TM

Most Underrated

5. The King is Alive -Dogme films continue to rile up many critics who have wanted to dismiss the movement since its inception. This didn't get a fair shake when it was released...

4. Wet Hot American Summer -Owen Glieberman of Entertainment Weekly loved it but otherwise this film got slapped around on the critic's circuit. It's understandable; Comedies are critical landmines. The genre hinges far more on personal taste than its sibling, drama, which traffics in a universal emotional language. As for me, my friends, and apparently Mr. Gleiberman, W.H.A.S. was a laugh riot of inspired lunacy.

3. The Center of the World - Perhaps I was starved for some quality raunch onscreen -I don't know. But I do know that I found this exploration of a Vegas weekend between an emotionally starved dot commer (Peter Sarsgaard playing against type to great effect) and his hooker conquest (the perversely ambiguous Molly Parker) to be an intriguing duet. It may not have the emotional heft of the more explicit and better received Intimacy -but it hardly deserved the critical cold shower it received. It may not deserve a lot of respect in the morning -but you should at least offer breakfast before showing it the door.

2. Monsters, Inc. -In the wake of the summertime Shrek phenomenon (an overrated romp) Pixar's latest joyful comedy opened to spectacular business but little zeitgeist love. Everyone seemed willing to enjoy it but precious few, particularly critics, were willing to give it its just due. It looks like Pixar has done their job too well. The audience expects so much of their films that they're let down before the film even goes from projector to screen. For the record Monsters, Inc is a) consistently funny & often hilarious b) fabulously original c) witty and inventive with complicated jokes d) yet another reminder of the power and versatility of the animated film. In short Monsters, Inc is everything that people mistakenly consider Shrek to be.

1. crazy/beautiful -Far deeper and, despite its happy-ending gloss, a lot more authentic than your average teen romance film. This cross-class relationship drama was significantly elevated by the phenomenal Kirsten Dunst, prancing around defiantly in her undies with condoms in hand. Kirsten also found herself in the best teen film last year... Hmmmmm. I'm loving this pattern. She continues to prove her worth. Expect even greater things in the future from the best American actress of her generation.

Best of Year -Honorable Mentions:

I don't believe in mixing narrative features with documentaries, film essays, television, shorts, or anything else in listmaking (my site, my rules and all that)... it's just not something I do. But IF I believed in mixing and matching solely based on my love of the moving image -these four treasures would rank high. The first honorable mention goes, without contest, to Agnes Varda's moving and unexpectedly riveting personal essay/documentary The Gleaners and I, one of the finest docs I've ever seen. The second goes to the best five minutes of film I've seen in a long long long long long while in Guy Maddin's The Heart of the World. My jaw was on the floor. "Kino! Kino! Kino!"

And over in TV land, there was one television series that continued to be as good as the best motion pictures. The final WB season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer climaxed emotionally in the formalistically daring and harrowing "The Body". And just when you thought Joss Whedon could never top himself along came the UPN debut season with an all musical episode "Once More With Feeling" Buffy, Spike, Willow and the gang kept singing/asking "Where do we go from here?" Well clearly nobody knows the answer, probably not even Joss Whedon. But one thing you can count on is that wherever he takes you, you'll be glad you went. Whedon is like the David Lynch, Peter Jackson, and Wes Anderson of television. Like Lynch he has singular unnerving talent that often dips into the surreal, like Jackson he handles hairpin turns of mood so superbly that you'll follow him anywhere, and like Anderson he makes comedy unexpectedly touching and gives dramatic moments humorous spark. All qualms of hyperbole aside, Joss Whedon is a total f**king genius.

But back to the cinema....

Runners Up:
These films didn't make my top ten list but certainly have their qualities. To my mind, as film experiences go, they stand above anything else that I saw this year. In reality I wish a few of these were tied for tenth, but since I don't believe in ties (an unfortunate ideal that keeps me up late hashing out numerical particulars) it goes something like this...

