I know we’re well into ‘06 and it’s a little late to be doing this, but I figured that on the eve of the Academy Awards, this is probably the last chance I’ll actually get to write about what I thought were the best movies of 2005. Since I’m following the Oscar ground-rules that state that a film can be in contention for ‘05 only if it is released in the US in ‘05, I won’t be including movies that blew me away in ‘05 but were released some other year. For that, I’ll just have to get off my lazy ass and come up with some actual reviews for the much neglected portion of this site. Also, since this is my list and not that many people will really care, I’m going to be flexible with how I order and categorize this list. To be honest with you, this is really more of a selfish and fun exercise for me more than anything, so if you’re only here to look at pictures of sexy friends and acquaintances in Shanghai, just stare at the picture below and let me do my thing.
Being a movie buff in China is both good and bad; good in that this is a hotbed of DVD piracy that caters to an international demographic, so that I get exposed to Asian and European movies that would be difficult to get access to in the States; and bad in that there is a lag time of a few months before a movie is released in the States and when it is copied over to a $1 USD bootleg DVD. In the meantime, I’m stuck reading reviews about them and looking forward to visiting Hong Kong, or going back to the States, where I can watch first-run movies in a theatre not buzzing with chatter or the ringing of mobile phones.
As a result, there are a handful of movies that have elevated profiles due to awards and such that I just didn’t get a chance to see. Three that I really am looking forward to checking out once it hits the streets of Shanghai are “Capote” and “Walk the Line,” which I believe will soon be available if they aren’t already, and Terence Malick’s “The New World,” which is a follow-up to “The Thin Red Line,” which is probably one of the most intense movie experiences I’ve ever head (if you discount seeing Princess Leia all slutted out in “Return of the Jedi” and perhaps experiencing my first ever woody at the tender age of 5). So, now that all has been laid out, here’s my top 10 list of the best 2005 movies that I got to see (most of them while recumbent in bed and hung over on a Sunday afternoon).
#1: Syriana. Stephen Gaghan, writer of the technically amazing “Traffic”, does it this time from the director’s chair, ambitiously and successfully tying together four related but independent plot strands into a beautiful, disturbing portrayal of the boiling politics of oil and religion. On an even more subtextual level, it is a stunning examination of greed and the absoluteness of entrenched, organized power. The story is complex because, hell, the topic is so damned complex. “Syriana” rises to the challenge and leaves you with a necessarily unsettled and stressed out view of our current world. Best film I saw from ‘05.
#2: Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Although I greatly admired Nick Park’s previous feature-length film, “Chicken Run,” I had never caught a full episode of “Wallace and Gromit.” That may change now that I’ve seen “Were-Rabbit” three times. The only film I’ve seen in the past 10 years that rivals this one in terms of charm, wit, and respect for both the adult and child in all of us is “Toy Story 2.” This is a delightful and adorable film, and one that I shall continue to revisit when I’m in the need for a happiness fix.
#3: The Best of Youth. Since not a single one of you will end up making any viewing decisions based on this list, I guess I won’t have to worry too much about scaring away anyone with putting a 6-hour movie here as one of my top 10. If you do decide to check this one out, Marco Tullio Giordana’s family epic is so full of rich moments and emotion that, aside from the requisite potty break, you’ll refuse to interrupt the flow of this film for even a minute. Following the story of the Carati brothers and their family through generations of personal and cultural/societal change in Italy, “The Best of Youth” is so ambitious and so patient and loving with its characters that I can’t imagine seeing anything like this come along for quite some time, especially from the US.
#4: Rize/Murderball/Grizzly Man. 2005 was a good year for documentaries that followed another one in 2004, and though I’m not Hollywood analyst, I’m sure we’re seeing more and more documentaries rolled out to the mainstream due to the commercial success of “Spellbound” a few years ago. This is a very good thing. I’m cheating here with lumping three documentaries into one category slot, but “Rize” and “Murderball” are so entertaining and triumphant, and “Grizzly Man” is so flat-out strange and interesting, that I couldn’t really have one out-rank any of the other two. I didn’t even get a chance to mention “The Aristocrats,” which is fun as well but in no way leaves you emotionally pumped (“Rize”) or tearful and emotionally drained (“Murderball”) or in total bewilderment (“Grizzly Man”) as these three docs.
