..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..RJ Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

..Movie City Indie ..Pride, Unprejudiced Blog

Reading about film in 2005 often came down simply to “And your point is…?” Stock journalism, pissy blogging, pack trend-spooting, drippy journalism about blogging and general pessimism reigned, but in movies, there were sterling moments to spare. There were at least 90 movies that I liked this year out of the several hundred I saw, and probably even overlooked a couple. Here’s a provisional ten best, twenty more, and a longer list of redeeming features or lovely passages (with some annotations). There are lists of best performances, documentaries, and cinematography, too. The only philosophical note: there are no guilty pleasures. The next column will have DVD lists and notes and such.

Ten best
A History of Violence, David Cronenberg
Kings and Queen, Arnaud Desplechin
Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee
Head-On (Gegen wand), Fatih Akin
The Squid and the Whale, Noah Baumbach
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, Martin Scorsese
The Constant Gardener, Fernando Meirelles
The Holy Girl (La Nina Sante), Lucretia Martel
The Beat That My Heart Skipped (De battre mon coeur s'est arrÍte), Jacques Audiard
Saraband, Ingmar Bergman

Twenty more
The New World, Terrence Malick. Malick had an extra month to refine his fourth feature when the release date was bumped to Christmas, and now he’s reportedly cutting twenty minutes for the “final” release cut that comes out at the end of the month. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s any change in the mood or shift in dramatic tension about two-thirds of the way through the original cut.
Breakfast on Pluto, Neil Jordan. Scene by scene, Jordan’s conception of this sprawling, episodic “Candide, Darling” of a picaresque is stunningly good, with some of the most richly observed, beguiling moments of directorial finesse you can see this year. Declan Quinn’s work is fine.
Capote, Bennett Miller. Spare, cruel and telling.
Funny Ha Ha/Mutual Appreciation, Andrew Bujalski. This guy’s going places even if you don’t know it yet.
Junebug, Phil Morrison. Strong appreciation of the dynamics of silence and chatter in families with adult children, and a keen variation on the work of filmmakers like Ozu and modern fine arts photographers.
Look at Me (Comme un ange), AgnËs Jaoui. Like The Taste of Others, writer-director Jaoui’s second feature is sly, mature and knowing.
The Ice Harvest, Harold Ramis. History, like Dave Kehr, will be kind to this one.
The Talent Given Us, Andrew Wagner. What a family. What a film.
Walk the Line, James Mangold. I wept.
The Weeping Meadow (Trilogia I: To Livadi pou dakryzei), Theo Angelopoulos. Majestic. Ponderous for most tastes, but majestic, haunting, maybe great. From the last master of Euro-hauteur.
Good Night, And Good Luck, George Clooney. Small yet perfectly formed.
Munich, Steven Spielberg.
Mirrormask, Dave McKean. An engaging, quietly weird jape about how surfaces are not what they seem, plainly an illustrators’ fancy, with action in corners of frame, drawings that come to life, a relentless dream that contracts and expands with patterns of willful illogic. Iain Ballamy’s music is dear, too.
Mondovino, Jonathan Nossiter. Wine around the world, sarcasm, cynicism and sniffing dogs: terroir, indeed.
Keane, Lodge Kerrigan. Like Kerrigan’s earlier Clean, Shaven, Keane is a fearless exploration of madness.
She's one of us (Elle est des nÙtres), Siegrid Alnoy.
Tout de Suite, Benoit Jacquot.
Me and You and Everyone We Know, Miranda July.
Nobody Knows, Hirokazu Kore-eda.

Five best documentaries
Darwin's Nightmare, Hubert Sauper.
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, Martin Scorsese.
Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog.
3 Rooms of Melancholia, Pirjo Honkaalo.
Gunner Palace, Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker.

Documentary diversions (alphabetical order)
Aristocrats, Paul Provenza, Penn Jillette.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Alex Gibney.
The Real Dirt on Farmer John, Taggart Siegel.
Reel Paradise, Steve James.
Tell Them Who You Are, Mark Wexler.
Twist of Faith, Kirby Dick.
The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till, Keith Beauchamp, Kevin A. Beauchamp.
Wall, Simone Bitton.
White Diamond, Werner Herzog.
William Eggleston in the Real World, Michael Almereyda.

