by DAVID KERN

It’s Academy Awards Week in Hollywood, which means it’s Film Week at Into the Hill. Today, its our choices for the top 20 films of last year. On Friday, come back and check out our Oscar preview, combined with our own choices in the various categories (sneak peek: I’m not a big fan of the Academy’s nominations).

Around here we wait until mid February to run our top films of the year list primarily so you all can actually go out and see most of them, unlike in January when most critics publish their lists and most of the films have yet to hit theaters widely - if at all. Also, by now, many of the more obscure, foreign, or otherwise hard to find films are now available on Netflix, some even are available to watch right there on your computer. Of course, many of the films on our list can be found on other great lists, some even in similar spots. But hopefully we’ll be able to bring some more great titles to your attention, and hey, if nothing else, it certainly can’t hurt to be reminded of the many great works of art out there.

So pull up that Netflix queue in another tab, download the necessary software and pop those kernels, ’cause its the best time of the year: it’s film season and it’s time to celebrate!

TOP 20 FILMS OF 2008:

20. (TIE) The Wrestler and Gran Torino

Two films about the tragedies and complexities of aging, Darren Aronofsky’s drama about an almost-washed-up pro wrestler and Clint Eastwood’s “tragicomedy” about a miserly old war vet are both deeply moving films that have some big flaws. In the case of The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke’s performance as Randy “the Ram” Robinson and Aronofsky’s grungy, heartbreaking cinematography stand out as positives, but the film, in my estimation, is missing that transcendent moment that allows a film to serve as a true, powerful “objective correlative” for the audience. And, as in each of Aronofsky’s films, his work is held back by a lack of propriety, a lack of understanding when to say when, so to speak (exhibit at hand: nudity that, while at first is a powerful thematic conduit, quickly becomes overkill). On the other hand, Eastwood’s film is a courageous look at race relations, violence, and America’s current troubles that features a unique and gritty performance from it’s star/director. However, a poor script and sub-par supporting actors hold the film back. These are important films for today’s America, films that I think everyone should consider seeing (note: let your conscience be your guide), but they aren’t the best films we were given in 2008.

19. Australia

Baz Luhrman’s epic, adventurous film is pure, enchanting, old school fun. It avoids the schmaltz and overwrought sentimentality many expected, although it is over-wrought in other ways, which is a good thing. Luhrman is a filmmaker whose work is always self-reflexive, always exploring the filmic tools at his disposal, celebrating the art form and examining its power. He regularly employs dramatic jump cuts and rapid edits which, in this case, represent the violent, mutating, but abundantly beautiful landscape of his subject matter. Don’t expect to be shown the keys to a philosophic candy shop as Luhrman likely hopes that you will simply take in and experience his film rather than over think it; but if you love movies Australia is certainly a shop full of sweets.

18. Mr. Lonely

Few filmmakers think up tales as dazzlingly unique and strangely profound as Harmony Korine. Featuring Diego Luna and Samantha Morton, this film is about a group of misfits and cast-offs who live their lives as perpetual impersonators. First there is a Michael Jackson impersonator who dances in the streets of Paris for money. One day he meets a young woman who has cast herself as Marilyn Monroe and who tells him of the commune she lives in, high in the mountains, in a grand, beautiful castle on a mysterious lake. He joins the commune, where Charlie Chaplin, Queen Elizabeth, Sammy Davis Jr., Abe Lincoln and others live also - sort of. While extremely fringe and at times very weird, Korine’s film features gorgeous photography and great performances throughout, helping to create a poignant work that explores loneliness, friendship, and the people we all become in order to cope. If you can stomach true indie, auteur individuality than you should check this film out.

