by Sam Juliano
Putting together a ‘Best Films of the Year’ list for 2009, was an extremely tedious and thankless endeavor, as it was impossible to accomodate all the films that I felt were worthy of such an honor, and in fact at one point or another seemed a certainty to make the final cut. Two of my personal favorites, genre films Star Trek and District 9 failed to secure spaces in the final twelve, because eight “foreign” films (three French, one Japanese, one Australian, one Swedish, one Romanian, and one British) left room for only four American entries. After those four, Star Trek and District 9 would have been next up. For the first time in over a decade, my #10 slot (traditionally a tie between two films) is now a three-way tie, making my “ten-best” list really a “dozen-best.” All things considered, I don’t think this is an unfair compromise at all, as I simply was unable to decide between the Japanese, French and British films that finally share that spot, and a placement in “The List.” The quality difference between #1 and that three-way 10th place tie is minimal, meaning that the numerical routine is largely a one to create a dramatic unveiling. Still, I attempted to list them in this fashion and after much shuffling (I need to get a life, is there really any importance to this in the grand scheme of things? Ha!) I finally settled on the current allignment. Deciding the #1 position between Jane Campion’s beautiful and intoxicating Bright Star and the visually spectacular Avatar was excrutiatingly difficult, but I am content with my decision. In any case, thse two films were cinematic “epiphanies” for me, and together they head up a list of impressive work from home and abroad. (note: I included comprehensive capsule essays for the Top 4, but after that I went with basic and brief summaries.)
#1 Bright Star (Campion) Australia
New Zealand-born director Jane Campion’s rapturous film Bright Star, based on a biographical volume by Andrew Motion, tells the story of Keats’s brief but intensely passionate relationship with 19 year-old Fanny Brawne when the poet was 24 and nearing the throws of the tuberculosis that eventually claimed his life in Rome a year later. As the film opens, Keats has just returned from a walking tour of Scotland with his friend, fellow poet Charles Brown, who is a neighbor of the Brawne family, which includes Fanny, 14 year-old Sam and 9 year-old Toots. it a difficult time for Keats financially, and Brown affords him vital assistance telling Keats: “Your writing is the finest thing in my life.” Needless to say such a scenario lends itself to an upcoming conflict as Keats’s blossoming affection for Fanny is rebuffed by Charles who accuses her of “making a religion out of flirting,” but it’s clear enough that there is some jealousy at play too. Charles feels that his friend’s artistic soul is at risk by this affair, which is sure to mute inspiration. But at this point Keats is actually maturing even further, as both Nightingale and Melancholy are written at this time after the death of his brother Thomas to tuberculosis and a preminition of his own death to the same illness.
At the time Keats and Fanny begin their relationship, the poet had just completed his masterful Endymion, which opens with the famous lines (“A thing of beauty is a joy forever:/Its loveliness increases; It will never/Pass into nothingness; but still will keep/A bower quiet for us, and a sleep/Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.) Predictably the poem is rejected in literary circles back in London, but Fanny’s a huge fan, and she’s tried to impress Keats by immersing herself in the works of his heroes: Shakespeare, Chaucer and Milton. But Keats’s poverty row status earns him no respect from Mrs. Brawne, who cares only about her daughter’s financial well-being and not about love and happiness.
Bright Star is really about Brawne, as Campion is content to utilize the poet’s letters and prose as sensuous presence, even though the actor Ben Whishaw gives an affecting, if oddly withdrawn performance as the doomed romantic genius. (But in view of the real-life passing of his brother at that point, constant melancholy would be expected.) It’s understandable that Campion, a fervent feminist would apply her focus on the female half of the short-lived relationship and its psychological and emotional underpinnings. It’s clear that Campion was deeply moved by the tragic brevity of the Keats-Brawne affair, and she infuses the film with unabashed emotionalism, by wedding literature to music. It’s hard not to react when one hears Abbie Cornish, (an Australian with a dark-eyed gaze) who delivers an exquisite and soulful performance as Brawne, reading of the poem “Bright Star” (printed at the outset of this essay) written specifically for her, in a pathetically sobbing and chocked up voice. And when the stunning Ode to a Nightingale (“Where but to think is to be full of sorrow/And leaden-eyed despairs”) is recited over Mozart’s “Serenade in B, K. 361, Adagio, during the closing credits it’s a sublime, emotionally wrenching moment that you know can only be experienced at the movies. But perhaps most significantly it’s the silences and non-verbal interactions between Whishaw and Cornish that are the most effective here.
The cinematographer Greig Fraser makes excellent use of light and air in his quaint county settings, that always seems to bring awareness for nature even in the indoor segments. The metaphorical butterfly scene, rich in symbolism is a visceral highlight, but the real showcase is a ravishing field of purple flowers that has becoming an art house allure for fans. Janet Patterson’s costume design in this film is revelatory, and it’s home spun embroidering helps to forge some modest character metamorphosis, and a fine delineation of social class. It’s the finest work of its kind in many a moon. First-time feature film composer Mark Bradshaw has written about 20 to 25 minutes of his own material to compliment the use of classical music and his mainly violin-laden work here is haunting, and a subtle undercurrent to the hard-earned emotions that realize full flourish in the final scenes.
By charting a direct path to the human heart, with compelling prosaic-style direction, Jane Campion tells a story in Bright Star that seemingly needed to be told, and the result is the director’s best film, and one of the most piercingly beautiful in years. It’s 2009’s best film.
#2 Avatar (James Cameron) USA
Five years ago James Cameron announced that his next film would be a technologically astute blend of live-action and computer-generated imagry that would alter the cinematic landscape. His story of humans invading the planet Pandora in the year 2154, begins as an exploratory tale involving a team of two scientists and a crippled ex-Marine named Jake Scully who replaces his late twin brother in a scientific experiment, by which he assists in roaming the planet with other remote-controlled bodies, which have been cloned from human and indigenous DNA (the avitars of the film’s title). This distant world is the source of a valuable and expensive mineral. The controlled beings are a close approximation of the of the planet’s native Na’Vi, a tall, blue and cat-like species. Jake begins his “sojourn” as an observer, and he soon discovers the beauty, enchantment and danger of Pandora.
But then the story takes a drastic turn when Colonel Miles Quaritch requests that Jake “spy” for the coroporate bosses, a request that Jake agrees to after he’s promised exorbitantly expensive surgery to repair his damaged spine. Predictably, but no less compellingly Jake learns the culture and mores of Na’Vi tribe from a beautiful warrior Neytiri, with whom he immediately develops a permanent bond with. Of course the immersion into the tribe allows Quaritch to gain the tactical intelligence he needs to enact complete obliteration of the indigenous population. A large part of
large part of this number is located directly above the planet’s biggest vein of the ultra-precious metal “unobtanium” and if the human leader of this mission, Parker Selfridge is unable to accomplish success by willing complicity, he’s prepared to employ lethal force. Sully at first agrees with the plan, but after he (in his ‘avatar’ form) falls in love with Neytiri, the story borrows the white-turned-Indian plot thrust of Dances With Wolves. But Cameron is no fool and he knows the emotional prospects of a storytelling device where an oppressed people can rise up with the help of one, smitten by true love, and shoot an arrow into the advanced barbarians that threaten their very existence.
