BEST FILMS OF 2002
by Mike Lorefice

About Schmidt
Alexander Payne

***

Adaptation
Spike Jonze

***

All or Nothing
Mike Leigh

***1/2

All Water Has a Perfect Memory
Natalia Almada

***

Amen
Costa-Gavras

***

Ararat
Atom Egoyan

***

Ash Wednesday
Edward Burns

***

Auto Focus
Paul Schrader

***

Bloody Sunday
Paul Greengrass

***

Blue Car
Karen Moncrieff

***

Blue Vinyl
Judith Helfand

***

Bowling for Columbine
Michael Moore

***1/2

Carol's Journey
Imanol Uribe

***

Charlotte Sometimes
Eric Byler

***

The City of No Limits
Antonio Hernandez

Intelligent Spanish thriller that benefits greatly from utilizing a true to life basis. The family is gathered because dad is dying of cancer, but more important to the story has perhaps gone out of his mind. The father is played by the great Fernando Fernan Gomez, in a performance that avoids melodrama and cheap tricks. Only one member of his family is considered trustworthy, this son (Leonardo Sbaraglia) who lives far away is willing to consider there might be more to his father's problems than the tumor, but even though the father's past involves subversive elements the film avoids myth making. The rest of the family have their selfish motives, waiting to claim their portion of the family business, but also are a lot closer to the problem than Victor has been of late. Though theoretically a genre entry it uses the genre more to get the film made, it's a strong human drama about trust, betrayal, and how your future is shaped by your past. Granted most of it is dope operaish on paper, but the basics of the story are far less important than the execution. This one generally avoids being obvious and moronic, and dabbles into a little bit of everything in a way that allows the story to remain intriguing and mysterious without seeming like a convoluted mess. [11/21/05] ***

Common Ground
Adolfo Aristarain

An inspirational film about a couple trying to maintain their dignity that isn't one of those foolhardy works that just winds up saying the lousy system doesn't really matter because good things always happen to good people. The main character isn't portrayed as a saint who never makes mistakes, and the system being a bummer doesn't simply let him off the hook. The films point is more that life is as good or bad as you decide to make it. It is often a scathing social commentary on the uncaring state of life in Argentina that is able to maintain a nice balance of not swinging too negative then too positive. It's a leftist film that admits the death of the left; it has become "a moral attitude confined to private life". However, it shows the original revolutionary ideals can still be implemented on a small scale, and that it's still possible to have your own little community and largely ignore the rest. The theoretic purpose seems to be getting the audience to question life, to doubt what they've been told is important and try to determine what is valuable and meaningful. Though Adolfo Aristarain's work shows an understanding of human nature several times with observations such as "what's imposed by force is rejected and soon forgotten", he sometimes fails to reach the audience by overwhelming them with talk and thus not allowing them to process and observe. One of the major points is faithfulness, to yourself and your family who are a part of yourself, but despite the generally excellent screenplay he falls into the trap of putting this across in a near embarrassing speech where the star flirts with a younger woman. Federico Luppi is excellent as the wise and principled old literature professor whose life is turned upside down when he's forced into retirement more because he's too left leaning than too old. The high quality work of his wife played by Mercedes Sampietro is more noticeable because in trying to prove you can love the same woman just as much after all these year their relationship would otherwise seem far too ideal to be believable. [6/22/06] ***

