|
|
Ten
Best Films of 2008
There
are three films I’d put at the top of my list for 2008, except that
they were 2007 films that just didn’t play here until 2008 – The
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, by Julian Schnabel, and Persepolis, the
animated film about a girl’s growing up in Iran in the 1970s, 80s and
90s, and Four Months, Three Weeks, Two days, from Rumania. And then there was “I Served the
King of England.” from Czechoslovakia, and “The Fall.” But
here are my own picks of the 2008 crop: 10
– The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons – a film that
shouldn’t have worked but did quite well. 9
-- Burn
After Reading – the Coen brothers in an
absolute take-no-prisoners mode; kind of the obverse of “Fargo.” 8
-- Iron
Man – there’s something about Robert Downey Jr. –he has an
ironic view of the film that works for me. 7
– Mamma Mia – what can I say, I’m a prisoner of the
seventies. I love Abba’s
songs and I had a wonderful time at the film. 6
– Happy-Go-Lucky – This is a brilliant film by Mike Leigh, with a
great performance by Sallie Hawkins – I might have moved this film
closer to the top of the list, but I’m not sure what I would have
changed it for. 5
– Frozen River – an independent film that is unsparing in its
portrait of an abandoned woman – Melissa Leo in one of the best
performances of the year – plus a cruelly honest look at white-Indian
relations. 4
– Vicky Cristina Barcelona – We don’t have “Volver” and Penelope Cruz this year, so her
performance in Woody Allen’s film will have to do. Touching, funny, with wonderful
performances by Javier Bardem and Rebecca
Hall. Get rid of Scarlett Johanssen and I’d move it up even farther. 3
– Synechdoche, NY – I put this up at
number 3 because it attempts to cover every possible aspect of the world that
an artist can do, and almost succeeds.
I give it great marks for that. 2. Slumdog Millionaire – Just a
brilliant film about India, with no punches pulled. 1
– Milk – with the best performance of the year by Sean Penn. Other
films that didn’t quite make my list: the
Dark Knight, for Heath Ledger’s performance The
Rape of Europa Romance
and Cigarettes – just because it tried to do everything – sing,
dance, romance, tragedy. Ghost
Town – Ricky Gervais’s performance The
Secret Life of Bees – a film that got me to cry and cry. Stop-Loss 2
-- Others: Dark
Knight – for Heath Ledger’s performance The
Rape of Europa Romance
and Cigarettes Ghost
Town The
Secret Life of Bees Stop-Loss |