FAVE FILMS 2012

2012 was a pretty good film year. I'd say a little better than 2011. Overall, 2012 was full of lots of good stuff, some really good stuff, but few really great films. And few seem to agree on which is which is which. No doubt I've included many good ones here as well as many overlooked gems. My lists are my 'favorite' films of the previous year. The ones that got to me the most or in which I found something personally special. I actually only saw two of these films in the cinema, though I paid for more movie tickets last year than in 2011. I do tend to go & pay for many of the 'tent pole' releases, sci-fi, comics, fantasy, etc... but to be honest, most of my favorite films of any year are the ones I had to seek out & find because they don't typically come to me in cinemas. Half of this list includes films not in English which limits me, due to living in Prague, & forces me to wait for video releases with English subtitles to watch at home. I've probably seen about 50 films which were released in 2012 & from those, I deem these my 10 favorite.

Some people divide their lists into categories. I do no such thing. I don't care what genre a film is, or in what language, or if it's animated, or a documentary, or color vs. b/w, or long or short, or 3D vs. 2D, or mainstream vs. art-house, or big budget vs. micro. I also don't generally go for other categories either such as 'best' actors or directors or scripts or whatever. But when things like that do really stand out in a film I've chosen for my list, I mention it in the write-up. I also don't do a star system. If I were 'forced' to, some of these films would have fewer stars than others not on this list. This is a list of subjective enjoyment, not necessarily 'objective criticism.' But having studied film (history & criticism) now as a serious hobby for about 18 years, I do enjoy many films because I recognize how 'more objectively' great they are – for what they are. But I try to keep a level head about it &, as this list hopefully shows, my interests are all over the map.

This year I've put together my list in the order in which I've decided to talk about these films. So the list isn't exactly in order of favorites but something along those lines (last year I did it alphabetically). Though a bit flexible, I've thought this through for a while now and I think this is the list I'm most comfortable with. Here are the films that I love & recommend the most from 2012. Please click on the links I've given & watch the trailers to these great films &/or the other links or titles I've peppered throughout this post. I encourage you to leave comments below (as many as you like) about anything I've said here & please let me know what films you like the most from last year & I'll let you know if I've seen them. If not, I will really try to do so. That's how I net all these 'big fish,' I watch virtually everything that's recommended to me all year long; by friends or the countless reviews and 'best of' lists I search the Internets for constantly. I've also set the privacy setting to 'public' so feel free to share this post with anyone you like. Cheers.

My favorite feature films

This list is in order

HOLY MOTORS

Probably the most divisive film of 2012, Leos Carax' confusing but overall exhilarating masterpiece is a fascinating character study that both eulogizes and celebrates cinema itself. It tops numerous critics' best of 2012 lists and for good reason. It was born out of the director's 13-year frustrating incapacity to carry out several projects due to budget restraints following the critical & financial failure of his 1999 feature POLA X (which I'm a big fan of). Back in 2008, Carax (LOVERS ON THE BRIDGE, 1991) made his first film in almost a decade in the multi-director shorts trilogy TOKYO! (which also includes shorts by Michel Gondry {ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, 2004 – my favorite film of the 21st century} & Joon-ho Bong {THE HOST, 2006}) where he unleashed the 40-minute short film (& character) Merde upon Tokyo & which instantly became one of my favorite films, despite it's short length, of the 21st century. Merde, (he's so weird!) a flower & money-eating, chain-smoking, destructive, subterranean 'sewer leprechaun' (for lack of better description) makes a return appearance in one of the most memorable episodes in Carax' first feature film in 13 years & arguably his best.

Denis Levant gets my vote for best actor of the year for his 10-character (11 if you count the 'intermission scene' featuring the cover of R.L. Burnside's Let My Baby Ride with accordions in an empty cathedral as an additional 'character') chameleonic performance in this, his fifth collaboration with Carax. Levant plays Monsieur Oscar (if that's even his 'real' personality), a seemingly wealthy man who leaves his expensive, modern house one morning and gets into a limousine. It's not his first time doing so. He's told he has 9 'appointments' that day & opens a dossier which describes the first character he must perform while being driven around various parts of Paris by his driver Celine (performed by the wonderful Edith Scob whose 1960 performance in the great film EYES WITHOUT A FACE is referenced at the end of the film when she puts on a mask resembling the one she wore throughout that film). Equipped with a make-up kit and boxes of costumes & other props, we travel with him in a TARDIS-like (bigger on the inside), spacious limo interior watching him prepare for his next act while struggling to shake off the cathartic episodes each new act presents him (& us) with. We are never told what his 'real' job is, nor who he serves, nor why this masquerade. We simply witness these transformations which are spawned from the bowels of a world we can't fully understand with it's own rules of life and death and reason. Levant performs what could be considered an entire career of roles in just 2 hours and slides into each with professional ease. His range of character in this film is what most actors wait in vain their entire careers for, & couldn't achieve if given the chance, & he performs each one masterfully. Both his versatile physical (Levant is just over 50 and doing flips off of walls in the film) and emotional range are dazzling & exploited to the fullest as we sit first in bafflement as to what's going on before struggling to put the pieces together in some coherent way while wondering what's going to happen next.

