Best of 2000-2009: Complete post

Honorable mentions:

xOld Joy (2006)
Not exactly a typical "road movie" as generally described, Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy opens as a good friend calls Mark, a nesting father-to-be, out of the blue after some time and invites him to check out an idyllic hot spring in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. Kurt, a sort of wonderer in his own right, has grown to become the antithesis to Mark's soon-to-be family life - the trip tests Mark's patience as he now has more hardened sensibilities mixed with a bit of trepidation concerning the big step his life has taken as opposed to Kurt's freer will and tales of abandon and intellectual pursuits. That's not to say Mark regrets his life, but the emergence of Kurt has got his mind churning over the past and amplifying his own doubts.

A very recent viewing for me, although I passed it on the video shelf dozens of times waiting for it to land on the less expensive rental shelves; I can't say I've seen a more insightful and sober film which represents how we grow up and despite our best efforts sometimes grow apart - and that's life - it reminds us that we are our own and that we can only share some of ourselves for only so much time.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (Sidney Lumet, United States, 2007)


Stealing Time (a.k.a. Rennie's Landing, Marc Fusco, United States, 2001)


xxPrimer (United States, 2004)
Shane Carruth's nil-budget juggernaut wasn't the only good tech-heavy think piece of 2004, and certainly not of the decade (John Simpson's near-future thriller "Freeze Frame" loaded on the ethical dilemmas in spades; go ahead and forget "I, Robot"...), it deserves much more than being lumped into a mass heap entitled 'clever sci-fi'. A spottily lit attached garage is our entrance into Carruth's 21st century tactile Grimm Tale, and the launching point for our protagonist engineers to stumble upon Man's last great unrealised venture: time travel. Their early trial and error in the discovery process reoccurs later in the form of experimentation in the 'traveling' itself - Aaron and Abe, being entrepreneurs of thought as they are, waste no time in coming up with a plan to turn a profit on their 'service', but that's where the limits of their conception meets the infinite capacity of their situation. Science Fiction as a genre tag doesn't quite cover what Primer completely is; it being a cautionary story in the hubristic vein of centuries old "three wishes" scenarios, or fantasies of omnipotence which usually end up fraught with irreversible consequence. Classic stuff, meticulously woven with with an intensity usually reserved for steeped, excessive dramas. Primer may have since fallen from our collective tongues, but it will continue to live on, at least here, as one of the best.

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And now the complete Ten:


xx#10: Brick (United States, 2005)
[paraphrasing my original April 2006 review] Rian Johnson's 2005 Sundance submission made waves yet for some reason it was made to withstand more than a year on the shelf before its theatrical debut in the first quarter of 2006; had it premiered at '06 Sundance it may have been heralded more resoundingly with the theatrical support. In any case, Rian's nod to 1940's noir pitted Joseph Gordon-Levitt's cucumber cool teen sleuth Brenden against a hilarious mafia don wanna-be who requires his chauffeuring be parentally given and Astro Van driven - as Brenden clues his way through the addled ranks of high school cliques to solve the disappearance of a friend amidst shady circumstances. As juvenile as the feel can be at times, Brick never wavers into a mocking tone; more to the point it always takes itself seriously as, well, as a serious caper film of substantial consequence is wont to do - even as it appears to poke fun at itself. A real balancing act, but one very well executed.


xxx#9: REC (Spain, 2007)
A film most assuredly not on many 'best of decade' lists, if only because horror movies tend to be discounted out of hand (for some strange reason). This punishing film, shot in vérité style, followings one Ángela Vidal as she joins the late hour happenings on location at a neighborhood firehouse for a segment of what is a continuing series for the television station she works for. With cameraman in tow, Ángela brings a brand new energy into the firehouse to coax the story along but simultaneously maintains the transparency a good documentarian needs for her story to be effective; this changes dramatically as she tags along on an "elderly woman trapped" call to an apartment building some blocks away where a most horrific and sickening attack prompts city officials to quarantine the building - with responders and tenants alike inside. What makes this film so impressive is the balance writer-director Jaume Balagueró achieves by creating a character in Ángela Vidal that contradicts our fight/flight sensibilities with the film's severe danger and intensity. With a lesser degree of abandon she charges onward and upward through the building to now chronicle its happenings - this works in association with pitch perfect pace; at seventy-five minutes it's not a moment too long or does it make a single concession to further its plot. While it may lose something on repeat viewings, REC is still a powerhouse in and of itself.


