2009, if nothing else, will be remembered as the year that James Cameron returned to feature filmmaking, because Avatar managed to be the only truly great, big budget event film of the year next to Pixar’s UP. During the summer, one film after another was a dud, although some films found their ground as critical darlings in the fall. Still here are seven that managed to rise up through the murk and prove that there are still people out there with the courage to tell great stories the way they want to tell them.
7. Where the Wild Things Are - Here’s a film that had all the ingredients for a big, empty-headed children’s tale, but instead, under the care of oddball director Spike Jonze, instead has the emotional impact and intimacy of a hand-made labour of love. Although some have found the film hard to deal with during periods of seemingly static action, if given to closer inspection, the film knows exactly how the child’s mind works: how, during times of strife they vacate into their mind to create magical places in which only they could rule over until realizing that fantasies cannot sustain themselves and the true love they need is in the real world. This film touches a nerve in children, and even adults too, who are sick of the constant barrage of special effects and clever asides that Hollywood passes off as family entertainment these days.
6. Knowing- Critically panned and dismissed, those who gave this film a chance, who stood back to understand the whole picture, were able to see what a deeply complex and intelligent film Knowing actually was. Like Dark City from the same director, Knowing begins as an examination of whether or not life is random or predetermined and ends in a collage of contradictory images that question the nature and relationship between science and religion. Not to mention the films is filled with exciting special effects and action. Knowing is science fiction at its best.
5. Precious- The most unlikely sleeper hit of 2009, Precious is so affecting, not because it tells the story of a fat, illiterate, abused black girl, but because it gets inside her head and sees her as an individual with hopes and dreams of one day finding a better life. The film avoids the chance to soften this story around the edges with the conclusion being just as heartbreaking as it is inspiring, giving it an air of authenticity when it could have just as easily been emotionally manipulative. The film doesn’t ask us to feel sorry for Precious, just to understand her and listen to her story. Monique is a revelation as Precious’ abusive mother amidst as cast of stellar performances.
4. Up- Pixar strike gold again with a film that is both a wonderful adventure story and a subtle look at getting old. It’s an exciting action adventure but it also pauses to create human characters with real emotions. It’s rare in animation to see characters faced with real life dilemmas and the opening montage of Carl and his wife getting old together until her death is one of the best in all of film history. It’s that constant compassion and sadness that makes UP so special, the knowledge that its main character is acting out of love for his wife, who he truly deeply misses. A final scene between Carl and his new Boy Scout friend Russell is a real heart tugger. This is family entertaining in the truest sense of the term: something people of every age can enjoy.
3. Inglourious Basterds- After the so-so vanity project Death Proof Quentin Tarantino returned to his pedestal of pop-culture creating oddball filmmaker extraordinaire. Inglourious Bastards is pure filmmaking: you can feel Tarantino’s love of all things film around the corners of every meticulous frame. Not only is the film hip and funny but it is also staggeringly beautiful in places, proving that Tarantino is not just a referencer but a truly great film technician as well. Just like almost all of Tarantino’s previous films: this one is a war film like no other. It’s nice to see, coming out in a summer of franchises and remakes, that originality is still bankable at the box office.
2. 500 Days of Summer- What a lovely film, so knowledgeable about love while never really becoming a conventional love story. The film, hoping around in time to show different moments of a relationship that begins with infatuation and ends in boredom and heartbreak, is not conventional in that it is strictly the story of the main character and it’s telling reflects, not what happened, but how he remembers it. First time director Marc Webb uses every trick in the cinematic handbook, including a musical sequence and split screen, to show the character’s state of mind towards the relationship and fills every moment with such life, humour and truth that it borders on Felliniesque. This film knows so much about love and relationships it makes one wonder just what those air-headed, gimmick Hollywood romances think they are about.
1. Avatar- Here is the single most important film of 2009, not just because it signaled the return of one of Hollywood’s most valuable directors but because it manages to both push the medium of filmmaking into the future from a technical sense while keeping it rooted fully in the classical mode of storytelling (characters with meaningful stories that audiences can relate to). Avatar is a visual spectacle filled to the brim with exhilarating action, but also a meaningful story of strong characters and also a subtle social commentary on the state of the world. What’s incredible about the film is that it manages to do this using mostly animated characters and locations which, in the case of the former are so strong and in the case of the latter are so beautiful that the illusion of watching animation almost completely evaporates and there is no disorientation as Cameron cuts between computer effects and his human actors. The film is then also a true event, a breathtaking action flick and an incredible evolution in what computer generated effects can accomplish in the movies. All other Hollywood directors take note: James Cameron is back, and with this film he makes it known.
Mike Lippert - I am 22 years old and am currently living in the small town of Walkerton Ontario. I Spent fours years at Wilfed Laurier University in ...
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