HOLY MOTORS is not for a 'lazy' audience; for those who enjoy film only as casual entertainment and who ostracize anything challenging as 'stupid' or 'pretentious' or 'French' or whatever. Those who prefer more 'mainstream' entertainment will likely be baffled or angry trying to digest this absurd & audacious mind-bender. HOLY MOTORS is the type of film that keeps re-inventing itself as it goes along just as our lead character continually re-invents himself. It never explains itself, never gives or asks for definition, nor analysis. It's multi-genre, avant-garde & episodic structure & style, along with non-linear storytelling, requires the audience to 'read between the frames,' to engage you in a mutual love & fascination for cinema itself & the artist's striving for new forms of expression.

HOLY MOTORS is a love letter to cinema. A slap in the face and then a kiss on the cheek for those who say that cinema is dead (or headed that way or whatever). Compared to most of the films I saw in 2012, HOLY MOTORS was a breath of fresh air. It assaulted me with images I'd never seen on screen before in ways I'd never seen or even imagined. Websites for the dead carved into tombstones in the cemetery, the motion-capture sex scene, accordions in cathedrals, chimpanzees,... It's a collage of changing themes, characters & genres and I was enchanted by Carax' reckless joy of inspired craziness. This is a film for those who appreciate cinema not only as an escape, but as a part of their reality. For 'all the world's a stage' as The Bard famously wrote, and in a way, we are all HOLY MOTORS of a fashion. Like Oscar, we spend our lives performing without cameras, often without recognition, struggling with our identities, floating through both dream and nightmare, struggling to make sense of an often senseless world. When asked in the film why he does it, why he goes on, Oscar replies for, “the beauty of the act.” And what better obligation than to living itself, or the memory of living, or helping others to live can one ask for – in a film or one's own life?

PIETA

South Korean director Kim Ki-duk had been off my radar for some years, struggling with some less than great ideas. In the early to mid 2000s, he was really on a roll. He's probably best known for SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER... & SPRING & the amazing 3-IRON, which is one of my top 3 favorite films of the previous decade. I first learned of PIETA when it won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival last year; sneaking by & upsetting P. T. Anderson's THE MASTER which was the favorite for the honor. Kim's career is one of extremes and instability. At one end harsh & nihilistic & at the other contemplative & peaceful. Or should I simply say some are pessimistic while others optimistic? This is a guy who, during his acceptance speech for the Golden Lion, sang a song that, “Koreans sing when we are sad, when we feel alone, when we feel desperate, but also when we're happy.” Try to wrap your mind around that. I find it as alien as telling an American that 'life is suffering;' the general philosophy of billions in the world. With PIETA, Kim's 18th film, I think he's finally found a middle ground between both extremes. Not by producing a moderate film, but by bringing both extremes together. And with PIETA, such a contrast lends itself to religious allegory to tie the unhappy knot together.

At the center of this desperate tale is our anti-hero Lee Kang-do. Lee is a pitiless & brutal thug whose job it is to sucker poor, impoverished, working-class residents of a dying factory 'slum' to take loans at a rate they can't afford. The borrowers are also forced to sign insurance policies against job injury, with Lee's employer as the beneficiary, as collateral. And, inevitability when they can't pay, it's Lee's job to cripple the debtors, utterly destroying their already desperate lives, in order to collect handsomely on the policy. Ironically & horrifyingly, he usually uses the victim's own machinery which provides their livelihood to do the job (what better way to make it look like a real work accident?). The palpable sadness of this story is accentuated as we watch the hapless victims trying to build up their lives with goals & aspirations but in reality having no prospects for success. Lee prowls the makeshift streets among the tin-roofed community like a wolf without mercy or conscience. Until the day a sorrowful woman quite literally steps into his path claiming to be his mother who gave him up at birth. She withstands a variety of awful abuse & humiliation, verbal & physical, to never leave his side while seeking acceptance. But who is this woman really and what's her true motive?

