2011 in Film: The Honorable Mentions

ARTHUR CHRISTMAS (Sarah Smith, 2011)

Packed with as many jokes as Santa’s bulging bag of gifts, ARTHUR CHRISTMAS treats viewers to a visually inventive, quick-witted dessert for holidays to come. While the 3D isn’t essential, ARTHUR CHRISTMAS uses the extra dimension better than its animated competition.

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (Werner Herzog, 2010)

Werner Herzog makes a case for 3D as an artistic tool as he employs it to convey the space in a place where few are likely to be permitted to visit. The documentary inspires a reverie in seeing and contemplating the prehistoric paintings in southern France’s Chauvet Cave. To enter into it via this film is to consider our species’ origin, marvel at what their lives must have been like, and become aware of how far we’ve come.

CONTAGION (Steven Soderbergh, 2011)

Steven Soderbergh’s thriller lays out a realistic and chilling scenario that shows how the world’s population could be threatened by what’s transmitted from a cough, a handshake, or a common bowl of nuts at a bar. If PSYCHO made people reconsider taking showers and JAWS forced second thoughts about going for swims in the ocean, CONTAGION could inspire obsessive hand-washing and stocking up on antibacterial sanitizers.

THE DESCENDANTS (Alexander Payne, 2011)

Director Alexander Payne takes a family on a sad, funny, and heartwarming journey as they discover what is truly important to them as individuals and as a group. Set in Hawaii, THE DESCENDANTS digs into the regular lives of people who can’t avoid problems and sorrow simply because they inhabit a place that looks like paradise on earth. The rocky mental landscapes are difficult to navigate even while surrounded by beautiful, lush terrain. Payne and his two co-screenwriters hit upon the core of emotion with startling clarity.

HANNA (Joe Wright, 2011)

The pleasantly strange HANNA examines womanhood by way of a Grimm fairy tale crossed with an action film. As a socially naive teenager with lethal survival skills, Saoirse Ronan continues to prove why she’s among the best young actresses around. Director Joe Wright dazzles with a colorful and delirious vision of modern life to an outsider’s eyes.

THE INTERRUPTERS (Steve James, 2011)

Steve James’s powerful documentary about the people trying to break the pattern of youth violence in Chicago gives a ride-along on an emotional roller coaster. THE INTERRUPTERS manages to be touching, frustrating, and uplifting as it depicts the depth of the problem without claiming to have a solution.

INTO THE ABYSS: A TALE OF DEATH, A TALE OF LIFE (Werner Herzog, 2011)

Werner Herzog makes clear his objection to capital punishment in this documentary, but the director isn’t interested in voicing a polemical argument. Instead, in speaking to two death row inmates, their family and friends, the victims’ relatives, and those tasked with carrying out executions, he uncovers the narratives people write for themselves to endure terrible experiences and hold onto their humanity.

MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE (Sean Durkin, 2011)

Director Sean Durkin and actress Elizabeth Olsen made two of the year’s finest debuts with the paranoid drama MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE. Durkin seamlessly blends the protagonist’s abusive past in a cult with the post-traumatic stress she feels while at the refuge of her sister’s home. Complementing the technique is Olsen’s affecting performance, which delineates the struggle to differentiate between past and present.

OF GODS AND MEN (DES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX) (Xavier Beauvois, 2010)

In OF GODS AND MEN a group of French monks in an Algerian community are forced to choose whether to stay and serve the locals or flee for safety from the encroaching civil war. The quiet and studied nature of the decisions these men make beautifully portrays the struggle of living according to a set of beliefs, especially when following a higher calling may risk one’s life.

PUTTY HILL (Matthew Porterfield, 2010)

Although PUTTY HILL tells a fictional story about a working class community outside Baltimore reeling from a young man’s drug overdose, what Matthew Porterfield captures is surely true to similar real life tales. Borrowing documentary techniques and employing a non-professional cast, the director makes this observation of life on society’s margins feel astonishingly familiar. Porterfield never condescends in creating a compelling and heartfelt film.

WAR HORSE (Steven Spielberg, 2011)

Steven Spielberg’s technically proficient study of war's dehumanization is rendered in a swooningly earnest style in WAR HORSE. The battles sequences are as thrilling and tragic as the World War II fighting in the director’s SAVING PRIVATE RYAN while WAR HORSE’s determinedly old-fashioned storytelling proves a suitable match for its consideration of the old and the modern converging.