The Cuckoo
Aleksandr Rogozhkina

***

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
Peter Care

***

The Day I Will Never Forget
Kim Longinotto

***

Devil's Playground
Lucy Walker

***

Dolls
Takeshi Kitano

Takeshi Kitano is known for nihilistic gangster films where everyone, including himself, goes down in a hail of bullets. However, his most violent film Dolls is lacking any physical violence. The mental and emotional savagery, though usually stemming from selfishness and disinterest rather than malicious intent, from decisions like choosing work over love, is far more brutal than getting blown away since the misery can last an eternity. The most intense positive emotion, love, ultimately morphs into intensely negative ones. In Kitano's merciless worldview love is misery ever after, a lifetime of emptiness, loss, regret, and infinite sadness that eats away the innards, especially if there's no outlet for release. His tragic love stories are practically silent movies, as loss has deprived the characters of their desire to talk and ability to think rationally. Dolls is a tribute to Bunraku, the traditional Japanese theater where each puppet is 4/5 the size of a human adult and manipulated by at least 3 visible puppeteers. They lead off then Kitano plays puppet master, replacing the man made dolls with human ones playing man made ones. The first and best story has lowly salaryman Matsumoto (Hidetoshi Nishijima) dumping his fiancée Sawako (Miho Kanno) to move up several classes when his boss asks him to marry his daughter, only to drop everything for Sawako when he finds it's caused her to attempt suicide. He can't bring her sanity back, so he joins her in silent mindless wandering. The tales are not exactly common - in fact the cruelty is exceptional - but they almost seem to be because neither the stories nor the characters are developed in the least. Still, it takes quite a while to get your bearings because its so different from anything Kitano has ever done, not to mention a non-linear film with four stories (if you include the puppets) where Kitano juxtaposes images for symbolic purposes and makes regular use of allegory and metaphor. The main appeal of this elegant work is aesthetic, as the stories are more a backdrop for the artistry, especially the first where the characters are zombies roaming though the seasons. Part of Kitano's goal is to show the nature of the earth's inhabitants is intertwined with that of the earth itself. Katysumi Yanagishima's cinematography is exquisite, combining with the art direction to create very precise and disparate moods. Kitano scraps his traditional gray/blue color scheme for a rich all encompassing one where the colors reflect the changes. The characters are thin and the entire exercise is contrived and manipulative, but simply comparing the happiness then to the misery now can leave you speechless. Love it or hate it, you won't soon forget it. [3/20/07] ***

Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary
Guy Maddin

****

Femme Fatale
Brian De Palma

****

Ford Transit
Hany Abu-Assad

***

Funny Ha Ha
Andrew Bujalski

****

Full Movie Review

Gangs of New York
Martin Scorsese

***

The Gleaners and I: Two Years Later
Agnes Varda

After decades of making unjustly neglected humanist works, Varda was finally "rediscovered" with her anti-consumerist masterpiece The Gleaners & I. This hour follow-up fittingly ends with a march against the people most against gleaning (heaven forbid anyone get even the unwanted property of the rich) the far right, in this case represented by Le Pen & his cronies (at least in France some of the nazis and fascists admit to it). Before that she revisits most of the gleaners from the original masterpiece, one of which was placed in a mental institution for his evil non-conformist belief of salvaging. Another old favorite shows that not only can you run a marathon without drugs, you can do it on 100% gleaned food. Some new ground is covered as well, largely from the overwhelming amount of loot sent her by people and artists so moved by the original. Included in this is a variation on what became the symbol of the first essay film, we now "discover" a heart shaped carrot. More than anything else, what the follow up shows is how many people were touched by seeing a different message. Really, it's not even a long forgotten message, it just seems like ages since you were urged to do anything but buy more and more, which obviously means junking the old, even when it's perfectly good. Though not in the class with the original, this is more than a worthy follow up, in part because unlike most documentarians, Varda is able to convey how much she's learning about herself as well as her subjects. [11/25/05] ***