Though titled PIETA, this is not really a religious film and there is no spiritual character arc for our anti-hero. It is not redemption or salvation that is achieved, only mounting & intense suffering from regret & self-revelation. Because in the godless dystopia Kim has presented us with, that's as much as we can hope for. Lee's punishment is his self-imposed purgatory, which is brought upon by the intrusion of the mother figure. But she only opens a self-inflicted wound which becomes torn wide open & inflamed by Lee's own uncovered guilt. Kim Ki-duk wrote this film while in a very dark place himself, having recently finished a rather self-indulgent but well-received autobiography / documentary called ARIRANG. ARIRANG harps on Kim's regret over almost killing his main actress in a stunt accident & losing some close, personal friends while shooting the film DREAM. PIETA seemingly incorporates Kim's own experience making ARIRANG by personifying it as the mother figure. Which would seem to indicate that Lee is Kim himself personified thematically as bearing the sins of his past mistakes. In which case, PIETA is the auteur playing out his own neuroses & obsessions, in questionable taste, in the public eye (read as camera). Luckily, for the sake of not only Kim's ego but for us, his audience, the convention works, although with a sort of uneasy balance. The ending has quite a surreal bent to it & I think it's lead up to a bit too quickly & absurdly but I'll remind you that this film uses religious allegory as a guideline. And since religion itself is surreal and absurd, I find that perfectly reasonable.

DJANGO UNCHAINED

Tarantino's Blaxploitation, Spaghetti-Southern is a greatly accomplished feat of his continued cinematic excellence. It's probably my new favorite QT film after PULP FICTION (unless you count KILL BILL I & II as one movie). Some do hail DJANGO as his masterpiece or their favorite QT film though. Many have named DJANGO their favorite film of 2012. I just can't dislike anything QT is involved with (with the exception of Eli Roth's HOSTEL series). His films have been a love of mine ever since my love of cinema really blossomed back in the early 90s. DJANGO's casting is superb. Every main actor gives an unforgettable performance in one of the best stories I saw onscreen last year. Christoph Waltz's portrayal of Dr. King Schultz just might top his Col. Hanz Landa character in INGLORIOUS BASTARDS (QT originally intended DiCaprio for that role as the 'Jew Hunter' but finally changed his mind and preferred a native German speaker instead).

Jamie Foxx gives his best performance since his Oscar-winning one in RAY. I'm very glad Will Smith decided not to take the part though QT actually wrote it for him. I thought it was sweet that Kerry Washington, who played Foxx's wife in RAY, returned as his 'better half' in DJANGO. They have great chemistry. Leo DiCaprio gets kudos first for taking on the role of a villain & second for his modesty in accepting a supporting role; something he hadn't done in 16 years (his last one previously was in TITANIC). But most memorable of all is DJANGO's truly most despicable character, Stephen, portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson (in his 6th collaboration with QT), head of the house at Candie Land (DiCaprio's character's large slave plantation). I followed Django's production closely, which was riddled with scheduling conflicts causing QT to keep re-writing his script by writing out characters who would have been played by: Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell, Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Sacha Baron Cohen (among others) who all bowed out of production. But I won't dwell on what could have been. Suffice to say, the final result seems virtually flawless & I wouldn't change a thing.

With DJANGO UNCHAINED, Tarantino takes on white guilt. And QT has filled this film chalk-full (pun intended) of guilt-bait scenes & characters aimed right at Whitey. The late, great comedian Lenny Bruce argued that the more we use offensive language, the more it's constantly 'in our face,' the more possible it is to remove its evil power & its ability to offend. Basically, a 'sticks & stones' approach to verbal offense. This film is a great example of that. In Spielberg's film LINCOLN, the 'N' word is used only a single time & its affect is powerful. It rings out like a gunshot & stabs your ears like a knife. It's terribly offensive. Yet DJANGO might contain more utterances of the 'N' word than any other film in the history of cinema (at least 110 times). So how does QT get away with it? He says in an interview that the use of the 'N' word was that common in Mississippi in the 1850s. Which is historically correct. So I guess 'take it stride' is QT's attitude.

They say if you kill one man you're a murderer but kill a million and you're a conqueror. Perhaps, within the context of the film, the Lenny Bruce argument is valid. Perhaps the sheer quantity of offenses desensitizes us to them. Or at least we're able to accept it in the context of the world QT constructed. But is that a good thing? Is this a lesson we can apply to our real lives? Is everybody on board with the idea? I would argue its validity ceases to function once we leave the darkness of the cinema & return to the 'real world.' Because DJANGO is essentially an exploitation fantasy. The story of a surrogate Siegfried who captures the nationalistic pride & imagination of a German who decides to help him rescue his 'princess' from the 'dragons of the American South.' And though Americans have made great strides since the post Civil War Reconstruction for racial equality, it remains a fantasy (& perhaps always will) that racism itself will ever be abolished in everyone. Yet the fact that this film was made, that $100,000,000 was invested to do so (which has made back over $150,000,000 at the Box Office in the US alone), it's overwhelmingly positive reviews, award nominations & wins & roots in historical fact suggest that, for many, we're at least willing to face up to the remnants of guilt that still haunt the American story. And the fact that we can accept an exploitation film of this nature into the mainstream so willingly, that we can freely laugh 'with it' (as opposed to 'at it') hopefully means we've already made great strides in getting over our racist past.

