My Top Eleven of 2011

 

 

11.  Weekend
dir. Andrew Haigh

Weekend is an unsentimental story of two men meeting and spending a weekend getting to know each other over booze, drugs, sex and conversation.  The lead character is Russell (Tom Cullen), a barely out and very reserved gay man.  While it seems his friends know he is gay, they are all straight, and Russell keeps his gay life, consisting of one night stands, very separate from the rest of his life.  It is clear from the first scene that Russell is a deeply unhappy man and his quasi-out lifestyle is hindered mainly by his lack of self worth.  Luckily he meets Glen (Chris New) at a gay club and the one night stand turns into a crush that is able to develop over one weekend, before Glen leaves the UK for school.  I loved this movie for how realistic and relatable the two men's connection was.  The acting and script are realistic and sincere without any forced cuteness or cheap emotional manipulation.  The true heart of WEEKEND lies in the attraction the men have for each other, beyond sexually, and the ways in which their connection helps bring Russell out of his deep denial and toward finding a passion for an honest life.  A great addition to gay cinema, WEEKEND feels like you are witnessing a small slice of life that gets deeper into human connection and loneliness than do most love stories. (I suggest watching with subtitles because the thick accents are hard to follow at times.)  

10.  Meek's Cutoff
dir. Kelly Reichardt 

MEEK'S CUTOFF follows a group of settlers in 1845 who find themselves lost in harsh conditions in the middle of the Oregon desert.  The group has allowed a man named Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood) to be their guide, but as they wander for days with little water and no food, suspicions begin to arise from many in the group, which leads to a divide in trust.  This trust is tested to a larger degree when the group finds and takes hostage a Native American man they come across.  His treatment and fate is left to the group, most of whom fear he is a savage that will bring the rest of his people to kill them if they let him go. One of the women in the group, Emily (Michelle Williams) becomes very disturbed by the poor treatment of the Native, and begins to become increasingly untrusting of Meek.  Trust is a huge theme in MEEK'S CUTOFF, as well as the exploration of gender roles.  The women in the couples have next to no say in their fate, as all decisions are made by the men, and most important conversations happen out of ear shot of the females.  Director Kelly Reichardt captures the women's lack of voice by keeping the focus largely on them.  It also captures the brutality the families face out in the desert as they venture farther into starvation and dehydration, making them all the more paranoid. While very slow-paced--the opening shot is of a wagon crossing a river for almost five minutes-- the desperation and helplessness that build through the entire story stick with you long after the sudden ending and silent credits.  While the movie is not long, better to watch this one when wide awake.  

  

 9.   Jane Eyre

dir. Cary Fukunaga 

I read JANE EYRE when I was thirteen years old, and loved the gothic tone and strong main character.  Over the years I have seen several adaptations of the novel and always found them a bit dull.  Part of the problem with most of them is how much they feel like a movie version of a novel.  The trickiest part of adapting a successful movie from a classic novel is the ability for the screenplay and feature to have their own voice.  A book is long and full of details, and can never all be fit into a film, so choices must be made:  what to focus on and what to trim (or write out completely), and this version of JANE EYRE does a wonderful job of feeling complete and fresh.  The biggest difference this version has from its predecessor is the time it puts into the relationship Jane (perfectly played by Mia ) shares with the young pastor St. John (Jamie Bell) after leaving Thornfield Hall in heartbreak. This film spends more time on the latter part of the story and much less on her awful childhood, which most of the previous movies spend a great deal of time on, and it allows this movie to feel unique. Of course, I can't deny that one of the biggest draws for me with this movie was my introduction to Michael Fassbender, as Rochester.  Some critics feel he is much to good looking for the role, but I think he was perfect.  His smoldering good looks, only slightly hidden under the scruffy facial hair, kept me excited for the two lovers to connect, and his take on the character is spot on.  This version also plays down the somewhat disturbing sado-masochistic relationship between Jane and Rochester, making their love a more comfortable story to watch.  The locations are beautiful, the pacing is perfect and Dame Judi Dench plays the delightful Ms. Fairfax, rounding out the superb cast.  

