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2007 - Year In Review (Yes, another top 10)by Erik McClanahan
I’m not going to say much here except that 2007 was a strong year for film, surpassing 2006—also an impressive film year. So many ambitious, polarizing and ambiguous movies had filmgoers talking. Some of my favorite (three for sure) films this year divided audiences in their final acts. It’s worth noting that my top 2 films this year were both partly filmed in the same western Texas town (Marfa), and they’re both masterpieces. Take from that what you will. If I ever make a movie I’m going to Marfa. 10.) Grindhouse (Planet Terror / Death Proof)
This makes the list for one simple reason. No other film going experience of 2007 was like it. Key word: experience. It’s rare today to have a truly singular cinema experience at the movies. Grindhouse gave audiences two movies for the price of one, yet they stayed away. It flopped at the box office. It was moronically released on DVD as two separate films, which is fine and all because they are both a lot of fun (I prefer Tarantino’s Death Proof, but Planet Terror is great too), but anyone watching the films separately is missing out on the filmmaker’s intention of a communal theater experience in which we are transported to a decrepit 1970’s movie house, watching back-to-back B films. On DVD, we also miss out on the hilarious fake movie trailers. All of them are hilarious, but my favorite is Edgar Wright’s (writer-director Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) "Don’t!", a hilarious spoof of British horror films. It and the other two fake trailers, Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving and Rob Zombie’s Werewolf Women of the S.S., can be found on YouTube with relative ease. If you didn’t see Grindhouse at the theater, check them out. They’re hilarious. I for one applaud this ode to crap films of yesteryear. Yes, I do want to see Tarantino make something with some more substance next time out. But until we get his next opus, Death Proof will hold me over. As for Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, the director is right home with this material. While Tarantino does his thing by making art out of garbage, Rodriguez embraces his B movie aspirations to the fullest, delivering a hilarious movie that is purposefully bad. This is filmmaking at its most pleasurable, swimming in nostalgia like Lucas, Spielberg and De Palma did in the 70’s and 80’s.
9.) After the Wedding This Danish film was up for the 2006 Best Foreign Language Film award (losing out to the fantastic German film The Lives of Others), but didn’t get a theatrical release until early 2007. After the Wedding is a heartbreaking melodrama that rises above its soap opera-like plot. The less you know about this film the better. It’s all about watching the layers peel away with every scene. Not one scene or performance is wasted; director Susanne Bier is one to watch (I plan on renting her earlier films Brothers and Open Hearts, I’ve heard good things about them both). She actually had her American film debut with the Benicio Del Toro-Halle Berry vehicle Things We Lost in the Fire, which I want to see now.
8.) The Wind That Shakes the Barley Ken Loach’s film about two brothers torn apart by war and loyalty to country during British occupation of 1920’s Ireland won the 2006 Palme D’Or at that year’s Cannes Film Festival. It’s a powerful experience, mostly because Loach’s lead actors (Cillian Murphy and Padraic Delaney) are terrific. Ireland provides a beautiful backdrop, which Loach and his cinematographer Barry Ackroyd use to full effect to provide the film with some breathtaking camera shots. It looks and feels like Coppola’s work on Godfather, Part 2 with a modern scope for epic storytelling. All in all, a great work that is part family drama, part crime/war epic, with a touch of revolutionary drama. -tie-
A sort-of Irish version of Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise and Before Sunset with fantastic songs playing throughout in completely realistic ways, this film has a lot of heart but doesn’t induce the gag reflex. If you don’t feel a little better after watching this then you may be dead inside. I also despise musicals for the most part, but the best part of the film is that it has none of the sheen or polish of a musical; the characters’ songs reveal a lot about their personalities and past heartbreaks, but never feel out of place or unusual. Much of the charm of Once lies in its simplicity, unfolding with a straightforward narrative that rewards an appreciative audience with portrayals of the more subtle human tendencies and emotions. This is small, independent filmmaking at its best. 6.5) I’m Not There This is a film about deconstruction, not Bob Dylan. Taking apart and rearranging the musician biopic has been long overdue, and here Todd Haynes gives us that film. It works as a wild experiment, but is also very entertaining as a movie. Let the film wash over you and just take you for an enjoyable ride. You won’t be sorry. There is a lot to like here, be it all the great performances (Cate Blanchett is getting all the awards, but young Marcus Carl Franklin is the real revelation here) or Hayne’s everything-but-the-kitchen-sink direction. A film that will be loved more as years go by I think.
6.) Sunshine
Science Fiction films have a soft spot in my heart, especially when they're made with this much affection for the genre. Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) does for science fiction here what he did for the zombie movie with 28 Days Later. He takes apart the genre while also paying loving tribute to its better aspects. Taking from the best, i.e. Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris, Boyle and screenwriting partner Alex Garland (their third collaboration) create a smart, philosophical film that asks a lot of questions about the nature of God and science. Many disliked the polarizing ending, but I absolutely loved its lack of pretensions (especially on multiple viewings). The visuals are astounding, and the film is filled with tension, deep questions and a plot that zips along quickly.
