The Film Experience Year in Review: Best of 2007

Awards Page Index * OSCAR coverage here
2007 Year in Review
Introduction / Underappreciated & Honorable Mentions / Top Ten of the Year
by Nathaniel R January 8th, 2008

Honorable Mentions
If, when you look at the three titles that didn't quite make my top ten list, you feel as if someone has stifled your civil liberties, slit your throat, or shot you in the back for fame or (existential) fortune, please console yourself with the fantasy that they're all tied for 10th place. If I believed in ties they probably would be.

Persepolis -a major regret: I didn't have time to see this terrific animated feature a second time before compiling these lists. It's based on the graphic novel of the same name about a young girls coming of age in Iran and its a singular charmer. It throws so much fascinating historical and emotionally specific information out there that a second viewing was probably wise on my part. (previous thoughts)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street -This adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's macabre operatic musical was the most nerve wracking moviegoing experience of my year. It turned out to be more than I had hoped for but also, as I'd expected, handicapped by its non-singing leads. I love the look of the film. Points too for Tim Burton's unusually sharp and restrained direction but one more recent listen to the Broadway cast recording and there was just no denying the major loss of nuance and subtlety in the songs. That prevents a real musical masterpiece from materializing. Best case scenario: The strong movie helps viewers discover the original source material which only happens to be one of the greatest musicals ever written. (full review)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford -One of the year's most divisive movies and with good reason, too: it's long, contemplative, anti-climactic (in a good way, say I), confounding and revealing in equal measure. Arguments have and will continue to be made that it's too beholden to its influences (Terence Malick) or its original source material (the book of the same name) or --the most intriguing slam that it hypocritically mythologizes its demythologizing of the legend [source unknown? did I read that at Slant? someone help me]. But long sustained arguments over any movie generally indicate that there's something there worth arguing about. Here's something though that almost no one would contest: the cinematography by living legend Roger Deakins is hypnotic and gorgeously stylized. Why did the film miss my top ten list? It was something of a toss up. But it might surprise you to hear that I thought this movie was too short. I was deeply absorbed in it throughout but it always felt truncated... as if precious and vital scenes from the sprawling tale were excised in its long post production period.

I hope more people discover this picture, though. DVD won't be the ideal viewing for it, I'm sad to say, but with the right movie viewing frame of mind (lights out, no distraction, no scanning forward) you can approximate the attention the film deserves.

and now... The Top Ten List

#10 Those who remember Sarah Polley as an eerily mature young actress in the chilling and masterful Atom Egoyan film The Sweet Hereafter will be less surprised than others to see how wintry maturity suits her now that she's turned into a director (a fine one too).

Away From Her, her first feature behind the camera, is the story of an enduring marriage undone by Alzheimers. It's heartbreaking sure but there's real beauty and learned wisdom in it, too. Julie Christie is radiant as the mentally vanishing "Fiona" and her movie star magnetism is used to great effect. It essentially puts you right inside her husband's grief. He (and you) "...never wanted to be away from her."

#9 It begins with the ending. Not in the way that films traditionally do, with their intriguing framing devices that give you a peek at the end only to back track to show you the painting inside, stroke by stroke. No, one can argue that Atonement begins only after it ends, the whole picture suddenly refashioning itself into something more troubling, ambiguous and interpretable in the viewer’s mind...

Few films this year were as magnificent looking and few as misunderstood. Critics, who should have been examining its contradictions and debating its unreliable (?) point of view were instead dismissing it for its self-conscious beauty, missing the irony of the same. [my full review @ Zoom-In]

# 8 Bias alert! The legal drama genre is one of my least favorites, filled as it is with genericisms. Is that even a word? Who cares. If Michael Clayton can begin with a furious, singular, philosophical monologue about shit...well, I can throw any "ism" at'cha that I so please.

'07 was filled with great movies springing from already genius source material. Michael Clayton had no such leg up. It spins its gold from nothing but the savage desperation of its screenplay, a talented cast and a sharp directorial debut from Bourne franchise scribe Tony Gilroy. Most Hollywood movies are timid and only aim to please. There's no comparison. Michael Clayton is fucking Shiva, the God of Death.

# 7 David Fincher's latest serial killer film Zodiac wasn't as popular or as traditionally thrilling as the film that made him famous (Se7en, 1995) but it shows a new restraint and welcome natural progression of auteurial complexity. It also lingers... and how. Like the case which haunts and possesses the men pulled into its orbit, the morbidly fascinating movie seizes the willing viewer. It won't let go (review)

# 6 How on earth do you follow up a masterpiece like Brokeback (#1, 2005)? You get right back to work is how. Ang Lee, one of the most consistently rewarding filmmakers in the world, unleashed Lust, Caution to comparatively less hoopla ...but at least the Venice Film Festival came through with the top prize.

Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Tang Wei perform a searing duet. The other dualities are rich, too:

Tense, Languorous.
Savage, Tender.
Worldy, Naive.
Sex, Mahjong.

My Best Picture Ballot ~ The Top Five
the 8th Annual Film Bitch Awards Begin

#5 Early in Ratatouille (if I'm remembering the sequencing correctly) there's a scene where Remy tries to teach another rat to understand and savor individual ingredients in food. The visual effects delightfully illustrate the difference in their taste buds. Box office grosses argue that moviegoers are more like the fatter rat. They'll eat any heavily-marketed CG dish, no matter how processed or stale. So why not challenge their taste buds a little? Most Hollywood movies forcefeed joy and happy endings. Ratatouille just leads you to the table where you willingly gorge on a superb meal of the same. It's divine.

#4 Due to the sorry state of distribution of foreign films in the US few people will get to see 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days in the theater. That's the real travesty of the Academy's dismissal of (arguably) the year's most acclaimed foreign film. Their snubbing dooms it to also ran status when there is nothing about this stunning snapshot of stifled women in 80s communist Romania that isn't top grade. I haven't seen the other pictures in the current wave of acclaimed Romanian cinema but if this film is indication, you can believe everything you've heard about their current cinematic vitality

#3 I always want to describe Once by the cliché "lightning in a bottle" only that's not quite right. Though that conveys the notion that something has been captured that is electric and impossible to hold on to, lightning is too jarring a descriptive for the moving low key beauty of this modest Irish musical. Its blessed with an honest to god musical soul from Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (The Swell Season) and director John Carney keeps it refreshingly simple and immediate. No tricks. Bells and whistles would ruin the melody of this perfect tiny gem.

#2 & #1 And so we come to the twin nihilists of 2007, films that felt like the onrush of apocalypse. Last year my favorites were off consensus but I couldn't deny either of these critical champs the top spot. It was hard to look at or away from both the Coen Bros machine and Anderson's demons. I've flipped and reversed the order innumerable times as I tried to choose my "favorite" of the year --though "favorite" implies a warmth that neither picture invites. Wise readers will call this a draw but since I am unwilling to do ties, I'm erring on the side of... unrest (?!) I think No Country For Old Men is a less flawed film and I probably enjoy it more. But There Will Be Blood feels more soulful and more genius even as it errs. I feel like I'll still be grappling with it years from now.

the 8th Annual FiLM BiTCH Awards
this site's Oscary and extra special honors
If you really want to dive into the 2007 film experience, this is where you do it.