17. Doubt

While not a transcendentally great film, John Patrick Shanley’s directorial debut adaptation of his stage play does feature some truly remarkable performances. Amy Adams, Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman are great, as they often are; and Viola Davis’ extended cameo is one of the most moving scenes in any film this year. They each deserve the awards nods they have received. Additionally, the film features the work of the always superb cinematographer Roger Deakins, who last year worked on No Country For Old Men. Deakins eye masterfully captures the Boston streets and school hallways, with a keen sense for visual metaphor. Unfortunately, Shanley’s direction is uneven, failing to tie up loose ends at times, thus preventing us from getting to know some of the secondary characters as well as we should. But still, Doubt is a powerful and honest look at the very personal problems that faith can cause a person, strong though it may be; it is an affirmation of the words of theologian Paul Tillich: doubt “is always present as an element in the structure of faith… there is no faith without an instrinsic ‘in spite of’ and courageous affirmation in the state of ultimate concern… it should not be considered as the negation of faith…”.

16. The Orphanage

Directed by Juan Antonia Bayona and Produced by Guillermo Del Toro, this is a gem of a horror film that actually delivers thrills without the use of a chainsaw, a hacksaw, a hatchet or any other kind of wood cutting tool. If you like suspenseful horror films - horror in the classic sense, not the slasher sense - than you will love this movie. Bayona is a great new talent and he has created a unique and truly scary vision while reinterpreting and reinvigorating old school horror themes and techniques. From a chillingly haunted old house to a damp, empty basement; from creepy kids to clocks and towers; from spiritualists and mediums to imaginary friends this is a movie that will leave a lump in your throat the size of a lemon and blisters on your hands from grasping your seat with all your might.

15. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Despite it’s clear similarities to Forest Gump, David Fincher’s Brad Pitt starred drama is an inventive, moving exploration of growing up and growing old and well, growing young; of dreams, and the beauty of experience. But more than that its a life affirming exploration of time, of the truth that we are stuck in time, in the here and now, with one life to live, in one body. As Into the Hill contributor, Brett McCracken wrote, it “is an exquisitely rendered, peculiar meditation on the fact that our lives—whether lived forward or backward—are lived in time. The freshest and best parts of them are only temporary.” That thought is both tragic and beautiful. Also, it’s beautifully shot and well acted (by some beautiful people I might add).

14. The Grocer’s Son

This is one of those films that will sneak up on you. A French film that has become quite popular in its native land, it is a simple but powerful affirmation of community and family, also featuring some beautiful photography (I’m noticing a trend!). Here is my full review.

13. Revolutionary Road

It’s simple really: Kate Winslet, beyond a shadow of a doubt, deserved to be nominated for her role in Revolutionary Road, a film that was directed by her husband Sam Mendes. It’s a travesty that she wasn’t nominated. But, of course, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Shannon and Kathy Bates are also fantastic. Really, though, Mendes’ film succeeds because it is such a unified whole. The acting, the set design, the music, the direction, and the cinematography - again by Roger Deakins (arguably the best of the year!) - collaborate to tell a tragic, sometimes bleak, but ultimately powerful tale about suburban discontent and malaise. Yes, it’s a story that’s been told before but rarely with as much substance and style as here.

12. Paranoid Park

Gus Van Sant is a master of style. He is also a master of minimalist film making. The two are a lethal combination. Here he is exploring the inner turmoil of guilt and regret and the way that sometimes it seems like life is passing us by so resolutely we can hardly take a solid breath. Van Sant has long been interested in youth and loss of innocence too, and, using extended slow motion montages and a string driven soundtrack, he enters into the subconscious of a teenage boy whose life has been forever altered by the accidental events of one night. We all have secrets - deeply rooted, festering secrets - and in Parnoid Park Van Sant forces us to reckon with them.

11. The Visitor

It’s rare that a politically minded film is able to operate with nuance and grace in such a way that allows for thorough character development while still offering a thorough and balanced look at the issues with which it is concerned. However, Tom McCarthy’s film does just that, thanks in large part to Richard Jenkins fantastic, award winning performance as Walter Vale, a professor who returns to his New York city second home to find two illegal immigrants living in it. Vale, a lonely and grieving intellectual of a man, comes to befriend the two, learning about - and eventually partaking in - their foreign culture. Their friendship blossoms and when one of the immigrants is taken into custody it is Walter’s persistence that helps them out. As much as it is a political statement about a hot-topic issue, The Visitor is a film deeply concerned with the value of friendship, with the sadness of being alone and with the hope that can be born out of community. Another film for the more upbeat out there.

