2007: The
Year in Film
By: Danny Baldwin
Arbitrary as it may be to summarize an entire year of World Cinema in two
words, the compulsion seems only necessary: 2007 stunk. While many of my
colleagues have spoken otherwise, not one part of me can see how the Year
in Film delivered everything (or even the majority of) what it should
have. It also seems like a phenomenally atrocious time for Film when
compared to its much-better predecessor, 2006. Speaking as a concerned
moviegoer, I sincerely hope that 2008 offers a more inspired, more
invigorating plate of pictures for us all to digest.
But enough with the bitching and moaning; for me to use this piece to
dwell on the many mistakes made by the Film Industry during the past year
would be a frivolous indulgence. There were, without a doubt, many good
films (and a few masterpieces) released over the past 365 days. What’s
most striking about 2007’s offerings on the whole is that they were
fiercely independent from one another. There wasn’t a common thread to
link the most successful motion pictures released this year so much as
there was an appreciation for different types of filmmaking displayed by
both Hollywood and the indie-circuit. Even if I recommended fewer pictures
in 2007 than I have in years past, the ones that I did could not have been
more diverse. On my Top Ten, one finds crime-dramas, comedies,
politically-themed conversation-pieces, and experimental exercises. If
there’s one thing to be grateful for in regards to the Year in Cinema, it
is the variety that was found amongst each week’s releases.
With that all being said, allow me to proceed to discuss my favorite and least favorite films out of the 177 that I saw this year, as
well as few others.
The Bottom 10
(Presented in reverse-preferential order):
Dishonorable Mentions: The Darjeeling Limited, Driving Lessons,
Feast of Love, Lions for Lambs, The Mist, Resident Evil: Extinction, Rush
Hour 3, Saw IV, Shooter, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
10. Margot at the Wedding – How ironic that Noah Baumbach, the
writer/director who so eloquently explored dysfunctional-family dynamics
in 2005’s The Squid and the Whale, would botch the same topic with
this film. The central problem here is that every character
is screwed up beyond all measure, meaning that the only sympathy the
viewer is able to feel for them is derived from pity. Nicole Kidman, Zane
Pais, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Jack Black all give committed
performances, but their work ends up coming off as direly pathetic because
it is so far removed from the heartbreaking poetry that Baumbach wants so
desperately to achieve.
9. Wild Hogs – I don’t necessarily have a problem with a film that
wants to be moronic, homophobic, and derivative, but I do have a problem
with one that wants to use all of those elements to concoct a grinning
crowd-pleaser. Color me stunned that this was so well liked by the
American Masses because, frankly, I figured that they knew better by now.
There’s one funny scene in Wild Hogs, but it has little to do with
pathetic stars John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, or William H.
Macy; instead, it finds a creepy laugh in the (perhaps unintentional)
aggressive comedic persistence of supporting actor John C.
McGinley.
8. Hannibal Rising – I’m not exactly sure who this movie was made
for. It certainly wasn’t targeted at Hannibal Lecter enthusiasts, who
largely boycotted it out of disdain for the general premise and Thomas
Harris’ reportedly-awful source-novel. Some future advice for MGM and the
Weinstein Company: when you decide to put up the cash to make the fourth
installment in a beloved series, make sure that the script doesn’t include
East-Asian martial arts if the material doesn’t have anything to do with
them in the first place. Hannibal Rising exists only to cash in on
the name of its title villain (portrayed here by the mediocre Gaspard
Ulliel, not Anthony Hopkins).
7. Reno 911!: Miami – I’ll be the first to admit that I have never
watched a full episode of Comedy Central’s Reno 911!, mainly
because it has never been able to hold my interest long enough during each
of the times that I have clicked onto it when channel-surfing. Why I chose
to endure the big-screen adaptation, I dunno. Perhaps I wanted to find the
joy and humor that many claimed that I was missing by overlooking the TV
show? Whatever the reason, the decision certainly wasn’t a good one: this
is a crass, crude, and wholly unfunny bust. Anyone who isn’t a
thirteen-year-old who thinks penises are hysterical will agree with me.
6. Sicko – Michael Moore continues to be every bit the
master-manipulator that people love him for being, and I still don’t get
him. Many chalk the man’s success up to him being “likable,” but I don’t
see any charm or affability in his constant distortion of facts and crass
oversimplification of issues. This time around, he tackles the American
Healthcare System and, as expected, paints a picture that suggests that
America is the worst place that one could possibly live. In Moore’s view,
the capitalist American government just wants to kill all of its citizens:
it supports the unquantifiable injustices of big-business HMO corporations
and doesn’t care about the health of its people. Relying on cheap
indoctrination-tactics like interviews with ailing September 11th
workers who have been denied healthcare for their medical-problems and the
glamorization of the socialist systems of other countries, Moore never
questions the potential ineffectiveness of his pedestal-held suggestion of
Universal Healthcare in a country that prides its free market. I admire
Moore’s idealism, but I think his propagandist-filmmaking only serves to
defeat the process of domestic progress rather than to actually propose
feasible solutions to problems.