The narrative device is hardly original but it serves as a potent underpinning to the awesome spectacle that plays out here, culminating in a final hour of action-packed intensity that has the thrills of an endless roller coaster, filled with all the genre conventions, like hanging from the end of a cliff, falling in a canyon into a cascading river, or an all-out CGI battle, a la Return of the King. But Cameron and his technical staff have succeeded with some nifty digital deception that has raised the bar for such technology. Hence Avatar pulsates, almost breathing a life of its own in it’s conversion from movie to immersive experience. A dominant percentage of the film’s locations are quite apparently CGI too, inducing one to wonder if they should called this an “animated film with live-action” or a “live-action film with some animated aspects and sequences.” Such is this seamless immersion of what is real and what is not to create an illuminative world of arresting images, swirling, incandescent colors and an awe-inspiring beauty that elevates one’s consciousness to a
to a state of spirituality rarely aspired to, much less achieved in any film. There is an arresting naturalism that almost leaps off the screen which is populated by sumptuous images of day-glo vegetation and the exotic creatures controlled by the Na’Vi. The lengthy stretches of the movie that are sensory and wordless are as rapturous (very much in tone poem mode) as anything every seen on the screen, and this kind of visual cinema, where narrative is more of a hinderance than a benefit, is Avatar’s most extraordinary quality and it’s true selling point. It’s true that Cameron keeps insisting that the film needs to tie together plot strands, but this was unecessary, if not particularly harmful. In this sense, it’s to be noted here that some critics have taken issue with the pedestrian nature of a dialogue, a point I reject in the name of cinematic purity. Avatar is neither a satiric comedy nor a trenchant stage drama. Characters and words tell the story, but they are pawns to purvey cinematic expression. Those who are awed by and feel the film’s magic won’t feel the simplistic dialogue which seems to combine New Age expression and macho agression, is either abnormal or detrimental. That said, it’s abundantly clear that Cameron’s storytelling prowess widely trumps his talents as a writer of prose.
But it all comes down to the wonderment and astounding visual tapestries, accentuated by the metamorphosis of a character who sees the inherent beauty in a culture ravaged by war, internal strife and foreign invasion. This creates in the viewer an emotion so powerful that it defies description. It’s almost like you found some clues to the meaning of life. But short of those lofty aspersions, the film raises questions of mortality and existence (much in the style of Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain- a giant willow tree holding the meaning of life for all living things echoes the Tree of Life in Aronofsky’s film) and with a ruminative flow that recalls Terrence Malick) that turn a futuristic planetary action thriller into a far more profound philosophical experience. The blend of mysticism and environmentalism evident in Avatar also suggests Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, whose influence might also be discerned in the scenes of awe and wonderment set in the centerpiece forest sequences. Avatar is so overwhelming that any objections to pedestrian dialogue or plotting are really beside the point. This is no movie but an “experience” that has become all too rare these days.
#3 35 Shots of Rum (Denis) France
Enigmatic French director Claire Denis has long ignored traditional plot conventions and a preponderance of dialogue to craft seemingly oblique dramas that have favored physicality and wordless expression. The noted auteur stays the course in what can rightfully be seen as her most accesible film to date, 35 Shots of Rum, a purposely aimless study of a short time in the life of a small group of Parisians. Typically, Denis doesn’t rush to present the relationship between characters, and only gradually does the audience discover the revealing narrative data. And with a noted sparcity of dialogue, her films, this one included, have been maddening for some cinematic prospectors who desire more than the meagre narrative information on display. The fimmaking style here is abstract, and any hint of linear structure is dashed by small snippets from the characters’ lives which posess little continuity to mirror the way characters meet and interact in real life, which is also a series of encounters and time spent together with no necessary order or sequence.
The obvious influence of the great Yashujiro Ozu’s 1949 masterpiece Late Spring becomes apparent, even without a blunt admission from Denis herself, who explained in an interview for Daily Plastic’s Robert Davis: “I’ve been dreaming for many years of making an homage to Ozu, because actually it’s the story of my grandfather and my mother. She was raised by her father. And once I took her to see a retrospective of Ozu, and she really had a sort of shock to see that film [Late Spring]. That was like maybe ten, fifteen years ago, and I told her, “Maybe, once, I will try to make a film like that for you.” The film’s central focus is on a widowed train conductor named Lionel (played by Alex Descas) who was previously employed in the overseas department at Guadeloupe, and his daughter Josephine (Mati Diop), who reside in a Parisian housing complex with Lionel’s ex-girlfriend, chain-smoking Gabrielle (Nicole Dogue) a taxi driver with doleful eyes, and Noe (Gregoire Colin) a good-looking young man who is dating Josephine. The relationships are well-established at the beginning of the film, so there isn’t any need for any kind of exposition. So the stage is set for the the central plot machination in Late Spring, where the daughter must begin the new phase of her life apart from her parent.
Yet it’s clear enough that the father and daughter initially seem unable to show any affinity for making any major changes, and much of the film is an emotional stalemate of sorts, compounded by their symbiotic existence. Yet there is more than a hint in the film that cessation of movement, a major theme in 35 Shots of Rum, can result in tragic consequences as in the scene where Lionel discovers the body of a recently retired fellow worker. Lionel equates this death symbolically to the failure to “switch tracks.” As in Denis’ previous films, the actual ‘drama’ is in the commonplace when nothing happens, except for extended looks or glances and the communication of whispers. Yet the film isn’t any kind of a puzzle or mystery, as Denis is far more interesting in how the characters interact, how they feel, and what decisions they reach. She’s interested in the fabric of their lives, not the specifics of what is resolved.
The issue of dependence is and inter-connection is given supreme definition in the film’s most extraordinary scene, (in fact one of the most unforgettable scenes in any film this year) when the four characters take refuge in a restaurant during a rainstorm and commence some slow-dancing to the Commodores’ “Night Shift.” Considering the complete dearth of dialogue, it’s rather astounding what is effectively communicated here: trepidation and aspirations, and what these people really want and need in their life. There’s clearly a fear of human connection the retreat into privacy is a kind of human shield to avert being hurt. Long-time Denis collaborator, cinematographer Agnes Godard helps to accentuate the dimly-lit interiors, and close-ups are dominant. It’s somewhat miraculous how Denis is able to employ minimalism to stir this kind of character depth. It’s a scene of repressed energy, and it’s Denis’ trademark. Orchestrating the filmmaker’s focus and vision the four principals deliver affecting and finely-modulated understated performances that create full-bodied characters who navigate tenuous emotional waters. Unsurprisingly, Descas and Diop are the catalysts for connecting people with events, and their work is studied and technically adroit. Denis again examines ethnic diversity in contemporary France with great insight, and in the end 35 Shots of Rum is one of her most accessible works.
