1. Zodiac
My most visceral cinematic experience this year took place in that awful theatre in Chelsea, not the one next to the legendary hotel, the one just off to the west on a deserted stretch of 23rd street. I was quite literally on the edge of my seat the entire film. Not frightened of the film's serial killer, or even David Fincher's trademark deep scares, but because of the completely believable obsession that slowly absorbs Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey's characters as they become involved in the hunt for the Zodiac killer. Because we know the killer was never actually caught, the narrative tension builds around what might have been, every near-miss or close call especially poignant in the face of the unresolved ending. All in all this is a surprisingly subtle and psychological work, one that beautifully depicts the era and the excruciating clumsiness of pre-CSI policing.
2. Lust, Caution
A friend once told me that truly great (and, I imagine, truly awful) films can be understood in any language as they are primarily told by the images and the expressions of the actors. I saw Ang Lee's latest seething masterpiece in a sold-out alfresco screening in Venice on the night it won the Golden Lion there. The complex tale of espionage and sabotage came across flawlessly, even though its sprawling Chinese dialogue was only subtitled in Italian. A second viewing, here in Berlin, only brought further layers of lyrical complexity. As in "Brokeback", much of the love story is unspoken, told through the faces of Tony Leung's harsh collaborator and Tang Wei's instinctive spy. Again, the sex scenes are unflinching and violent, though much more graphic, and the ending is heartbreaking, another lover left alone in the other lover's empty bedroom.
3. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Though Johnny Depp was long attached to play the lead in this true story of imagination's triumph over nigh complete paralysis. "Kings and Queen"'s Matthieu Amalric's performance however transcends any the always slightly campy Depp could have pulled off. Director Julian Schnabel avoids much inevitable sentimentality (or the slightly academic tone of the similar "The Sea Inside") through Amalric's dry inner monologues and truly inspired visualizations, shot from the paralyzed man's severely impaired and immobile point of view. The one detractor, if it can be called that, from this intimate tale is the endless stream of gorgeously French women that fawn over the protagonist, but hey, can we really complain about that?
4. Atonement
My love for this film is all the stronger for my low expectations, after all Keira Knightley in another period drama? Joe Wright's "Pride and Prejudice" was fresh, certainly, but it in no way predicted the sheer cinematic daring this film brings to the film. Some scenes are positively operatic in their staging, a feeling heightened by the sumptuous soundtrack, which is enriched with the clacking rhythm of a typewriter. The editing too is wonderful and entirely untypical of the typical period drama, ranging from quick flashbacks and forwards, to one hallucinatory long take on a battle-strewn beach. McAvoy and Knightley are great (as are Vanessa Redgrave and Romolai Garai), but Saoirse Ronan, the prescient star of Peter Jackson's forthcoming "Lovely Bones", steals the film.
5. Knocked Up/Superbad
As any fan of his TV-show "Freaks and Geeks" will attest, Judd Apatow can do no wrong when producing films about awkward and ill-advised fumblings of any kind.
6. Grindhouse
As someone who grew up with Tarantino and Rodriguez films instead of the exploitation films they so shamelessly pay tribute to in this superfun and dirty double bill, how could I not enjoy this? Fergie's empty skull is exposed! Quentin's penis actually falls off! Uma Thurman's "Kill Bill" stand-in is a kiwi! and she kicks motherf$%$ing Kurt Russell's ass!
7. Michael Clayton
What could have been a simple legal thriller is enhanced by Tom Wilkinson's lucid ramblings, George Clooney's ineffable charm, and Tilda Swinton's slightly nervous portrayal of a woman in over her head. Just watching her dressing, folding her clothes, and washing her armpits, clearly shows Swinton's acting can make any project eclipse its genre.
8. Death at a Funeral
Another entirely unexpected pleasure - I mean Frank Oz also directed the painfully unfunny "The Stepford Wives" and "In & Out" - this small British ensemble comedy mines the fertile ground of the graveyard for a truly hilarious tale of blackmail and mourning. I was really howling with laughter, especially at the inimitable (and naked) Alan Tudyk, who you'll remember as the timid pilot of the "Firefly" or the demented pirate in "Dodgeball".
9. Hot Fuzz
A glorious parody of American buddy movies, its sheer Britishness causing much of the viewing pleasure (although seeing a vicious old lady being kicked in the face is a perverted joy all in itself). The second viewing is even better, like Hotter Fuzz.
10. Once
This bittersweet work of musical verité is surely destined to become some generation's "Before Sunrise."
11. The Year of the Dog
Mike White directs Molly Shannon, Laura Dern, and Peter Sarsgaard in this wonderfully acted, painful tragicomedy of one woman and her love for dogs.
12. Fido
A fifties-set zombie film for satirical kids, enough said.
Four honorables must be mentioned here, all almost worthy were it not for very minor issues of story or Richard Gere. "Tekkon Kinkreet" is the prettiest film I saw all year, a gorgeous animated film that looks different than anything familiar from Miyazaki or Pixar. Sarah Polley's "Away From Her" is a heartrending tale of sacrifice and marriage, carried by the luminous Julie Christie. "The Hoax" is much more fun than its poster suggests, like "The Aviator" crossed with "Catch Me If You Can" minus the Leo, and "I'm Not There", apart from the aforementioned Gere, is actually a rewarding Dylanography, if you can tear your eyes away from another of Cate Blanchett's transformative biographical performances.
There are still at least three notable absences here, movies that I've enjoyed immensely when I read them, in screenplay or graphic novel form, but have not had a chance to see (damn you German distributors and Chinese internet pirates!). "Juno" is a very smart comedy about teen pregnancy starring the amazing Ellen Page and Superbad's Michael Cera (as well as his "Arrested Development" dad, Jason Bateman). Ryan Gosling stars in the sweet "Lars and the Real Girl", a most unlikely lovestory between a town and one man's Real Doll (tm). Lastly, "Persepolis", the stark and surprising tale of a young girl's coming of age in the axis of evil, and her subsequent adventures in Vienna and Switzerland.
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