2002--The Year in Review

2002 now feels like a signpost to a downturn in film quality. Even amongst my top ten, I feel a needling lack of real adoration for most of the titles--few of them are spirited as such. But I was convinced of the worth of my top pick--Far From Heaven, Todd Hayne's autumnal, visually rich love letter to Douglas Sirk melodramas--after repeated reviewings clued me into its wise, firm yet somehow gentile commentary on present-day bigotry, misunderstanding and outreach. I find myself moved so deeply by this empathetic film, led by Julianne Moore in a delicate performance that tips its bonnet to 50s-era acting while seasoning it ever so slightly with modern nuances (along with the film's almost Technicolor look, the supporting performances from Dennis Haysbert, Dennis Quaid, and Patricia Clarkson are major pluses; the same goes for its lush score by Elmer Bernstein). Initially, I was pulling for Aleksandr Sokurov's Russian Ark, a dazzling, seemingly impossible one-shot tour through Russian history via a rambling jaunt through the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersberg, but I realize it has a certain inevitable chilliness about it so I had to go another way (though, I'm sure if you happen to be Russian, it's a more remarkable achievement). Still, on a visual and emotional level alone, it's an unforgettable work.

Mike Leigh's All or Nothing was a possibility, but it's an unrelentingly depressing tale--even more so than your average Leigh film--requiring nearly intolerable patience from its audience. Still, it might be the film with the year's best acting, led by Leigh regular Timothy Spall as an overweight London cab driver whose family is falling apart before his lidded eyes (I still find it astonishing that the young man who plays his detached, hateful son is James Corden, now a superstar on American TV). And, for Supporting Actor, I was compelled to give the top spot to a still unsung character actor, Noah Taylor, who delivered a searing portrait of the young Adolph Hitler as a failed artist looking for his voice. As for Supporting Actress, it was a forgone conclusion that Catherine Zeta Jones would land on top with her well-toned vamp Velma Kelly in Rob Marshall's heavily-Bob Fosse-influenced adaptation of Fosse's hit stage musical Chicago (its major asset is that it gets the Fosse touch down right, and for that reason alone, I was happy to see it win Best Picture). There are a lot of movie I like this year--Brazilian street crime story City of God, Spielberg's immensely entertaining Catch Me If You Can, The Pianist (which surprised at the Oscars that year, winning for it screenplay, Roman Polanski direction and for Adrian Brody's daring lead), P.T. Anderson's nearly psychedelic Punch-Drunk Love, Spike Lee's stark post-9/11 character study 25th Hour, Spike Jonze's mindbending metafest Adaptation, and Jim Sheridan's achingly moving immigrant drama In America. But I'd be lying if I said these were movies for the ages (though I'd recommend them all, and more on the following list). Say what you will, but this is an off year, folks. NOTE: These are MY choices for each category, and are only occasionally reflective of the selections made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka The Oscars). When available, the nominee that actually won the Oscar will be highlighted in bold