10. The Flight of the Red Balloon

Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s minimalist ode to the classic French short The Red Balloon is slow. Very slow. But its mesmerizing as well. It’s the kind of film that is more interested in helping us watch people as they live their everyday lives than in supplying us with 2 hours of escapist entertainment. It’s the kind of film that draws in you in, reaching out with a fantastic blending of earthy colors and bright individuals. Hsiao-Hsien shows us the lives of a Parisian puppeteer, her young son and his new nanny, a Chinese film student named Song, as they work, play, cry, cook, make movies and follow a big, bright red balloon through the streets of Paris. One could say that the film has little plot, but that would be to trivialize the everyday events that mark our own lives. This is a film that celebrates life, laughing along during the happy moments and gently condoling during the tragic ones. As the movie progressed, I found myself smiling till my face hurt, enjoying immensely the gentle ways that the characters interacted. Give it a chance, you may find yourself similarly mesmerized.

09. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days

Considered by many critics to be the best film of 2008, this Romanian film, directed by Christian Mungiu, won the Palme d’Or at the ‘07 Cannes Festival. Like Paranoid Park, it focuses on the events of a single, tragic day; in this case, around a young woman’s decision to have an abortion. Since the story takes place in 1980’s Romania, before the fall of Communism, abortions are illegal and so she must go to great lengths to secure the operation. Thanks to the help of a good friend, the young woman is able to find a “doctor” willing to perform the operation. However, as the events play out, the two young women are forced to make tragic decisions and shocking sacrifices for one another. Mungiu’s film is far from didactic and is, ultimately, not interested in declaring whether the young women are right or wrong in their endeavors. Instead, he is interested in showing the decisions they make and the tragic consequences those decisions elicit. Some critics have gone so far as to declare the film a “horror” story and with good reason. But it is also an absolute must-see.

08. Man On Wire

In 1974, French acrobat Philippe Petit walked on a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center. Combining archival footage and photographs with candid interviews and dramatically staged reenactments, British filmmaker James Marsh now examines the circumstances around that event, vividly showing how one man’s greatest dream came true. It could safely be argued that Petit was both a maniac and a hero in his persistence and courage and Marsh takes no steps towards revealing which he believes him to be, instead offering the story only through the words and faces of the people involved: Petit, his close friends and confidants, his girlfriend at the time, policemen and other onlookers. Essentially Man On Wire is a heist film - and it’s the most stylish, entertaining heist film of ‘08 at that - but its also a dramatic look at the consequences of obsession. It asks us to consider what we are willing to sacrifice to fulfill our grandest dreams.

07. In Bruges

Full disclosure: In Bruges is very violent, has lots of F-bombs, and is really pretty sad, all things considered. That being said, it’s also hilarious and powerful and deep and complex. Colin Farrell and Brenden Gleeson play two hit men forced to flee London and head to Bruges, a small town in Belgium where basically nothing happens. Well, until they get there anyway. You see, Ralph Fiennes is their boss and he needs Gleeson to knock off Farrell because of a mistake Farrell has made, but Gleeson isn’t so keen on the idea so Fiennes comes to Bruges (which he happens to like very much) to clean up the mess. Part dark comedy, part satire, part farce, In Bruges makes for one of the most enjoyable cinematic experiences of 2008. Critic Jeffrey Overstreet sums up the film quite well when he writes “few filmmakers can juggle comedy, suspense, drama, bloody shootouts, attractive scenery, tender moments between tough guys, the profane, and the profound as deftly as [Martin] McDonagh does here.”

06. Wendy and Lucy

Read my thoughts on the film and my interview with screenwriter Jonathan Raymond here.