#4 Up (Doctor) USA
A silent poetic montage that opens Pixar’s latest animated offering, titled Up, follows Carl and Ellie–two children who develop a close friendship that leads to marriage, bliss and dreams of travel and a far away paradise in the southern hemisphere. The sequence shows both the moments of triumph and adversity and in so doing chronicles the timeless life concerns of love, loss and the passage of time. But when Ellie gets sick and passes on leaving Carl to make a fateful decision, the film segues into a fantasy inspired consciously or not by Virginia Lee Burton’s Caldecott Medal-winning picture book The Little House, which presents the life cycle of a house being implanted by industrialization, and Albert Lamorisee’s beautiful French short The Red Balloon, which features a boy whisked up into the air by colorful balloons to attain a spiritual nirvana. It’s a priceless sequence, imbued with sweet poignancy that surely ranks among the best work done in any animated film, and it’s difficult to sustain. Yet, in large measure, Up doesn’t violate the precious delicacy of its celebrated opening, and utilizes a deft combination of humor, fantasy and adventure to produce what is surely one of the studio’s three best films. (WALL-E and Ratatouille are the others). Apart from the superhero-dominated The Incredibles, this is the only Pixar movie that features human beings in the major roles.
Most of Up’s narrative features the bonding and exploits of Carl (now 78 years-old and a lookalike of Spencer Tracy in the last phase of his life) and a young eight-year old wilderness scout, who is first rebuffed, but then becomes part of the picture as a stowaway hiding under the old man’s porch. As children and progressing through life Carl and Ellie has always dreamed of journeying to Paradise Falls, a “lost world” on the South American continent where their childhood hero, and explorer named Charles Muntz had embarked for but had never returned from. Economical constraints prevent this trip from ever materializing, and like an older man wanting to make a last ditch effort to realize a vacation that has always eluded him, Carl decides to execute his elaborate plan which seems more like something imagined by Jules Verne. After an altercation with a construction worker which necessitates a court hearing as a result of his refusal cooperate with the suffocating construction around his house, he is advised that a retirement home named Shady Oaks would be the best choice to spend his final years. At this point the film veers drastically from realistic fiction into Fantasy land, when his house (recalling it’s famous Kansas descendent) is whisked up into the air on the strength of hundreds of balloons that are anchored by chords that run down to the chimney’s fireplace. The later segments of Up are more conventional and admittedly don’t hold the thrall of the film’s first two-thirds, but this is on balance an exquisite and moving work, which ranks at the head of the studio’s spectacular output in terms of sheer artistry.
#5 A Single Man (Ford) USA
An exquisite film debut, A Single Man was adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel of the same name, and features George, a gay man ravaged by intense grief. Gorgeously rendered interiors capture the characters’ personalities and torment—George’s glass house is appointed with anal precision; Charley’s living room challenges her daily to keep up with its midcentury glam (the film is set in the early Sixties). A mournful beauty permeates even the dreadful scene depicting Jim’s fatal car crash, yet the most surprising aspect about the film is its subtlety and poignant, introspective emotional tenor.
In adapting the book, Tom Ford cowrote the screenplay with David Scearce. The film presents a day in the life of college professor George, played brilliantly by Colin Firth, who struggles to hold his life together after the sudden death months before of his lover of 16 years, Jim (Matthew Goode). Julianne Moore portrays George’s friend Charley, a gorgeously turned out, hard-drinking matron on the precipice of decline, who longs to rekindle the brief romance the two shared many years before, and she’s nearly as impressive as Firth. The claustrophobic drama is beautifully scored in relentlessly pulsating rhythm by Tom Korzeniowski in Phillip Glass mode, and the use of flashbacks is about as powerful and fluid as we’ve seen in many a moon. This is an altogether haunting and gut-wrenching piece of cinema, that isn’t remotely forgotten weeks after it’s seen.
#6 Police, Adjective (Porumbiou) Romanian
The Romanian Police, Adjective is a minimalist police procedural, that is so meticulously observed, and so fascinating in detail, that it hardly matters that nothing is really going on. The last 15 minutes, which features a police director’s lecture on the difference between “conscience” and “justice” ranks as one of the greatets single sequences in any film this year, certainly the equal of the restaurant scene in 35 Shots of Rum, the lyrical “prologue” of Antichrist and the scrapbook segment near the beginning of Pixar’s Up. Daily routine has never seems such a fascinating ritual, and life in the former Iron Curtain country seems depressed. The film’s gifted helmer, Christian Porumbieu, seemingly uses a magnifying glass to record every surface action (and non-action) leading up to the extraordinary climax. Easily one of 2009’s most brilliant films.
#7 Everlasting Moments (Troell) Sweden
Back in 1972 when director Jan Troell completed his sweeping two-part saga about Swedish emigration to America, The Emigrants/The New Land, based on the novels of Vilhelm Moberg, film icon and fellow countryman Ingmar Bergman said that he was the “best thing that’s happened to Swedish cinema in decades.” In truth, based on the naturalistic and painterly beauty of his New World tapestries and the verisimilitude of his vision in his pair of quietly-moving epic films of a family trying to overcome oppressive hardships, Troell immediately took his place among world-class directors of the highest distinction. Two later films, The Flight of the Eagle (1982) and Il Capitano: A Swedish Requiem (1987) were reasonably impressive achievements, with the former work receiving a Best Foreign Film nomination from the academy. Troell, who began his career as elementary school teacher, later worked as a director of photography for Bo Wiederberg, another fellow Swede, whose Elvira Madigan is often mentioned by film scholars as the most ravishingly photographed film in history. But with the two-part chronicle acknowledged here at the outset, Troell, a foreign director, has given us the only fully satisfactory film statement of one of the great historical phenomena, the mass movement of peoples to this country in the nineteenth century.
Troell’s new film, Everlasting Moments is set at the turn of the century, approximately two decades after this voluntary defection depicted in the earlier films. Inspired by a true-life story, Troell again uses natural light to compose beautiful images that tell a story that showcases flawed humanity. The film centers around a working-class family, with a troubled patriarch, Sigfrid Larsson, who is both a drunk and a womanizer. But he also loves his large family, which eventually includes seven children, and that bi-polar behavior is excellently conveyed in a larger-than-life performance by Mikael Persbrandt. The indomitable and almost withdrawn mother, Maria, is the victim of one slight after the other, but she stays the course, and a seemingly minor development intercedes and alters her path. She finds a camera that she once won in a lottery but never used. Her initial intention was to sell it, but the proprietor of the shop, Sebastian Pedersen (played by Jesper Christensen) persuades Maria to learn how to use it, as he informs her of its practical and aesthetic advantages. Over a period of time, the novice camera owner develops an eye for the shoot -which is primitive to be sure-and is particularly adroit at capturing haunting portraits. She sees through her camera both the misery and beauty that defines her existence. Her new hobby is heartened by Pederson, who despite having a wife in Denmark, falls in love with Maria. But the relationship remains celibate. Meanwhile Maria begins to earn income by negotiating group shots and portraits, while at the same time her adulterous husband is having an affair with a barmaid, and there is a strike among the dock workers. Sigfrid is then falsely accused of complicity in an explosion on a ship containing a group of English scab workers resisting the strike, and is called for military service at the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
During his brief time away, Maria continues to make money taking pictures and scores big at Christmas. She sees her picture in a local newspaper, and even photographs the three kings from Scandinavia, who are having a policy meeting. Simultaneously, Sebastian is shooting newsreel footage. As soon as Sigfrid returns, domestic unrest resumes, and this even includes a marital rape and an unwanted child, but through it all the marriage survives. One child announces on a voiceover that “maybe it was really love,” but it’s hard to imagine a woman accepting such behavior and returning any kind of real affection, as the violence reached one point where the woman was dragged down and held at knife-point. Despite all the adversity, Maria burgeons as an artist, partly as a result of her gradual comprehension of her photographic gifts, and also as a result of her cognizance of all the beauty around her that serves as a stark contrast to inner duress. In any case, the psychology of the relationship with her husband is more out of Bergman or Strindberg, rather than just a simple case of marital incompatibility. Everlasting Moments will surely last a cinematic lifetime.