PICTURE: FAR FROM HEAVEN (US, Todd Haynes)
(2nd: Russian Ark (Russia/Germany, Aleksandr Sokurov)
followed by: All or Nothing (UK, Mike Leigh)
City of God (Brazil, Fernando Meirelles)
Catch Me If You Can (US, Steven Spielberg)
The Pianist (France/Poland/Germany/ UK, Roman Polanski)
Chicago (US, Rob Marshall)
Punch-Drunk Love (US, Paul Thomas Anderson)
25^th Hour (US, Spike Lee)
Adaptation (US, Spike Jonze)
To Be or To Have (France, Nicolas Philibert)
In America (US, Jim Sheridan)
Max (US, Menno Meyjes)
Femme Fatale (US, Brian De Palma)
8 Women (France, Francois Ozon)
Signs (US, M. Night Shymalan)
Spider (Canada/UK, David Cronenberg)
Bus 174 (Brazil, Jose Padilha)
Talk to Her (Spain, Pedro Almodóvar)
About Schmidt (US, Alexander Payne)
The Hours (US/UK, Stephen Daldry)
Dirty Pretty Things (UK, Stephen Frears)
Minority Report (US, Steven Spielberg)
The Son (France, Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne)
The Good Girl (US, Miguel Arteta)
Morvern Callar (UK, Lynne Ramsay)
Stevie (US, Steve James)
Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (US, Richard R. Perez and Joan Sekler)
Broadway: The Golden Age (US, Rick McKay)
The Magdalene Sisters (Ireland, Peter Mullan)
Bloody Sunday (UK/Ireland, Paul Greengrass)
Road to Perdition (US, Sam Mendes)
Cremaster 2 (US, Matthew Barney)
Spellbound (US, Jeffrey Blitz)
Hero (China, Zhang Yimou)
Phone Booth (US, Joel Schumacher)
The Gathering Storm (US/UK, Richard Loncraine)
Demonlover (France, Olivier Assayas)
8 Mile (US, Curtis Hanson)
The Weather Underground (US, Sam Green and Bill Siegel)
Unfaithful (US, Adrian Lyne)
Gangs of New York (US, Martin Scorsese)
Changing Lanes (US, Roger Mitchell)
Good Humor: The Movie (US, Stephen Neave)
Champion Blues (US, Alethea Rodgers)
Rabbit Proof Fence (Australia, Philip Noyce)
Hukkle (Hungary, Gyorgy Palfi)
Frailty (US, Bill Paxton)
Freida (US, Julie Taymor)
Whale Rider (New Zealand, Niki Caro)
The Kid Stays in the Picture (US, Nanette Burstein and Bret Morgan)
Insomnia (US, Christopher Nolan)
One Hour Photo (US, Mark Romanek)
About a Boy (US, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz)
Respiro (Italy, Emanuele Crialese)
28 Days Later (UK, Danny Boyle)
Secretary (US, Steven Shainberg)
Solaris (US, Steven Soderburgh)
Bowling for Columbine (US, Michael Moore)
Lilo and Stitch (US, Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (US/New Zealand, Peter Jackson)
Lost in La Mancha (UK/US, Terry Gilliam)
Sunshine State (US, John Sayles)
Bubba Ho-Tep (US, Don Coscarelli)
Narc (US, Joe Carnahan)
Spider-Man (US, Sam Raimi)
The Quiet American (US, Philip Noyce)
24-Hour Party People (UK, Michael Winterbottom)
Igby Goes Down (US, Burr Steers)
Ice Age (US, Chris Wedge)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (US, George Clooney)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (US/UK, Chris Columbus)
Irreversible (France, Gaspar Noé))

ACTOR: Adrian Brody, THE PIANIST (2nd: Nicholas Cage, Adaptation, followed by: Jack Nicholson, About Schmidt; Timothy Spall, All or Nothing; Ralph Fiennes, Spider; Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York; Edward Norton, 25th Hour; Leonardo DiCaprio, Catch Me If You Can)

ACTRESS: Julianne Moore, FAR FROM HEAVEN (2nd: Leslie Manville, All or Nothing, followed by: Jennifer Aniston, The Good Girl; Diane Lane, Unfaithful; Samantha Morton, In America; Samantha Morton, Morvern Callar; Nicole Kidman, The Hours; Renee Zellweger, Chicago)

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Noah Taylor, MAX (2nd: Chris Cooper, Adaptation, followed by: Christopher Walken, Catch Me If You Can; Dennis Haysbert, Far From Heaven; Ed Harris, The Hours; Dennis Quaid, Far From Heaven; Djimon Honsou, In America; John C. Reilly, Chicago)



SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Catherine Zeta Jones, CHICAGO (2nd: Sara Bolger, In America, followed by: Julianne Moore, The Hours; Meryl Streep, Adaptation; Ludivine Sagnier, 8 Women; Amy Adams, Catch Me If You Can; Kathy Bates, About Schmidt; Zooey Deschanel, The Good Girl)



DIRECTOR: Todd Haynes, FAR FROM HEAVEN (2nd: Aleksandr Sokurov, Russian Ark, followed by: Mike Leigh, All or Nothing; Fernando Meirelles, City of God; Steven Spielberg, Catch Me If You Can; Roman Polanski, The Pianist; Paul Thomas Anderson, Punch-Drunk Love; Spike Lee, 25th Hour)

NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM: RUSSIAN ARK (Russia, Aleksandr Sokurov) (2nd: City of God (Brazil, Fernando Meirelles); To Be or To Have (France, Nicolas Philibert); 8 Women (France, Francois Ozon); Bus 174 (Brazil, Jose Padilha); Talk to Her (Spain, Pedro Almodóvar); The Son (France, Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne); Hero (China, Zhang Yimou); Demonlover (France, Olivier Assayas); Hukkle (Hungary, Gyorgy Palfi); Respiro (Italy, Emanuele Crialese))

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: TO BE AND TO HAVE (France, Nicholas Philibert) (2nd: Bus 174 (Brazil, Felipe Lacerda and Jose Padilha), followed by: Stevie (US, Steve James); Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (US, Richard R. Perez and Joan Sekler); Broadway: The Golden Age (US, Rick McKay); Spellbound (US, Jeffery Blitz); The Weather Underground (US, Sam Green and Bill Siegel); Champion Blues (US, Alethea Rodgers); The Kid Stays in the Picture (US, Nanette Burstein and Bret Morgan); Bowling for Columbine (US, Michael Moore); Lost in La Mancha (UK/US, Terry Gilliam))

ANIMATED FEATURE: LILO AND STITCH (US, Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders) (2nd: Ice Age (US, Chris Wedge))

LIVE ACTION SHORT: BORN IN BEIRUT (Lebanon, Liliane Matta) (2nd: Fater (US, Danny Meltzer), followed by: Twin Towers (US, Bill Guttentag and Robert David Port; won as Best Documentary Short); That Fateful Day (US, Eric Forrest); All Power to Imagination (Russia, Mehdi Zizi))



ANIMATED SHORT: ABLUTION (US, Eric Patrick) (2nd: Friction (Germany, Robert Ellmann), followed by: Das Rad (Germany, Chris Stenner, Arvid Uibel, and Heidi Wittlinger))



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan, and Kirsten Sheridan, IN AMERICA (2nd: Mike Leigh, All or Nothing, followed by: Todd Haynes, Far From Heaven; Pedro Almodovar, Talk to Her; Steven Knight, Dirty Pretty Things)



ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Charlie (and Donald?) Kaufman, ADAPTATION (2nd: Ronald Harwood, The Pianist, followed by: Jeff Nathanson, Catch Me If You Can; David Benioff, 25th Hour; Braulio Mantovani, City of God)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Ed Lachman, FAR FROM HEAVEN (2nd: Tilman Butler, Russian Ark, followed by: Conrad Hall, Road to Perdition; Dion Beebe, Chicago; Robert Elswit, Punch-Drunk Love)

ART DIRECTION: GANGS OF NEW YORK, Far From Heaven, Chicago, Solaris, Minority Report

COSTUME DESIGN: RUSSIAN ARK, Far From Heaven, Gangs of New York, Chicago, 8 Women 



FILM EDITING: CHICAGO, City of God, Catch Me If You Can, The Pianist, Adaptation

SOUND: CHICAGO, Minority Report, Gangs of New York, Road to Perdition, Signs

SOUND EFFECTS: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, Gangs of New York, Minority Report



ORIGINAL SCORE: Elmer Bernstein, FAR FROM HEAVEN (2nd: John Williams, Catch Me If You Can, followed by: Philip Glass, The Hours; Elliott Goldenthal, Frida; James Newton Howard, Signs)

ADAPTATION SCORE/SCORING OF A MUSICAL: Danny Elfman, Doug Besterman and Steve Bartek, CHICAGO (2nd: Amelie de Chassey, 8 Women)



ORIGINAL SONG: “Time Enough For Tears“ from IN AMERICA (Music and lyrics by Bono, Gavin Friday, and Maurice Seezer) (2nd: “Lose Yourself” from 8 Mile (Music by Eminem, Jeff Bass and Luis Resto, lyrics by Eminem), followed by: "Father and Daughter" from The Wild Thornberrys Movie (Music and lyrics by Paul Simon); “Burn It Blue” from Frida (Music by Elliott Goldenthal, lyrics by Julie Taymor); “Pour Ne Pas Vivre Seul“ from 8 Women (Music and lyrics by Daniel Faure))

SPECIAL EFFECTS: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, Minority Report, Spider-Man

MAKEUP: RUSSIAN ARK, Chicago, Gangs of New York

SIDE ORDERS #8

For this edition of the video roundup I call SIDE ORDERS, I've again fallen back on my love for the marriage of movies and music:

The single best trailer this year was for Michael Haneke's stunning shot-by-shot remake of his 1990s classic Funny Games. This has the drive and flavor of a trailer for one of Kubrick's movies, right down to the choice of music, graphics, and shots. Alone, by itself, this trailer is a damn rocketship that DEMANDS you see Haneke's disturbing indictment of his own viewers as slavishly thirsty consumers of movie violence.


