On the Top Ten for 2010

2009 was a strong year for cinema. Great films such as An Education, Synecdoche, New York and Public Enemies gave way to break though science fiction (Moon), break through technology (Avatar) and simply breathtaking cinema (The White Ribbon). We have not been as spoilt for choice in 2010. While it is possible to assemble a top ten for 2010, the list of those that just missed the cut is not nearly as long as last year’s.

To select the number one has also been much harder, with at least three pushing hard for contention. Although there is a runaway worst film of the year and that honour goes to Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables. But back to the best and those that almost made it. John Hillcoat’s The Road gave us as a bleak a vision of the future as we’ve seen, but failed to convey the same power of loss as Cormac McCarthy’s excellent book on which it is based. Tom Ford’s A Single Man suffered a similar fate to Sophia Coppola’s Somewhere; wonderful to look at and fantastically acted, but lacking emotion to make the character relatable. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Niels Arden Oplev), Green Zone (Paul Greengrass) and The Town (Ben Affleck) were all fantastic, fast paced thrillers that only narrowly missed out. Special mention must go to the rerelease and digitally re-mastered Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927), or as it has become known, The Complete Metropolis. Completed with recently found footage from Argentina and magnificently cleaned up and put together, this classic of cinema has never been as complete, entertaining or as accessible.

So, the top ten for 2010 goes as follows;

A Prophet (dir. Jacques Audiard)

Shutter Island (dir. Martin Scorsese)

Up in the Air (dir. Jason Reitman)

Monsters (dir. Gareth Edwards)

The Social Network (dir. David Fincher)

Toy Story 3 (dir. Lee Unkrich)

Inception (dir. Christopher Nolan)

The Secret in their Eyes (dir. Juan Jose Campanella)

White Material (dir. Claire Denis)

Four Lions (dir. Christopher Morris)

With the exception of Toy Story 3 and Four Lions, 2010 has been a bad year for levity with the list primarily made up of serious, adult orientated films (Four Lions is also based on very serious issues, but the comedy cannot be ignored). Existentialism seems the theme of the year with Shutter Island and Inception (which compliment each other brilliantly and highlight DiCaprio as one of the finest American actors working) leading the way. Up in the Air was the first adult orientated romantic-comedy in years to deal with mature issues of identity crisis and with an incredibly prescient message. Even Toy Story 3 looked at questions of identity and what it means when you feel your reason in life has been taken away.

White Material’s lack of national identity made it a powerful statement on the politically stability of sub-Saharan Africa with a memorable leading performance by Isabelle Huppert. Again, looking at identity and belonging is the film that tops the list. A Prophet (a film that made it on Sight & Sound’s top 10 of 2009 and 2010 due to different release dates) brought style and grit in equal measure to the prison genre and deserves multiple viewings to really absorb its brilliance. See http://www.altfg.com/blog/movie/sight-and-sound-top-ten-films-2010-the-illusionist/ for Sight & Sound’s much revered list.

On the Trappings of Luxury in Somewhere

Sofia Coppola is a child of opulence and her four feature films have in some way reflected the lives of people that want for nothing and therefore could all be partly biographical. In fact Coppola has claimed that Somewhere, her fourth feature, is partly based on experiences of her childhood, living in hotels and being surrounded by the fantasy of the film industry. Somewhere follows Johnny Marco, a famous Hollywood actor who is in between jobs. Johnny’s 11 year old daughter pays an unexpected extended visit that slightly changes the way Johnny would live, but not by any great degree. Otherwise, what we get in Somewhere is a glimpse of the day to day life of an famous out of work actor. The mundane (breaking down in the car) to the exciting (have a head mould taken).

Somewhere is a patchy film. It is at times effortless, eluding an almost documentary like realism and naturalism in the acting. This is thanks to Coppola’s still camera which lets us watch, sometimes too long, without any interference. These effortless scenes occur most often when Johnny’s daughter takes centre stage. Elsewhere Somewhere feels too forced; Johnny falling asleep while sleeping with a girl; Johnny sat, silently, drinking beer or racing his sports car for several minutes. We know we are meant to feel sympathy for Johnny’s existential concerns, but the problem is it is very difficult to feel sympathy or empathy for a character that has more than his fair share of luxuries. This is a problem which dogs the whole film and has dogged all films that attempt to show us the difficulties of celebrity. So, when Johnny breaks down and cries to his ex-wife that he is a shell of a man, we understand the meaning and know what Coppola wants us to feel, but cannot help feeling that this is just the melodramatic whining of an actor.