8.  Martha Marcy May Marlene
dir. Sean Durkin  

This is a movie that got a lot of buzz at Sundance last year, and started a lot of hype for new actress (and younger sister of the Olsen twins) Elizabeth Olsen.  For some reason, after its theatrical release, although critics seemed to like it, its hype died down and talk of Olsen getting an Oscar nomination went away.  I, however, loved this movie.  The story is of a young woman (Olsen) who joins and escapes a cult, but becomes increasingly paranoid that people are coming for her.  It is not told chronologically, instead it is woven together, jumping around in time, floating between memory and present tense.  The bulk of the movie is Elizabeth Olsen who is terrific, her strong work defining Martha's emotional journey keeps the movie centered and focused, taking the audience with her into a deranged state of suspicion and fear. The scenes of the cult are creepy as hell. John Hawkes, skinny as a skeleton, plays the nasty cult leader creeping on all the young girls. However, the creepiest scenes in the film are of Martha after escaping, with her sister and brother-in-law.  She is damaged worse than they are willing to acknowledge, and her odd behavior seems to become more and more threatening.  MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE  is as engrossing as it is unsettling.  It has an ending that divides people. I thought it was perfect, and it kept me thinking about the movie for a long time.  And, yes, cults are real creepy.   

7.  Belle Epine

dir. Rebecca Zlotowski

This was my favorite film I saw at last year’s Seattle Film Festival.  It is French and the first feature from  the female director.   BELLE EPINE is sad and beautiful, with a killer score, lots of nudity, and a strong performance from young lead Lea Seydoux as Prudence, a 16 year old girl struggling with the sudden death of her mother and near abandonment by her father.  Prudence is a lost child; her inability to process the losses pushes her into wild and destructive behavior.  She meets Maryline, another girl her age, in a police station when both are stripped and searched on suspicion of shoplifting.  When released (evidence was hidden too far up for discovery) Prudence invites Maryline to her apartment, where she lives alone, and offers her a key in exchange for a social life. Prudence knows Maryline hangs with a group of bike racers and she wants in.  Soon wild parties are being thrown at Prudence's apartment and she begins dating a very cute biker named Franck.  Sadly, he seems only interested in sex, and she seems more interested in spending time with his mother (a heartbreaking scene with her trying to get affection from this women, who seems distracted and uninterested, is the most painful scene in the movie). I wouldn't call the ending happy by any stretch, but another death towards the end does seem to trigger something inside Prudence, and it ends with the suggestion that she might be ready to look into her own losses and begin to move forward.   

6.  A Separation
  dir. Asghar Farhadi

A SEPARATION takes place in present day Iran, and is a fascinating window into a country many of us know very little about.  It has strong characters, and most of them are female.  The movie develops all of the characters wonderfully, and is able to make them complex, fully realized people.  The main character is  Nadar (Peyman Moadi), a middle class, liberal man, who shares his home with his teenage daughter and father, who is very sick with Alzheimers.  His wife, Simin (Leila Hatami), has recently left him because of his refusal to leave the country with her and their daughter.  Raizeh (Sareh Bayat ) is hired as a maid, to take over the wife's former responsibilities.  She brings her young and adorable daughter with her to the apartment and both are nervous around the elderly father.  On her first day the father wets his bed and she struggles with the decision to wash him or not, in her religion is is wrong for her to touch a man that is not her husband, but the man is helpless.  Raizeh does wash him, and keeps the job because she has no choice, she is poor and her husband is unemployed.  Things get complicated and several bad decisions lead to a legal mess which leads to more problems and more misunderstandings.  In the end that is what A SEPARATION is about:  people who are struggling, are unable to listen to each other and see that life is not black and white, not guilty or not guilty and that religious convictions and pride can get in the way of healing.