2010 in Film: The Honorable Mentions

BLACK SWAN (Darren Aronofsky, 2010)

BLACK SWAN merges the sexual hysteria of Roman Polanski’s REPULSION with the ballet drama of Powell and Pressburger’s THE RED SHOES and throws in a generous dollop of Cronenberg-like body horror for good measure. Director Darren Aronofsky’s lurid mixture of high and low art makes for an often intoxicating film about creative risk and personal development. Natalie Portman’s performance thrills with how she manifests her ballerina’s psychosis, swinging from delicate technical precision and emotional repression to bold, forceful expressions.

CARLOS (Olivier Assayas, 2010)

Although five and a half hours long, Olivier Assayas’s CARLOS is a brisk and absorbing study of the infamous Venezuelan terrorist known as The Jackal. A magnificent setpiece recreating the 1975 raid on OPEC headquarters in Vienna and Edgar Ramirez’s magnetic lead performance are among the treasures in a biopic stocked with plenty to unpack regarding global and personal politics and how their tides shift.

CATFISH (Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, 2010)

Whether CATFISH is or is not a documentary--I don’t think it matters--it stands as a compelling look at the thrills and pitfalls of living in the social media age. The film follows its subject, one of the directors’ brothers, as online communications lead to emotional investment with a family hundreds of miles away and romance with one of the daughters. As doubt creeps in about the truth of the situation, the filmmakers make a surprise visit to find out who they’re talking to. The answers they find have a lot to say about what we’re seeking when we reach out to make connections over the internet.

EVERYONE ELSE (ALLE ANDEREN) (Maren Ade, 2009)

The exquisitely made EVERYONE ELSE is a painfully observed exploration of a relationship and each person’s culpability when it frays. In watching how people interact when they are alone, especially two who want to break away from the pack, the film is astonishingly keen in its intimate insights. As the couple, Birgit Minichmayr and Lars Eidinger do an extraordinary job of conveying the small ways people test and hurt the ones they love.

THE FIGHTER (David O. Russell, 2010)

In THE FIGHTER director David O. Russell tells the true story of underdog welterweight boxer Mickey Ward as part dysfunctional family comedy and part inspirational sports movie. A stellar supporting cast featuring Melissa Leo, Christian Bale, and Amy Adams often swipes scenes from Mark Wahlberg’s understated main character. Humming with humor and working class determination, THE FIGHTER finds that the most important sparring matches often occur outside the ring.

THE GHOST WRITER (Roman Polanski, 2010)

Co-writer/director Roman Polanski fashions THE GHOST WRITER as a '70s-styled potboiler bubbling with paranoia and conspiracy. This isn't CHINATOWN level work from Polanski, but THE GHOST WRITER still succeeds as an above-average thriller that dabbles in the political and the personal. A ghost writer's purpose is to tell someone else's story in that person's voice. As co-writer and director Polanski gets to speak for himself through the film, but for all of it's mirroring of real life circumstances, THE GHOST WRITER'S shrouded revelations are ever transitory.

GOING THE DISTANCE (Nanette Burstein, 2010)

GOING THE DISTANCE is a consistently funny romantic comedy, which is rare enough. It also possesses the wisdom to explore the natural challenges in Drew Barrymore and Justin Long’s bicoastal romance rather than contriving conflicts. Although the set-up is familiar, the film’s warmth, vulnerability, emotional truth, and raunchiness distinguish it from the pack of so-called love stories.

GREENBERG (Noah Baumbach, 2010)

Writer-director Noah Baumbach’s dramedy GREENBERG is a deeply felt observation of flawed individuals trying to cope with life’s problems. Ben Stiller does some of his finest cinematic work as the prickly and self-sabotaging title character. The performance requires looking beyond the surface to see a wounded soul who believes he can only feel better by making others miserable. Greta Gerwig matches Stiller’s performance with a turn that shows how awkward and unguarded optimism can survive among disappointment and sadness.

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (Lisa Cholodenko, 2010)

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT overdoes it in laying out its themes in the final act, but nevertheless, writer-director Lisa Cholodenko and co-writer Stuart Blumberg have crafted a funny and generous film about family ties. Although gay spouses anchor the film, it illuminates the universal strains that come with coupledom and parenting rather than speaking to anything specific to sexual orientation. THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT finds gentle laughs among and enormous sympathy for the trials of family.