#8 A Serious Man (Ethan & Joel Coen) USA
Joel and Ethan Coen have combined their home state and their Jewish upbringing with a typically quirky, darkly humorous movie set in an unnamed Minnesota town in 1967, when the boys were teenagers. The literary influences on the family are the Old Testament Book of Job and the wry Jewish fictions of Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud and Philip Roth, which were becoming almost the dominant force in American literature at the time the film is set.
The film’s hero is Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a science teacher at a small, liberal arts college, living with his wife, Judith, his teenage son Danny, and daughter Sarah on a brand-new, middle-class estate. Times are changing, and an alluring neighbour asks Larry if he’s “taking advantage of the new freedom”. But the 1960s, the Vietnam war protests and the permissive society haven’t yet caught up with the neighbourhood, and Judaism, the reform synagogue and the traditions they embody still offer a sense of community and protection from a hostile world.
The Coens take us directly and amusingly into this changing America, but first they begin with a pre-credit Yiddish fable in the manner of Sholem Aleichem or Isaac Bashevis Singer, set in the Jewish pale of 19th-century eastern Europe from which the film’s characters originate. A big-hearted peasant returns home to inform his wife that he’s met an old rabbi on a wintry road and invited him to dinner. The scornful wife tells him that as the rabbi is dead this must be a dybbuk in search of a body to possess, and when the rabbi arrives she kills him with an ice pick. There are some surprises and turns, not least of which the ending shows the brothers climxing on a very dark note. This may well be the most cerebral film of the Coens’s career, and it’s surely one of their best.
#9 Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas) France
Summer Hours pays homage to Ozu, in a year when more than one French director has honored the Japanese icon. As family members share a summer holiday in their uncle Paul Berthier’s rural house, elderly Hélène (Edith Scob) discusses the future with her son Frédéric (Charles Berling), an economist. Over the years, her brother amassed an extraordinary collection of furniture, pottery and artifacts, to say nothing of his own artwork and journals. But much of the collection, like the house itself, needs restoration that her children can’t afford.
Frédéric’s brother Jérémie (Jérémie Rénier) is considering moving to China to work, while their sister Adrienne (Juliette Binoche), a designer, has been living in New York. Their decision about what to do with the estate is forced on them sooner than expected. Should they try to hold the collection together, or should they disperse their family heirlooms to museums and auction houses?
A basic plot synopsis makes Summer Hours seem like a stereotypical French film, one filled with wine, cigarettes and endless talk. But the themes Assayas raises have more widespread appeal. For example, each character approaches art in a different manner. For Eloïse (Isabelle Sadoyan), Hélène’s longtime housekeeper, a vase is simply an object of beauty; for Jérémie, it might finance his relocation, and further separation from his siblings. For Frédéric, it represents the history of his family, something he senses is slipping away. But how can one remain loyal to a family that no longer shares a purpose or direction? There’s a deep sense of humanity and sustained emotional resonance that makes Summer Hours a film of lasting impact. It’s abundant in universal truths.
#10 Tokyo Sonta (Kurosawa) Japan -three way tie-
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata continues in the vein of his idiosyncratically personal (and arguably, more interesting), yet equally unsettling films that began with Bright Future. As the film begins, the family patriarch, middle-aged senior administrative manager, Ryuhei (Teruyuki Kagawa) has been notified that the company has outsourced his job to China (where his salary would pay for three language-fluent office workers) and, without portable skills that could be applied to another department, will be immediately laid off from work. Reluctant to tell his family for fear of undermining his authority, Ryuhei continues the pretext of leaving for work with his briefcase each morning, spending his days alternately lining up at a job placement office and a charity lunch service on the park. Meanwhile, his stay-at-home wife, Megumi (Kyoko Koizumi), has begun to feel trapped in her unappreciated role of keeping the household together, her newly obtained driver’s license symbolizing her liberated, if guilty step away from the familiar routines of domestic life (a search for identity implied by her intended use of the license as a form of identification). Their university-aged son, Takashi (Yu Koyanagi) is similarly adrift in his part-time job distributing flyers on the streets, and sees a provision for foreigners enlisting in the U.S. military as a means of asserting his independence. Younger son, Kenji (Kai Inowaki), having been caught passing a manga book in the classroom, stages his own minor rebellion: exposing the teacher’s own penchant for reading erotic themed manga on the train, and subsequently, taking piano lessons against his father’s objection. Inspired by the four-movement structure of a sonata, Tokyo Sonata is a humorous and incisive modernist (and globalist) evocation of the shomin-geki salaryman picture popularized by Yasujiro Ozu, chronicling the increasingly divergent lives of the Sasaki family who, like the families in Ozu’s cinema are on the verge of disintegration. However, while both filmmakers reflect the inevitability of this dissolution, Kurosawa paradoxically sees the rupture as a necessary trauma towards rebuilding – a sense of renewal that is reflected in the parting image of the family leaving the stage, figuratively stepping away from the performance to forge their own path in the uncertain darkness. But what a final scene it is, with Debussey carrying the day in one of cinema’s most unforgettable moments of 2009.
#10 Seraphine (Provost) France -three way tie-
SÉRAPHINE is the true story of Séraphine Louis aka Séraphine de Senlis (Yolande Moreau), a simple and profoundly devout housekeeper who in 1905 at age 41 — self-taught and with the instigation of her guardian angel — began painting brilliantly colorful canvases.
In 1912 Wilhelm Uhde (Ulrich Tukur), a German art critic and collector — he was one of the first collectors of Picasso and champion of naïve primitive painter Le Douanier Rousseau — discovered her paintings while she worked for him as a maid in his lodgings in Senlis outside Paris. Uhde became her patron and grouped her work with other naïve painters – the so-called “Sacred Heart Painters” — with acclaimed shows in Paris, elsewhere in Europe and eventually at New York’s MOMA.
Director Martin Provost builds his story around the relationship between the avant-garde art dealer and the visionary cleaning lady, forging a testament to the mysteries of creativity and the resilience of one woman’s spirit. There is a classic visual splendor to the film, and it’s beautifully-scored but Ms. Moreau (who has already won the L.A. and National Society Film Critics Awards for Best Actress) is a majestic, suffering presence in the film that carries it to cinematic heights.
#10 Of Time and the City (Davies) UK -three way tie-
Britain’s most estemmed contemporary filmmaker, Terrence Davies’s ode to his Liverpool childhood is a semi-documentary but more of a lyrical tone poem, where real-life images converge seamlessly with newreel footage, music and literature, in a film that forges a language all it’s own. The UK is changing, and Davies’s heartfelt lament to the destruction of all that he experienced an dloves is a universal lament to what is held dear to everyone.