5. Halloween – In his three features as a director, Rob Zombie has
proven that he knows a lot about the horror genre. Why doesn’t he put this
knowledge to better use? His butchering of the 1978 Carpenter classic
embodies all of the conventions of tasteless horror filmmaking: brutally
violent sequences of no narrative consequence, poorly constructed
characters, and uninteresting shock-tactics. There’s a lot of blood and
gore swimming around in Halloween, but not a single scare to be
found in any of it. Better luck on your next film, Mr. Zombie.
4. G.I. Jesus – Thankfully, I don’t remember a whole lot about this
micro-budget disaster, which was unsuccessfully pawned off to Hispanic
communities early in the year. For the first ninety-five of its
one-hundred minutes, the movie offers a half-baked story about the
emotional-tolls of the Iraq War as seen through the resistant eyes of a
Mexican G.I. fighting in exchange for U.S. Citizenship. Spouting
poorly-constructed political rhetoric, co-writer/director Carl Colpaert
shows that he understands little-to-nothing about the two hot-button
issues in American Politics that his film tackles: immigration and foreign
policy. His vision only gets worse in G.I. Jesus’ final five
minutes, in an “It’s only a dream!”-reveal that is as out-of-place as it
is self-defeating to the picture’s thesis.
3. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry – Star Adam Sandler and
director Dennis Dugan wanted to make a biting comedy about gay-marriage in
America while, at the same time, as Sandler put it in a promotional
interview, “making sure no one’s feelings got hurt.” I’ve got some news
for the both of them: as intimidating as the potential negative response
of vocal homosexual-activist groups might have been, it just wasn’t a good
idea to make an “inoffensive” movie on this issue. In fact, the final
product is so benign towards the butt of its jokes that it ends up being
artistically offensive, trying to please both male-teenagers who
want to rag on gays and gays sensitive to their sexual-preference. In the
process, it leaves just about everybody else out of the loop. Not to
mention, because the movie is so cautious in trying not to offend a few
homosexual viewers, it also takes rather gruesome (and entirely unfunny)
jabs at just about every other minority-group in America to compensate.
2. In the Valley of Elah – Prominent conservatives lashed out
against Lions for Lambs and Rendition, two dull
propaganda-pieces that threw stones at the Bush Administration this year,
but hardly any of them even mentioned this aggressively
anti-American-military picture from Paul Haggis. Whether this means that
they care more about protecting the image of Bush than the Troops or just
that they weren’t highly aware of the movie, I’m not sure. What I do know
is that In the Valley of Elah paints American Soldiers out to be
kill-happy masochists in favor of deviously advancing its own anti-war
views, an unfair and unethical act. That it includes one of the best
performances of Tommy Lee Jones’ career makes it all the more dangerous.
If Haggis wanted to go after the Bush Administration, that would have been
perfectly acceptable. That he chose to take his aggressions out on the
very men and women fighting for his country instead is entirely
disgraceful.
1. Smokin’ Aces – “Let’s all gather round and watch bodies drop!”
seems to be the philosophy embodied by this Joe Carnahan picture. Only in
an age as morally-ambiguous as the current one would audiences think said
notion to be acceptable, but many seemed to like watching the movie’s
blood-soaked antics. Don’t get me wrong: the central problem with
Smokin’ Aces is not that it’s relentlessly violent. The real issue is
that it exists as such without any inherent purpose. There’s no narrative
here; mindless killing is simply an intrinsic value imbedded deep in the
protagonists’ beings, a concept dangerous for the target-audience (you
guessed it: teenage males!) to be absorbing. By the end of the film, I
fear that many troubled viewers may amend the aforementioned philosophy
to: “Let’s all gather round and make bodies drop!” I hold Carnahan
responsible for this as a filmmaker, and feel that Smokin’ Aces is
nothing more than a repugnant, immoral act of Cinema.
The Top 10 11
(Presented in reverse-preferential order):
Runners-Up: August Rush, Black Snake Moan, The Bourne
Ultimatum, Eastern Promises, Nancy Drew, Offside, Starting out in
the Evening, Superbad, Zodiac.
