2006: The Best of the Movies
If 2005 was a quiet year for movie reviewing here, 2006 was virtually mute. It wasn’t for a lack of viewing, though—more a lack of time to write about them. Although I only made it along to the cinema once a month for most of the year, thanks to DVDs I’ve seen six dozen movies, two dozen of which I’d call very good or great; the ones that weren’t didn’t promise much anyway. There were only a few real disappointments: everyone else seemed to adore Little Miss Sunshine and The Squid and the Whale, but I found them merely good; Syriana and Munich were effective at showing what a mess the Middle East is, but that’s hardly a surprise to anyone, and overall they weren’t as great as I’d hoped they would be; and Superman Returns wasn’t really that super.
10. The Straight Story (1999)
An old movie about an old geezer in which hardly anything happens, this was such a hypnotic viewing experience—even on the small screen—that it had to make my top ten. It’s also one of David Lynch’s very best, even though it’s free of his usual mind-bending strangeness. A wiry old midwesterner drives his ride-on mower across the prairies to visit his estranged brother one last time, and... that’s it. But it’s so beautifully shot and paced that you’ll find yourself wanting to do the same. ¶ In a similar plotless but enjoyable vein, Bombón El Perro (2004) was a touching portrait of the pampas, and Lukas Moodysson’s Together (2000) was a warm character study of a hippie commune in the 1970s.
9. Elephant (2003)
A series of long tracking shots following students down high-school corridors looping back on themselves to show different points of view, this would be one of the best movie recreations of the feeling of a high-school day even without its central theme. Add a chilling take on Columbine into the mix, and the result is unforgettable. ¶ Another very good movie about outsiders I caught up with on DVD this year: Brokeback Mountain.
8. Stranger Than Fiction
Saw this last week after the reviews pulled me in, although the basic premise (man hears a voice narrating his own life and impending death) intrigued me from the start. I’ve actually been watching a lot of Will Ferrell this year, from the amusingly goofy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby to the excellent Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (“Noooooooooooooo!”). This movie, though, was a change of pace akin to Adam Sandler’s in Punchdrunk Love or Jim Carrey’s in The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and like those it worked surprisingly well. Quite a few movies lately have tried to out-Kaufman Charlie Kaufman, and some of the results have been underwhelming (I Heart Huckabees, and even some of Kaufman’s own). This is probably my favourite of the bunch since Being John Malkovich itself. ¶ While I’m mentioning American-related comedy, two on the goofy end of the scale deserve noting: Borat, of course, for being such an improvement on the Ali G movie if nothing else; and Harold and Kumar Get the Munchies (as it’s known in the UK), which proved to be a superior stoner comedy, let down only by that silly riding-the-cheetah scene.
7. Pan’s Labyrinth
Another one I saw a week ago on the strength of rave reviews. It certainly is an unusual film: the blend of Spanish Civil War drama and fantasy is unlike anything else around (except the director’s earlier The Devil’s Backbone, which I guess I’ll have to see now). That juxtaposition alone wouldn’t carry it, though, if the rest wasn’t so good. It’s also one of the best depictions of the fascist mindset in a while, and often uncomfortable viewing as a result. ¶ On that score, I also enjoyed the adaptation of V for Vendetta (apart from Natalie Portman’s attempt at an English accent), which really didn’t deserve to be disowned by author Alan Moore; and the DVD release of It Happened Here (1966), an impressive piece of speculation about how Britain might have been under the Nazis, all the more impressive for having been made so soon after the war by young filmmakers in their teens and early twenties.
6. A Scanner Darkly
As I wrote just before it came out, this is my favourite PKD novel, so I was apprehensive about its adaptation; but as I’d hoped, Richard Linklater did it justice. The rotoscoping wasn’t too hard on the eyes, and more importantly the acting and script faithfully captured Dick’s sense of humour, which so rarely comes across in movies of his books. It can’t match the intensity of the novel, but still works surprisingly well as a film. ¶ Another couple of movies I’ll mention here, even though they don’t have much to do with it: Night Watch, the 2004 Russian fantasy thriller about a struggle between the forces of night and day; and the 2002 American remake of The Ring, an improvement on the Japanese original for atmosphere and creepiness.
5. A Cock and Bull Story
I ended up seeing this on the big screen twice, and loved it both times, so packed was it with plot puzzles, postmodern intricacies, and very funny performances. Coogan and Brydon make an excellent double act (first seen in the 2002 TV movie Cruise of the Gods, also worth hunting down), and its story of an attempt to film the unfilmable is as good as the unfilmable story-within-a-story itself. It’s Coogan’s finest work in years, and left me knowing I’ll have to read Tristram Shandy some day. ¶ While I’m mentioning period pieces, Lasse Hallström’s Casanova was an amusing farce, and Philip Kaufman’s Quills (2000) was an excellent Geoffrey Rush performance that I’m glad I caught at last. And on the British comedy side, The History Boys and Starter for Ten shared some of the same cast, similar themes of entering university or trying to, and were both very enjoyable.
4. Casino Royale
If you’d asked me after the last Bond film, I’d have said the franchise was pretty much exhausted: no amount of eyebrow-arching can compensate for the ridiculousness of invisible cars and tsunami-surfing. But since then, Pierce Brosnan has given one of his best performances in The Matador, and the Bond franchise itself has taken a dramatic turn for the better in this new version of the first 007 novel. Daniel Craig must be enjoying proving the doubters wrong, and deserves every moment of smugness: his performance leaves you believing there’s an actual human being underneath the 40-year accumulation of catchphrases and invincibility, one capable of doubt and uncertainty and of being in real danger. After this I left the cinema feeling I’d seen the start of something that could run and run, which at this stage in Bond’s history is really rather amazing. ¶ Other thrillers I enjoyed this year included Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, with a knockout performance by Robert Downey Jr.; Infernal Affairs II, a good prequel to the Hong Kong cop drama filmed by Scorsese as The Departed (which I still haven’t seen); and Robert Rodriguez’s stylish adaptation of Frank Miller’s Sin City.
3. The Prestige
My parents and two of my best friends told me to go and see this, and boy were they right. Christopher Nolan’s new movie is better even than Memento, with a more intriguing setting and premise. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale were great as fellow magicians turned rivals in Victorian England, and in fact all of the cast were excellent, from Michael Caine through David Bowie; only Scarlett Johansson felt miscast. This deserved to send huge Tesla-sized gobs of electricity through the box office, but predictably didn’t.
2. United 93
One of the few movies I reviewed here this year, along with another good film inspired by grim events, Shooting Dogs. I almost made this my number one pick, but ultimately had to go with...
1. Grizzly Man
I went through a big Werner Herzog phase in my mid-20s with Aguirre, Kaspar Hauser and Fitzcarraldo, but lost track of him in recent years. I can think of no better reintroduction than his documentary built around the videos left behind by animal activist Timothy Treadwell, who was eaten by one of the bears he loved. There were so many layers to this movie, with so much to think about, that it haunted me for days afterwards. It would take hundreds of words just to touch on them all, and I missed the chance to write about them when it was all fresh in my mind, so instead I’ll just say that if you haven’t yet seen Grizzly Man you really should.