DJANGO UNCHAINED is an offensive film, but at least it tries to be so for the 'right' reasons. I don't think anyone would argue that QT has made anything resembling BIRTH OF A NATION - a film produced by racists with the intention of kindling racial prejudice. Perhaps it is our trust in him, our faith in his intention, even our love of his films & how they've enriched our lives, which makes it all ok. There have always been offensive films produced; films with the intention of offending. Remember, 2012 was also the year of INNOCENCE OF MUSLIMS, the film that enraged the Islamic world and helped lead to hundreds of injuries & over 75 deaths. But the genre of the exploitation film is first and foremost to entertain. Assuming you're the target audience QT had in mind. I'm certainly one. By choosing to watch these films, we're waiving our rights, as it were, to take offense. We're suspending our disbelief to accept racism, or sexism, or violence, or offensive language, or despicable characters because sometimes laughter is the best medicine for a society's ills.

There are many more & much more offensive films than DJANGO UNCHAINED. Take one of the most infamous scenes from Samuel Fuller's SHOCK CORRIDOR (1963), in which a mentally-ill African American man is blind & doesn't know he's black & is outwardly racist against himself. Or DRUM (1976), infamous for its slave fight scene & is probably the one film, which I've personally identified, QT ripped off, I mean was inspired by, the most in creating his film. Then there's MANDINGO (1975) & TAKE A HARD RIDE (1975) if you're interested in some more inspiration. DJANGO's ridiculous blue suit he wears is a reference to how the Gainsborough painting The Blue Boy (1770) inspired F.W. Murnau's very 1st film, now completely lost, called THE BOY IN BLUE (1919). Murnau is known for creating the 'Unchained' camera technique (which allowed the camera to move freely for the 1st time & is arguably the most important cinematic stylistic innovation of the 20th century). 'Django' is a Romani (Gypsy) word meaning 'I awake.' QT's film isn't a remake of the 1966 classic DJANGO, his 2nd film in a row to steal its title from a pre-existing one, & plot-wise it shares very little in common (as INGLORIOUS BASTARDS also didn't), but I would argue that the quest for 'awakening' is a much stronger theme in QT's film. And that is essentially the purpose of this exploitation fantasy as well as the driving force of its protagonists. Even if Django is only awakened to the point of believing he's just one in ten thousand.

TABU

Speaking of Murnau, in 1931, the year he died aged 42, German director F.W. Murnau (NOSFERATU, 1922, & SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS, 1927 – perhaps my favorite silent film of all time) released a film entitled TABU: A STORY OF THE SOUTH SEAS, which he made in calibration with pioneering American documentation Robert J. Flaherty, (NANOOK OF THE NORTH, 1922). Their film was structured into two parts: 1: Paradise & 2: Paradise Lost. Portuguese director Miguel Gomes' 2012 film TABU uses the same two-chapter structure, but in reverse, invoking Murnau's film only in spirit rather than in narrative. Gomes' TABU is a delirious romance of love lost & then, well, 'unsuppressed' years after the affair. The film begins with A Lost Paradise, a story of three women set during a dreary week in modern-day Lisbon just after Christmas. The second half is entitled Paradise, a back story 50 years previous, about one of these women growing up as a colonist in Africa in the 1960s. The 2nd half is shot on grainy b/w 16 mm & is silent except for ambient sounds and voice-over narration. TABU begins with a prologue, an ancient story set in Africa, during which a Victorian explorer, unable to cope with the death of his wife, commits suicide in the jaws of a crocodile. Before he dies, the ghost of his wife warns him that doing so won't allow him to escape his heart. This warning sets the tone and themes of troubled love throughout the film. As well as a kind of Gabriel Garcia Marquez 'magical realism' vibe which resonates through the 2nd half especially. TABU is a celebration of cinematic love, memory & crocodiles.