The Good Girl
Miguel Arteta

***

The Housekeeper
Claude Berri

***

In America
Jim Sheridan

***1/2

In The Mirror of Maya Deren
Martina Kudlacek

***1/2

The Intended
Kristian Levring

Hypnotic look at a group of characters trapped in a Malaysian trading post in 1924. Isolation, loneliness, greed, and sexual deprivation lead to lack of restraint that quickly spills over into out and out madness. Kristain Levring's previous film, The King Is Alive, saw strangers trapped in the desert when their bus broke down. The Intended shares exceptional star Janet McTeer, now elevated to the dual role of co-writer, but alters the dynamic as Sarah Morris (McTeer) and her fiancé Hamish Winslow (JJ Field) arrive at the crowded little post inhabited by a handful of secluded people who have been marooned far too long. Sarah & Hamish are the only ones that have anything, their love, and that bond will be tested as everyone is not only at the mercy of nature but also of each other. The environment is so strained, fragile, and lacking in privacy that any move toward sex, money, or departure creates a chain reaction. Mrs. Jones (Brenda Fricker) is the contemptuous domineering emperor of the post, betraying her mid 30's son William Jones (Tony Maudlin) by deciding moments before his departure not to allow him to return to Europe even though she's secretly plotted to have her nephew be her ivory trading successor. William seems to have no outlet, no way to succeed or mature, so he just ages. Mrs. Jones once had a husband, but outside of his overseas schooling William has only had his overprotective nanny Erina (Olympia Dukakis), who in the absence of anyone else took on other roles as he grew older such as hand job duties. Obviously the slightly older Sarah looks mighty appealing, but she carries much baggage as her first marriage failed and she's unable to orgasm. Hamish's love has healed her some, but the biggest strength of the film is how McTeer brings out every strength and vulnerability in her contradiction laden character. Though the women clearly outshine the men, all the acting is very good in this literary, character driven film that benefits from McTeer's theater background. It doesn't come off as a play because Levring utilizes the scenery for its ability to swallow humans. Downplaying its beauty, Jens Schlosser's atmospheric cinematography relies on a dark murky color palette and underlighting to try to bring out the wetness and mud, and hide the imperfections of the crummy digital video technology. Intended isn't Dogma style like The King Is Alive, so you can watch it without getting seasick. The only way out of the jungle is paying the ferry that comes during the rainy season, so money plays a big part with William looking to leave for good and Sarah & Hamish having fled the depression of post WW1 Europe figuring they'd return rich. The film never seems sure what type of morality play it wants to be, it just becomes apparent the characters are doomed and from there becomes less interesting. It's not so much a whole a series of sections. [5/10/07] ***

Japon
Carlos Regaydas

A beautiful mystical film in the style of Tarkovsky with some help from Kiarostami, particularly Taste of Cherry. Steeped in mystery and allegory, we are told almost nothing beyond an aging man (complete with forced Christ figure allegory, but masturbating regularly) contemplating suicide (though that supposedly condemns you to hell) escapes to a remote mountain village seeking the serenity to decide. He stays in the house of an obliging older religious woman, and he becomes somewhat interested in her and her situation with her nephew who's looking to tear down her house. For the first hour and a half Reygadas successfully lifts enough from Tarkovsky's visuals and Kiarostami's sound and nonprofessional actor skills to make this one of the most interesting films of the year, a meditative allegory laden adventure in nature filled with wonderful lengthy scenic shots and not bogged down by a lot of dialogue or explanation. But as this enigmatic film draws closer to conclusion, it's becomes obvious it's never going to develop enough in any direction to make some semblance of sense, even metaphorically, so it almost can't help falling apart. The basis of the film is the man is separating himself from the world to meditate, to see if he can feel again, can find some reason to go on. The problem is the more we are told, the less things make sense because the details all seem contradictory and it winds up being anyone's guess rather than something that's either a purposely incomprehensible mystery or a solvable one. The sexual relationship with the old woman is notable for being one of the only times you'll ever see real old people having something that approximates the sex they could have physically. It's a scene of tremendous honesty because in addition to that it credibly approximates the sex emotionally. However, it doesn't really make sense within the context of what story there is (I guess her devotion to the blessed virgin is allowing her to ignore the rules about sex out of wedlock because "saving" him is more important). And after that Reygadas tries to do the Taste of Cherry closing, a real scene with the villagers who made the movie mostly out of character, but this works for Kiarostami because it's at the very end, a reminder of what goes into making a film without professionals. Here it's somewhere in between reality and plot, and the film attempts to then go to the conclusion, which was ill conceived to begin with, but too much of it is confused by whether the people are still themselves or back in character. The film is a great achievement in cinematography, sound, and working with non professionals, even though it's all been done better by the two aforementioned masters. It's a startling and unpredictable work of art that doesn't really work, but nonetheless is a lot more interesting than the majority of successful pictures. ***