16. Waking Life -Something of a "holy moment" itself...
15. Last Resort -the sadly defunct Shooting Gallery series began the year with this tiny gem about illegal Russian immigrants in Britian. Understated cinema at its best.
14. The Others - Alejandro Amenabar's elegant ghost tale starring Nicole Kidman, was one of the year's most controlled and collaborative movies. Everything from the production design through performance to the scoring seemed beautifully of one piece. That it was a breakout hit is something worth celebrating.
13. Series 7: The Contenders - Trend of the year: Promising debuts. (See also #4,7, and 11) Daniel Minahan's first feature (with a centerpiece star turn from Brooke Smith) was a hilarious and savage exorcizm of America's reality fever -a nasty attack on an empty society where everything seems "dipped in plastic."
12. Ali -Michael Mann's study of a pivotal figure in American history runs out of steam before the end, but it's still a sophisticated, intelligent, and complex film. The year's best biopic by far.
11. Sexy Beast - In a year overstuffed with heist films, this tightly scripted filmmaking debut made a lasting and humane impression.

10. No Man's Land dir. Danis Tanovic. MGM/UA (Bosnia)
This acclaimed Bosnian film is a startling visceral comedy about the lunacy of war. Let's hope it beats the overpraised (if admittedly enjoyable) Amélie to the foreign language Oscar this year.

9. The Royal Tenenbaums dir. Wes Anderson. Touchstone Pictures (USA)
A film that flirts with greatness and becomes all the more touching by missing the mark. There's one great scene after another in Wes Anderson's fairy tale document on a family of failed geniuses. The film is blessed with a beautiful team spirit bouquet of fine performances from Paltrow, Hackman, Huston, Glover, and the Wilson brothers. They've got character.

8. In the Bedroom dir. Todd Field. Miramax Films (USA)
Todd Field's studied and terrific debut may not be the masterwork some have claimed it to be but it's a damn good film nonetheless. Its most remarkable feature is its honest deceptiveness. You think it's a love story. Bang, It's not. You think it's a thriller. Oops, think again. It's not that the film is lying, but that we are so accustomed to certain plot trajectories that its difficult to see the film's harrowing turns coming or to immediately understand how thoroughly it undermines traditional notions of revenge or catharsis. Bonus points to the cast for illuminating the emptying effects of grief, and the rage of the broken.

7. Together dir. Lukas Moodyson. (Sweden)
The sweetest film of the year is also one of the smartest. Moodyson throws a broken family into a 70s commune and the resulting emotional, personal, romantic, and idealistic collisions that ensue expose, illuminate, and energize all involved. "Feel good" is a term often used to describe manipulative, simple-minded, happy endings and Hollywood-style sugarcoating. Thankfully, this Swedish comedy has neither of those attributes and actually feels good. It uplifts while engaging you both emotionally and intellectually. It's marvelous.

"Wow"

This film sets the bar high. Released just one month prior to it, Harry Potter looks even more factory-like next to it. The Fellowship of the Ring recalls the grandiose Star Wars magic minus the bad acting and none of the eventual dissappointments of an embarassing Episode One. Fellowship is compared to many films but the one it looks prettiest sitting next to is Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. In just two short years, two signature adventure epics for The East and the West have arrived that dwarf everything their genre has offered for years. Both films likely will inspire future filmmakers who are now but starry eyed children discovering the enormous magic of the cinema while watching them for the first time.

1. Moulin Rouge! dir. Baz Luhrmann. 20th Century Fox. (USA/Australia)
It's no secret that I've always adored Bazmark Productions. (Strictly Ballroom and Romeo + Juliet were also top ten entries in their years.) But Luhrmann and his daring troupe really topped themselves this time. The final film in his Red Curtain Trilogy celebrating 'real artificiality,' Baz finally delivered his masterpiece. A lot of ink has been spilt covering Bazmark's divisive musical fantasia and I could certainly spill a lot more, but I think this one-of-a-kind revolution of a film sums itself up quite well and accurately in one of its first musical numbers. I quote:

"Spectacular Spectacular, no words in the vernacular can describe this great event. You'll be dumb with wonderment."

More than any film in 2001 this film hit my nerve center of cinephilia: I got completely lost in the beautiful and daring production values, inspired performances, music, dance, and romance. I was stunned, flabbergasted, thrilled, moved, entertained, and drained all at once. When it was over I could only applaud, buy the soundtrack, and return to the theater repeatedly. To paraphrase another song from the film: Come What May...Come What May, I will love this film -until my dying day.

Praise, love, slavish devotion, and respectful disagreement with my list accepted here

-Nathaniel

P.S. The FiLM BiTCH Awards are here