In the 1st half of the film, of the three women, our main character is Pilar, a female, middle-aged, unmarried, human rights activist and devote Catholic. She's dealing with her inability to return the feelings of a male artist friend. She is also troubled by the strange behavior of one of her neighbors, Aurora (Laura Soveral – who steals each scene like a Portuguese Gena Rowlands) whose gambling problem mirrors her fathers', years ago. She also harbors delusions that her black maid, Santa, is practicing witchcraft against her. She suffers from dementia and suffers from dreams & memories bearing the weight of a tragic affair which still haunts her from when growing up in colonial Africa. Santa is Aurora's tough-love bearing maid, a no-nonsense & humorless character who represents the film's conscience by harboring resentment for her inferior station, a remnant of the exploitation of colonization which is dealt with in the film's second half. Gomes' directorial ability during this first part, despite his young(er) age, already reflects a major talent which, to me, resembles that of Spanish director Almodovar in his later career.

The second half, Paradise, completes the first and, though not fully offering explanation, at least allows the story to come full-circle & bridges the strand of time to bring the puzzle pieces of event and character together. The second half is entirely flashback, never returning to the present day, & narrated by Ventura, a man from Aurora's past, now old and estranged from her, yet who lives not too far away in Lisbon, and is silent except for ambient noise. He tells the story of his and Aurora's forbidden love affair while living at the base of Mount Tabu in Africa on a tea plantation. The narrative reads like a Hemingway adventure story in Africa. Young Aurora was a big game hunter and her husband a successful business man. Early in the second half, Aurora's husband (he's never named) gives her a baby crocodile which the director uses as a symbol of the previously mentioned Victorian man and the promise made to him of a broken heart. This gift is given around the time young Ventura begins to have feelings for young Aurora. Ventura was a listless traveler, a womanizing rake of a man, who falls for the married Aurora who also lives at the base of the mountain. In a delightful side story, Ventura is the drummer in an aspiring 60's rock band who enjoys covering The Ronettes. None of the characters speak but you can hear the vocalist when the band plays.

The story is told completely with grandiose images of hot, humid African grassland which has the characters in it's grip as assuredly as Gomes has us in his. The entire second half is quite tranquil. At times, the narrator stops speaking & we watch the characters interacting without speaking and when he begins again, sometimes it's quite startling. The film is hypnotizing & soothing, yet for some people I understand that this can be quite boring. Indeed, the film is a bit slow but eventually quite rewarding. Unlike the breezy, audience-friendly The Artist which swept up the Oscars last year, TABU is a much better homage to classic cinema. TABU captures, more intimately, a meditation on the passage of time & our relationship to the past.

AMOUR

Look, AMOUR is about a couple of old people taking care of each other, one of whom suffers after surviving a stoke during the film, & then one dies. It is often depressing and most of you reading this have probably already decided never to see this film. Haneke is kind of Lars Von-Trier 'lite' in terms of his heavy-handedness & audience emotional manipulation. Austrian, master director Michael Haneke (THE PIANO TEACHER, 2001, FUNNY GAMES {both versions, 1997 & 2007}, THE WHITE RIBBON, 2009), no stranger to uncomfortable material, has produced what is perhaps his most harrowing film to date (in an entire career filled with uncomfortable subject matter) about an elderly couple, dealing with the inevitable that awaits us all. It convinced the jury at the Cannes Film Festival to award him his 2nd Palme d'Or for back-to-back films (he also won in 2009 for his previous film THE WHITE RIBBON – a great film centered on the children of a rural village in Germany, who would grow up to be the Nazi generation, & their possible involvement in a mysterious murder).

Yet the film is entitled 'Love,' not 'Death.' Haneke weaves the latter into this devastating human tapestry, not as a denial of things to come, but as a living force which drives the former, almost tending it as one would a garden, knowing it's inevitability yet driving us inward to bring out the best in ourselves, as interested observers, & appreciating life & beauty because it's ephemeral. The title was suggested by lead actor Jean-Louis Trintignant while Haneke had about 20 others in mind (If I'd made the film, I'd have titled it 'Temperance'). By beginning the film with the death of a main character, Haneke reveals that, somewhat uncharacteristically, he doesn't intend to manipulate us by using the possibility of death as a trick to generate suspense. Rather, he confronts us with it immediately, reminding us that the end of life's journey is driven by the struggle for dignity, for empathy, for the ease of our suffering, & indeed, for love.

The plot is essentially a flashback with the outcome already known. Which leaves us vulnerable to whatever we personally bring to the watching of this film. Be it a personal memory of watching someone we love deal with a stroke, or senility, or decrepitude, or death, we all know that our own ends are not going to be pleasant, regardless of spiritual or religious persuasion, & that's the audience-response Haneke was prepared for when creating this story. Haneke lets us know that we've bought a ticket to a 'last supper,' and that's the kind of dinner party this film is intended to be. Yet the hosts, the characters, are unaware of this fact and that's part of the 'horror' (from our more omniscient point of view Haneke has given us) as we experience this story.