5.  Hugo
dir. Martin Scorsese

HUGO is the story of a young orphan boy who is all alone.  Played by newcomer Asa Butterfield, Hugo spends his days living behind the clocks of a train station and spying on all the people around him.  He works on the clock, which he was taught to do by his drunk uncle, who has since abandoned him.  Good at fixing machines, Hugo is hard at work trying to fix a mechanical man found by his father shortly before his death.  Hugo hopes that when fixed this machine will be able to answer the question that haunts Hugo:  where is his place in the world?  Luckily Hugo meets Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), who befriends and helps him.  Together they are able to get the automaton working, which only raises more questions, mainly about her guardian, a grumpy toy store worker who made movies in the past, but wants never to remember them.  HUGO is one of two movies on my list shot in 3D, and it makes the world come to life.  Director Martin Scorsese uses the 3D to elevate the cinematography and story, never making it distracting or gimmicky.  I cried a lot in HUGO, and felt really excited afterwards, the way great cinema should make you feel.  

Martin Scorsese has said he made the movie for his twelve year old daughter, who loves the book it is based on, and I wonder if he realized how secondary her gender is in the story.  While Chloe is great, her character is there mainly to support Hugo through his journey and help him find a place in the world. The three other females in the cast are simply the love interests of men and their purpose is to support the men and help them with their feelings of loneliness and disappointment. I assume Scorsese sees his daughter as a fully realized person and wants her life to be more then a supporting role for her husband, but he didn't give her much to inspire that in HUGO.  

On a positive note, Sasha Baron Cohen, as the mean security guard, stole every scene he was in.  I greatly admire his physical work and was impressed by how well he managed to balance the cartoonish elements of his character with the honest emotional stuff going on inside.

4.  Pina
dir. Wim Wenders

PINA is a tribut to German choreographer Pina Bausch.  Director Wim Wenders discovered Pina when his girlfriend dragged him to one of her performances.  Within minutes he had tears running down bis face and was blown away by the emotions she was able to convey through her dance.  His desire to make a documentary for her was there, but Wenders was worried about how he could effectively portray the depth of dance on a 2D screen.  It wasn't until he saw a U2 concert movie in 3D that he realized how he could do it.  He began working with Pina on the film when she was diagnosed with cancer, and died three days later.  The production went on when he saw the passion in the dancers wanting to pay tribute to their late mentor and teacher.  The film is breathtaking. Filmed in and around Pina's home town, it has amazing locations that made me want to buy a plane ticket and see them all for myself. The locations are brilliant, and the choreography is inspirational.  It lives somewhere between dance and theater and as an artist I left wanting to put that much passion into my own work, which is what great work should do.  

3. Take Shelter
dir. Jeff Nichols 

TAKE SHELTER is an independent film that uses its limited budget to full effect and proves that small movies can be as tense and powerful as big budget flicks.  Michael Shannon stars as Curtis, a lower middle class family man, working on the pipeline in Ohio.  He is in a good marriage with his beautiful wife, Samantha (Jessica Chastain) and they have a daughter they are both crazy about, who is deaf. When Curtis begins to have horrific nightmares, involving black rain, storms and his daughter in danger, he struggles with whether his fear is a mental illness or a warning that he must protect his family from an impending storm. While the dreams and paranoia play like a thriller and made me awfully tense, the real drama is the relationship between Curtis and Samantha.  His fear of a mental breakdown, which we find out his mother went through at the same age he is now, keeps him from telling his wife about his dreams or reason for insomnia, and his sudden distant behavior worries her.  The audience gets the sense these two have had a strong connection with good communication, and her loneliness as the man she trusts so much begins to change in behavior is heartbreaking.  The stakes are raised when his issues put his job in danger, therefore jeopardizing the healthcare plan that is about to allow their daughter to undergo surgery to repair her hearing.  While most of the tension is built around waiting to see if his dreams are a premonition or not, the heart lies in the couple’s connection and the real battle becomes their ability to get back on the same page and trust each other, even when each has strong reasons to doubt what the other is saying.  It has what is considered an open ending, although I found it fairly straight forward, mainly because I feel the ending clearly shows where they are with each other, and that is the story’s focus. Great acting by Michael Shannon, this movie made me a fan of his and I hope to see him in more great roles. 