The Top Films of 2009
1 Bright Star
2 Avatar
3 35 Shots of Rum (France 2008)
4 Up
5 A Single Man
6 Police, Adjective
7 Everlasting Moments (Sweden 2008)
8 A Serious Man
9 Summer Hours (France 2008)
10 Tokyo Sonata (Japan 2008)
Seraphine -three-way-tie
Of Time and the City (UK 2008)
Runners-Up (in no particular order)
Antichrist
Star Trek
District 9
The Last Station
The Son (Russia 2005)
Rambrandt’s J’Accuse (UK 2008)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
The House of the Devil
Flame and Citron (Denmark)
Somers Town (UK 2008)
Me and Orson Welles (2008)
La Danse
The Maid (Chile)
Bad Lieutenant: Port of New Orleans
The Lovely Bones
Wow what an amazing lot of work and fabulous list. I am impressed. In fact your whole blog is like finding a gold mine for film enthusiast.
Thanks so much for the visit “creativepotager.” And thanks for the glowing words. Hope to see you again!
Oh you shall, I’ve placed your link in my blogroll so I don’t lose you. My husband and I live on a small island off the Southwest Coast of Canada. We order films through Zip and the the DVDs come in the mail. We can get most anything we want… if we know what we want. Your posts are like getting a hand up in the selection process.
What a lovely paradise to live in, my friend! Thanks for adding us, and I will be adding your blog to our own blogroll tonight as well!
Done! What an awesome place to live. And what a wonderful blog for nature lovers and those who appreciate the beauty of our land and water. it’s an honor to hav eyou aboard Antonia!
Sam, I was just thinking tonight…(or this morning actually)…why is it we limit ourselves to a Top Ten? Granted some years (last year for instance) are void of excessive quality and thus even a Top Ten can be hard to fill….but in years like 2009, why not expand it? I was tempted to do a top 15 or 20….but in the end we thought alike and I did a Top Ten with Honorable Mentions (numbering 7). I am a little surprised THE HURT LOCKER didn’t crack your Top Ten. And not mention at all of IN THE LOOP?
I digress…fantastic list as always. And it’s a crime I have not seen BRIGHT STAR! I barely recall the film my viewing companion wished to see instead that weekend I tried to see it….sweet heavens, I think it might have been THE BOX! Even then I knew I would regret that. Luckily it comes out on DVD this month and is at the very top of Netflix queue!
David, I did like THE HURT LOCKER quite a bit, as I did STAR TREK and DISTRICT 9, and if the list was only comprised of American films all three would be there. But this was a particularly strong year for films from abroad, so I was forced to put them on the ‘nearlies’ list. But I know most people would not agree with me there. I must say I am more anxious to hear YOUR take on BRIGHT STAR than just about anyone else, as you have mentioned it many times. I believe it is your kind of thing, but we’ll see. SERAPHINE is another I am rather sure you will adore. IN THE LOOP barely missed my honorable mention list, as did GOODBYE SOLO, as I also placed a limit on inclusion there.
Actually David, as you’ve no doubt noticed, I didn’t restrict this list to 10, but went with a dozen, maintaining that three-way No. 10 tie.
I’ll definitely be over to check your list and presentation today!
Superb collection Sam. I particularly like the films on the second half of your list. With the exception of Of Time in the City, I’d happily watch any of those again. Even OTitC I’m tempted to revisit it to see what I missed.
For me the year in widely released American films was a little disappointing, but the slack was more than picked up with independent and foreign films. All in all it was a very good year.
Here’s looking forward to 2010!
Thanks Craig! I certainly agree with what you say there. I thought among the American crop we did have a half dozen standouts (UP, AVATAR, A SINGLE MAN, STAR TREK, DISTRICT 9, A SERIOUS MAN) but I know most would readily add INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS and a few others to the mix. Foreign cinema had a strong year,particular (and the typically) French films.
A well elucidated, thought-provoking countdown (or countup in this case) Sam. I’m afraid I have yet to see a few of these.
I thought ‘Up’ was Pixar’s worst film (and I don’t like any of them with the possible exception of Monsters Inc.). It had not one iota of emotional authenticity. For me it was over-sentimental and unimaginative (talking dogs and a big colourful bird when he had the whole world to explore?), banal, boring and irritating.
I would have liked to see Ponyo there instead, the work of a true storyteller / animator.
I haven’t seen Tokyo Sonata but I am a big fan of Kurosawa’s horror films.
Thanks for those exceedingly kind words Stephen!
Well, I do respect your position on UP, but we saw a completely different film. For me only WALL-E rates ahead of it among the Pixars. But I applaud your passionate embrace of PONYO, a film I also liked. If you are a big fan of Kurosawa’s horror films, I have absolutely no doubt you will be a fan of TOKYO SONATA, which i believe is the director’s finest film.
An original list for sure with a lot films I’ve yet to see and have been wanting to see (especially A Single Man, 35 Shots of Rum, Police, Adjective). Kudos for including the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man, a film that has not been winning many critics awards nor has it appeared on many critic’s top ten lists. Its too bad because I thought its the best American film I’ve seen all year. I also have to applaud some great films you selected as runner-ups; The House of the Devil was a fantastic film that many didn’t have the pleasure to see but will hopefully be one that will be sought after when its released on DVD. Bad Lieutenant: Port of New Orleans is another great film that I’m sad to see didn’t make your final cut but happy was mentioned as well. Not one of Werner Herzog’s greatest of masterpieces but just a damn fun film. And finally District 9, a film that was one of the surprise hits of the summer. Maybe my favorite science fiction film of the decade behind Alfonso Cuaron’s brilliant Children of Men and Richard Linklater’s underrated masterpiece A Scanner Darkly. Well great list as usual and I’ll try to have mine up hopefully by the end of this week.
I agree….A SERIOUS MAN is the best American film of the year and the Coen’s best film since FARGO. It does puzzle me a bit that it hasn’t received any critics’ awards. I guess maybe everyone feels the Coens got their due two years ago with NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (which I didn’t care for).
To these eyes it’s their best film since their masterpiece THE MAN WHO WASN”T THERE. I’d put A SERIOUS MAN at 2 (or maybe 3 behind BARTON FINK) for the Coen’s career. Either way, I’d agree with you that it is the American Film of the year, and maybe my favorite overall.
Thanks very much Anu!
And thanks for your support and stellar insights all year. Yes, A SERIOUS MAN is one of the bestAmerican films of the year and my personal favorite Coens film, and it really pained me to have DISTRICT 9 just under the top list, when it’s one of my personal favorite films of 2009. I am certain you will have avery positive reaction to those films you are still seeking out.
So it’s here. THe list I’ve been waiting for since the end of Dave’s countdown. Wonderful, wonderful stuff.
I so regret missing Bright Star, A Single Man and A Serious Man. Of course, you’ve already sold me these movies and I'[ll be catching up with them soon.
It’s nice to see that we concur on the awesome Romanian film. This director is one to look out for.
UP is, perhaps, Pixar’s best film and the second best Hollywood movie I saw this year, after IB. UP’s subtletly makes WALL-E look propagandist. Deliberately downplaying their skill for realistic animation, Pixar delviers a script where each character compliments, mirrors and contrasts the other. Even in the perfunctory Pixar rush hour, there are so many minor details to be found, which would have been blown out to huge moral issues in a lesser film.
As for 35 Shots, it might just have become my favorite film had I consdiered it for my list. Simply a phenomenal film that gave birth to your best review here.