Haneke gives these characters to us to interpret and/or judge ourselves. He said his intention was not to 'condone' the characters, specifically in regards to a controversial scene near the end. Both Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva (who began her career way back in 1959 in the amazing HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR – which is one of my favorite films of all time) give career-crowning performances, the latter even an Oscar nomination, becoming the oldest ever Oscar nominee at age 84, & compel us to watch as they struggle to stay together, physically and psychologically, before our eyes. Encased in their apartment-as-stage, we share their chosen isolation, in a den of growing shame and embarrassment, as we watch them struggle to keep out the world that would take one away to a hospital & instead to keep one home & protected in loving companionship, without intrusion, but to also protect selfish intentions. The end should get you talking & that's not a bad thing at all because there's lots to talk about regarding this hard but satisfying journey down the end of the road.

ARGO

I love how essentially, ARGO is based on the true story of the C.I.A. making a terrible call that somehow ended successfully when in all likelihood, this shouldn't have been the case. Yet that's how it went down. And Affleck shuffles all his directorial cards into a neat hand, ranking lead characters who are engaging, sympathetic, heart-felt & genuinely frightened & emotional in this informative, but never tedious, play within a play. Despite its few flaws & embellishments (I don't buy the sirens on the runway at the end for example), ARGO is a well-paced political thriller (not really my fav genre) which manages to capture life as it actually was (the end credits show actual photographs alongside the shot used in the film to show the level of detail that went into its cinema-graphic accuracy) alongside a modern, Hollywood-cool spin, which Affleck takes in stride, being the bad-ass he is personally, & which shows its final strengths from a global, cross-cultural respect for creative ideas. I'm talking about how the airport security guards loved the storyboards for example. Which we must respect as the reason the film turns out the way it does. Which, as we watch it, makes it relevant again.

Unlike the other, political, award-winning 'based on real life' C.I.A. event film of 2012 (ZERO DARK THIRTY), ARGO doesn't shove 'it' in our faces & leaves you having an uncomfortable drive home arguing with your partner. True, it doesn't have the bad-ass character 'Maya', one of my very fav female performances of the year, but it does have an entire ensemble cast of great actors, who I love, finding inspiration in a real-life situation & then volunteering their time & resources to do something they'd never get credit for because of the 'classified' mission. Hollywood folks came together to get the job done & that's a story Hollywood should want to share because most of its stories are of broken dreams & tragic lives in the modern Babylon of fame. Oh, but one thing that kept buggin' me in ARGO was how Affleck pointed out how the newspaper photograph showed snow on the ground which is why they couldn't go in as farmers or whatever. But at no time later, in Tehran, is there any sign of snow in any of the scenes or locations. But it's a great film & I hope it doesn't go to Affleck's head too much because his subtle, lower-budget directorial efforts are all great as well. Especially THE TOWN (2010). George Clooney produced the film as well. ARGO is named after the ship used by Jason & the Argonauts to retrieve the Golden Fleece in Greek mythology. In reality, the C.I.A. used the still-unfilmed script for the Roger Zelazny novel Lord of Light which, coincidently, I also read last year.

MOONRISE KINGDOM

Wes Anderson's latest is my favorite of his since 2001's THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS. This time with the creative help of Roman Coppola (Francis' son, Sofia's brother & Jason Schwartzman's cousin), Anderson gives us a sweet, sincere, coming-of-age romance and ensuing drama in a 1960's, Norman Rockwell-painting of a small New England island community. This novel and delightful film captures an entire cast of subtle yet remarkable characters in one of the best ensembles of the year. The attention to detail, like all Anderson's films, extends from perfect casting all the way through the mise-en-scene down to the color scheme. Anderson's trademark 'wink' of technique involving rich & layered dialogue with 'knowing' suggestion & visual symbolism throughout is emotionally absorbing & irresistible. As well as his ability to cast A-level actors in uncharacteristic & subtle roles which don't detract from the performances of new-found talent, in this case, being the two young stars of the film (Jared Gilman & Kara Hayward who were both 12 while filming), whose presence at times even upstages & outshines veterans of the silver screen.

