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For me, the main event of 2006 was the birth of my son, Alex, in May.
Along with all the joy he's given me, I thank him for a good excuse to
miss the press screening of Poseidon. But based on the movies I did see,
it was a strange year. Artists who tested their limits, such as Terry
Zwigoff, Brian De Palma, Sofia Coppola and Amos Gitai, were shut down,
while artists that toed the line and weighed in with careful, socially
responsible films were rewarded. The year was filled with angry
documentaries, and some of them made money, but I longed for something
less preachy and more personal like the wonderful Romantico, which opens
this January.
It was not a particularly good year for movies, but I did come away with
a number of favorites. Instead of five or ten very strong candidates, I
had something like 30 halfway decent candidates, and so I'm expanding my
list. (Die-hards who wish to stop after number ten are welcome to do
so.)
I saw David Lynch's Inland Empire here in the Bay Area at the
first available opportunity, which was January 17, too late for list
consideration. For the record, it would have been #1, but for now I'll
save it for 2007.
1. Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
One of the greatest film directors in the world has been working
steadily since 1980, making nearly a feature a year, and yet only two
have received any kind of American distribution, both starring the
lovely Shu Qi (from The Transporter). As a whole, this triptych is not
one of Hou's stronger efforts, but the first section -- about two lovers
during the Vietnam era -- is a little masterpiece all by itself.
2. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
Cuaron, along with his friend and colleague Guillermo Del Toro, is at
the head of a kind of Mexican New Wave, jumping back and forth between
energizing Hollywood genre pics (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban, etc.) and personal pet projects (Y Tu Mama Tambien). Though
this frightening, breathtaking film classifies as a Hollywood
enterprise, a futuristic sci-fi chase story with big stars, Cuaron rips
into it with a near-contempt for lazy, conventional storytelling.
Stripped clean of anything resembling exposition or background detail,
this film plunges us directly into the present moment, and then hits the
gas.
3. Inside Man (Spike Lee)
While most critics fell all over themselves praising the year's two 9/11
movies, nobody noticed that Lee's crafty heist film actually faced the
far more difficult aftermath of that day (rather than simply re-creating
the day itself). His New York is crawling with complex duplicity; its
multi-cultural people have found a new camaraderie, but they've also
found a new wariness. Even Terence Blanchard's amazing score combines
different cultures (hip-hop and Bollywood).
4. Art School Confidential (Terry Zwigoff)
Co-written with Dan Clowes, Zwigoff's new film was blacker and more
difficult to swallow than his previous comedies (Ghost World and Bad
Santa). Many viewers never really explored its depths, preferring
instead to compare it to an "Animal House" knockoff or a simple academic
satire. What it really suggests -- that art is completely unknowable and
unclassifiable -- is far scarier.
5. The Black Dahlia (Brian De Palma)
If Claire Denis had made this film, audiences would have seen it
correctly, ignoring the cockamamie plot and concentrating on the
miraculous way De Palma told the story through his cockeyed, obsessive
visuals. It didn't much matter whodunit, but rather the fact that we
were allowed to wallow in this level of depravity from the safety and
comfort of our theater seats, the ultimate exercise of cinema as
voyeurism.
6. The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
This is not Scorsese's best, but at least it's a step away from Miramax
and back to something lean and mean (even if it was still too long and
its energy eventually flagged). No other film in 2006 moved so well,
like a nimble, violent dancer.
7. Brick (Rian Johnson)
It didn't pick up much of a following this year, but I guarantee that
Brick will be around years from now, inspiring a passionate cult
audience to quote its carefully constructed dialogue. Of course the
excellent performances, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt at the forefront, and
Johnson's direction, with its amazing use of space and location, are a
big help.
8. The Bridesmaid (Claude Chabrol)
The great Chabrol, member of the old-time French New Wave, turns in
another of his trademark thrillers, but this one -- based on a novel by
Ruth Rendell -- was his best in years. Chabrol's confident touch and the
film's potent sexuality perfectly meshed with its
now-you-see-it-now-you-don't plot.
9. Lady Vengeance (Park Chan-wook)
From Korea, the third in Park's so-called "revenge trilogy" far
surpassed the previous two, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy,
by giving us the year's most complex heroine (played by Lee Yeong-ae in
red eye shadow) as well as an astonishing, unexpected ending sequence
that questions the very nature of the word "revenge."
10. Find Me Guilty (Sidney Lumet)
Here's yet another one that no one seemed to notice, a return to form by
Hollywood mainstay Sidney Lumet, and a tight courtroom drama coming
almost fifty years after his extraordinary debut 12 Angry Men. Vin
Diesel turned in a surprisingly touching, teddy bear performance as a
real-life gangster who chose to defend himself in the trial of the
century. Lumet's direction is so sure that he actually makes us root for
the bad guys!
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada and A Prairie Home Companion
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Michael Caine, Children of Men
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Natalie Portman, Free Zone
Lee Yeong-ae, Lady Vengeance
Denzel Washington, Inside Man
Jodie Foster, Inside Man
Judi Dench, Casino Royale
John Hurt, The Proposition
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brick
50th Anniversary: The Ten Best Films of 1957
Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick)
Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman)
A King in New York (Charles Chaplin)
Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick)
Night of the Demon (Jacques Tourneur)
Forty Guns (Samuel Fuller)
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (Frank Tashlin)
Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa)
Funny Face (Stanley Donen)
An Affair to Remember (Leo McCarey)
Plus: What's Opera Doc? (Chuck Jones)
The Worst:Annapolis, Apocalypto, Barnyard, Breaking and
Entering, Cease Fire, The Curse of the Golden Flower, The Da Vinci Code,
Deck the Halls, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Flushed Away,
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, The Grudge 2, The Hidden
Blade, The Holiday, Kinky Boots, The Libertine, Little Man, Looking for
Comedy in the Muslim World, Man of the Year, Miami Vice, The Nativity
Story, Renaissance, Running Scared, Running with Scissors, The Tiger and
the Snow, Time to Leave, Tsotsi, Water, We Are Marshall; You, Me and
Dupree
