10. Synecdoche, New York
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Director: Charlie Kaufman
Writer: Charlie Kaufman
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Cast: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton, Dianne Wiest
Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays Caden Cotard, a jumbled mess of a human being struggling for identity and purpose as he tries to complete his magnum opus of a stage production. That's about as simple as one could make the log line for Charlie Kaufman's genre-jumping tale.
This is Kaufman's first attempt behind the camera after writing several noteworthy cinematic revelations (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). As a director, he makes modest stylistic choices that reflect the moods, themes and tone of the film well, from the perpetually burning house owned by Hazel (Samantha Morton) to progressively aging Cotard in a way which makes him more desperate.
The picture reaches its finest moment when it becomes both a parody onto itself and a running commentary as Cotard ventures into Harvey Pekar-esque territory of blurring the boundary between fiction and reality. The third act elevates the plot to a level befitting Kaufman's material, although the conclusion brings more questions than answers. As the series finale of "The Sopranos" demonstrated, sometimes, that's OK and sometimes it's infuriating, but anything that leaves me wanting more and guessing at least left me thinking.
Oh, and that "Little Person" song should win an Oscar. Jon Brion delivered a great score for this film.
09. Burn After Reading
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Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
Writers: Joel and Ethan Coen
Distributor: Focus Features, Working Title, Alliance
Cast: George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Brad Pitt
Quite possibly the finest cast the Coens have assembled to date pumps star power galore into this screwball black comedy. That alone does not guarantee a good picture, but what makes this film great is the way they work together and don't attempt to outshine each other. Linda Litzke (McDormand) and Chad Feldheimer (Pitt) have to be two of the dumbest criminals ever to inhabit the silver screen. They're also two of the funniest.
Malkovich and Swinton play a husband and wife who couldn't have less in common and are looking for ways out Malkovich's Osbourne, a foul-mouthed ex-CIA agent with a short temper, delves into his mem-wahs and his old lady delves into Clooney's Harry Pfarrer.
Anyone expecting a stylistic follow up to the Oscar best picture winner No Country for Old Men will be sorely disappointed. But the Coens do have a talent for doing their own thing at their own place and almost always The Ladykillers being an exception turn in a worthwhile effort. Look for J.K Simmons, who I believe is only in two or three scenes, to steal the show when he's there as the CIA director.
08. Rachel Getting Married
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Director: Jonathan Demme
Writer: Jenny Lumet
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Debra Winger, Tunde Adebimpe, Bill Irwin
Uh, and the Oscar for best actress goes to Anne Hathaway. Holy @! is she good in this. See this film for no other reason than to have her completely blow your mind. She showed flashes of brilliance in her understated role in Brokeback Mountain, but she shines in Rachel. She's done her share of films about walking down the aisle The Princess Diaries, the upcoming Bride Wars but you can blow off the rest of them and watch this. Her off-screen issues only add to the believability and sincerity of her performance.
That said, if you're looking for something fun and lighthearted, go with Bride Wars, cos this ain't it. This was the year's most emotionally intense film. The trailer tried to paint it as funny and light. It's not. Forget puppies, sunshine and flowers. This picture is about pain, loss and anguish and has no problem showing it in its brutal, raw reality. However, she is not Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt in an equally eye-opening turn) but Kym, the former's recovering drug-addicted little sister who returns home from a fresh stint in rehab days before Rachel is to be joined with Sidney (TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe) in holy matrimony.
But wait, there's more! This would've been my pick for picture of the year, but there are two interminable segments which could've been condensed or trimmed. These seriously wound the film, especially since the second comes when the viewer wants more of Kym's story, not less. The dynamics are rich and fascinating and it does feel like a genuine family, warts and all, making it Demme's best production since Silence of the Lambs.
07. The Visitor
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Director: Thomas McCarthy
Writer: Thomas McCarthy
Distributor: K5 International/Overture
Cast: Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Hiam Abbass, Danai Jekesai Gurira
Richard Jenkins you know, the dude from Burn After Reading and Step Brothers, the dead dad from Six Feet Under taps into a reservoir of melancholy as he plays Walter Vale, a widower to a piano great whose latter life holds little interest to him. That is until he goes to New York to deliver a paper at a conference and he meets Tarek (Sleiman) and Zainab (Gurira), a couple unknowingly squatting in his apartment.
On paper, it doesn't sound like the most moving material and, in fairness, the primary plot stimulator does wind up trying too hard to make its point and reach its aim. Jenkins gives his best performance I've seen, showing Walter entombed behind layers of cold defenses. No one's reached him in years and he was perfectly fine there until Tarek and Zainab came along.
If the immigration plot strives too hard to make its point, it's the subtle, quiet romance between Walter and Tarek's mother, Mouna (Abbass), which steals the show. There's a sweetness to their courtship and, as this is ultimately Walter's story, we're somehow left feeling good about things regardless of how bumpy the ride gets.
06. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
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Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Distributor: The Weinstein Company/Optimum Releasing
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Rebecca Hall
Johansson and Hall play best friends Cristina and Vicky, respectively, who have different opinions on men and love. They embark on a visit to Spain together. Cristina is the carefree risk taker who finds the idea of going to a strange town with an artist she's never met before (Bardem) fun and fascinating while Vicky couldn't seem more puzzled or repulsed. Eventually, a love ... uh, square? ... emerges between Bardem, the female friends and his ex-wife, Maria Elena (Cruz).
This is Allen's best picture since Match Point, which also employed Johansson. It's light and fun despite its heavier themes, although the conclusion is a little too tidy and simple. Still, Allen's cast packs a punch, particularly Cruz, whose turn as the unstable Maria is both hilarious and unforgettable. Also noteworthy is Hall, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work in the film.