11. Juno - What I first thought was a good-but-not-great attempt at
offbeat romantic-comedy has grown on me so profoundly in subsequent
viewings that I can't help but add it to this list. Juno is
deceptive in its simplicity, with true wisdom hidden beneath the surface.
Take Ellen Page's talk-of-the-town lead performance, for example. The role
is so bombastically written that it's highly likely that the real charms
of Page's subtly nuanced approach will escape most viewers upon first
glance. (This was certainly the case for me when I saw the movie in
November, amidst the blinding raves of the festival-circuit.) In fact, the
same thing can be said of the entire picture: despite boasting wildly
funny, off-the-wall dialogue by freshman Diablo Cody, Juno is
actually far more about the little details. Hyperbolic as it may be, the
movie nails what it means to be a teenager (or a growing adult, for that
matter) in contemporary America. Page makes for a wonderfully likable,
sympathetic Juno. She's only trumped by Jennifer Garner, a revelation as
the adoptive-mother of sixteen-year-old Juno's unplanned, soon-to-be-born
baby. In this film, flourishing young director Jason Reitman has
given audiences a treat that is beautiful both on the surface and on
deeper levels.
10. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead – The majority of critics
seem to have prefaced their comments about this picture by marveling over
the fact that veteran filmmaker Sidney Lumet was able to pull it off at
the ripe age of eighty-three. I think this may just do a disservice to
Lumet, whose efforts would be just as miraculous if he were thirty-three.
Engrossingly told using a non-linear structure, Before the Devil Knows
You’re Dead revels in the moral-complexity created by its
smartly-written plot. Lumet assembles the picture with all of the
inventiveness of his most-acclaimed works, and his cast couldn’t be
better, with outstandingly rattling work coming from Philip Seymour
Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marissa Tomei, and Albert Finney.
9. There Will Be Blood – Paul Thomas Anderson’s roaring opus about
business, family, and honor may be overly critical of capitalism, but it
has every right to be given how thought-provoking it is. With Daniel Day
Lewis turning in yet another virtuoso lead-performance to add to his
seasoned resume and Paul Dano nearly matching him in terms of
scene-stealing power, Anderson allows his actors to flourish within the
confines of a very carefully-constructed film. Sometimes more interesting
than the actors or characters themselves is the external realization of
just how experimental the picture is despite being told in a very
classical style. There Will Be Blood is as layered and unrelenting
in its textured, often puzzling approach as a true masterpiece ever will
be. I’m not entirely sold on it being that masterpiece, but I may indeed
come to believe that it is after I see it a few (dozen?) more times.
8. The Savages – Writer/director Tamara Jenkins’ script for this
film is perfectly wonderful, both bitingly funny and respectfully
insightful of the process of aging. However, Jenkins’ actors are the ones
who steal the show. In the lead roles, Philip Seymour Hoffman (in yet
another great performance this year) and Laura Linney make for one of the
most sympathetic pairs of on-camera siblings in recent memory. As their
Jon and Wendy Savage have to make decisions about the downward spiral of
health endured by their aimless widowed father, Lenny (Philip Bosco – also
exceptional), the duo’s warmth and humanity never stops seeping through
the screen, bleak as the material come to be. It seems ironic to call
The Savages the most comforting movie of the year given that it’s
about the pains of life and death, but it very well may be. Jenkins’
concluding pro-life message, too, is absolutely beautiful.
7. American Gangster – Ridley Scott’s cross-cutting crime-drama
about the investigation of Harlem drug-lord Frank Lucas and, subsequently,
the New York City Police Department, may not forge any new territory, but
it’s one of the best genre-entertainments in years. Scott, a veteran
director, once again shows us that he knows how to expertly craft a motion
picture, making sure that American Gangster engages for its nearly
three-hour running-length. The cast, too, delivers invigorating work, with
Denzel Washington headlining and finding the perfect balance between
charisma and terror as Lucas. Russell Crowe is just as good as the
compulsively honest, everyman police detective who dares to head a
Narcotics Division that aims to take Lucas down amidst an entirely corrupt
Police Force. Sure, the movie is a straightforward crime procedural, but
ho-hum “C.S.I”-episode it isn’t. I saw it twice, and it didn’t lose any of
its considerable entertainment-value and historical-intrigue the second
time around.
