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The Top 11 Movies of 2001
(or so I say)
1.- Amelie
A bizarre comedy filled with life. It explores human nature by
showing us the intricate passtimes of oddball characters, while behaving
like a fairy tale - one told by a creepy guy who has a few screws loose.
Now this is romance!
2.-Memento
A great experiment in cinema and storytelling, and one that fortunately
is not pretentious. It doesn't begin, and it doesn't end, but rather
unravels a chapter in an unfortunate individual's life. The only
suspense movie that has you on the edge of the seat wondering what will
happen before.
3. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
A complicated movie, which is flawed and perhaps not what it was meant to be - or is it? Either way, this futuristic fairy tale explores human nature while showing us a dazzling spectacle of the future. It feels like it gets ultra-sweet at the end, but in this movie, that ending actually fit, and is more a sort of sweet and sour ending. Whatever your feelings are about this film, it is one that is worth talking about and debating.
4. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship
of the Ring
A great adaptation of a great tale. Peter Jackson makes a masterful epic, occupying every scene with as much detail as possible, and making it move like a tightly coordinated ballet, with the precision of a Swiss clock. Its only faults are its lack of an ending, and the rather effeminate Frodo. But I cannot wait for what a 9-hour masterpiece the whole trilogy will look like (assuming that the other two segments are as well done).
5. The Others
Alejandro Amenabar strikes gold in his first "American" movie (actually filmed with a Spanish crew, in Spain, with a mostly British cast), with a ghost story that is extremely atmospheric, well-paced, and engrossing. Nicole Kidman gives a stellar performance (as does the rest of the cast), while we keep on wondering what exactly are those things lurking in the shadows, and what are the secrets that everyone is keeping from each other. The great cinematography and sets really help.
6. Waking Life
A movie about ideas. It is nothing more than characters talking about ideas in a dream setting. This is a movie for the type of people who just want to hear some sort of intelligent discussion on a variety of topics (whether you agree with the ideas or not is irrelevant; the movie is not preaching to you, it wants to debate with you)- a refreshing change from the dialogue in most films, including many of those that claim to be art films.
7-8 (tie).- In the Bedroom
A slow-moving (yet well-paced) and well-acted drama about loss of a loved one, and the negative feelings that follow. It eventually becomes a suspense film for its conclusion, but one that operates unlike any thriller.
7-8 (tie).- Monster's Ball
Another slow-moving (yet well-paced) and well-acted drama about the loss of loved ones, and the feelings that follow. But this goes another direction, having dysfunctional characters bonding out of need to find happiness, or at least some form of relief from their lives - one pretty much having no control over her life, while the other one feeling guilty of becoming a carbon copy of something negative that he never questioned. One of those few movies that after watching it you remember the names of the characters.
9.- The Royal Tenenbaums
A fun movie with some eccentric touches in its directorial style, and a lot of oddball humor in its screenplay. I really did not care for Wes Anderson's previous bizarre comedies, but this one did get me hooked into it, perhaps because it felt more focused and purposeful. It could have been better, but what was produced onscreen is good enough.
10.- Bully
Larry Clark's obsession with emotionless teen sex aside, this is a tale of characters that are apathetic for no reason, lack responsibility, and let themselves be pushed around by any force that promises hedonism, until one of them decides that the local bully must be eliminated. While the bully behaves in awful manner, his elimination is unnecessary: he will soon be out of their lives, his best friend is rebelling against him, and he seems to have some sort of soft spot behind his jock pose and excessive libido. What is worse, an action that may have been of interest to only 2 or 3 characters at most, becomes a childish fantasy game by a group of seven or so. In the end, their own lack of emotional maturity brings them down as they cannot face the reality of what they have done. Clark's suspenseful pacing helps make this constantly interesting.
11.- The Independent
A hilarious spoof of B-movies through the ages, as well as the perfils
of indie filmmaking. And there's a lot of bizarro humor thrown in
at unexpected moments. At last after many years, a movie spoof that
is actually funny.
Honorable mentions: Donnie Darko, A Beautiful Mind, Blow, From Hell, Hearts in Atlantis, With a Friend Like Harry, Ghost World
[Have yet to see: The Shipping News, L.I.E., The Devil's Backbone, No Man's Land]