MOTHER (MADEO) (Bong Joon-ho, 2009)

MOTHER co-writer and director Bong Joon-ho assembles an expertly constructed thriller with a surprisingly deep well of emotion and ribbons of humor. Kim Hye-ja’s remarkable performance speaks to the fierce devotion and love that a parent can exhibit when protecting a child.

PLEASE GIVE (Nicole Holofcener, 2010)

Writer-director Nicole Holofcener’s PLEASE GIVE humorously grapples with the problems of the fortunate, particularly those burdened with white liberal guilt. PLEASE GIVE shares a comedic sensibility with Woody Allen’s films while taking a female perspective on ordinary family problems, fear of mortality, self-image issues, and the illusion of control one has in life.

SHUTTER ISLAND (Martin Scorsese, 2010)

SHUTTER ISLAND is Martin Scorsese’s sublime version of a 1950s Hollywood thriller. It’s a treat to see one of the all-time greats having fun with a genre film. Scorsese utilizes the overheated tone and vivid colors produced in Robert Richardson’s cinematography to ratchet up the suspense unlike few can.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK (David Fincher, 2010)

THE SOCIAL NETWORK is as elegant and brilliant as a well-written line of code. Director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin's fictionalized account of Facebook’s founding dives into some of today’s big questions brought about by technological advancements and boasts a complex and masterful lead performance from Jesse Eisenberg. The script provides the foundation for a hugely entertaining drama that has a fair share of big laugh lines. Fincher’s smooth direction guides us through complicated legal proceedings and a social world not nearly as neatly organized as a social media tree.

SOMEWHERE (Sofia Coppola, 2010)

Although SOMEWHERE throbs with dissatisfaction and longing for purpose, writer-director Sofia Coppola’s film reveals itself as a dryly funny meditation on being adrift in Hollywood. Coppola sympathizes with a movie star’s burdens while observing the inherent absurdity of the profession. Elle Fanning shines as the daughter who helps routine-stuck father Stephen Dorff emerge from his privileged and suffocating cocoon.

WILD GRASS (LES HERBES FOLLES) (Alain Resnais, 2009)

When WILD GRASS was released, French director Alain Resnais was 87 years old and 48 years removed from when his classic LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD debuted, yet his ability to confound hasn’t dimmed. In this puckish and unpredictable romantic comedy-drama-mystery, meaning is elusive as ever, but WILD GRASS is a delight from beginning to end, especially the inscrutable ending.

WINTER’S BONE (Debra Granik, 2010)

Co-writer/director Debra Granik captures an outstanding sense of place yet never condescends in the Ozarks noir WINTER’S BONE. Jennifer Lawrence gives a terrific lead performance as a teenager who embarks on a harrowing journey in search of her no-good father so as to save the family’s house.

2009 in Film: The Honorable Mentions

(500) DAYS OF SUMMER (Marc Webb, 2009)

Life and love are rarely as tidy as art's simplified representations and the romantic's self-deluded perceptions. (500) DAYS OF SUMMER takes a hammer to romantic comedy tropes that distort the interpersonal dynamics between men and women into childish knight-in-shining-armor and princess fantasies. As the commitment-seeking emotional mess and the nonchalant pragmatist, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are a delight to watch as they reverse gender stereotypes. (500) DAYS OF SUMMER doesn't reach the rarefied level of Woody Allen's masterpiece ANNIE HALL, a clear influence, but the film's bruised yet clear-eyed romanticism is refreshing to find in a genre that often settles for something less than truthful or passionate.

ADVENTURELAND (Greg Mottola, 2009)

Warm and genuine, the nostalgic romance ADVENTURELAND fondly remembers the exciting and painful time in life that comes after college graduation but before one's life is sorted out. Writer-director Greg Mottola knows that while this period may feel like the end, it's actually a beginning. The characters come across as the pretentious but self-deprecating older siblings to the teens in the director's previous film SUPERBAD. Having a more mature but still insecure protagonist and supporting cast means ADVENTURELAND is filled with many modest charms rather than sidesplitting laughs, but it's an equally well-observed and funny slice of life.