Excellent discourse there on UP, especially in view of my complete agreement!
Those are such lovely words JAFB, and your support really gives s person confidence and impetus. I can’t wait to hear your assessment on BRIGHT STAR, A SERIOUS MAN and A SINGLE MAN.
I’m very interested to read your wonderful list, Sam – loads of these I haven’t seen yet (including some which aren’t out in the UK as yet), but I’m delighted to see ‘Bright Star’ at the top, since I thought it was brilliant. I enjoyed ‘Up’ and thought the animation was amazing, but will admit I don’t completely get Pixar – most people seem to either love or hate them, whereas I quite like their movies but probably wouldn’t bother to see them without a kid in tow. I did love ‘Monsters Inc’ though, because of Billy Crystal.
Thanks so much Judy!
I am equally thrilled that you loved BRIGHT STAR, and have been sining its praises for quite some time. This is a literary film of astonishing visual artistry, that is wed here with the perfect on screen use of poetry and a deeply poignant story. Ms. Campion probes deeply beneath the surface here and the results are sinematic perfection.
Thanks again!
To avoid confusion I have made note in Sam’s recap where films ACTUAL release years differ from the year of release in the US. Quite a few of his choices are not actually 2009 films when looked back upon years down the line.
Allan, there is absolutely no need to do that, as I am simply playing by the rules that every single American critic plays by year after year. This obsession with dates really baffles me.
The rule I use is simple. Did it open in US theatres in 2009? If it did then it is on the list. I am consistent.
Yup….that’s the rule I play by too. If the film was released in theaters (or a theater) in America in 2009…it’s a 2009 release. If you try to consider “world premieres” or festival runs…it’s maddening to keep track of. I think going by your home country’s release dates for films is the most logical way to do it.
Sam,
A thoughtful and detailed countdown, unfortunately for me, many films I have yet to see, especially your #1 pick, which when it played here (came and went within a week or so) we were tied up with other things and missed. Happily, it comes out on DVD later this month and I will get a copy. Like David, I am surprised that “The Hurt Locker” did rank higher on your countdown. Certainly would be in my top 10 for the year.
John, THE HURT LOCKER is indeed a great film, and I probably have no valid excuse to have it under the Top 10 or Top 12. No doubt after I watch the blu-ray DVD I have on order, I’ll be kicking myself for leaving off the top list. And I knoqw you have been most interested in BRIGHT STAR in view of my praise, which is most flattering.
Thanks som much, John!
I am awestruck by the massive work that went into this Sam. And I know how much it all means to you, having seen what must be hundreds of films over the year. This is the fruit of your labor, and the payback for your immense finantial and time commitment.
Your love of period drama and literature was no doubt instrumental in Bright Star carrying the day. But that film was no ordinary genre piece. It was internal, and Campion’s filmmaking was, what’s that word you like?…’rapturous.’ With all the great films on your list it’s truly a testament of your deep love for that one film that really makes its mark here.
Ah Frederick, you really know how to make someone feel great. Wow. I am speechless.
Thanks a million times.
It’s a titanic accomplishment.
I’m curious to know if your ‘decade’ list is forthcoming. I remember you had originally said you were planning to publish it in early January. Is that still the game plan?
I know it probably kills you to have ‘Anti Christ,’ ‘Star Trek’ and ‘District 9’ in the honorable mention section instead of the main list, as I know how much you really loved those three films. But there is only so much room, and you already included that 3 way tie for the last spot.
I am interested in learning more about this French film ‘Seraphine’ that made the list. Somehow the discussion on that eluded me when the film released. It reminds me of ‘Camille Claudel.’ Your list is populated with films about artists, musicians and literary figures. Fitting for you.
Joe thanks!!!
My decade list with screen caps will be forthcoming any day now.
And yes, the omission of STAR TREK and D9 is still bothering me to no end!
Nice comparison there with CAMILLE CLAUDEL!!!!!
So many I didn’t see, but thrilled to see that “Up” and “Avatar” figured so high. Both deserved it. This must have taken you hours to prepare Sam. I don’t know how you find the time. But great job!
It took about 5 hours, Maria. I underestimated what I needed to do! Typical. I know you loved UP, but didn’t realize you had seen AVATAR as well. Nice.
Thanks very much as always.
What happened to Inglorious Basterds???
Just kidding. I’m surprised though there is no Fantastic Mr. Fox. My kids really enjoyed that one. Beautiful effort.
Sue and I loved Fantastic Mr. Fox, Ricky.
Happy New Year to you and Lucille, Sam.
I know this is the project that always consumes you this time of the year, and I applaud you for getting it done so soon. (though I know you have seen all the films to complete the task.)
A SINGLE MAN intrigues me. I’ve always admired the work of Colin Firth and of course Julianne Moore. Including it in your top five really says something. I did expect to see BRIGHT STAR and AVATAR at exactly the positions they appeared in. It’s one of the great posts here.
Thanks John, and I wish you the Best Year Ever in 2010!
A SINGLE MAN is quite an immersive emotional experience. I’m expecting it to appear in Montclair at any time, so you’ll certainly get you chance to see it.
And thanks for remembering my own enthusiasm for those two.
Marvelous write up here. The passion and intelligence you evoke in both choice and description cannot be denied. The fact you were even considering STAR TREK for one of the top slots says a lot about that wonderful film. I will say, however, that I am a bit perturbed by your “safe” choice of BRIGHT STAR in the number 1 slot. Knowing of your passion for romantic period pieces, I wonder if you named this film BEST of the year because of your love of the genre and not because it really was the best. You spouted accolades over and over again to me for weeks about AVATAR and now its bucked down to second best? Does innovation, technical wizardry and deep humanity and spirituality go for nothing these days. I know some will balk over praise for a FX laden adventure film. But AVATAR goes far beyond mere “gee-whizz” pyrotechnics. Its a deeply moving film with a message far more pertinant tan any film made in 2010. Great essay Schmullee!!! BRAVO!!!!
Dennis, I don’t think Bright Star in the Number 1 position is a “safe” choice at all. Only the most scrutinyzing critics are mentioning it, and the film itself is anything but a “conventional” period piece. It’s really a shame you are compromising Sam’s presentation by questioning the sincerity of his pick. BTW I remember him going on and on about Bright Star for many weeks, so I’m not sure I understand where you are coming from. I remember Sam having The Fountain and Far From Heaven as his Number 1s, and they were anything but safe.
And how is having Avatar at #2 among hundreds of films, relegating it to also-run status? Are you one of those guys who believes that there is only a #1 and everything else is disposable?
A few faux-pas with my last statement and I meant to say AVATAR had messages in it that surpassed every other film in 2009. Not 2010 as I wrote above. Sam-I’ll be in the city all day today. That time of the month again. I’ll see you for dinner next Tuesday.
Thanks for providing more movies to go find and watch from the year — I’ve so far only seen UP from your top 10. It’s nice to see a list with such a representation of world cinema. Now if only I could ever see any of those films in theaters in my hometown (good thing we’ve got computers to remedy that issue).
I’ll have to come back and comment further when I actually have some kind of opinion on the films.
Troy, for some reason I thought you saw several more here than just UP, but you kinda indicated that the movie theatre situation in your home town is rather selective. BRIGHT STAR is coming out this month, and 35 SHOTS OF RUM and TOKYO SONATA are out on Region 2 DVDs. I’ll be monitoring the situation for you closely. Thanks Troy!