While young Sam and Suzy's run-away-from-home, 12-year-old camping romance is the central story, there's plenty of typical Anderson-style offbeat oddballs rounding out the cast attempting to foil the young lovers' getaway. By the end, the plot in this quirky & nostalgic period piece flows towards such a low-key farce that you'll find yourself wondering just how you were brought to such a strange place, so quickly & in a seemingly effortless & enjoyable way. The scene in which Sam pierces Suzy's ears with a pair of earrings he made from beetles hanging from fish hooks, with that small trickle of blood down her neck, is some of the best visual symbolism of 'lost innocence' I've seen in film in a great while. And while not 'sexual' in the eyes of the characters, it's a perfect example of Anderson engaging the audience to participate in the storytelling. Their blossoming maturity, far beyond their years, tripped up occasionally by awkward moments of uncertainty, & the stride in which the young actors take these moments, is why MOONRISE KINGDOM stands out as one of my favorites of 2012. Every frame is a precious stamp of youth in transition, seeking understanding and acceptance in a world at-odds with their passions. And if you can't relate to that then it would seem we are not entirely that similar. Oh, & if you're wondering what happened to the kitten after filming, actress Kara Hayward got to keep it.

PARANORMAN / FRANKENWEENIE (tie)

Last year two stop-motion films were not only my favorite in the animation category, they have both made my list. Though both are quite distinct, they each share the same all-around quality &, to be honest, I simply can't make up my mind between which one I love more. It's usually the one I've watched most recently. Laika Studios is awesome. They are doing great work & are establishing themselves with a Pixar-solid reputation for quality. I'm very much looking forward to their next production, 2014's THE BOXTROLLS, based on the children's book Here Be Monsters by Alan Snow, which just sounds great & whose main character will be voiced by Simon Pegg. In 2009 Laika adapted Neil Gaiman's novel Coraline wonderfully (despite the 'artistic license' they gave to the script & a few other flourishes; all of which make the film better than the book in my humble). They were also involved in Tim Burton's 2005 film CORPSE BRIDE. PARANORMAN's first-time co-director & writer Chris Butler worked on both aforementioned films, on storyboard art & management, before launching his directorial career with one of my two favorite animated films in years. PARANORMAN was also co-directed by long-time director Sam Fell (who has worked with Aardman Animation Studios, the company who brought us Wallace and Gromit, & who directed 2006's FLUSHED AWAY). Together they've produced an enchanting film which feels very much like Neil Gaiman had written it (if only he would write original scripts for films, especially something not trapped within his seemingly PG-13 creative limitations!).

Tim Burton fleshed out his 1984 live-action short (of the same name) & extended it to feature length in this Frankenstein-inspired love story between a young boy & his resurrected dog. Yet again, his film is full of great characters as well as worthy additions to any toy collector's army. Especially my favorite character, 'Weird Girl' (she has a clairvoyant cat that shits fortunes!) who's probably the most Edward Gorey-inspired character Burton has ever created (in an entire career of ripping off, I mean being inspired by, Edward Gorey everything) & who made her 1st appearance in Burton's book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy in 1997. Also priceless is the Vincent Price-inspired science teacher who is voiced by Martin Landau (who won a supporting actor Oscar for playing Bela Lugosi in Burton's ED WOOD in 1994). Not to mention a character voiced by Winona Ryder in her first collaboration with Burton in 21 years (can you believe EDWARD SCISSORHANDS is that old?!). Also interesting is that this is Burton's first film in 10 years which doesn't feature Johnny Depp. In all honesty, I should be awarding PARANORMAN solo recognition here in terms of originality, but Burton's film is so well crafted & filled with such a better array of characters that it just needs to share the spotlight here. And compared to his pitiful DARK SHADOWS last year, FRANKENWEENIE is brilliant in comparison & probably my favorite by him in 10 years since BIG FISH.

I will be watching both of these films many more times, especially in late October, as both fit the season perfectly. Sadly, I didn't catch either of these films in the cinema which means I missed out on the 3D (something that's way overdone nowadays, though I'm no 'naysayer') but neither played in Prague with English subtitles (only dubbed). I do love 3D when used for animated films & love how for PARANORMAN, they had to move the camera slightly to take a 2nd shot of each frame and then put them together in post production to get the 3D effect. Old-school but effective. I also love how they used a 3D printer to make all the character's heads for PARANORMAN. I'm not going to mention anything about the plots of these films. Just sit back and marvel at the time-consuming effort it takes to make stop-motion films & hopefully you'll be as impressed as I am at just how good these artists truly are. Suffice to say, I totally recommend both highly.