#5: Brokeback Mountain. Enough has been written about this groundbreaking film, so I won’t get into too much about the gay cowboy movie. All of Ang Lee’s films deal with imposed repression of his characters’ desires and passions, and there isn’t a more blatant canvas than homosexual cowboys over a quarter of a century again. As usual, Lee deftly avoids in-your-face messaging for the more subtle and memorable emphasis on the enduring power of said passions and emotions. Not as devastating as I thought it would be after reading so much about it, but nevertheless it is still beautiful and affecting and very, very sad.
#6: The Constant Gardener. Like “Syriana,” I imagine it’d be easy for critics of both films to say “These conspiracies are a just a little too tidy, too liberal, to be believed.” I may not disagree, but that misses the point. These are well crafted, intelligent, and thoughtful narratives that also happen to be fantastic looking and amazingly put together films. Great films succeed at both objectives, and with this John le Carre adaptation Fernando Meirelles shows that his amazing “City of God” was no one-off fluke. Meirelles bundles up a story of conspiracy and intrigue, one that is not quite so plausble all of the time, into a tense partnership between Ralph Fiennes diplomat-turned-detective character and us as we rush from one finding to another, all while dealing with heartbreak and grief.b
#7: 1/3 of Eros/2046/The World. I have to pay my respects to the current Chinese cinema scene that is special and thriving. First, the master: Wong Kar Wai’s contribution to “Eros” is by far the best one of the three, and is like an echo of his earlier classic (and one of my favorite films of all time) “In the Mood for Love.” While I can’t love “2046″ the way I can his other films, I do admire the daring of it, and it’s likely that his films will always have a place on any top 10 list of mine; he’s that talented and important. The leader of the Sixth-Generation of Chinese filmmakers, Jia Zhangke, has made perhaps his most accessible film in “The World,” but it still is uniquely Chinese and reflects Jia’s continuing examination of China’s slow, grinding and ostensibly mandated march towards Westernization and its effect on the psychologies of the underclasses that have to maneuver through these changes. I would have loved to add another master, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, and his “Three Times” to the list; alas, the film was not released in the US (and probably won’t ever be) despite much visibility on the international festival scene. Hou and Jia show that patience and depth of characters does can be a beautiful thing to see on film, as well.
#8: The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Tommy Lee Jones shows that he can direct a film, not to mention an ambitious meta-allegory that, like “Brokeback Mountain,” delves into the emotional currency that those rugged cowboys seem to possess in hidden sacks strapped to the underside of their horses. The story of a craggy Texan who is obsessed with his promise to deliver the body of his best friend back across the border into Mexico along with the cavalier and boorish man who shot him combines Homeric aspects of “The Odyssey” into a 21st century Mexico-US border parable of class and race and friendship. A challenging and rewarding and somehow fitting film for an actor of Jones’ pedigree and reputation.
#9: Kung Fu Hustle. Stephen Chow’s film is a celebration of almost everything. Pulling from a wide spectrum of sources including Chinese triads, HK kung-fu flicks from the 60’s and 70’s, and (more aptly) Looney Tunes, “Kung Fu Hustle” is a glorious flurry of hilarious allusion and cartoonish ecstasy. Chow simulatenously mocks and pays homage to the distinctive and meodramatic aspects of the martial arts movies he grew up watching and loved. As usual, he makes plenty fun of himself too, and is consistently lovable. “Hustle” is the truest example of stretching the art form to as many corners as possible in the name of entertainment.
#10: Sin City. There is no gray in “Sin City,” only black and white, good and evil. Robert Rodriguez pays tribute to Frank Miller’s graphic novel series by co-directing the film with Miller and following the illustrations as closely as possible, which means leaving in copious amounts of blood, gore, and the ripping off of appendages. Rodriguez has accomplished his mission; nothing has ever looked or felt quite like this.