Hope I didn’t ruffle any feathers. I felt I had to dress Dennis down a bit. You’ve made it abundantly clear (at least to me) that you had a difficult time deciding between Avatar and Bright Star, and you thought them both masterpieces. As I stated, with hundreds of films being consider (do you have the exact number?) it’s not a situation where there is a single winner and everything else is forgettable.
A list of 10 or 12 is precisely that. 10 or 12 films that are almost the same in excellence, with a numerical listing purely for drama. Am I reading this right?
Well Frank, I’m sorry to say you did ruffle a few feathers, namely Dennis’s as you’ll see when you read further down. But thanks for the support and for the good memory as always!
Nice list Sam. I really liked “Up in the Air” with George Clooney. I’m surprised it didn’t make your list, but maybe there wasn’t any room left. I liked “Avatar” a lot too. I saw it over the weekend.
Wendy, I am sorry to say I am no fan of UP IN THE AIR, which didn’t resonate on any level with me, and was forgettable the next day, but I am in a severe minority here. I am envious of your love for it.
In any case it’s one of the frontrunners for the Best Picture Oscar!
Thanks for leaving a comment at WitD!
Hi! Sam Juliano,
What a very interesting list…I will try to include some of your films on my list of films to watch too!…I bet (10 to 1) that of all the films that you watched last year it was very difficult for you to decide which 10 films would be on your yearly countdown list.
Thanks, for sharing!
DeeDee 😉
Indeed Dee Dee and thank you! Yes, I found it exceedingly difficult to narrow things down, and I must have changed my mind about eight times. I am certain you will like my #1, but the odds are good for several others here.
Thanks as always my very dear friend.
So many great films, and a real gem for the top spot. I think your choices are proof that 2009 was a much better year than people seem to give it credit for.
Peter: Every year you invariably hear moaning, but i simply ignore it and enjoy the best of what each year offers. Thanks again!
Sorry for abandoning you to the repetitive attacks of “Glimmer”. I just got bored. I’ll be checking your blog out. I must confess though, I do enjoy the occasional Apatow comedy. I hope that wont be a problem.
cheers!
Paloma!
Thanks very much for the support you did give me. I can well understand you getting tired of the same nonsense. Let’s stay in touch!
FRANK GALLO-i don’t appreciate being “dressed” down by anyone. I’ve known Sam for over 16 years and period pieces are a very favorite genre of his. Don’t know what you know but, personally I have been listening to Sam both in person and on the phone for three weeks now going on and on about AVATAR. Yes, he has tild me he loved BRIGHT STAR, but he DID NOT do cart-wheels over it like he did for AVATAR. In the past he HAS grabbed period pieces for the top slot when he couldn’t take the plunge on films that veered a different course (1995-SENSE AND SENSABILITY over the BETTER BABE?). He also told me earlier this year when he was smitten with UP that he could NOT go two years with animation because he chose WALL-E for 2009. So, FRANK, who’s compromising? I merely asked a question as is my rite. Try not to “dress” me down until you know Sam a bit better. Besides, I look best in light pink….
Dennis, as I expressed to you recently, BRIGHT STAR is not your typical “period piece” (which by the way it a very unflattering generalization anyway) but is a probing psychological study, with Ms.; Campion’s scrutinying attention to “textures” and “light.” I carried on for months after I saw the film to just about everyone, and said it would take something truly spectacular to be placed ahaed of it. AVATAR came very close, and finishing #2 of about 200 films I saw in theatres, well, that pretty much speaks for itself. Unfortunately you have not seen BRIGHT STAR, so you are forced to make these unfortunate suppositions. BRIGHT STAR is at #1 because I honestly and truly believe it to be the best film of 2009. My other #1’s of this decade hardly showed any bias for period drama, as you probably already know. It’s the same as accusing me of favoring science-fiction because I chose THE FOUNTAIN as Best Film of 2006 and A.I. as Best Film of 2001, or that I favor animation because I chose WALL-E for Best Film of 2008, or I favor foreign cinema for choosing the existential DOGVILLE as Best Film of 2005, or that I favor musicals for choosing DANCER IN THE DARK as Best Film of 2000.
BRIGHT STAR was the Best Film of 2009, no strings attached. it’s that simple.
Nice work here Sam (on this reply and the main essay). I would concur that BRIGHT STAR is a fantastic film. I would put it top 5 this year (and in any year end ranking I always say the top 5 is inter-changable), and I would say it is the film (along with only A SERIOUS MAN) that I desperately want to see again. Those two dvd’s cannot come quick enough.
Thanks very much Jamie. I know well how much you have loved the film too. It’s great that the DVD release is set for this month!
That’s fine Sam. I appreciate you taking the time out to further elaborate on your position, which is all I was requesting in the first place. I didn’t need to be ” dressed” down by FRANK GALLO because he thought I was bashing or compromising your fine essay. I was only asking for a little extra clarification. You have a penchant for period pieces (remember ATONEMENT, THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE, THE CRUCIBLE and SENSE AND SENSABILITY?), and after weeks of hearing about AVATAR I was really interested to know why it got edged out. This was a question for YOU, and for YOU to reply to. As I said earlier, I loved your essay.
Thanks Dennis.
Hey WHO WOULDN’T like those four films you mention there? Ha!
I did see one of those films and despite not having the experience most had or felt after seeing it, since I’ve seen lately that the conservative right dislikes it as (un-american) I like it even more.
We do need to see Up though.
Sam, sent an email to you. You might check your spam if you don’t see it.
I enjoy reading lists of all kind, but refuse to make any, since they are all personal, imho ; )
Cheers!
I got your e mail CM, and responded, thank you.
I love that comment there about the American right disliking AVATAR; likewise that would strengthen my own affinity for it too!
UP is a must for sure. That is a film you may really love for all sorts of reasons.
That’s a singularly beautiful list, Sam, and fine writing throughout the extensive piece. It’s an excellent display of taste, even if we had different experiences of Avatar.
I can’t tell you how much I’m yearning to see Bright Star. Keats is my favorite of the Romantic poets, and thus, one of my favorite poets. Looking forward to catching the others I haven’t seen yet, too.
And that’s a singularly beautiful comment Jenny, if I may say so. I will do all I can to keep my eye open for the appearances of the titles here on DVD. I just bought a rare Region 1 copy of SERAPHINE today on amazon. I am dying for you to see this, which is also a big favorite of Craig’s too.
As far as BRIGHT STAR, well knowing your taste, this is gonna be a real big one methinks!!! I cannot wait!!!!!!
Dipping into your annual best of list is always a special treat, Sam. It’s a pleasure to read your passionate and eloquent championing of the selection. Several of your picks are among my own 2009 favorites and you’ve piqued my interest in those I have yet to see (with the exception of the Davies film – I’m not a fan of his work).
At the risk of sounding churlish, although living in Australia Jane Campion very much identifies herself as a New Zealander, not simply as New Zealand-born 🙂 Many New Zealand artists base themselves in Australia for professional reasons and are often mistakenly judged by foreign media as Australian or only spending their early years here.
And it’s always a special treat to have a response from you sartre!
