20. Children of Men
Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men is one of two great science fiction films of the decade (the other one is coming up). The opening scene, in which our hero Theo (Clive Owen) learns that the last child born on the planet has died before nearly escaping a terrorist bombing, is among the best pre-credit sequences of any film. The merits of that scene alone could have set the film up for failure (after all, if your opening scene is classic, where do you go from there?) but the film continues on like a train to hell, stopping to pick up passengers on the way.
The picture is dark and relentless. This is a world without hope. Civilization is aware it is on the brink of extinction, and there is nothing they can do about it. London is one of the only habitable countries on Earth, war and destruction has destroyed most other countries- including the United States. Theo learns from his ex lover Julian (Julianne Moore) that there may be hope. Theo joins her and discovers Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey) a young girl that just happens to be pregnant.
From this realization onward the plot is more or less a MacGuffin intended to set up one sensational sequence after another. Cuaron has created an utterly realistic world- this could quite possibly be what ours would look like in the end times. Characters have no motivation but a quick death, and some even want the apocalypse to come for religious reasons. Using a variety of filmmaking techniques, Cuaron directs Children of Men almost like a war epic. Characters flee from gunfire in long tracking shots, without cuts. It is all there, all real on the screen. This is one of the most technically solid films ever made. If you are a fan of hard science-fiction, you must see this movie.
19. 4 Months, 3 weeks, 2 days
There are few performances better than that of Anamaria Marinca as Otilia in 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days. Her performance is one of the most naturalistic I have ever seen. This is a great film about a harrowing subject- a black market abortion in communist Romania in the late 1980's. There is not a false note on any performances or the writing; every act in this film is within the scope of each character. This is not necessarily a film I want to revisit repeatedly due to the subject matter- but that does not mean it is not great. The Cannes Film Festival awarded 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days with the prestigious Palm D'or.
Technically, the film is astounding. Entire sequences play on without the slightest cut. There is a dinner sequence in the middle of the film that lasts for nearly 20 minutes. Otilia has left her friend at a hotel. Her friend has just had an abortion by an evil man that also virtually raped both women out of coercision. Otilia is forced to leave her friend to meet her boyfriends parents. From the moment she sits down to the time she gets up from the dinner table, over fifteen minutes have passed. There are no cuts, it is all done in one take, with nearly 8 actors in the scene. This is not only masterful filmaking, but outstanding acting as well. The entire time the camera is focused on Marinca, as she twitches and ticks- knowing her friend may be dying.
The political subtext of the picture is also profound. The film is not overtly political, but the subtext is. Abortion is illegal in the communist state, but so are many other things. We see glances of Otilia buying black market cigarettes, and she is forced to go into a field of study she has no interest in just to prevent herself from being forced to go to a work farm for women. In the end, this may be the one of the most feminist movies of all time. It shows the strengths, as well as the terror of independence.
18. Inglourious Basterds
Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino’s best film since Pulp Fiction, takes place in an alternate reality. It changes American history by rewriting the ending to World War II. Some critics and viewers have been vocal about this, going as far as to call the film sacrilegious. I say that, unless a movie is a documentary, it is always a work of fiction. It ends on the screen. That being said, if the characters in Inglorious Basterds were real, the war very well may have ended the way it does in the film.
This is bold, electrifying filmmaking. Tarantino has never made a bad picture, but here hey surpasses himself. There are sequences here that work on so many levels that entire film class lectures could be given about them.
Take for example, the opening sequence. A dairy farmer (Denis Menochet) is harboring Jews by hiding them under his floorboards. Col. Hans Landa (the magnificent Christoph Waltz) knows that they are there, but insists on conversing with the farmer anyway. They switch freely back and forth between English and French, and at two points the characters decide to light their respective pipes. The farmer has a corn-cob pipe, the colonel has a pipe that looks like the end of a mighty Nazi trumpet. It is in moments like this that we perk up and smile, knowing we are in a world that could only be crafted by Tarantino.
The performances are all larger than life. Waltz’s Col. Landa is the best of the lot, but Brad Pitt and Melanie Laurent also shine. Pitt in particular, gives an incredibly skilled comedic performance as Lt. Aldo Raine, and his opening sequence is as beautiful as anything in Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. We love these characters, even the evil ones. We know Tarantino is having a good time- after all, we are.
17. Donnie Darko
There have been very few directorial debuts as ambitions as Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko. The film is a wonderland of metaphysics, in which time traveling bunnies (at least, characters in bunny outfits) are harbingers of doom.
Donnie (Jake Gylenhaal) has emotional problems. He is struggling to fit in at school and resents being the middle child in the family. He seems to live in a nice home and his parents seem to love him very much, but Donnie is still angry and frightened for what’s to come. Things don’t get any better once he starts seeing Frank (James Duval), a six foot tall, creepy as hell bunny that tells him the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. From this point on Donnie just doesn’t know what to do with himself. He draws inward, but Frank will just simply not stop showing him things.
I will stop there. To spoil the pleasure of seeing Donnie Darko for the first time would be a sin. I will simply say that it is an experience that you need to stay awake through. I would advise you take some notes while watching with a friend. You will want to compare them when it is over.
16. Mulholland Dr.
To this day I still don't know what the hell David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. is about. I just know that it is mesmerizing. It is like a giant puzzle, I know that somewhere, somehow the pieces are supposed to go together, but for some reason I just can’t get them to fit.
This is a discussion piece if there ever has been one. Different people come up with different theories about the film. The only thing I was able to figure out was that Betty (Naomi Watts) is actually Rita (Laura Elena Harring), and that once the box is opened everything begins to change. But was everything already altered from previous acts in the film? And, who in the hell was behind that dumpster? These questions are maddening. All I know is that Lynch is either purely genius or purely psychotic, either way he has made a hypnotic film.
The DVD case gives some clues to uncovering the film’s mystery:
- Pay particular attention in the beginning of the film: At least two clues are revealed before the credits.
- Notice appearances of the red lampshade.
- Can you hear the title of the film that Adam Kesher is auditioning actresses for? Is it mentioned again?
- An accident is a terrible event — notice the location of the accident.
- Who gives a key, and why?
- Notice the robe, the ashtray, the coffee cup.
- What is felt, realized, and gathered at the Club Silencio?
- Did talent alone help Camilla?
- Note the occurrences surrounding the man behind Winkie's.
- Where is Aunt Ruth?
Yeah. I still can’t figure it out. Who cares? This is one dizzying, magnificent movie. The entire film plays like a dream. I have seen it probably six times and each time I watch it I peel back a layer- like an onion. The world of the movie rests on the tortoise, get rid of one tortoise and there is another. It is just turtles, all the way down.