BLACK DYNAMITE (Scott Sanders, 2009)

The blaxploitation parody BLACK DYNAMITE looks as though it could be a hilarious, forgotten film from the 1970s. Director Scott Sanders and co-writer/star Michael Jai White lovingly and convincingly recreate the cheap, junky, and freewheeling aesthetics of the genre, but this is more than just a skilled mimicking of another era's filmmaking style.

THE BOX (Richard Kelly, 2009)

DONNIE DARKO writer-director Richard Kelly takes another exceedingly strange and haunting look at the consequences of our decisions and how we rationalize them in THE BOX. As the plot developments become crazier, what Kelly's aiming for isn't always clear. Still, this Stanley Kubrick meets long-form TWILIGHT ZONE episode is an invigorating science fiction film with plenty to ponder.

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS (Phil Lord and Chris Miller, 2009)

Among 2009's rich yield of animated films is the clever, character-based comedy of CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS. This lighthearted look at conspicuous consumption soft pedals its message in favor of a lot of sly visual and verbal jokes. For me this beautifully computer-animated film with depth-enhancing 3-D was one of the year's biggest surprises.

AN EDUCATION (Lone Scherfig, 2009)

In the hands of director Lone Scherfig and screenwriter Nick Hornby, Lynn Barber's memoir is treated with a youthful innocence rather than an adult's experience and perhaps jadedness. It's a critical distinction because taking an older view of this story would taint how it is observed and reconciled. AN EDUCATION showcases several fine performances in this story about the dangers of youthful cleverness. In her first major role Carey Mulligan does keen and sensitive acting to peel back the effects of the schooling the character gets in prizing her own intelligence to a fault. Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, and Rosamund Pike do excellent work in adding more seasoned, yet not always wiser perspectives in this coming-of-age tale.

FANTASTIC MR. FOX (Wes Anderson, 2009)

FANTASTIC MR. FOX is ostensibly a Roald Dahl adaptation, but more than anything it's a different canvas for director Wes Anderson for expressing his fixations. Anderson's films have always felt handcrafted, so going into the stop-motion animated realm for the funny and bittersweet tale of a restless, middle-aged fox is a natural, if unexpected, extension of his way of doing things.

GOODBYE SOLO (Rahmin Bahrani, 2008)

Ramin Bahrani spotlights people and places who exist in the background or who aren't given much consideration. With GOODBYE SOLO, his third neorealism-steeped feature film, he again proves his ability to suss out meaningful stories about the invisible in American society. The developing relationship between a Senegalese immigrant taxi driver in North Carolina and his likely suicidal customer gains quiet power as Bahrani illuminates their lives and attitudes. Souleymane Sy Savane's charismatic performance as the amiable cabbie Solo adds deeply human and heartfelt qualities in the face of a stranger's immense sadness.

GOOD HAIR (Jeff Stilson, 2009)

Chris Rock leads the way in this highly entertaining, funny, informative, and surprising documentary about African-American women and their hair. The humor and discussion about beauty standards and self-image make GOOD HAIR plenty worthwhile even for those for whom it isn't the cultural eye-opener like it is for me.

LORNA'S SILENCE (LE SILENCE DE LORNA) (Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, 2008)

The social consciousness of the Dardenne brothers probably gets in the way of their work being conventionally considered as thrillers, but these masters of economical storytelling invest their films with a strong degree of nail-biting suspense and genuinely uncertain outcomes. LORNA'S SILENCE follows an Albanian woman in a short-term marriage of convenience to attain Belgian citizenship and enough cash to start her own restaurant. Finalizing the end of the deal proves to be pretty distasteful, even for the complicated and highly compromised Lorna. The Dardennes tell the character's tough and heartwrenching story to make points about immigration and human trafficking, but viewed merely as a straightforward thriller, it's pretty harrowing stuff.

MOON (Duncan Jones, 2009)

MOON is practically a one man show for star Sam Rockwell, who plays a solitary worker on a lunar mining base nearing the end of his assignment. His stellar performance and the striking visual sense of first-time feature director Duncan Jones give this science fiction mindbender to explore as it floats along in a most peculiar way.

MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE (Werner Herzog, 2009)

2009 was a good year for fans of director Werner Herzog. The deranged THE BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL - NEW ORLEANS and its out there Nicolas Cage performance stirred online buzz, but the less talked about MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE was the slightly better and more consistent effort. Loosely based on a real incident, this hypnotic, disturbing, and yet weirdly funny film about a San Diego man who kills his mother with a sword features a compelling lead performance by Michael Shannon. As usual Herzog's interests are not in understanding or explaining the behavior but in studying the bizarre lengths people will go to in trying to achieve their self-identified purposes.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (Oren Peli, 2007)

The makers of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY understand that the most frightening things are what we imagine but can't see. Writer-director Oren Peli uses the limitations of a single location and low budget to his supreme advantage. The mental wear and tear of living in a stressful place and an increasingly tense relationship is played beautifully by Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat. Since we observe everything through their eyes, the believable, lived in performances build the fear factor in things that go bump in the night and their fraying interpersonal connection.

THE ROAD (John Hillcoat, 2009)

Adapted from the Cormac McCarthy novel, THE ROAD is a haunting portrait of what it means to be a parent. Clearly the stakes are exaggerated and raised in this nightmarish, post-apocalyptic world, but the underlying sentiment holds true. Keeping one's child safe in a world full of harm can be the most terrifying endeavor for any adult. Viggo Mortensen delivers a fierce (and practically feral) performance, and director John Hillcoat evokes a hostile atmosphere whose stern, gray beauty makes common kindness stand out in sharp relief.

SITA SINGS THE BLUES (Nina Paley, 2008)

The dazzling SITA SINGS THE BLUES finds animator Nina Paley turning to an ancient Hindu text for assistance and insight into her current romantic troubles. Paley's study of how old religious parables are shaped and can be applied in contemporary life is invigorating and playful in its intellectual wrestling and creative solutions. Reinterpreting a story thousands of years old through Annette Hanshaw's jazz recordings from the 1920s and the filmmaker's autobiographical struggles ties together how vexing love can be no matter the time.

STAR TREK (J.J. Abrams, 2009)

Rebooting a decades-old franchise doesn't get more pleasurable than J.J. Abrams' rejuvenation of STAR TREK. Abrams accomplishes what might have seemed practically impossible: making an affectionate and knowing tribute that satisfies and flatters longtime, hardcore fans while putting a fresh spin on the mythology that is an easily accessible gateway for newcomers and casual viewers. This version of STAR TREK may not be as contemplative as its predecessors, but the 2009 entry is a funny and exciting piece of cinema that shows what summer event movies can be when at their best.

SUGAR (Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, 2008)

SUGAR provides an absorbing look at the Dominican Republic's baseball pipeline, a system that significantly impacts the game yet is largely unfamiliar to fans. The film delivers a potent reminder of off-the-field challenges that affect performance on the field. Athletes aren't robots, and this humanizing examination of one immigrant's quest grants greater appreciation for what must be overcome to even have a chance to succeed.

UP IN THE AIR (Jason Reitman, 2009)

UP IN THE AIR has been lauded for being very of the moment in its treatment of massive corporate layoffs, but where it truly shines--and what will give it more staying power through the years--is how it details the importance of a personal touch over more convenient but impersonal technological solutions. Director and co-writer Jason Reitman demonstrates these values and does his best work to date with a solidly crafted film whose greatest resource is its actors. George Clooney, Anna Kendrick, and Vera Farmiga are terrific playing characters confronted with the choices they've made regarding how to lead their lives.

YOU, THE LIVING (DU LEVANDE) (Roy Andersson, 2007)

Swedish director Roy Andersson follows up his 2000 surrealist comedy SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR (SÅNGER FRÅN ANDRA VÅNINGEN) with more darkly humorous sketches about the dilemmas of human existence. Laughs catch in the throat, although this time a bit more optimism underlies the drollness and Scandinavian emotional coolness. Andersson favors gorgeous, deep focus compositions that establish scenes in which the jokes trickle out in unbroken shots. The meticulous craftsmanship and impeccable timing in YOU, THE LIVING show an artist in full command of his distinctive voice.

2008 in Film: The Honorable Mentions

4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS (4 LUNI, 3 SAPTAMÂANI SI 2 ZILE) (Cristian Mungiu, 2007)

Without a doubt this devastating portrait of a woman looking to get an illegal abortion in Romania during the 1980s is difficult to watch. Anamaria Marinca's searing performance anchors writer-director Cristian Mungiu's unblinking film, which confronts those on both sides of the issue with tough questions about personal freedom and legislated morality.