This is an unfortunate thing to feel because there is no sense in it. Celebrities, regardless of how much money they have and how much luxury they are exposed to, are perfectly entitled to suffer emotionally and mentally. The struggle is communicating this in a relatable way. Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) achieves this, but then Norma Desmond was a film star who had already faded. Johnny Marco is at the peak of his fame. Somewhere, a beautifully shot and acted film, cannot quite reach the levels of significance it strives for as it just can’t shake the fact that the opulence, in this case, is not a trap, but a blessing.

On Something Special in Monsters

Hype is an erratic and volatile creature within the film industry. It is mostly created by the producers to sell their film. Sometimes this is done with some creativity and in a way which seems like the hype is generated by the public and therefore more genuine (The Blair Witch Project (1999), Cloverfield (2008)). More often than not the hype is generated by adverts and trailers full of the empty rhetoric that bad film critics live on. It is therefore wise to always approach a film objectively, difficult as that may be. Occasionally the hype is warranted and even more occasionally, the film surpasses the hype. This tends to occur when a film is considered art house and trailers and reviews are aimed at a smaller audience (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), Atonement (2007)). With Monsters there didn’t seem time for hype. There was a trailer that misrepresented the film to draw in the audiences and by the time reviews were published the film was due to be released. There was no festival circuit or word of mouth from America. There were simply a few good reviews to suggest this was something more than a monster film.

This is more than a monster film. It is also more than a road movie or a love story, both of which could be its primary genres. Monsters follows a photojournalist and his bosses daughter as they travel through the infected zone during ‘the season’ to get back to America. The season refers to the time of year when the creatures that inhabit the infected zone (giant land octopuses) are more active and therefore travelling through the zone is more dangerous. What follows is a story told with a mix of beautiful documentary style realism and stunning cinematic camerawork all carried by two relatable and engaging characters. This is a film rooted in the tradition of storytelling. The issue of the monsters is inconsequential; they appear infrequently, but appropriately. This is a film propelled by the characters and only progresses organically. The monsters or the threat of the monsters is always present (road signs, children’s cartoons or destruction is shown subtlety to remind us of the change in culture), but we never wait for their appearance or grow restless for action. The relationship between the two characters is so interesting that we are wholly engaged in their lives. This is helped considerably by two brilliant performances from relatively unknown actors.

Subtlety is a key word when discussing Monsters. Much is implied and the payoff is fantastically constructed and rewarding. The performances are as much about what isn’t said than what is and the direction is creative without being flashy. Monsters is one of the highlights of the year and combines science fiction, horror, romance and road movie conventions without putting a foot wrong.

On the Use of Sound in The American

This quiet existential character driven drama was marketed as an action thriller in America to bring in the crowds and to give credit where it is due, it was a financially successful move as it opened at number one. Yet this is far from accurate advertising. The American has little action and few thrills. Instead, what it has in abundance is atmosphere. As expected this is achieved through photographer turned director Anton Corbijn’s use of light and framing; he brought the same sense of atmosphere to his first feature, Control (2007). Another technical tool The American uses to its credit is sound.

The gentle piano score, the echoes of footsteps around the claustrophobic Italian village, the silence, are all used to great effect to build tension. There are many scenes of the American watching the passing village life, or observing those he suspects. These scenes are accompanied by quiet background noise or none at all and further suggest his loneliness is a product of a self imposed isolation. After all, he chose this life and as we see earlier, becoming close to people is not a skill he possesses. The narrow cobbled streets exacerbate all the sound that passes over them. Where an American thriller would have required fast paced music to build the tension, The American relies on a steady beat of footsteps, followed by silence to achieve the same effect.

The use of sound is highlighted even more by the lack of dialogue. Clooney’s protagonist, Jack, is a taciturn man who rarely starts a conversation and contributes little when in one. Surprisingly, when there is dialogue it falls flat and seems incongruous with the film, which is far more like a nouvelle vague character piece, than an action thriller staring one of America’s most popular actors. The American is far from perfect. In addition to the flat dialogue, the surrounding characters feel too one dimensional (with the exception of Clara who’s presence is always welcome). Yet the technical aspects of this film are to be admired and the careful employment of sound (including silence) illustrates how less can be more when used intelligently.