Engaging and enjoyable, Allen will have to work hard to match this level of work again.
05. WALL-E
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Director: Andrew Stanton
Writers: Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Jim Reardon
Distributor: Disney
Voice cast: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard
For a futuristic robot who doesn't say a lot, WALL-E draws the viewer in with those big, sad eyes and lovable mannerisms. You just can't help but root for him, even if his would-be girlfriend, fellow robot EVE, is completely oblivious to his feelings.
WALL-E is the lone robot who is tasked with cleaning up a futuristic polluted planet Earth. His prized possession becomes a plant he finds. After meeting EVE, though, everything changes. She wants the plant and he wants her.
While the film does continue my long-standing beef that Pixar films are either about getting or returning someone or something, there are live-action romance movies geared toward adults that try harder and fail more miserably than this does. This is genuinely sweet and satisfying, earning a well-deserved spot in the top five.
04. Frost/Nixon
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Director: Ron Howard
Writer: Peter Morgan
Distributor: Universal
Cast: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Kevin Bacon, Sam Rockwell
Considering the series of interviews on which this film is based have the reputation for being as boring as high school algebra save for the Watergate installment this film has no business being as good as it is.
What makes the film respectable is that it doesn't turn a blind eye to this reality and reputation. Sheen's David Frost, a charismatic talk show host painted as a highly unlikely candidate to interview resigned president Richard Nixon (Langella), is shown as repeatedly worn down, browbeaten and overmatched by a career politician who was seeking to re-establish his reputation after becoming the first person to resign from the Oval Office.
As it's largely a plot about two men conversing in a stranger's living room, Sheen and Langella have to be electric for this film succeed. They are. Additionally, this isn't Howard's typical heavy handed affair it's edited in a crisp, tension-building fashion that elevates the cat-and-mouse gambits to a deviously good delivery. The ever-tightening close ups show just how important the struggle between the two title characters is. It's a fine drama and a sure-fire candidate in the best picture race.
03. Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (aka I've Loved You So Long)
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Director: Philippe Claudel
Writer: Philippe Claudel
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Cast: Kristin Scott Thomas, Elsa Zylberstein, Serge Hazanavicius, Laurent Grévill
This film moves at a glacier's pace, but it makes the picture so rich and fascinating in the process. To begin unravelling the plot is to give too many details, so I'll try and be as succinct as possible: Scott Thomas plays Juliette, a woman recently released from a 15-year prison sentence. She's taken in by her sister, Léa (Zylberstein). The film is a character study of Juliette and how she deals with her return to life outside the prison walls.
Scott Thomas is cold and unreachable as Juliette, a woman of blunt honesty and numerous secrets. Her earliest confessions in the film come to her sister's father-in-law who was rendered speechless by a stroke. Masterful and dazzling, Scott Thomas infuses Juliette with so much intrigue so that she escapes being unsympathetic, which would probably be the failing of the film for a lesser actress.
Devastating and affective, like Rachel Getting Married, this is another picture that isn't for someone looking for light-hearted fun, but it's unquestionably engaging.
02. Milk
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Director: Gus Van Sant
Writer: Dustin Lance Black
Distributor: Focus Features
Cast: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, James Franco, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna
"My name is Harvey Milk and I'm here to recruit you!" If I saw the trailer for this one more time, I was going to start throwing popcorn at the screen. That mantra of the titular character's was emblazoned on my brain before I ever saw the film.
Still, how poignant and well-timed is a picture about Milk's life given the recent Proposition 8 vote? The political points and purposes of the film have tremendous resonance, especially when Milk tells Brown "this is our lives we're fighting for."
Penn paints with purposeful strokes, showing Milk as regretful but sweet and winning. Brolin, Franco, Hirsch and Luna complete a pitch-perfect cast that digs deep. On a side note, between this and Pineapple Express, is there some sort of "Really? I Didn't Know He Was That Good!" sort of award we can give Franco for this year?
Milk makes its way to No. 2 because even if you walk in the door knowing how it ends and if you live in Bay Area, you probably do you can't help but be grabbed by what a touching, human story it is.
01. Happy-Go-Lucky
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Director: Mike Leigh
Writer: Mike Leigh
Distributor: Miramax
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman, Samuel Roukin
Writer/director Mike Leigh builds rich, well-developed characters because of his unusual pre-filming processes. He also has a taste for employing people who aren't A-list stars, so seeing SALLY HAWKINS in big letters in the lead role draws a lot of "Who?" from anyone to whom I've mentioned the picture.
Hawkins plays Poppy, who is about as relentlessly optimistic as her name. The purpose of the film and life is to throw consecutive curveballs at the eternally hopeful Poppy, who loses her bike in the film's opening sequence. Instead of swearing or losing her temper, Poppy sadly states, "I didn't even get to say goodbye." The loss of the bike sets up the key relationship of the film, Poppy's driver's education lessons with Scott (Eddie Marsan, who would be best supporting actor if a certain Heath Ledger wasn't dazzling as The Joker in The Dark Knight).
Scott is a bitter young man whose scars and hurt run deep, and he doesn't mask them well, bursting out in racist rants and teaching Poppy through cultish memorization strategies. I can hear him shouting "En-ra-ha! En-ra-ha!" in my sleep. It's a curse for this film that two other pictures had such incredible performances. In a just world, Hathaway would win best actress for Rachel Getting Married, but Hawkins would run a close second with her work as Poppy, much like Marsan to Ledger.
When the lights come on at the end, Poppy is wiser, but in many ways the same person she was when she started the film. In other pictures, that'd be a tremendous flaw, but here, it feels genuine and right. Rich, slow-burning and genuine, this ranks with Naked, Topsy-Turvy and Vera Drake as one of Leigh's best and is hands down one of the finest of 2008.