Jet Lag
Danielle Thompson

***

K-19 - The Widowmaker
Kathryn Bigelow

***

The Kid Stays in the Picture
Brett Morgen & Nanette Burstein

***

The Last Just Man
Steven Silver

***1/2

Leo
Medhi Norowzian

***

Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity
Mina Shum

***

The Magdalane Sisters
Peter Mullan

***

Marion Bridge
Wiebke von Carolsfeld

***

Marooned in Iraq
Bahman Ghobadi

***

May
Lucky McKee

***

McLuhan's Wake
Kevin McMahon

***

Morvern Callar
Lynne Ramsay

***1/2

Full Movie Review

My Father, the Genius
Lucia Small

***

Narc
Joe Carnahan

***

The Pianist
Roman Polanski

***

Pure
Gillies MacKinnon

***

Rabbit-Proof Fence
Phillip Noyce

***

A Red Bear
Adrian Caetano

Quite a traditional plot with the recently released prisoner making one last score, but so much effort is put into not seeming to travel the same paths that the tired denouement is more of an afterthought in the grand scheme of things. It's an understated work where the ex con Bear (Julio Chavez) is mysterious and says as little as possible, allowing us to wonder what's going on beneath the surface and see the distance between him and those around him before we eventually discover these things without them being spelled out. He starts a relationship with his 8-year-old daughter, who was exactly a year old when he was arrested for armed robbery, and would like to get back with his wife (Lina Bernardi) who quickly replaced him. His goals are obvious; he'd like to win them over. However, detached from the damage of his life and the 7 years in prison, he goes about things in a unusual way, by attempting to be unimposing (he's calm but if his muscles were any tenser they'd lock) and making himself a semi regular presence in their life. The film simply examines him and his difficult task of putting his life back together, never resorting to the mawkishness or sentimentality normally associated with family drama. Chavez gives a memorable, exceptionally toned down performance as Bear that goes a long way toward making the movie. This aspect of the film has drawn comparisons to the work of the great Dardenne Brothers, but their films are successful because they create a consistent style and atmosphere that allows everything to subtly build with no distractions or diversions. Red Bear is all over the board, running into problems by making Bear too much of a good guy superhero. This not only compromises the credibility of the film, but undermines much of our ability to relate to the character. In essence this is a neo noir, the poor increasingly worsening financial climate (of Argentina) dooming would be good guys to at least dabble into illegal activities to supplement their lack of income. Noir is based on ordinary guys who are doomed by circumstances and thus can be beaten and killed. The extraordinary aspects of Red Bear are mainly limited to the few ridiculous action scenes that look exactly as phony as recent action scenes and thus don't fit into the style of the film in any way. In these, Bear has no problem taking out groups of goons, including killing the last two with a lone bullet! The over the top portions do spill over a bit into the main point the film is trying to make, that some things are better left as they are (were), but not to the point of seriously damaging an otherwise quality film. ***

Respiro
Emanuele Crialese

***

Roger Dodger
Dylan Kidd

***

Russian Ark
Alexander Sokurov

***

Safe Conduct
Bertrand Tavernier

***

S1m0ne
Andrew Niccol

***

The Secret Lives of Dentists
Alan Rudolph

***

Secretary
Steven Shainberg

***

11'09''01 - September 11
Youssef Chahine, Amos Gitai, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Shohei Imamura
Claude Lelouch, Ken Loach, Samira Makhmalbaf, Mira Nair
Idrissa Ouedraogo, Sean Penn, & Danis Tanovic