05. Wall-E

The first 45 or so minutes of Pixar’s most recent effort, directed masterfully Andrew Stanton, were among my favorite moments of movie going last year. The detail, the richness, the texture, the colors, the loneliness, the hope, the joy, the sadness, the space, the music: it was almost too much to take in. And was there a more endearing character or love story than the one told in Wall-E? Yes, the film becomes a bit didactic in its approach in the third act, but that doesn’t change that it is a film that is perfect for our time, necessary for our age, and absolutely important and right in its message. I’d just like to know if Pixar will ever fail again.

04. Chop Shop

Heavily influenced by the Italian Neo-realists, especially De Sica (as is Wendy and Lucy) and particularly in its use of non-professional actors, up and comer Ramin Bahrani’s film tells the story of a young orphaned Dominican boy named Ale who, with his older sister, lives in the shadow of Shea Stadium, in Queen’s New York, amidst blocks of chop shops and junk yards. In fact, they live above the one for which he works. As in a much more hyped, much poorer film about a young boy who is caught in conditions of poverty (see: Slumdog Millionaire), Ale isn’t much like a kid, except that his voice is high and he has no facial hair and is all skin and bone. He has no real role models and spends most of his time working, dreaming up schemes to make a few more dollars, while his sister does what she can to help them scrape by. He insists he has no time to play and he watches over her like a father. As in the films of the Neo-Realists, Bahrani’s film depicts the difficult place as it is, on location, dirt and grime and mud included, often with a hand held camera. He allows us to look in on the volatile situation, tagging along with Ale as he grows up much too quickly. It’s an inspired, beautiful film despite its rough edges and one that I hope will be celebrated for years to come.

03. Rachel Getting Married.

Another terrible snub by the Academy was in failing to nominate Rosemarie DeWitt (who also can be seen on AMC’s Mad Men) for supporting actress. Her turn as soon-to-be bride Rachel, in Jonathan Demme’s amazing film, is incredible. Of course, so is Anna Hathaway’s and she just might come away with a best actress nod come Sunday. But, really, the whole film is incredible. It’s the kind of film that manages to capture many paradoxical feelings and emotions in a single work of art: it’s tragic and hopeful and musical and eerily silent and sad and happy and about death as well life and loss as well gain. It too is about family and the commingling of families and the way that what goes on behind closed doors, in living rooms and kitchens and bedrooms, is as important as the things that happen anywhere else. And it’s the rare movie that celebrates marriage, affirming that there is joy to be found in its complexities and paradoxes. Perhaps I, and the film, are too idealistic, but I believe there is truth in that idealism.

02. The Dark Knight

What more can be said? I don’t know. I’ll just affirm that it is amazing that a superhero movie managed to be simultaneously so technically groundbreaking, emotionally heartbreaking and thematically involved. Not to mention the fact that the performances are, pretty much top to bottom, as good as appear in any film this year. The Dark Knight is a transcendent motion picture.

01. Shotgun Stories

The directorial debut from Jeff Nichols, Stories is the tale of two sets of brother’s from the same father who, following their father’s death enter into a tragic civil war of sorts that threatens to destroy their families. And neither side is willing to lose, for they are defined by their families. As a character in an O’Connor or Berry or Faulkner story might, the brothers rise up in defense of one another and declare “war.” But its a cycle, and its a nasty cycle that seems destined to go on for a long time. If it is to end then somebody must decide if they are willing to do good, to do what is right; in other words, if they will do the “grace-full” or the “grotesque.”

Like a good southern tale, Nichol’s film is rousingly intense in its emotional simplicity. It is a film of images - and beautiful, metaphorical images at that - and is never rushed; instead of simply telling viewers what to believe it deals in nuance. It is not a film for the impatient. But despite the fact that it is raw and bare and has extended moments of silence and introspection, is not a complicated film in terms of production and the performances are reserved, the film speaks as loudly and boldly as any film has in recent memory. It is a powerful and provocative story of the modern American south and is the kind of art that will last, that is, indeed, steeped in the rhythms of time eternal.

You can read my full review here.

David Kern is the Editor-in-Chief of Into the Hill. Email him at david@intothehill.com.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 11:51 am and is filed under Film Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.