This has largely been a year of glorious agreement, as some of your own top films are at and near the zenith of my own list. Actually, there are only a small number that you need to see, as you note yourself.
It is true what you say there about Campion and Australian generalization. In fact I originally listed BRIGHT STAR as a film from New Zealand, and only changed it after reading the so-called “official” designation. But I do know that Ms. Campion’s earlier films are listed as “New Zealandic.”
Fantastic list and set of writeups here Sam. This is one to save for those lesser mortals like myself who haven’t seen a lot here!
Thanks so much as always for the very kind words Kaleem. By the way, I do have an “all Region” Masters of Cinema DVD of TOKYO SONATA and that Region 1 of SERAPHINE is one its way. So you will be seeing both soon.
A few major surprises on this list. ‘Everlasting Moments,’ ‘Police Adjective’ and ‘Seraphine’ are not films I remember receiving praise from you, but I think they came out earlier in the year. You stayed the course and stood you ground with ‘Bright Star’ which is admirable. I know making such lists always brings about second-guessing, as is the case with your apologies for not including those two science-fiction films you love. Great write-ups.
David, I saw POLICE ADJECTIVE at the IFC right before Christmas. EVERLASTING MOMENTS was viewed earlier in the year, while SERAPHINE was early summer. I did write a full review for the first, but not the next two. Yeah I’ll never stop apologizing for STAR TREK and DISTRICT 9. I suspect that eventually I’ll have to revise my list to include them. Thanks!
………Good show! I am trying to figure out what you will be posting for your new millenium ‘decade’ list…………..
I’m still working that one over Frank! Thanks for stopping by!
Look like some great choices, Sam. Of course I have to say “look” because I’ve only seen #’s 2, 4, 8, 9, and 10 (a).
I am surprised that Bright Star rose above Avatar considering your enthusiasm for the Cameron flick in the last month, but it’s an original choice nonetheless and I feel a little bad for skipping it (Bright Star). I do like that you always make room for an animated film on this list, and of course the other three films are all terrific (as much as Summer Hours didn’t connect with me on first viewing).
How hard it must have been for you to narrow these down – do you have a count of how many films you saw theatrically in 2009?
Thanks so much Dan!
Well, I know you always play catch up in the first few months of the new year, when new releases are rare, and I know you will see just about every important titles and make your own list a little later, which is some ways is even better, especially since it gives room to think deeper. I remember you saying that SUMMER HOURS didn’t blow you away as it has others, but a second viewing could possibly improve its stature with you.
Dan it was EXCRUTIATINGLY hard to narrow this down (in answer to your question, I saw a total in the 180’s) and even more arduous to choose between BRIGHT STAR and AVATAR, two emotionally overwhelming films. They are really just about equal. But deep down my heart gave the narrowest of edges to the rapturous and poetic BRIGHT STAR.
Wow, 180’s is nuts! I don’t know if I made it to 100 this year, though it was a very down year for me in general because I missed a LOT of movies.
Anyway, cheers for all of your cinematic adventures in the new year! And new decade!
Interesting. I saw maybe 5 new movies in theaters the whole year. Not a single one of your top ten, and only Antichrist among the runners-up. Kind of amazes me that this is so (as recently as 2002, I made an effort to see every big release in theaters). Yet in lieu of the newbies, I caught up with a lot of classic films this year & re-watched many others I hadn’t seen for a while, in anticipation of building my own canon; that part I don’t regret. But I do miss the theatrical “experience” which has all but disappeared for me as of now. Hopefully it will be renewed in the years to come.
Damn Sam… You have great taste in cinema… I am regretting not seeing BIG STAR at the cinemas… 😦
keep up the fine work
AK, I hope you have seen it by now. Thanks for the exceedingly kind words!
[…] Sam’s Top 12 of 2009 (containing capsules of nominated films Avatar, Bright Star, A Serious Man, A Single Man, and Up). […]
A suspicious interesting choice of movies for a year’s best list.
I have a formal ‘complain’: the name of the director of “Police, adjective” is Porumboiu.
Sorry for that error Claude, I am one of the worst when it comes to typos. Thanks for stopping by!
Excellent list, Sam. I meant to comment on it when I first read it, but better late than never. I love that you picked Bright Star for no. 1. I cannot say I was quite as enthusiastic about it as you, but I come dead close and after picking it up at one of Hollywood Video’s clearance sales I remember why it touched me so. I love how deeply you’ve defended the film here and elsewhere. Well, “defend” isn’t the right word so much as “promote,” because precious few of those who’ve actually managed to see it are opposed to it. It’s a sad state of affairs when so beautiful and quietly, unassumingly original a work barely scrapes together the support for a DVD release (no Blu-Ray, foul universe is this). I’ve yet to see a Campion film that didn’t strike me, and if my renewed love of Bright Star is any indication I should waste no time revisiting her first masterpieces, Sweetie and An Angel at My Table.
Thanks so much for the very kind words Jake, and for that proper assessment of this criminally neglected film, both from the perspective of its brief theatrical run and that shabby blu-ray-less release. I too was appalled they opted not to offer this exquisitely beautiful film in the ultimate format, and was personally disappointed, as I had just bought my first blu-ray player just weeks before that. But in a year with some other very great films, this was the one that affected me the deepest in an emotional sense, and what with its consumate artistry a cross the board, the decision was an easy one.
Tokyo Sonata was 2008….it takes way too long for asian films to make it to the state. Usually you can find an official DVD with english subtitles before they hit theatres here. It was nice to see Kurosawa move away from more horror / thriller type fare into this and he did an amazing job. Best asian film of 2009 was Mother, which should have been nominate, the lead actress Hye-ja Kim did such an amazing job it makes Sandra’s win seem like child’s play.
Acosta, Tokyo Sonata wasn’t the only film from 2008 in Sam’s list, but he lists them in the recap after the individual reviews. It’s the way he works because that’s the way it works in America and most other countries, sadly. Sadly it’s a necessity as they have deadlines to meet for publications and can only go on what sees near them, but I agree for posterity it’s nonsense.
Oh my gosh, Sam — I just discovered this GOLD MINE! And I’m not going to keep it to myself. I’m placing a link directly to it on Speaking from the Heart.
I’m printing this list with the intention of seeing each film that I haven’t already seen — and maybe some that I’ve seen, again.
What an undertaking — a monumental undertaking this had to have been. THANK YOU!
Thanks a ton Laurie!
There are several that I revisit (especially when intorducing them to others) but the end of the year is always a prime time for the cineaste, who all year has been gathering more “information” to put together a year-end list. Especially with obsessives like me! Ha!
Much appreciated my friend!
Yep Sam. All of these have now made it to Ireland with the exception of POLICE, ADJECTIVE. Indeed, at least three that have made your top 25ish for 2009 should be on the long-list for my favourite ten films of this year and some that you liked last year, I liked in 2008. Mad how it works in the world of international film distribution!
Anyway, enough about year-end lists for now. Plenty of that to come only too shortly (alas!!).
Amazing blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?
A theme like yours with a few simple adjustements would
really make my blog jump out. Please let me know where you got your theme.
With thanks
Thanks for stopping in! The theme is “misty lake” and it can be chosen on Word Press.
Your style is so unique in comparison to other people I
have read stuff from. Thanks for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I will just book mark this blog.