#8: Noriko's Dinner Table (Noriko no Shokutaku, Japan, 2005)
Sion Sono's 2½ hour tour-de-force follow-up to Suicide Circle (a second facet to his yet to be realized Trilogy) is a masterwork in it's own right; those familiar with Sono know it's a bit unconventional in the realm of coming-of-age films - it's hardly as quaint or pleasant as, say, Bend It Like Beckham, Stand By Me, or My Life as a Dog, try a starker group including Lilya 4-ever or Morvern Callar. Ultimately, as when you filter Sono's particular brand of art, this is a film that speaks of one's life being as perfect as one makes it, finding solace in those terrific choices, and discovering that growth and/or escape can be just as easily realised walking away single-handedly as bounding forward holding hands.


#7: Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le pacte des loups, France, 2001)
Set in the heaving hills and drawn river valleys of south-central France, circa 1760, this movie is a heaping helping of dramatics of nearly every kind, and which is why it is one of the best of the decade. Christophe Gans' France is shaken to its core by an animal of unimaginable scope which is dragging humans from their quaint and unremarkable lives alike, to a point where the principality calls upon King Louis' court itself for help. Help arrives in the form of The King's taxidermist Grégoire and his stoic friend Mani, an American Iroquois with considerable fighting skills. Cinematographer Dan Laustsen's camera has always been adept to the darkness, and here it moves about and through the inky recesses of The Beast's hunting hour, dragging us into the coldest and most punishing rainstorms during an epic fight scene in a vast clearing, then floating us like a butterfly through the well proportioned, candle-dappled boudoirs during the film's steamier scenes. A triumph! Don't get me wrong this is not a bodice ripper, and though I don't normally like period films, this is first and foremost an adventure film in the vein of the classic werewolf tales - only the slickest one you may have never seen.



xx#6: Kairo (Japan, 2001)
I think it's safe to say that before seeing Kairo for the first time my perception of what true apocalyptic horror was was been half-formed and most certainly untested. What it would mean to be utterly neutralised by events beyond one's control and far outside comprehension had been touched on in the past, George Sluizer's "Spoorloos" and Hideo Nakata's "Ringu" explored some pretty savage arenas, yet Kiyoshi Kurosawa brought the world to its knees by positing that the people had become irrevocably distanced from one another and that a condition arose where human beings were not only killing themselves off because of it, but that they would return from the afterlife (unwillingly and only further tortured) to proctor further terminations. The reason Kairo surpasses most every film of this ilk is that Kurosawa, like Sluizer, presents neither solution nor horizon (other than a literal horizon by film's end) to our protagonists; they are last seen free, but their outlook appears bleak; if not for one another; at least for a short time. A stark tale indeed. For that reason I can't help but be moved and shaken, and I can think of no reason it's not only a superior horror film but also a genuinely bold theatrical disquisition.



#5: Infernal Affairs (Mou gaan dou, Hong Kong, 2002)
[a tweaking of portions of my original 2005 review] Infernal Affairs begins as young police cadet named Chan Wing Yan (Tony Leung) is being groomed by the highest ranks of Hong Kong's Police Academy to eventually become an inside man. Chan's keen eye and street-worthy demeanor makes him the perfect candidate to infiltrate Triads gangs who are in control of a large portions of the city, as they are wont to do. Unbeknownst to almost everyone, a different road unveiling itself for fellow cadet Lau Kin Ming (Andy Lau). Although we aren't witness to Lau's actual path, he becomes Pacino to Chan's De Niro, or the reverse inside-out, he winds up ill-directing his office to keep Triad boss Hon Sam (a brilliant Eric Tsang) two steps ahead of any police actions. What manifests is one of the best table turning catch-me-if-you-can cop stories ever put to film.

Infernal Affairs is loaded with subterfuge and intrigue. We are privy to both sides of the infiltration equation from the start, but the near misses and natural character evolve to become more substantial and tenser, even as the story itself appears to begin its resolution. To be fair, there is a touch generic cop vs cop to it, with a couple standard stand-offs, but very little mano a mano conflict outside of the former classmates'; the film's confrontations are group against group, good vs bad. The beauty is in the believability of the interactions - these actors immerse themselves fully and the film is assembled flawlessly. You're made to have a stake in that world. As I said, it does has familiar elements, but Infernal Affairs is genuine and sophisticated like no other recent crime drama.

#4: Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, Japan, 2002)
#3: No Country for Old Men (Joel Coen/Ethan Coen, United States, 2007)
#2: Zodiac (David Fincher, United States, 2007)
#1: Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy, United States, 2007)