BE KIND REWIND (Michel Gondry, 2008)

Writer-director Michel Gondry sprinkles his affection for childlike imagination and handcrafted art throughout BE KIND REWIND, a fun and funny goof on backyard moviemaking. Gondry's intent is not to mock crude, no-budget creations but rather to pay tribute to the artistic spirit freed from commercial aspirations and demands. It's filmmaking as joyful activity and expression instead of a box office competition.

BLINDNESS (Fernando Meirelles, 2008)

Short of putting nothing but white on the screen, the desaturated visual conceit, which emphasizes white and gives the disorienting sensation of limited sight, is as close as the audience can get to experiencing what the characters in BLINDNESS live. Director Fernando Meirelles presents a grim vision of societal breakdown and a survival situation in which most people are susceptible to their worst impulses, but the dynamic style makes the unpleasant content more palatable.

ELEGY (Isabel Coixet, 2008)

Ben Kingsley's commitment-phobic college professor falls harder than he thought possible for Penelope Cruz as his younger student in this moving study of love and aging. Kingsley brings out the complexity in a man whose intellectual curiosity is matched only by his disinterest in deeply knowing the women he beds, but it's Cruz's performance, which transcends the object of desire role, that brings meaning to ELEGY.

ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD (Werner Herzog, 2007)

The title of Werner Herzog's documentary refers to his experiences while visiting Antarctica and ruminations on the planet's demise. In ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD Herzog alternates between astonishment and curiosity at the weird and wonderful people, creatures, and landscapes he sees and resignation about the potential for mankind to ruin it all. On the whole the nature footage is impressive, but the strange, beautiful world revealed in the underwater photography is so stunning that it produces feelings of rapture.

IRON MAN (Jon Favreau, 2008)

Director Jon Favreau populates IRON MAN with actors more accustomed to prestige pictures than summer blockbusters, but the choices pay off with richer performances across the board. Quick with a quip and projecting a reckless air, Robert Downey Jr. is perfect as an intelligent and wealthy ladies' man with self-destructive impulses. His low-key line readings bring a lot of humor to his interactions with his human and robot counterparts. As Stark's loyal assistant Pepper Potts, Gwyneth Paltrow lends quiet grace and value to what might otherwise have been an unremarkable Girl Friday part. Favreau forges a strong film through the combination of character development and comedy with the explosions and impressive special effects expected during the the big movie season.

MILK (Gus Van Sant, 2008)

Biographical films can feel like museum pieces, but Gus Van Sant's blending of archival footage and meticulous period recreation in MILK brings to life a vibrant community ready to boil over from the pressure put upon them. As a case study of political mobilization, MILK provides an intriguing look inside one man's conquering of the system. While the director puts his distinctive stamp on the material, MILK is an actor's picture. Penn's riveting performance captures Milk's complexity. Milk never apologizes for who he is, and it's Penn's looseness in the role that rounds out his acting and allows him to inhabit the character rather than impersonate the man.

THE ORDER OF MYTHS (Margaret Brown, 2008)

For all of the grand statements about what the election of Barack Obama means about current racial attitudes in America, THE ORDER OF MYTHS provides an example of one practice that shows how much work remains. This documentary about Mobile, Alabama's still-segregated Mardi Gras celebrations examines how people hold onto traditions. Director Margaret Brown resists playing gotcha as she challenges those who prefer to cling to mindsets that value the past while destroying the present and future.

PARANOID PARK (Gus Van Sant, 2007)

Merging his experimental impulses with a more accessible story (or at least something with the semblance of a plot), Gus Van Sant and cinematographer Christopher Doyle paint the inner life of a teenage skateboarder in the grays and blues of confusion, guilt, and alienation. Where MILK found the director focusing on a man attempting to be larger than himself, PARANOID PARK stares at a kid who finds himself wishing he could be so small as to be invisible.

PRICELESS (HORS DE PRIX) (Pierre Salvadori, 2006)

Audrey Tautou sparkles as a gold digger teaching Gad Elmaleh the ways of seduction for profit in PRICELESS. Although more risque than classic Hollywood romantic comedies, this French charmer is a throwback to glamour, graceful physical comedy, and sexually-charged battle of wits.

REDBELT (David Mamet, 2008)

Mixed martial arts and David Mamet may not seem made for each other, but both concentrate on hitting hard, whether with hands and feet or words. Physical and verbal combat come into play in the twisty tale of an honorable jiujitsu instructor played by Chiwitel Ejiofor. The venue may seem an unlikely one for Mamet, but it's an apt setting for the corrupting influene of commercialism upon art and principle.

