Javier Bardem's uncle, great thriller from Spain in the Hitchcock tradition.

49th Parallel (1941)

Michael Powell

See my random review.

Amreerka (2009)

Cherien Dabis

 

Great melodrama about a Palaestian mother and her son who move to Illinois.  At times a bit sappy, but I really liked this film.

 Advise and Consent (1962)

Otto Preminger

Long and excellent film made by one of the greats of the classical period.  With all of the sex scandals in politics, this film is even more important today.  Betty White has a small role.

The Guard (2011)

John Michael

Hilarious and smart movie.  Great dialogue.  I particularly loved the gangster's conversation about Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Bertand Russell early in the film - very funny.

 

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)

David Fincher

David Fincher continues to make great movies.  The chemistry between Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara works very well.  I love how the film combines digital technologies and physical materials such as documents and photos to solve the mystery.

Random Reviews - September 7, 2012 - The Dead and 49th Parallel

More random reviews...why not?

The Dead, John Huston, 1987

John Huston's last three films before his death in 1987 is a tour de force.  Under The Volcano (1984), Prizzi's Honor (1985) and The Dead - three outstanding films made respectively within a period of three years.  I highlight his final film - The Dead which is based on James Joyce's short story from The Dubliners. The film closely follows Joyce's story, providing viewers with vignettes of the yearly gathering of the Morkan sisters in January of 1904, which include singing and dancing, a piano performance, and recitation of poetry. There are many wonderful moments in The Dead, particularly the serving of the goose and all the different courses of foods during dinner.

The Dead is a beautifully slow and meditative non-narrative film.  It takes place when the western world was beginning to witness social and economic changes due to modernity.  Of course, Joyce's style of writing would later become associated with the broad movement of modernism. The film hits upon a number of issues, such as the political tension between Ireland and England, conversation about opera, discussion of about literature and clothing fashion of the time. There is also a sense of loneliness that pervades the story.  We eventually find out that what lies beneath this gathering is an unspoken tension between Gabriel and his wife Gretta, performed wonderfully by Huston's daughter Anjelica Huston, who had recently won a supporting Oscar for her supporting role in Prizzi's Honor.    

This is extraordinary filmmaking from man who began his career in the golden age of Hollywood - a time when a film like The Dead and its non-narrative style of would have been hard to find. The ending of The Dead has to be one of the most beautiful and power passage of prose I have ever read.   And Huston wonderfully captures this ending sequence of Gabriel self-reflecting on the fleeting nature of memories, the cosmos, "and the living and the dead."

49th Parallel, Michael Powell, 1941

This is a compelling propaganda war film made by one of Britain's finest filmmaker, Michael Powell, who also directed films with Emeric Pressburger, such as A Canterbury Tale (1945), Black Narcissus, (1947), The Red Shoes (1948), and Pepping Tom (1960).   

After the sinking of their U-boat in the Hudson Bay, six Nazi sailors must evade capture as they travel across Canada. They meet different groups of people that challenge their Nazi rhetoric. One scene in particular is the Nazi speech by Peter (Anton Walbrook), the leader of the group, who tries to spread Nazism upon the peaceful Hutterite community--a group of people who happened to be of German descent.  Peter's speech literally scared me to the bones.   

This is a powerful film made during the time before U.S. entered the war. The final sequence of the film clearly alludes to this - a strong message to America to break with its isolationist stance. The poignancy of film's title addresses this as well: the geographical divide between the U.S. and Canada (the 49th parallel) - a divide that may have had no meaning or purpose for both countries if America did not join the Allies.

Most of the film was shot on location, which gives the film a realist quality.  Laurence Olivier plays a great role as Johnnie the trapper. 49th Parallel also deservedly won the best screenplay Oscar in 1941. This is clearly one of top films of the war genre.  It is great that Criterion released this one.