I loved Chicago when I first saw it in 2002, but subsequent viewings have left me sometimes resentful that director Rob Marshall cribbed so much glitter from the directorial stylings of Bob Fosse (who deserves an article all his own on filmicability soon). Fosse's sadly short film directorial career included only five films: 1969's Sweet Charity, 1972's Cabaret (1972 was the year Fosse became the only director in history to win the Oscar, the Tony and the Emmy in one year--a entertainment feat that the world will not ever see matched), 1974's Lenny, 1979's All That Jazz, and 1983's Star 80. On stage, he was behind the choreography and often the direction of such titles as The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Sweet Charity, Pippin (a version of this starring Ben Vereen, William Katt, Martha Raye and Chita Rivera is still available on DVD and is worth searching out), Dancin', Chicago, and Big Deal (I was lucky enough to see the latter on Broadway while Fosse was still alive--it was actually the first Broadway musical I ever saw, and I loved it, even if it wasn't critically embraced.)

Fosse himself should have directed Chicago on film, but fate had different plans--he died in 1987 at age 60. Still, if one were to look for the director nowadays who do the best Fosse imitation, one would have to stop at Marshall. Studied in every detail, Chicago is very much a Bob Fosse film that's been channeled through the adoring hands of a fan (Marshall even dedicated the film to Fosse and credited him with the choreography). The legendary director's presence can be sensed most egregiously in the nearly climactic number "They Both Reached For The Gun," which follows lawyer Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) as he manipulates both the statements of his murderous client Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) and the snarlings of the Windy City's rabid maddog press. Fittingly, this is all performed in an alternate dreamscape (common to Fosse's works) as if Hart is Flynn's ventriloquist dummy, and the press is loping about on marionette strings pulled by the flashy counselor. Coupling a chugging tune, quicksilver editing, note-perfect performances, and creepy Fosse-esque sets/makeup/costumes, "They Both Reached For The Gun" is a powerful defense for the film's eventual win as Best Picture of 2002, if only as a tribute to Fosse's singular genius.


When I first sat down to watch Lina Wertmuller's passionate WWII/Holocaust comedy Seven Beauties, I never expected to see an opening like this! It still stands as one of my twenty favorite beginnings to any film ever. Consisting almost wholly of vintage footage of wartime atrocities, it's punchily narrated (Oh yeah) by the film's lead, Giancarlo Giannini, and jazz scored by Enzo Jannacci. An angry yet amusing damnation of war and its mongers.


Usually, when songs come sweeping into animated movies, I feel them stopping the whole show cold. With notable exceptions like Snow White, Lady and the Tramp, and Beauty and the Beast, I've rarely felt as the addition of songs deepens the quality of animated films. Not so with Randy Newman's "When She Loved Me," the only number written for 1999's Toy Story 2. By the end of this heartrending segment (directed by John Lasseter and Ash Brannon), the viewer cannot help but be moved to their very core. In four minutes flat, the movie vividly reminds us of the adoration we all had for our favorite childhood toys, and the regret most of us have for treating them so poorly once we grew up; it also reminds us somehow of the people we've forgotten in our lives--the ones who once meant so much to us, but who are now nowhere to be found. As such, this scene is one of cinema's sublime contributions to humanity. Sung with typical emotion by Sarah MacLachlan, "When She Loved Me" has set up permanent shop in my soul. It'll always remain one of my favorite movie moments, and is definitely film history's premier match-up of songwriting and animation.