2.  Poetry
dir. Chang-dong Lee

This is the beautiful story of sixty-something Mija, who lives in a city in Korea, and finds out she is in the early stages of Alzheimer's at the same time she has started taking a poetry class. POETRY doesn't have an easy hook for most people, including me, (I put off watching it for months), but it is an impressively capturing film that greatly moved me. Under Mija’s care is her aloof grandson, who is rude to her and still served by her.  When he becomes tied to a disturbing suicide of a female classmate, Mija's loyalty and beliefs are greatly tested. A fascinating character study, male dominance and patriarchal culture are shown as having very negative effects on women.  POETRY is about a woman finding herself amid horrible circumstances.  Throughout the film, Mija is searching for the beauty she is told will inspire her first poem.  It is humorous, sad and touching watching Mija staring at things like an apple, the sunlight between leaves, trees blowing in the wind, searching for her inspiration. It is hard to delve further into my thoughts on POETRY without giving away too much, but it had my favorite character in a 2011 film, one of my favorite performances (Jeong-hie Yun, as Mija) and the most beautiful script. 

1.  Drive
dir. Nicolas Winding Refn 

DRIVE is a moody, violent and really cool movie.  From the trailer, I thought it looked like a generic action/thriller movie full of car chases and females in danger.  Instead DRIVE was my favorite film of 2011.  Go figure.  There has been Ryan Gosling fever for some time now; he is the hot indie actor, and very talented (my favorite Gosling film, up till now, was HALF NELSON) but before DRIVE I was only half-way infected, after DRIVE I have full on Gosling phnemonia.  Many people hated DRIVE, and most critics adored it.  I was in love from the start: sitting in the theater with some popcorn, and Kavinsky's Nightcall starts playing over hot pink cursive font,  flashing DRIVE across the screen . . . I was hooked.  The entire film is mood.  It is a call back to films from the late 60's, 70's and early 80's, but also very much a Western in theme.  Gosling plays the man with no name, he is referred to as "Kid" or "Driver.”  He has a very Clint Eastwood in UNFORGIVEN feel.  He lives outside of the law, working as both a stunt car driver and get-a-way driver. He seems to have a past, but we hardly hear him speak and know nothing of his life.  Driver meets his lovely new neighbor (played by the adorable Carey Mulligan) and her son.  They live alone, (her husband is in prison), and immediately Driver begins to take care of them.  But this movie has no sex scene.  Their love scenes are long scenes of them staring at each other while the killer soundtrack plays.  Things do become violent, and there are some nasty scenes that are a great pay-off to the tension that builds throughout DRIVE, but it is a movie with very few car chases, and not too many women in danger.  DRIVE sucked me in and stayed with me for a long time, as any really cool movie should. 

 

 

There we go. Now that it is March of 2012, I feel ready to pick my favorite films of 2011. I went  with eleven because, why not? Overall, not the most exciting year in film, but I was pleasantly surprised, when sitting down to make this list, by how many films I considered.

Two that almost made the list are THE ARTIST and CORIOLANUS. Both impressed me and took me into their world, but over time THE ARTIST faded from my memory a little and began to seem a bit too charming and cute, perhaps how over-hyped also, but I did love the look and heart of THE ARTIST and I am obsessed with that dog. CORIOLANUS creates a world halfway modern, halfway ancient, and is full of great performances and some really strong homoerotic undertones, The only things that kept it off my list were the fuzzy politics and its machismo.

2011 also had great comedies that almost made my list, like, 50/50 (almost a drama, with a surprisingly touching script and performances) , YOUNG ADULT (dark, twisted and a career high for Charlize Theron), and THE MUPPETS (could have been such a let down, but was terrific!).

Both MELANCHOLIA and THE TREE OF LIFE were beautiful films, but both were uneven. TREE OF LIFE is Terrance Malick, who is cinema gold, and some of the images in TREE OF LIFE made up for some of the weaker points, but it is way too long and the family gets to feeling pretty boring after nearly 3 hours. MELANCHOLIA was very unique and packed a powerful punch with its beautiful cinematography and great performance from Kirsten Dunst (a bit surprising) but I don't think I would ever need to watch it again. While the first half was great, the second half dragged at times and made me more frustrated then entertained.

Other honorable mentions are HANNA, WITHOUT, SHAME, and THE WHISTLEBLOWER.

But only eleven get to make the cut and here they are, my favorite of the year that was, 2011.