THE BEST OF 2008

 

It’s slightly ironic that after 2007’s dazzling and bleak cinematic year that 2008 should feature films so chipper and full of hope. Something is in the air, indeed. Perhaps it is fitting that with the election of Barack Obama, which was accompanied by cheering crowds in the streets, many of the year’s finest films were a more cheery lot than last year’s dark, but brilliant, batch. Last year, only one of my top ten films did not feature violent death of some sort. This year, only one film features lead characters that do not fight to make a change for the better. And that film is basically a 2007 holdover that most critics featured on their list last year. Then again, this year featured an economic meltdown, the fifth year in Iraq, Russia vs. Georgia, numerous scandals, an election that took the breath out of us and, at year’s end, a devastating signal that there may never be peace between Israel and Palestine. My final film of the year – Waltz with Bashir – culminated with audience members hurtling curses at one another, depending on their views of the Middle Eastern conflict. So, 2008’s jolly cinematic bunch could do us all some good right about now. At least until Obama takes office.

 

THE WORST

But first, lest we not forget, the worst. It’s always good to get the bad news out of the way first and, believe me, there was some bad news this year. In fact, this year’s bad films seemed to get worse than the usual selection of cinematic turkeys. 2008’s worst films included Alan Ball’s disastrous debut, Towelhead; the alleged satire Teeth; One Missed Call, this year’s worst Japan-to-U.S. horror remake; Jumper, the year’s clunkiest and loudest action adventure; the virtually unbearable The Strangers, which reminded me of a cinematically realized film of that Halloween sound effects tape your family likely played on their front porch every October 31; Hell Ride, further proof that Quentin Tarantino should just focus on directing and slow down on the producing; Prom Night, this year’s second worst remake; Chapter 27, in which Jared Leto portrays John Lennon murderer Mark David Chapman as Blanche Dubois speaking after drinking one too many Southern Comforts and then climbing the stairs of a 12-story building; Mike Meyer’s The Love Guru, which should provide a terrific future example for The Opposite of Funny; and Funny Games, in which brilliant Austrian director Michael Haneke revisits the only lousy film in his oeuvre and manages to make it worse.

 

HONORABLE MENTION

Of course, I like to honor more than just ten films each year, so my honorable mention, or second ten, are (in descending order, from 20 to 11): James Marsh’s hypnotic and strangely moving documentary Man on Wire, which left me transfixed whilst biting my fingernails; Paranoid Park, Gus Van Sant’s trance-inducing finale to his Death Trilogy; the criminally underrated Burn After Reading, which gets my vote for the year’s funniest picture; Che, Steven Soderbergh’s ambitious four-hour-plus epic on the life (?) of Che Guevara that will likely infuriate Che haters and lovers alike; Sam Mendes’ powerful, but incredibly depressing Revolutionary Road, which features two of the year’s finest performances; Christopher Nolan’s juggernaut The Dark Knight, the hallmark to which all other comic book films must attempt to emulate; The Visitor, Thomas McCarthy’s righteously angry film about a burnt out professor whose life is altered by African immigrants; Oliver Stone’s under appreciated W.; Changeling, which channels both The Snake Pit and Chinatown but still has director Clint Eastwood’s stamp all over it; and Frost/Nixon, Ron Howard’s spectacular film version of Peter Morgan’s play that is timelier than you might think.

 

THE TOP TEN

10. THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON- Some critics are doing no one any favors by purporting that David Fincher’s latest is some sort of heartwarming fable. Yes, there’s a love story and a quirky old man who repeatedly gets hit by lightning. But the film, oddly enough based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a sobering reminder of how nothing – a love affair, a prized clock, the human body – lasts forever.

9. GRAN TORINO- If Changeling is this year’s Mystic River, then Gran Torino is its Million Dollar Baby. Just when you think Eastwood is taking us down a familiar road, he hits you in the gut with the film’s remarkably poignant ending. If Unforgiven was the first picture in which Clint began chipping away at his iconic image, then Gran Torino could be the finale. It’s a dirge for Dirty Harry.

8. THE EDGE OF HEAVEN- The setup has been seen so many times: multiple stories across cultural lines playing out as the characters realize their respective relationships with one another. But Turkish-descended, German-born filmmaker Fatih Akin follows up his gritty powerhouse Head On with another knockout film about Turks attempting to survive in Germany and, for the first time, the latter.

7. RACHEL GETTING MARRIED- Rarely is such joy and pain onscreen in the same film. Jonathan Demme’s triumphant comeback portrays a multiracial wedding at a wealthy Connecticut clan’s suburban home. Although the family, which hides its anguishes behind the guise of multiculturalism, fights it out for much of the film, I don’t know anyone who didn’t want to be at that wedding.

6. 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS & 2 DAYS- Cristian Mungiu’s 2007 Palm d’Or winner is the only film on my list that is outright bleak or depressing. That being said, it’s a stunner. The film, which plays out in real-time sequences, acts as a thriller as a young Romanian woman attempts to help her friend get an illegal abortion under the 1980s Communist regime. This is an emotionally devastating film.

5. THE WRESTLER- Mickey Rourke makes a thunderous return, reminding us of why everyone made such a big deal about him back in the 1980s. As Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson, Rourke’s hurt is written all over his face. The ex-wrestler attempts to make it in the real world as the film hurtles towards its tragic and iconic final shot.

4. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE- For sheer chutzpah and imagination alone, Danny Boyle’s Mumbai epic deserves a slot on this list. But the film’s combination of dazzling visuals, an emotionally stimulating tale of success amid devastating poverty, a fantastic soundtrack including a Bollywood dance number and charm to spare make it one of the year’s most rewarding films.

3. HAPPY GO LUCKY- Mike Leigh’s hilarious, moving film features this year’s pluckiest character, who makes her way through our miserable world with a kind word and a smile. Sally Hawkins pulls off one of the year’s most difficult performances, making Poppy come alive, rather than grate on the nerves. This is a film about the heroism of remaining positive in a negative world.

2. WALL-E- For years, Pixar Animation Studios have been churning out one terrific animated film after the next, but they have really outdone themselves with Wall-E. Here is the new bar to which all animated films much reach. Timelier than most of the Oscar-hungry prestige pictures this year, Andrew Stanton’s film gives us a vision of hope for the future, that is, after several hundred years of destruction and desolation. And I’m still humming the tunes from Hello Dolly!

1. MILK- Let’s face it – it’s been a political year, and Gus Van Sant’s remarkable Milk is not only the best political film, but the best film, period, in a year when our nation’s government was on the minds of, well, seemingly everyone. It makes me smile to think that Van Sant could not have known that a figure from the minority could rise up this year to lead this nation, while it makes me sad to think that he could also not have known that legislation sponsored by hatred could set back a movement propelled by San Francisco’s Harvey Milk in the late 1970s. Sean Penn embodies the slain civil rights hero in one of the versatile actor’s most challenging and daring performances. Van Sant nails 1978 San Francisco and the combination of stock and filmed footage are spectacular. It has taken years to get Milk’s story to the screen and I cannot imagine that its timing could be any more significant nor its execution any better than in Van Sant’s film.