Finally, this little bit of film first appeared on TV as part of Sesame Street, which I watched without fail every day when I was a kid. Recently, one of my friends sent me a link to Lower Case n on YouTube, and I almost doubled over with a nostalgia stroke! This has to rank as the most haunting 1-minute-movie of all time. Written and recorded by Steve Zuckerman in 1970, it was submitted to the Children's Television Workshop from his San Fernando Valley studio, where he concocted the piece solo on a four-track recorder. This unprecedentedly melancholy cartoon (I wish I knew who animated it) is decorated with colorful flower-power-era images and an earwormy tune with evocative lyrics:

In an unknown and far-off place
There was a lower-case n.
Lonely and cold, she would stare off into space
And it was known that she would cry now and then.

Lower-case n
Standing on a hill
The wind is very still
For the lower-case eh-en...

Then one day a rocketship
Came racing from the sky.
It landed on the hill and it opened up a door
And somethin' started comin' outside...

It was a lower-case N!
(She's not lonely anymo-o-re)
Standing on the hill
(There are two that stand for su-u-ure)
The wind is very still
For the lower-case eh-ens!

Film #26: My Bodyguard

Dave Grusin's jazzy, string-flecked score hits me first every time I see My Bodyguard. It takes me back to 1980 instantly and I am happy for it. It's bouncy, joyful, mopey, and erudite. It exemplifies Chicago--where this movie was filmed--all in a few bars. In fact, the only things that remind me of Chicago more than My Bodyguard are John Hughes movies, The Bob Newhart Show, and...Chicago. Chris Makepeace, here playing the teen who acquires special protection from the school bullies threatening him, had one good period as a film moppet--1979-1980. With My Bodyguard and the Bill Murray vehicle Meatballs, he got his tow-headed mug in front of a lot of young moviegoers that year. But I think his crazy-unruly hair and his intensely serious face likely hurt his further progression. Even though Makepeace was fine in both films, most kids (then, at least) preferred their on-screen counterparts to NOT look like they'd be good at chess.

Matt Dillon brings his usual roughneck energy to Moody, the lead bully. This means he commands the screen, and this is only his second movie (after the memorable cult hit Over The Edge). His bathroom torture of Cliff, for instance, stops the movie; he yells unexpectedly, slams the kid against the wall, takes deadly aim with a giant spitball, and keeps his stare going straight into Clifford's soul. Tight-shirted, hair slicked back, aviator glasses on, he's the epitome of the asshole that everyone wanted to avoid, in school or out.

Then there's Adam Baldwin. As Ricky, the hulkster that Clifford hires to be his bodyguard, he is smudged and shell-shocked. His size and inner rage are great, but look at those big eyes and you can see this guy's a lover, not a fighter. Baldwin (who is not, I repeat, not one of the Baldwin brothers) would graduate into playing full-time warriors like Animal Mother in Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket and as the gruffest member of the crew in the sadly short-lived Joss Whedon series Firefly. He still has a believeable gentleness about him, I think.




One kid here, redheaded Paul Quandt, never made a movie again, but he stands out as a screen presense. As Carson, Cliff's acerbic classmate with a scientific interest in the gum stuck under the desks, Quandt is certainly the one child actor participating whom you WILL NOT forget. And it goes on, this cast: look closely and you'll see Joan Cusack debuting as one of Cliff's most sympathetic buddies (the Cusack family is famous for their Chicago acting school). Look real close and you'll see glimpses of a pre-Flashdance Jennifer Beals. And, of course, you have the adults: an understated Martin Mull as Cliff's hotel manager dad, Kathryn Grody as his concerned teacher, and best of all, Ruth Gordon as his rowdy grandmother (what other kind of maternal figure did Gordon play?). I look forward to Gordon's scenes with Makepeace. They genuinely look like they're having fun (like when she surprises him exclaiming "Bats!" "Bats!" and flapping newspapers in his face). When they talk about the smell of a new book, or when Gordon calls someone a "greasy wimp" and Makepeace can't hold back a chortle--this is all very real stuff.

The writer, Alan Ormsby, never betrayed that he'd something this sweet in him, having been previously most famous for collaborating with Bob Clark on Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things and Deranged. And director Tony Bill--a former actor-turned-producer (The Sting, Taxi Driver, Close Encounters of the Third Kind)--captures the freedom of youth and of standing your ground with equal parts honesty and good old fashioned corn (I can like me a corny movie, I have to admit). Bill has sheaperded a lot of films to us the past 35 years, most recently the 2007 WWI aviator epic Flyboys. But none have stuck with me like My Bodyguard. It has punch and punch is enough.