DEAD SUSHI

The funniest film I saw in 2012 was Japanese director Noboru Iguchi's (THE MACHINE GIRL, 2008, ROBOGEISHA, 2009, & ZOMBIE ASS: TOILET OF THE DEAD, 2011) latest absurd audience-pleaser. This time in the genre of, well, zombie sushi. A must-see for any sushi fan. Or, perhaps, a film that will turn you off of sushi forever more. Igushi's low-budget, slapstick, outlandish, gore-fountain, live-action cartoon is also a heart-felt tale of discontent youth, facing struggles & hard-knocks while struggling for a life of one's own. Young, frustrated Kioko runs away from home & an overbearing father whose rigorous sushi making & martial arts training drains her of her enjoyment of life & attempts to foil her coming-of-age femininity. With little more than empty pockets, Kioko lands herself a job in a secluded inn where she takes refuge for the time being. The inn is famous for it's hospitality & top-quality sushi. But when a visit by the executives of a pharmaceuticals company (who might as well be Yakuza) leads to Kioko's irresistible criticism of the inn's sushi-chef's technique, all hell begins to break loose.

Meanwhile, a disgruntled former employee of the pharmaceuticals company, wearing thread-bare clothing & looking like a soap-dodging hippie, shows up with a serum that turns sushi into human-flesh-hungry monsters (whose bite turns the living, & other sushi, into 'rice zombies' as well) to take his revenge for his wrongful loss of employment. What ensues needs to be seen to be believed. Suffice to say it involves: flying-carnivorous-laughing-zombie-sushi, flying zombie-squid, sushi nun-chucks, zombie-sushi sex, sushi transformers, human becoming a walking (zombie?) tuna, knife-fighting vixens, & my personal favorite, a singing Tomago (egg) sushi that spits acid.

Though the film drags in places & doesn't quite reach the high-bar of the aforementioned Iguchi films, there's so much random craziness throughout that you'll probably never imagine how anything could possibly be any crazier (I have two words for you: ROBOGEISHA). I found the secondary characters' blow-by-blow narration of their own pain & suffering hilarious. Indeed, there's not a single wasted character in the film. Although many 'get wasted.' I usually have some sort of crazy, exploitation film in my top-10. I'd say this effort is perfectly worthy of this list's inclusion (just like THE TAINT last year) & certainly one of the most unforgettable films I saw in 2012. And DEAD SUSHI probably contains the most quotable 'one-liners', inappropriate to be sure, of any 2012 film (except perhaps for DJANGO UNCHAINED). Iguchi is a director who's just looking to have some fun and show you a good time. I recommend bellying up to his bar and rewarding your palette with some DEAD SUSHI. And if you like what you see, consider this only a starter in the crazy menu of Iguchi's crazy career to date.

 

Special Mentions

 

FRANKENSTEIN

One of the very best times I had in a cinema in 2012 was when I caught the National Theatre Live performance of FRANKENSTEIN at Kino Atlas in Prague. Actually recorded in 2011, Danny Boyle's FRANKENSTEIN is an HD video recording of a single performance of a play during its run in London. Actually, one of two. Benedict Cumberbatch & Jonny Lee Miller ('Sick Boy' from TRAINSPOTTING) alternated roles as Dr. Frankenstein & his Creature during the theatrical run & two films were made (one of each performance). I saw the one in which Cumberbatch plays the Creature, which most critics agree is the better performance of the two. It was a somewhat pricy ticket, 250 Kc (about $13), but what an amazing production! Rumored not to be coming out on DVD, Boyle's direction, the amazing art design, wonderful acting, interesting take on the script & one-take cinematography made this one of the most unforgettable cinema experiences of last year. I have no idea how you can get a chance to see this but if you ever do, go out of your way not to miss it.

 GIRL WALK: ALL DAY

In late 2010, mash-up artists Girl Talk released the musical album All Day as a free download. Due to copyright issues, the album has never officially been released. The album features 372 overlapping samples of other artists' songs. The 71-minute, non-stop album blew me away & I listened to it very often last year, more than any other album. The genius of the mash-ups, the uninterrupted length of constantly-inspired editing & pure energy of the album are more addictive than any album of its kind in recent memory. Download it. It is the best album to play during a house party (or wherever) I've ever heard in my entire life. When I learned last year that it was being made into a full-length series of connected music videos I got super excited. The videos(s) are an inspired, insane, spontaneous & amazing series of amateur interpretive dance by a handful of great artists shot in the New York City area. This was made on the street, in public, without extras. Most of the folks in the videos are just going about their day, probably seeing the main dancer, Anne Marsen (whose only other credit on IMDB is the TV series The Good Wife) as an insane, possessed freak. But she's anything but. Her charisma is a fountain of energy & inspiration. I love how she spontaneously convinces strangers on the street to help participate on the spot. This is a cinéma-vérité experience like no other. Check it out & turn it up!

 

The runners-up (in alphabetical order)

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

DETACHMENT

KILLER JOE

THE MASTER

THE RAID: REDEMPTION

RUST & BONE

SAMSARA

SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

SKYFALL