More chewy goodness (alphabetical order)
2046, Wong Kar-wai. Sometimes you remember the perfume and not the woman.
3-Iron, Kim Ki-duk. Impeccable timing and framing. It must also be nice to be loathed by Tony Rayns.
40-Year-Old-Virgin, Judd Apatow. R-R-har.
5 x 2, Francois Ozon. <i>Quel</i> grown-up.
Ballets Russes, TKTK. Old is young again.
Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan. Nice Chicago.
Bee Season, TKTK. For Kieslowskian ambitions and the appropriation of Corneila Parker’s Cold, Dark Matter
Broken Flowers, Jim Jarmusch. Full-frontal Lolita.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tim Burton. Pretty snow. Deep Roy rules.
Crash, Paul Haggis. Bad thoughts cost you.
Death of Mr. Lazarescu, Cristi Puiu. Romanian health care: it can be worse than in the U.S.
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, Paul Schrader. Weird integrity.
Duma, Carroll Ballard. Fuckin’ animals.
The Dying Gaul, Craig Lucas. Peter Sarsgard is very, very good and then there’s Steve Reich’s music.
The Edukators (Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei), Hans Weingartner.
Elizabethtown, Cameron Crowe. If only the entire movie could live up to the sustained “Let’s have a beer on the phone,” the best American vision of contemporary long distance, and to Kirsten Dunst walking across new-mown Kentucky grass in flip-flops and a slight summer dress.
The Family Stone, Thomas Bezucha. Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams: two kinds of internalized anger, beautifully caught in each and every gesture.
Forty Shades of Blue, Ira Sachs. For Rip Torn and the ghosts of Maurice Pialat and Patricia Highsmith.
The Girl From Monday, Hal Hartley. What a pretty snooze.
Heights, Chris Terrio. Jim Denault’s shooting of New York: offhand yet rich.
Howl's Moving Castle, Hiyao Miyazaki. More peculiar integrity.
Hustle & Flow, Craig Brewer. For Terrence Howard.
Innocence, Lucile Hadzihalilovic.
The Jacket, John Maybury. Somebody must’ve cut it in the Cuisinart, but there are hints of the crazed stylization of his earlier work like Love is the Devil.
King Kong, Peter Jackson. Walked out humming the Manhattan topographical map.
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Shane Black. Sometimes more is more.
Kontroll, Nimrod Antal. The future is underground.
Land of the Dead, Geroge A. Romero.
Last Days, Gus Van Sant. The long pull-back from the rehearsal room, out of doors, past the tree.
Layer Cake, Matthew Vaughn. Slick, but in the good way: Mike Hodges, meet Craig, Daniel Craig.
Lord of War, Andrew Niccol. And sometimes more is less, and the infernal interior monologue strikes again. Niccol’s compulsive research makes for the most expensive magazine article ever.
Match Point, Woody Allen.
Millions, Danny Boyle. Kidspotting.
Murderball, Henry Alex Rubin, Dana Adam Shapiro.
Mysterious Skin, Greg Araki. Shimmering music, haunting visual style.
Oliver Twist, Roman Polanski. Dusty but worthy.
Palindromes, Todd Solondz. The first abortion musical, with its own Disney-style “Want” song.
Paradise Now, Hany Abu-Assad. A sterling example of what Sundance Institute workshopping should produce: quiet yet muscular, thoughtful but lovingly structured stories about a plausible rendition of the read world.
Pretty Persuasion, Marcos Siega. Evan Rachel Wood should not be saying those words even if James Woods is in the room. Skander Halim’s writing holds bitter promise.
Pride and Prejudice, Joe Wright. Keira Knightley. Traveling shots through the Bennet household.
Proof, John Madden. Alwin Kuchler’s subtle frames and reframings; Stephen Warbeck’s eccentric but pleasing score.
Saving Face, Alice Wu. Comic determination.
Shopgirl, Anand Tucker. Peculiar, bittersweet, brittle, and someone’s obsessed with Clare Danes’ terpsichorean attributes. Interesting, dreanching score by Barrington Pheloung.
Syriana, Stephen Gaghan. Blogrolling in our time.
Thumbsucker, Mike Mills. Obstinate, hand-made.
Corpse Bride, Tim Burton, Mike Johnson. Dead dogs rule.
Tony Takitani, Jun Ichikawa. Exquisite mood; doubt there’ll ever be a better Haruki Murakami adaptation. Memorable score by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Tropical Malady, Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Another original from a true original.
The Upside of Anger, Mike Binder. Daring tonal mix doesn’t congeal, but oh Joan Allen.
War of the Worlds, Steven Spielberg. Are we ready for 9/11 metaphors? Some of us are.
The Wedding Crashers, David Dobkin.
The World, Jia Zhangke.

Look forward to seeing
Best of Youth (La Meglio gioventu), Marco Tullio Giordana
Cache, Michael Haneke
Cafe Lumiere, Hou Hsiao-hsien
Chain, Jem Cohen
In Her Shoes, Curtis Hanson
Cinevardaphoto, Agnes Varda
Happy Here and Now, Micahel Almeryeyda
Homecoming, Joe Dante
The Intruder, Claire Denis
Land of Plenty, Wim Wenders
Los Muertos, Lisandro Alonso
The Power of Nightmares, Adam Curtis
The President's Last Bang, Im Sangsoo
Serenity, Joss Whedon.
A Story of Cinema (Keuk Jang Jeon), Hong Sang-soo
Three Times, Hou Hsiao-hsien

Five best cinematography
2046, Christopher Doyle, Kwan Pun-leung, Lai Yiu-fai
The Constant Gardener, CÈsar Charlone
The New World, Emmanuel Lubezki
Kings and Queen, Eric Gautier
Last Days, Harris Savides

Five best male performances
Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
Jeff Daniels, The Squid & The Whale
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line
Yuya Yagira, Nobody Knows

Five best female performances
Emmanuelle Devos, Kings and Queen
Q'orianka Kilcher, The New World
Sibel Kekilli, Head-On
Joan Allen, Upside of Anger
Keira Knightley, Pride & Prejudice

Five best male supporting performances
Frank Langella, Good Night, and Good Luck.
Matthieu Amalric, Munich
William Hurt, A History of Violence
Ray Wise, Good Night, and Good Luck.
Werner Herzog, Grizzly Man

Five best female supporting performances
Amy Adams, Junebug
Maria Bello, A History of Violence
Ziyi Zhang, 2046
Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain
Sarah Silverman, The Aristocrats

January 2 , 2005

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