because you can't have too much entertainment...
February 2001

2000. Year of the (crouching) Tiger

...2000 was not the worst year ever in films. Here's where the misconception came from; Hollywood in its Oscar lust realized some time ago that no matter how bad their films were -if they were released on just the right weekend in December they might have the right blend of prestige, audience manipulation and dumb luck timing to fool everyone into getting them Oscar nominations... (Cider House Rules, Working Girl, etc...) They would be fresh on the mind -with no time to turn rotten or suffer critical lambasting / reevaluation proclaiming them to be less than we once thought they were. Conversely they realized that very high quality films that everyone suspected to be Oscar contenders would feel old hat by the time all the end of year awards were doled out. So the release date range kept shrinking and now we have:

1ST quarter: nothing to see except things we didn't catch from last year.
2ND quarter: nothing to see except wannabe summer blockbusters.
3RD quarter: nothing to see except blockbusters & a brave counter program or two.
4TH quarter: EVERYTHING with any chance of accollades or Oscar nods.

Combine this ever shrinking release date range with the media's complete and utter fixation on American film (as if America was the only country to ever discover the use of cameras), stir it up with the overestimation of 1999 cinema and OF COURSE your perception is going to be 'worst year ever.' Think outside the box. 2000 had plenty to offer. Especially if you ventured into the art house or took in a foreign film or three or four or five. My best picture candidates this year as you'll see below are made up of three foreign films, one American independent, and one pure "Hollywood" entry....all of which would hold their heads high in any year. So there 2000 nitpickers!

Herewith a sampling of some of the best of the year.... but first a short detour to the land of the....

UNDERRATED
3 misunderstood / undervalued films of 2000

3. TIME CODE
Those who dismissed it as a gimmick, which it certainly was, missed entirely the joy of a well orchestrated, well acted, smart and funny improvisation. The movies could use more directors like Mike Figgis who are willing to do whatever the hell strikes their fancy. I disliked The Loss of Sexual Innocence last year but I applaud him for continuing on his own artistic journey -the opinions of others be damned. The cinema needs experimentation and, yes, failures. How else will it ever advance?

2. WHAT LIES BENEATH
What was clearly a joyous lark for talented mainstream director Robert Zemeckis was somehow perceived as a rip off of great films. That its references to Hitchcock are so glaringly obvious should have clued everyone into the fact that the movie was a funhouse homage; its thievery purely intentional and meant to be noticed. If you missed it you also missed Pfeiffer's best performance in 7 years. She was riveting as Claire Spencer, the neurotic wife who starts to doubt her sanity in the haunted lakeside home. So good was she that in a normal year she would have easily been heavily buzzed for an Oscar nomination. 2000, which started out so poorly for female leads, ended up with 12 or so fine performances to choose from. Full review of What Lies Beneath here. Some praise for Pfeiffer here.

1. AMERICAN PSYCHO
Rejected by film critics as an academic thesis (hows that for anti-intellectualism?) and ignored by audiences wantting a traditional horror flick... a lot of people avoided a challenging and smart movie. Director Mary Harron worked magic on Bret Easton Ellis' controversial best seller, turning its perceived (right or wrong) misogyny into a feminist horror parable. All that and one of the year's top performances in any category from Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, that infamous monster of 80s greed and emptiness. It's a fine film, a harrowing indictment of the horror show of capitalistic avarice, and scary in the traditional horror film way for at least two scenes if that's what you were looking for. Slightly more on this film here.

* top ten of 2000 *


Film I didn't see that figured into a LOT of lists:
YI YI (A ONE AND A TWO) & HUMAN RESOURCES

Honorable Mentions: Films I liked a lot but that missed the top 10
18 Billy Elliott A heart warmer -but in the tolerable and good way.
17 Wonder Boys A smidgeon overpraised but a winner nonetheless.
17 American Psycho See underrated list above
16 Chicken Run Lots of fun but not much else.
15 POLA X Leos Carax, bad boy of French cinema turns heads again...
14 Before Night Falls Julian Schnabel turns the bio pic on its head with this unsentimental and free flowing marvel. Visually remarkable and blessedly free of traditional biography traps. It faded a bit in memory but it's a good film. More on this film here.
13 You Can Count On Me With each viewing it's moved up a few notches (I've seen it three times).
12 Nurse Betty (full review here)
11 Une Liasion Pornographique Terrific adult romance from France.

10. JESUS' SON
Allison MacLean's stark and arresting drug drama is laced with surprising (but occassionally off putting) comedy and blessed with two astonishing and enigmatic performances by Samantha Morton and Billy Crudup. Filled with memorable imagery it feels optimistic in such a realistic way that it should be required viewing in rehab.