SNOW ANGELS (David Gordon Green, 2007)

Although the interweaving stories of burgeoning and disintegrating love in SNOW ANGELS display trappings of suburban hell films, writer-director David Gordon Green embraces the characters in his rurally located movie rather than keeping them at arm's length with snarkiness and irony. Viewing these often unlikeable people with empathy, and sometimes humor, instead of judgment and condescension makes all the difference in what could have otherwise been a miserabilist tour of a rocky relationship landscape. In retracing the steps that led to tragedy, Green and lead actor Sam Rockwell provide the context rarely found in news reports or fictional films about common misfortunes. SNOW ANGELS can painfully burrow into one's heart, but such is the cost of empathy, or any human connection for that matter.

TELL NO ONE (NE LE DIS À PERSONNE) (Guillame Canet, 2006)

Films in the Hitchcock mold one of my favorite things, and this French suspense movie does not disappoint. Well-acted by François Cluzet as the prototypical "wrong man", a doctor suspected of murdering his wife and possibly others, and smoothly directed by Guillaume Canet, TELL NO ONE artfully delivers pulpy thrills.

THE WRESTLER (Darren Aronofsky, 2008)

While director Darren Aronofsky and screenwriter Robert Siegel's tour of the small-time wrestling circuit is enlightening, THE WRESTLER'S greater value comes as a portrait of aging via Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei's powerhouse performances. Rourke wears the physical and emotional scars of a man beaten for a living who continues to revel in what he does. Rourke's portrayal of the titular wrestler peels back the qualities people like about the character beyond his signature move. Tomei's naked performance, in every sense of the word, demonstrates how her fortysomething stripper is in charge of what she does yet ultimately draws her worth from the eyes of strangers. Both characters are sacrifices who give themselves up for the pleasure of others. Randy isn't nicknamed The Ram for nothing. Through the moving and observant performances, THE WRESTLER pins down the human cost of these professions.

2007 in Film: The Honorable Mentions

2 DAYS IN PARIS (Julie Delpy, 2007)

Among her many credits on the film, Julie Delpy writes, directs, and stars in this charming romantic comedy that brings the verbal wit and intelligence of BEFORE SUNSET to a MEET THE PARENTS scenario. Playful and philosophical, 2 DAYS IN PARIS is a nice antidote to its dunderheaded cinematic brethren.

28 WEEKS LATER (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007)

A tense and terrifying trip through a chaotic urban environment, 28 WEEKS LATER is Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's respectable follow-up to Danny's Boyle's 28 DAYS LATER (which made my 2003 honorable mentions). The rage virus that ravaged London is believed to have been eradicated, so the city begins to be repopulated. The characters and audience are forced into reactive mode when faced with sensory bombardment, creating palpable fear in one of 2007's scariest movies.

AFTER THE WEDDING (EFTER BRYLLUPPET) (Susanne Bier, 2006)

AFTER THE WEDDING'S anguished portrait of family, charity, and mortality peels back layers in the characters that defy their easy categorization. Director Susanne Bier takes a soap opera plot and wrings every last ounce of human emotion out of it. What good is charity to others if none exists for those who are closest? The film's invitation to look closer doesn't challenge what's on the surface so much as it searches for core truths.

AIR GUITAR NATION (Alexandra Lipsitz, 2006)

Bringing pretend rocking out of the bedroom and onto the world stage, AIR GUITAR NATION follows the search for the United States' initial ambassador of air. This very funny documentary should get audiences strumming along on their own air guitars and flashing devil horns in support of these masters of mock rock.

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (Andew Dominik, 2007)

Andrew Dominik's deconstruction of celebrity creation and worship features a stunning performance by Casey Affleck as the unlikely killer of the famous outlaw.

CONTROL (Anton Corbijn, 2007)

Electrifying musical performance scenes and Sam Riley's riveting star turn sear the screen in the biopic of Joy Division's Ian Curtis. CONTROL'S uniqueness comes through in its moody and ordinary portrait of a rock legend.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON (David Sington, 2007)

NASA's Apollo missions are remembered in a breathtaking documentary that reminds us how amazing manned space travel is.