5.) Zodiac A film packed with so much information that I'm not surprised audiences stayed away, but no love from Oscar? That's a big oversight. Yes, it’s long, and you feel that length for sure, but the story needed to be this long. I wouldn’t eliminate one scene from the 160 minute running time. Fincher really seems to have matured with this film. And it follows his every-other-movie rule: Fincher is brilliant, but he only makes great films every other time. Alien 3 not so good, Se7en brilliant; The Game ok, Fight Club brilliant – film that defines a generation; Panic Room ok but disappointing, and now the wonderful Zodiac (I hope this rule is broken with his upcoming Curious Case of Benjamin Button). A film that poses more questions then answers, it succeeds on showing us the process of investigation down to the little details (like how hard it is to get a warrant) and unloads information at feverish (albeit straightforward) pace. This is a film about obsession made by an obsessive director, and Fincher’s use of high-def photography is the best argument for the technology to date. Check out the awesome, 2 disc director’s cut DVD.
4.) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly The most emotionally satisfying film I saw all year. The story of French Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby doesn’t sound like a good source for adaptation, but Ronald Harwood (Oscar winner for his script of Roman Polanski’s The Pianist) and Julian Schnabel make it as cinematic and visceral as any story put on celluloid this year. Bauby’s bout with his locked-in syndrome – a disease that paralyzed his entire body save for his left eye – is shown to us using his point of view, putting the audience in Bauby’s shows for a time. Heartbreakingly sad and also very touching, this film is a celebration of creativity and imagination overcoming the worst of circumstances for an artist. The title is brilliant as well, a beautiful metaphor that encompasses the entire story, and the main character’s state of mind, in six words.
3.) The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Writer/Director Andrew Dominik's first film Chopper (starring a deranged and wonderful Eric Bana) was solid, but it in no way hinted at the talent he puts on display with this slow, meditative deconstruction of western myths. The film asks smart and prescient questions about celebrity obsession and the need for some people to be famous (or infamous). Channeling Terrence Malick (some shots echo Days of Heaven) by way of Cormac McCarthy, with hints of Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone, the Australian-born Dominik lets this film breathe. He takes his time with the material, but it’s worth the slow pace. Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck are both terrific, as is the rest of the impressive cast (the male cast anyway, Mary-Louise Parker is wasted in one of the few female roles): Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Renner, Sam Shephard, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Schneider and Michael Parks. Cinematography by the Roger Deakins is simply amazing, his work with lenses and light here is particularly impressive, giving the film the look of an old photograph of the time. Nick Cave’s somber score is note-perfect as well (and look for his cameo as a singer in a bar at the end). A film that gets better the more you think about, this is one to be remembered.
2.) No Country For Old Men Not much more I can add that hasn’t already been said about this amazing film. I read the book (by Cormac McCarthy). Loved it. Saw the film a month a later. Was blown away. The Coen brothers stay quite faithful to the source material, even with the controversial ending. Sorry all you haters, but this is a perfect, and non-conventional (funny how this usually bothers some moviegoers), ending that refuses to give in to expectation. The final act cements the film as a masterpiece (overused word I know, but it’s appropriate here) by adding another layer to the film’s thematic arc with a few turns that don’t go where the audience might expect. Also one of the best of the Coens’ already impressive oeuvre. Amazing cast (everyone is pitch-perfect in their performances) and Roger Deakins again does brilliant work as Director of Photography. All the elements came together for this one, and it will be celebrated, debated and studied for many years to come.
1.) There Will Be Blood
Paul Thomas Anderson is now my favorite filmmaker working today. The amazing auteur is 5 for 5 in my opinion: Hard Eight (Sydney), Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love and this year’s best film There Will Be Blood. P.T. Anderson is working on another level then the rest of his contemporaries. He is a filmmaker that switches hats with every film: his first two were basically Scorsese films, Magnolia is his Altman film, and Punch-Drunk Love is, well I’ve never really seen anything quite like it, it’s a unique film indeed. With Blood, PTA harkens to Kubrick of 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining with a touch of Clockwork Orange. Daniel Day-Lewis. Performance for the ages. His Daniel Plainview is my favorite film character of the 2000’s. The ending for this is dividing audiences and critics as well. The ending is totally appropriate to the story Anderson is telling here. Multiple viewings of this amazing film are a must. Another masterpiece of 2007.
Also good, check these out too (honorable mentions): These films were disappointments, whether they were over-hyped or I was personally excited to see them, either way I wasn’t too impressed with these titles: Didn’t like it the first time I saw it, but now I take it back having seen it twice (it’s quite good): Worst films I saw this year: Heard good things, but haven’t seen these YET: Top 10 non-2007 films I saw this year:
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