9. URBANIA Full review here.
Jon Shear's directorial debut (an adaptation of Daniel Reitz' stage play) is an exhilarating and unexpected ride through urban anxiety and grief. It's stunning. And though I'll cop to perhaps a little trouble being objective about it (it hit close to home), I'm betting that this overlooked film will grow in stature.

8. BRING IT ON Full review here.
A dozen reasons to love Bring It On: 1. The best teen comedy in at least 5 years. 2. Hugely enjoyable -a great popcorn film. 3. Elisha Dushku's va va voom (for all of you Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans) -"Missy is the poo. So take a whiff!" 4. The toothbrush scene 5. Allows itself important themes (racism, sexual orientation, appropriation versus theft) without once feeling like a downer or casting the themes aside. 6. 'Spirit fingers.' 7. "Cheerleaders are dancers who have gone retarded!" 8. "Brrrrr....it's cold in here." 9. Torrance plays the cassette. 10. A sports movies of sorts that's actually a good sport. 11. A gay man that's hotter than the straight men. (Now, there's something you don't see too often in the homophobia ridden world of cinema.) 12. Hey, Kirsten Dunst in top comic form, what more do you need?

7. THE IDIOTS
Lars Von Trier's much maligned first and only "official" Dogme 95 film is an in your face marvel. This Danish madman splits cinephiles in love and loathe camps. I'm firmly in the love category. His genius is clearly visible -but only for those who have eyes to see...

6. THE HOUSE OF MIRTH
Gillian Anderson's coming out ball. While I wouldn't go so far as to say it was "the best performance in any category all year" as I've read in at least one review... she was up to the challenge of Lily Bart. But hey, I knew she transferred. She already proved that with "Playing by Heart". And leaving Anderson aside for a moment, it's an exceedingly intelligent and gorgeous adaptation from Terence Davies which is sure to garner at least a few deserved technical nods at the Oscars. God bless Terence Davies for not having Joanne Woodward READ the whole freaking story to us as we watched (Are you listening Scorsese?)

...and now, the FiLM BiTCH Best Picture Nominees

5. ERIN BROCKOVICH
At its core it's a brassy superbly wrought star vehicle with Julia Roberts at her all time best. With Soderbergh's auteurial skills in full bloom however, it's elevated to a whole other realm of humanity. Sharp, funny, focused, and auteurial...and for my money stronger than Soderbergh's other more highly praised 2000 endeavor. At any rate it's easily the best pure "Hollywood" film of the year.

4. BEAU TRAVAIL
Claire Denis contemplative masterwork of masculine rituals and hierarchy.

3. REQUIEM FOR A DREAM
Darren Aronofsky's astoundingly cinematic second film is not easy to sit through, but the rewards are great. Ellen Burstyn is miraculous as an unravelling diet pill addict. Jennifer Connely and Jared Leto are heartbreaking as the foolish young lovers who throw their lives away. But the film's ultimate power comes courtesy of Aronofsky's vision. Making as bold a statement as you can make about what the cinema can and should do, he discards any narrative device OTHER than imagery. The further I get away from the film the more it's looking like a masterpiece.

2. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
Ang Lee & James Schamus's delightful one off homage to a favorite genre. The modern feminist kung fu genre pic is fused with an old fashioned romantic period piece by a superb cast, haunting gorgeous cinematography by Peter Pau, and Ang Lee's own seemingly infallible directorial instincts. Whichever culture or characters he fixes his versatile lens on, he gets straight to the heart of the matter. Ang Lee tops his own impressive roster of films (Sense & Sensibility, The Ice Storm, & The Wedding Banquet among them) and makes what could only be called magic. This movie will restore your faith in the cinema. No joke. It's that wondrous.

1. DANCER IN THE DARK Full review here.
Lars Von Trier. Björk. Catherine Deneuve. "Love it. Hate it. See It." Overwhelming, visionary, absolute genius... I'm tempted to call it best of the decade and there's nine years left to go!

I
What about China? Have you seen the Great Wall...?
All walls are great if the roof doesn't fall.

-Nathaniel

Note in 2002: This list has been revised in retrospect. (They always are) and as I filled in a few gaps in my viewing. The original list was simply:


the original top ten:
1. Dancer in the Dark
2. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
3. Requiem for a Dream
4. Erin Brockovich
5. Beau Travail
6. The House of Mirth
7. Jesus's Son
8. Before Night Falls
9. Urbania
10. Bring It On

The Original Honorable Mention: Billy Elliott * Chicken Run * Nurse Betty * POLA X * Wonder Boys