LARS AND THE REAL GIRL (Craig Gillespie, 2007)

This comedy about a man and his life-size sex doll isn't as outrageous as it sounds in concept. LARS AND THE REAL GIRL could have felt overly precious, like a cheap stunt or joke, but the emotional depth and warmth make this quirky regional character study anything but plastic.

THE LIVES OF OTHERS (DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN) (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)

As a Cold War thriller about the East German secret police, THE LIVES OF OTHERS is gripping stuff replete with the nuts and bolts of all-encompassing surveillance. It's greater impact, though, is as a character study of the spy and those spied upon.

MY KID COULD PAINT THAT (Amir Bar-Lev, 2007)

A four-year-old girl's abstract paintings make her the darling of the art world in the intriguing documentary MY KID COULD PAINT THAT. Although the film is about this particular case and whether or not it is a hoax, it wrestles with the larger question of what makes something art and how important extra-textual considerations factor into the evaluation.

NO END IN SIGHT (Charles Ferguson, 2007)

About the last thing I wanted to see in 2007 was yet another documentary about the war in Iraq, but Charles Ferguson's film features the kind of objective journalism sorely missing in the national debate.

PARIS, JE T'AIME (22 directors, 2006)

Gus Van Sant and Joel and Ethan Coen contribute some of the best shorts in this omnibus film about the neighborhoods of Paris. With twenty segments, there will inevitably be a few less successful pieces, but the good easily outnumber the mediocre. Alexander Payne's "14th arrondissement" may be the best work he's ever done.

RESCUE DAWN (Werner Herzog, 2006)

In RESCUE DAWN Christian Bale gives himself over completely to his performance as Dieter Dengler, a U.S. fighter pilot held as a prisoner of war by the Laotians during the Vietnam War. Director Werner Herzog is drawn to obsessives--in fact, he told this story before in the documentary LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY--and he tells this tale of escape with the verve and visual flair expected of him.

THE SAVAGES (Tamara Jenkins, 2007)

Finding the proper care for a parent with declining health is never easy. It's especially difficult when the father in question has been estranged from the siblings now tasked to make arrangements for him. Tamara Jenkins' THE SAVAGES locates the humor and heart in a situation where those qualities are badly needed but hard to see. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney excel as the brother and sister who want to do right by their dad but also wish to have the circumstances not interfere with their lives.

SUPERBAD (Greg Mottola, 2007)

Relentlessly crude teen comedies aren't usually the stuff of best films lists, but the raunchy SUPERBAD distinguishes itself with clever wordplay and a keen understanding of high school male friendships. With SUPERBAD and JUNO, Michael Cera builds upon the comedic chops he first showed on ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. Jonah Hill is hilarious as his vulgar pal. But it's newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse who runs away with the movie as McLovin, a geeky, would-be Casanova.

WAITRESS (Adrienne Shelly, 2007)

Keri Russell shines in this sweet and funny tale about a woman seeking a fresh start. One of the film's happy surprises is Andy Griffith stealing his scenes as the curmudgeonly diner owner. Russell's character has to make the best of a bad situation, something those involved with WAITRESS had to do in light of the murder of Adrienne Shelly, who wrote and directed the film and played a supporting character in it.

ZODIAC (David Fincher, 2007)

Based on the unsolved case, the decades-spanning ZODIAC documents the intensive search for a killer who haunted Bay Area citizens and taunted authorities with promises of unpreventable future murders. In a year littered with the corpses of films that tackled the war in Iraq, this was the movie that best expressed life in a post-9/11 environment.

Festival prizes

Some other crumbs from the moviegoing year...

-THE BOTHERSOME MAN (DEN BRYSOMME MANNEN) (Jens Lien, 2006)
-COLD PREY (FRITT VILT) (Roar Uthaug, 2006)
-REPRISE (Joachim Trier, 2006)
-SONS (SØNNER) (Erik Richter Strand, 2006)

This four-pack of Norwegian films at the Cleveland International Film Festival probably didn't come anywhere near you, but collectively they were among the best entries I saw at the fest.

-A MAP FOR SATURDAY (Brook Silva-Braga, 2007)

This documentary about solo backpacking around the world could be seen as a counterpoint to INTO THE WILD. Brook Silva-Braga, the film's director and subject, discovers the joy and loneliness that come in going on a worldwide adventure on your own.