Honorable Mentions If, when you look at the three titles that didn't quite make my top ten list, you feel as if someone has stifled your civil liberties, slit your throat, or shot you in the back for fame or (existential) fortune, please console yourself with the fantasy that they're all tied for 10th place. If I believed in ties they probably would be. Persepolis -a major regret: I didn't have time to see this terrific animated feature a second time before compiling these lists. It's based on the graphic novel of the same name about a young girls coming of age in Iran and its a singular charmer. It throws so much fascinating historical and emotionally specific information out there that a second viewing was probably wise on my part. (previous thoughts) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street -This adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's macabre operatic musical was the most nerve wracking moviegoing experience of my year. It turned out to be more than I had hoped for but also, as I'd expected, handicapped by its non-singing leads. I love the look of the film. Points too for Tim Burton's unusually sharp and restrained direction but one more recent listen to the Broadway cast recording and there was just no denying the major loss of nuance and subtlety in the songs. That prevents a real musical masterpiece from materializing. Best case scenario: The strong movie helps viewers discover the original source material which only happens to be one of the greatest musicals ever written. (full review) The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford -One of the year's most divisive movies and with good reason, too: it's long, contemplative, anti-climactic (in a good way, say I), confounding and revealing in equal measure. Arguments have and will continue to be made that it's too beholden to its influences (Terence Malick) or its original source material (the book of the same name) or --the most intriguing slam that it hypocritically mythologizes its demythologizing of the legend [source unknown? did I read that at Slant? someone help me]. But long sustained arguments over any movie generally indicate that there's something there worth arguing about. Here's something though that almost no one would contest: the cinematography by living legend Roger Deakins is hypnotic and gorgeously stylized. Why did the film miss my top ten list? It was something of a toss up. But it might surprise you to hear that I thought this movie was too short. I was deeply absorbed in it throughout but it always felt truncated... as if precious and vital scenes from the sprawling tale were excised in its long post production period. I hope more people discover this picture, though. DVD won't be the ideal viewing for it, I'm sad to say, but with the right movie viewing frame of mind (lights out, no distraction, no scanning forward) you can approximate the attention the film deserves.
and now... The Top Ten List
	#10 Those who remember Sarah Polley as an eerily mature young actress in the chilling and masterful Atom Egoyan film The Sweet Hereafter will be less surprised than others to see how wintry maturity suits her now that she's turned into a director (a fine one too). Away From Her, her first feature behind the camera, is the story of an enduring marriage undone by Alzheimers. It's heartbreaking sure but there's real beauty and learned wisdom in it, too. Julie Christie is radiant as the mentally vanishing "Fiona" and her movie star magnetism is used to great effect. It essentially puts you right inside her husband's grief. He (and you) "...never wanted to be away from her."
#9 It begins with the ending. Not in the way that films traditionally do, with their intriguing framing devices that give you a peek at the end only to back track to show you the painting inside, stroke by stroke. No, one can argue that Atonement begins only after it ends, the whole picture suddenly refashioning itself into something more troubling, ambiguous and interpretable in the viewer’s mind... Few films this year were as magnificent looking and few as misunderstood. Critics, who should have been examining its contradictions and debating its unreliable (?) point of view were instead dismissing it for its self-conscious beauty, missing the irony of the same. [my full review @ Zoom-In]
	# 8 Bias alert! The legal drama genre is one of my least favorites, filled as it is with genericisms. Is that even a word? Who cares. If Michael Clayton can begin with a furious, singular, philosophical monologue about shit...well, I can throw any "ism" at'cha that I so please. '07 was filled with great movies springing from already genius source material. Michael Clayton had no such leg up. It spins its gold from nothing but the savage desperation of its screenplay, a talented cast and a sharp directorial debut from Bourne franchise scribe Tony Gilroy. Most Hollywood movies are timid and only aim to please. There's no comparison. Michael Clayton is fucking Shiva, the God of Death.
# 7 David Fincher's latest serial killer film Zodiac wasn't as popular or as traditionally thrilling as the film that made him famous (Se7en, 1995) but it shows a new restraint and welcome natural progression of auteurial complexity. It also lingers... and how. Like the case which haunts and possesses the men pulled into its orbit, the morbidly fascinating movie seizes the willing viewer. It won't let go (review)
	# 6 How on earth do you follow up a masterpiece like Brokeback (#1, 2005)? You get right back to work is how. Ang Lee, one of the most consistently rewarding filmmakers in the world, unleashed Lust, Caution to comparatively less hoopla ...but at least the Venice Film Festival came through with the top prize. Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Tang Wei perform a searing duet. The other dualities are rich, too: Tense, Languorous. Savage, Tender. Worldy, Naive. Sex, Mahjong.
My Best Picture Ballot ~ The Top Five the 8th Annual Film Bitch Awards Begin
#5 Early in Ratatouille (if I'm remembering the sequencing correctly) there's a scene where Remy tries to teach another rat to understand and savor individual ingredients in food. The visual effects delightfully illustrate the difference in their taste buds. Box office grosses argue that moviegoers are more like the fatter rat. They'll eat any heavily-marketed CG dish, no matter how processed or stale. So why not challenge their taste buds a little? Most Hollywood movies forcefeed joy and happy endings. Ratatouille just leads you to the table where you willingly gorge on a superb meal of the same. It's divine.
	#4 Due to the sorry state of distribution of foreign films in the US few people will get to see *4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days* in the theater. That's the real travesty of the Academy's dismissal of (arguably) the year's most acclaimed foreign film. Their snubbing dooms it to also ran status when there is nothing about this stunning snapshot of stifled women in 80s communist Romania that isn't top grade. I haven't seen the other pictures in the current wave of acclaimed Romanian cinema but if this film is indication, you can believe everything you've heard about their current cinematic vitality
#3 I always want to describe Once by the cliché "lightning in a bottle" only that's not quite right. Though that conveys the notion that something has been captured that is electric and impossible to hold on to, lightning is too jarring a descriptive for the moving low key beauty of this modest Irish musical. Its blessed with an honest to god musical soul from Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (The Swell Season) and director John Carney keeps it refreshingly simple and immediate. No tricks. Bells and whistles would ruin the melody of this perfect tiny gem.
	#2 & #1 And so we come to the twin nihilists of 2007, films that felt like the onrush of apocalypse. Last year my favorites were off consensus but I couldn't deny either of these critical champs the top spot. It was hard to look at or away from both the Coen Bros machine and Anderson's demons. I've flipped and reversed the order innumerable times as I tried to choose my "favorite" of the year --though "favorite" implies a warmth that neither picture invites. Wise readers will call this a draw but since I am unwilling to do ties, I'm erring on the side of... unrest (?!) I think No Country For Old Men is a less flawed film and I probably enjoy it more. But There Will Be Blood feels more soulful and more genius even as it errs. I feel like I'll still be grappling with it years from now.