The Year’s Eleven Best

Sasha Stone
Mirror film critic

   This year brought good independent films and not so great big studio films. Many films released later in the year weren’t able to adequately express the mood of the country because they had all been planned and made by September 11. Even so, the events of the year had an impact on which films ended up feeling poignant and which films fell flat.
   We are in a serious mood, as it turns out. We’re not turning away from violence — we’re turning away from frivolity. To that end, films that hit home with me personally are those that look at life, or human frailty, in a serious way. The films I’ve chosen for the top eleven are those that recognize how hard we’re all working just to get through the day. They also happen to have one thing in common: they are all driven by great performances.
   1. No Man’s Land - There wasn’t a better film put out this year than Danis Tanovic’s Bosnian War satire. In another time perhaps “Amelie” would be filling this slot. Certainly the French comedy was memorable but it doesn’t stand out, in my mind, the way “No Man’s Land” does, in part because Tanovic manages to express what many of us are feeling about the current state of things: Hopeless. Trapped. Destined to endure in a world that doesn’t make sense. Performances so close to the bone are rarely seen in U.S. cinema, and perhaps that can be explained by the fact that many of the film’s actors lived through the war in Bosnia. That “No Man’s Land” is truly funny speaks to its brilliance.
   2. Memento - Some people call it a gimmick, others hail it as genius. In truth, it’s a little bit of both. It has razzle dazzle in form, but it also has a magnificently understated performance by Guy Pearce without which the film would fall to pieces. He keeps us guessing right up to the end and beyond.
   3. Moulin Rouge - Baz Luhrmann’s wild imagination was realized in a musical that stays true to tradition while also breaking free from it. It’s a musical but also a music video — it’s a parody that’s deadly serious. It celebrates the romanticism of Paris in the late 1800’s as re-created in the works of Toulouse-Lautrec. Helping drive it home is the wonderful Nicole Kidman, who held nothing back in this cinematic expressionistic study on love.
   4. In the Bedroom - Until this year, Todd Field was to most who knew of him a character actor who appeared here and there, most recently in “Eyes Wide Shut.” Now he is a writer and director to be reckoned with. This is a man who knows how important it is to listen. Field can count himself among the handful of directors who will always get A-list actors fighting to work with him — hopefully he will not be seduced by the money that will now be thrown at him by the caseload. Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson are superb. Period.
   5. A.I. - Bad marketing is being blamed for how audiences responded to Steven Spielberg’s realization of Stanley Kubrick’s decade-long project (He died before he could complete it, and “willed” it to Spielberg.) He has never taken on such dark material — and in truth, what is beautiful about this film seems almost accidental. Perhaps it’s most easily described as Stanley Kubrick’s nightmare of what his baby might look like. Nightmares make great films, and this one had the benefit of starring Haley Joel Osment, who gave one of the best performances of the year.
   6. A Beautiful Mind - This film is so good it almost makes up for Ron Howard’s butchering of Dr. Seuss’s “The Grinch.” Russell Crowe gives the performance he should have won the Oscar for and Jennifer Connelly proves that “Requiem for a Dream” wasn’t a fluke: the girl can act. But the real triumph here is how good a director Howard has finally become. Though he’s been flirting with greatness for many years, he hasn’t really risen to the level of expectation we’ve all had for him, until now. “A Beautiful Mind” will be the film to beat come Oscar time.
   7. The Deep End - Filmmakers David Siegel and Scott McGehee co-directed this odd, tightly wound thriller that benefits greatly from its star, Tilda Swinton. It is quiet, yet full of suspense and never predictable. Water being contained is used as a metaphor to describe Swinton’s life — and the more she tries to contain it, the more it slips out until every surface is covered. Audiences will be discovering “The Deep End” for many years to come, no doubt.
   8. The Pledge - Not many people saw Sean Penn’s “The Pledge,” and it seems to have been buried by being released at the start of the year. But it’s Penn’s best work as a director to date, and contains one of Jack Nicholson’s best performances. It also has startlingly brilliant cameos by Benicio Del Toro, Mickey Rourke and Vanessa Redgrave, to name a few. But the film didn’t make a dime, so no one is paying any attention to it now. It is one of the year’s best, however, and deserves to be hailed as such.
   9. Fellowship of the Ring - Peter Jackson’s labor of love took three years to make (and two more installments are due in the coming years). The movie lives up to expectations, which says a lot in this case. Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy of novels, the film is huge in scope, thrilling, boldly acted (particularly by Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen and Elijah Wood) and directed with a sure hand. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is in many ways a work of magic — the inspired creation of a complete universe with a compelling heroic quest at its heart. Part of the excitement of this project is knowing that there are two more out there waiting to be seen. Add to that New Line’s courageous decision to back them. Studios just don’t do that kind of thing very often.
   10. Mulholland Drive - David Lynch’s absurdist collage of Hollywood stereotypes and parallel lives is his best since “Blue Velvet.” While the film itself is gripping, it’s the performance of Naomi Watts that elevates it beyond standard Lynch fare (which is always pretty good anyway). Watts packs so much into every second of screen time that it’s hard to believe she hasn’t been noticed before. Because of Watts, and because of its haunting reflection of the sad and wonderful world of cinema, “Mulholland Drive” remains exceptional.
   11. I Am Sam - in truth, this movie has too many problems, especially with structure, and especially toward the end. However, what it does have, like many of the films on this list, is a stunning performance – this one by Sean Penn. He makes you forget you’re watching an actor. As flawed as the film is, the performances by Penn and co-star Michelle Pfeiffer are true, and so, this becomes one of the most moving films of the year and among the most memorable.