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
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.
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.
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.
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
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