6. Across the Universe – Julie Taymor’s kaleidoscopic, trippy look
at the 1960s as told through newly-recorded arrangements of Beatles’ songs
may have been an ultimate failure depending on your point-of-view, but
what a spectacular failure it was! With some of the most colorful,
eye-popping choreography, set-design, and cinematography of the year,
Taymor retells the pivotal time of change in American History as she (and,
presumably, screenwriters Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais) saw it. Many
felt that the movie butchered Lennon and McCartney’s infamous
compositions, but I couldn’t disagree more: to my eyes and ears, they
perfectly provide an emotional-backing for the movie’s wildly
impressionistic musical numbers. Sure, the characters may ultimately be
stock creations, but why shouldn’t they be? Across the Universe is
all about celebrating the joys and pains of a troubled era with a typical
bunch of adventurous, hopeful, rebellious, and ultimately clueless youths.
It’s a visual and auditory wonder for the viewer, who, even if displeased
with Taymor’s imaginings, can’t help but respect her unquenchable sense of
ambition.
5. Knocked Up – Many will question my credibility for placing this
Judd Apatow comedy so highly on my list, but I undoubtedly think it
deserves to be where it is. 2007 was an incredible year for Apatow as a
filmmaker and a producer, and Knocked Up (which allowed him to sit
in the writer/director’s chair) represents his best work of the slew that
he put out. Like Apatow’s previous feature, The 40-Year-Old Virgin,
this is a gross-out comedy of unexpected wisdom, coupling wacky characters
with authentic situations. The result, in a way, is closer to real-life
than that which even the sharpest of dramas produce: the movie recognizes
the absurdities of everyday situations through humor and hence comes to
greatly understand and appreciate human behavior. As the pair of unwed,
entirely-opposite, one-night-stand-provoked parents alluded to by the
film’s title, Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl are something of a miracle
together. Their mismatched nature not only does a service to the comedy
they create, but the romance that they share in the end. Knocked Up
is a beautiful little gem, amusing on the surface and rewarding on deeper
levels.
4. No Country for Old Men – As is the case with the previous
picture on my list, there’s a lot more to the Coen Brothers’ latest than
meets the eye. On the surface, this is an expertly-constructed caper film,
with a sympathetic protagonist (Josh Brolin) running from one of the most
horrifying Movie Villains ever to reach the silver-screen (much thanks to
Javier Bardem’s sure-to-win-an-Oscar performance). As one looks deeper—I
had to see the movie a second time to really understand what the Coens
were going for—the moral complexities that unravel are profound. This is
the rare character-drama that actually understands its characters on an
instinctual level, exploring their personalities as they are thrust into
the unthinkably terrifying situation set forth by puzzling source-writer
Cormac McCarthy. No Country for Old Men is a layered study of human
nature, a fascinating portrayal of the American Southwest, and a
terrifying and unrelenting observation of a psychotic antagonist. Not to
mention, the highly-controversial final scene achieves all kinds of
poetry.
3. Into the Wild – Sean Penn’s riveting, intimate look at
Christopher McCandless, a real young man who became so overwhelmed by the
complicated and expectation-filled reality that surrounded him that he
decided to become a walking incarnate of Henry David Thoreau, may just be
an American Classic. Penn structures the film in a very old-fashioned way,
allowing Chris to absorb great wisdom from the people and places he
encounters in carefully-constructed parts, but also imbues it with a
terrific post-modern edge. His work behind the camera is liberating and
invigorating, and allows his very-gifted cast to shine. In the lead role,
Emile Hirsch does a miraculous job of balancing Chris’ notable
intelligence with his fruitful, youthful stupidity, painting a character
that is neither a romantic hero nor an ignorant idiot. As two of the most
affecting individuals that Chris meets, Catherine Keener and Hal Holbrook
both give what may be the best performances of their seasoned careers.
Into the Wild is, quite simply, a masterpiece.
2. The Kingdom – It’s hard to believe that Matthew Michael
Carnahan, the very man who wrote the inept Iraq War-based drama Lions
for Lambs (which sits on my “Dishonorable Mentions” list for the
year), also penned this enlightening depiction of the current situation in
the Middle East. Fictionally framing its action around the investigation
of the bombing of an American Housing Compound in Saudi Arabia, the movie
not only succeeds as an allegory about United States Foreign Policy, but
also as an adrenaline-pumping auctioneer and a crime-procedural. As the
central team of American investigators—played expertly by Jamie Foxx,
Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, and Jason Bateman—comes to reach
conclusions about the bombing, the greater consequences of the movie only
become messier and more complicated. The Kingdom offers no easy
answers about the threat of Islamic Terror or the implications of American
Interventionism, but it appreciably functions as a look at the issues that
is both riveting and profoundly observant. The only conclusion that it
ultimately reaches is that both sides of the current War being
waged—Westernized Democracy and Fascistic Fundamentalism—won’t stop
fighting until the other is extinguished. That it does so through a
close-knit group of characters and uses an isolated-incident as its
context speaks to just how powerful it is.
1. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days – Many critics have speculated
that there is a Renaissance taking place within the Romanian Film Industry
and, if Cristian Mungiu’s breathtaking 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
is any indication, they’re right. Recalling the stripped-down wonders of
the French New Wave, Mungiu finds unquantifiable success in his forced
embrace of cinema verite, making this film on a tiny budget and
shooting only one take that didn’t make the final cut. The picture
tells the story of a young woman named Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) who is—at
once—fiercely brave, fitfully naive, and entirely vulnerable. She is the
college-roommate of Gabita (Laura Vasiliu), another girl who has
decided to have an abortion, an illegal act in the communist 1980s Romania
that surrounds the two. Because of Gabita's considerable fear, she prompts
Otilia to handle the matter and deal with the moral-complexities of the
issue, including those involving the suspicion-carrying abortionist Mr.
Bebe (Vlad Ivanov).
Mungiu makes no moral-judgments about the practice of abortion itself, but
instead chooses only to depict its tragic consequences within his circle
of characters. The act clearly devastates Otilia, no matter how much she
cares for Gabita on a primal level. A tracking sequence in which Otilia
must dispose of the fetus amidst the blackened darkness of Night
masterfully encompasses her emotional transformation throughout the film.
The viewer hears nothing but the sound of the Otilia’s heavy-breathing,
allowing them to naturally sympathize for Otilia’s fear of the communist
system that has led Gabita to view an illegal abortion as her only means
of running away from government-intrusion into her life. Likewise, Mr.
Bebe is not depicted as a monster or as a man who endorses abortion, but
as one who sees a need to fear the oppressive government that surrounds
him and to counter it.
The performances feel unflinchingly realistic as Mungiu follows their
natural digression in long, straightforward takes that are captured with
washed-out colors and rough textures. The film simultaneously evokes in
the viewer a heart-stopping sense of suspense, a fascination in the
story’s historical context, and a contemplation of the moral-judgments of
the characters. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days is the best picture
of 2007, and it should not be missed by American viewers when it enters
major U.S. markets in January 2008.
Most Overrated Film of 2007: Sweeney Todd – Stylish and
well-acted to be sure, but also pointlessly gruesome. I’m willing to watch
a montage in which numerous heads are cut off in rapid succession, but
only if it has a greater purpose than to convince me that a murderous
barber is seriously warped. Stephen Sondheim’s genius musical numbers from
the play are at least competently adapted, but they still don’t even come
close to feeling like the invigorating pieces that I’m sure they did
onstage.
Most Underrated Film of 2007: Reservation Road – Sure, the
film wasn’t the homerun that it could’ve been, but it deserves to be seen
for its great performances from Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix,
Jennifer Connelly, and Mira Sorvino. For the most part, the complex
exploration of morality promised by its terrific trailer is also present,
if undercooked. Even if it could’ve been a lot better,
Reservation Road was deserving of far more praise (and ticket-sales)
than it was able to conjure up.
Most Overlooked Film of 2007: Sunshine – So what if Danny
Boyle ignored the issue of gravity in this wild tale of astronauts who
literally have to shoot a star into the sun to keep it from dying off? The
film is one of the most intelligent and engaging that the science-fiction
genre has seen in a long while, and it’s one of Boyle’s best to date.
If I Picked the Oscar Nominees (listed in preferential order):
Best Actor: Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood, Frank
Langella in Starting out in the Evening, Will Smith in I Am
Legend, Emile Hirsch in Into the Wild, Ryan Gosling in Lars
and the Real Girl.
Best Actress: Lauren Ambrose in Starting out in the Evening,
Ellen Page in Juno,
Laura Linney in The Savages, Anamaria Marinca
in 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days,
Katherine Heigl in Knocked Up.
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men,
Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild, Casey Affleck in The
Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Philip Seymour
Hoffman in Charlie Wilson’s War, Paul Dano in There Will Be
Blood. (With a very-close sixth-place tie split four ways between Tom
Wilkinson in Michael Clayton, Peter O’Toole in Ratatouille,
Vlad Ivanov in 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, and [of course]
Christopher Mintz-Plasse in Superbad.)
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Garner in Juno, Tilda
Swindon in Michael Clayton, Cate Blanchett in I’m Not There,
Saoise Ronan in Atonement, Heather Graham in Adrift in Manhattan.
Notable Films I Missed (but will catch up with sooner or later):
12:08 East of Bucharest, 28 Weeks Later, Black Book, Grace is Gone, Into
Great Silence, A Mighty Heart, Ocean’s 13, Right at Your Door, Sleuth,
Vitus, Year of the Dog.
Published on:
1.2.2008
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