***

Sex is Comedy
Catherine Breillat

Breillat uses the trusty fumbles in filmmaking scenario to further investigate her issues with men, sexual desires and urges, to continue to demystify sex and the body, and a whole lot more. Breillat's films are always extremely personal, which of course is more interesting, especially since she's the only woman who consistently attempts to deal honestly with sexuality. In her case the film within a film conceit, rather than being a gimmick, just adds another layer of truth (or at least fiction she'd like us to believe). With this outing she introduces a great deal of self-parody. Anne Parilaud is her stand-in, a director of intimate films that is often at odds with herself, as well as her lead actor Gregoire Colin. Skinny Girl Roxane Mesquida more or less continues her role from Fat Girl as The Actress, with this feature being a film where she loses her virginity done as a lampoon of her lengthy almost one take deflowering scene from Fat Girl. One of the weaknesses of the film is, unlike typical Breillat that explores the thoughts and feelings of a budding girl, Mesquida's character is barely developed because too much focus is placed on the director and the director says she doesn't have problems with actresses. The basis of the film is the director figuring out what she wants, which sometimes requires her to simulate the simulation for her own gratification, then trying to get something out of the performers that isn't a compromise. They have no chemistry together because they dislike each other and keep trying to weasel out of the nudity. The funniest scenes involve Colin using a fake phallus, he chooses the biggest to coincide with his ego and it keeps sticking out of his robe. The other sex scene shows the hypocrisy of the director, set on a beach in frigid conditions she bundles up and more or less complains about their lack of heat as their exposed bodies reflect the real temperature in more ways than one. ***

The Son
Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne

****

Full Movie Review

Spellbound
Jeffrey Blitz

***

Spider
David Cronenberg

****

St. Francis
Michele Soavi

Michele Soavi's films usually involve The Church, but have titles like The Devil's Daughter. With this 3 ½ hour biopic on St. Francis of Assisi, Soavi expands beyond his genre roots without scrapping them, creating a visual love poem to worshipping God in poverty amongst nature. The filmmaking doesn't match the simplicity of its subject like the best of the Francis films, Roberto Rossellini's Flowers of St. Francis, but its hard to dislike a work about a humanist that glorifies his mission rather than him. Soavi sees Francis as an anti-materialist rebel fighting for nature, the poor, and strict interpretation of the gospel. Francis' version of Catholicism is a loving one that treats everyone as equals, doesn't force or scare you into loving God this much or this way, but asks you to be humble and sacrifice for your master. It's more a film on faith and the trials it entails than on God or dogma. What's interesting is Francis' biggest opponent is the church itself, who see a childlike raving lunatic troublemaker and try to squash him. Francis endures all the difficulties; they bring him closer to God and make him more loving. Soavi doesn't shy away from the horrors and beatings, but doesn't wallow in them and turn it into a bondage film like Mel Gibson. The filmmaking is of the epic variety, threatening to become Spaghetti Bible early, but setting down once Francis sees battle and wealth aren't for him. The soundtrack is bloated like a Hollywood epic, but the cinematography and lighting are excellent. Obviously it's less experimental than Soavi's dreamlike horrors, but he doesn't have cinematographer Gianni Mammolotti shy away from subjective camerawork or odd angle camera placements, even going above and below water level during a battle. Raoul Bova is very good as Francis, showing him grow mentally and spiritually without losing the qualities that allow him to love and believe. He remains childlike because his version of faith would be lost with pragmatism. [3/11/07] ***

Stevie
Steve James

***

Sunshine State
John Sayles

***

Sweet Sixteen
Ken Loach

***1/2

Tadpole
Gary Winick

***

Ten Minutes Older: The Cello
Bernardo Bertolucci, Claire Denis, Mike Figgis, Jean-Luc Godard, Jirí Menzel, Michael Radford, Volker Schlöndorff, & István Szabó

***

The Trials of Henry Kissinger
Eugene Jarecki

***

The Twilight Samurai
Yoji Yamada

****

Full Movie Review

The Way Home
Jeong-hyang Lee

***

Whale Rider
Niki Caro

***