Best and Worst Films of 2010

I never wanted to become that film critic. At the outset of this surprisingly laborious labor of love eight years ago, I reveled in the growth of my cinematic sensibilities, theretofore weaned on the comfort food of Spielberg and Star Wars. Masters like Godard and Fellini were joined by aspirants like Ang Lee and Mike Leigh, Alfonso Cuarón and Quentin Tarantino. The era of Francis Ford Coppola was transitioning into the age of Sofia Coppola.

In recent years, however, the well-chronicled cramming of Oscar hopefuls into the wintery heart of movie awards season has sprouted a new, insidious offshoot. Not only are movie studios chasing the calendar, but now filmmakers are chasing the critics.

The superfluity of theater screenings and DVD screeners I enjoyed the past two months was filled with yak-fests covering every stratum of personal and domestic tumult – failed marriages, coping with the death of a child, growing old, etc. Great movies have been made about these important subjects, and these films were no less earnest or well-made. But, there is a saturation point for dramatized despair, especially when it starts to feel like systemic pandering.

The films that affected me the most in 2010 were not the morose melodramas or standard-issue staples – heck, I got more enjoyment from watching Salt than The Fighter. The recurring theme in movies that mattered this year was the confluence of tradition and modernism, in its broadest sense. Whether it is an archetypal biopic situated against the backdrop of the new medium of social networking, a classic Western in which a teenage girl drives the narrative and bloodlust, or a story about defining the nuclear family in a time of same-sex parents and sperm donors, the films that moved us most were the films about moving on.

Best Film of 2010

The Social Network – It’s suddenly become passé to heap hosannas on this film about the origins of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, its tempestuous, brilliant creator. Director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin crafted a smart, seriocomic story about the blending of genius and ambition, together with a snapshot of the youthful, technological exuberance that largely defined the aughts.

2. Black Swan – Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake becomes the springboard for a modern-day exploration of duality, femininity, and the price artists pay in pursuit of creative perfection. Natalie Portman deserves an Oscar, and director Darren Aronofsky further solidifies his place among today’s filmmaking elite.

3. True Grit – Joel and Ethan Coen craft an oxymoronic update of the John Wayne classic: a traditional Western set during the twilight of the Old West and centered around revenge exacted by a 14-year-old. With Roger Deakins’ sumptuous cinematography as a backdrop and award-worthy performance from Jeff Bridges and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, the Coen Bros. provide one of their most entertaining and accessible offerings.

4. 127 Hours – The harrowing, heroic saga of real-life mountain climber and thrill-seeker Aron Ralston (James Franco, Oscar-worthy) gives director Danny Boyle another opportunity to chronicle the perseverance of the human spirit. Ralston may lose his arm, but he gains a newfound appreciation for life and respect for the balance of nature.

5. The King’s Speech – Before King George VI of England could lead, he had to learn to speak. Such is the predicament facing not only Prince Albert (Colin Firth), but all social and political leaders since the dawn of the communication age. Firth is extraordinary, conveying inner emotions in spite of having to replicate his character’s chronic stuttering condition. Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter give solid supporting turns, and director Tom Hooper notches another triumph in his up-and-coming career.

6. Winter’s Bone – The indie surprise of the year, this plaintive parable about a once-bucolic Ozark village ravaged by an underworld of meth labs and the drug economy. As in True Grit, a teenage girl drives the storyline: here, she must navigate treacherous terrain to track down her fugitive father and save the family home. Expressive performances from Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes highlight writer-director Debra Granik’s haunting film.

7. The Ghost Writer – Released last February and seemingly forgotten by December, Roman Polanski’s latest – this is his first thriller since 1988’s Frantic – marks a return to his taut, neo-noir roots. Of course, there are the proverbial allusions to Polanski’s perceived persecution, along with clever use of the controversies surrounding the Iraq War. But, it’s the atmospherics that carry the day here: if this was directed by anyone else, the label “Hitchcockian” would be breathlessly bandied about.

8. The Kids Are All Right – The teenage kids of same-sex parents (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) decide to locate their biological, sperm donor father (Mark Ruffalo). The disruption and challenges that follow could easily apply to any family, non-traditional or not. Such is the brilliance of the script by Stuart Blumberg and director Lisa Cholodenko, aided by one of the best ensemble cast performances of the year.

9. Toy Story 3 – This tertiary return of Pixar’s beloved playthings fits nicely into the studio’s blueprint of growing with its original core audience. Witty, workmanlike fun is the order of the day until the final five minutes, which packs an emotional punch about both treasuring and letting go of the past.

10. I’m Still Here – Yes, the film itself is choppy and schlocky,

But, no meta-project this year, or maybe ever, so starkly or cleverly shows the trappings of stardom and the malleable line separating fiction from reality in our multimedia age. Joaquin Phoenix deserves serious awards consideration for not only fearlessly deconstructing his public persona but also the months spent he spent exposing our voracious, unforgiving attitude towards those we call celebrities.

Worst Film of 2010

For Colored Girls – It’s bad enough that director Tyler Perry’s aim of grappling with the everyday travails of African-American women is undercut by a hyper-reality in which every man is a philanderer, rapist, murderer, pedophile, and/or HIV-positive closeted homosexual. The rest of this woefu

l adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s 1975 play is two hours of non-stop bloviating that fluctuates between rudderless and overblown. The acting doesn’t help, including some truly embarrassing turns from Thandie Newton, Whoopi Goldberg, Janet Jackson, and every emasculated male performer.

The worst of the rest – The Back-Up Plan; Dinner for Schmucks; Easy A; Eat Pray Love; Grown Ups; The Last Airbender; The Last Song; You Again; The Wolfman; When in Rome; You Again

127 Hours

Rock 'n' Roll

Grade: B +

Director: Danny Boyle

Starring: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara, and Clémence Poésy

MPAA Rating: R

Running Time: 1 hour, 93 minutes

The Book of Job is the most vexing story in the Bible. In order to test his faith, God permits the righteous Job to suffer at the hands of Satan: Job loses his possessions, endures physical harm, and his offspring are killed. Even worse is that entire exercise stems from a wager between God and Satan over whether the pious Job would succumb and curse God under the pressure of such loss.

In “127 Hours,” director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) tells the harrowing, heroic tale of Aron Ralston (James Franco), a mountain climber who, in 2003, fell into a chasm while canyoneering through Robbers Roost in Utah and remained trapped for over five days after his right arm became literally caught between a rock and a hard place.

Aided by the pulsating score of his Slumdog composer, A.R. Rahman, and a light camera that enables tracking shots in tight places, Boyle splendidly and intimately dramatizes Ralston’s incredible efforts at survival and escape over the titular timeframe. Beyond trying to stave off dehydration and the elements, his biggest battle becomes the one with his own psyche. Water-colored memories of family and the rollercoaster relationship with his ex-girlfriend Rana (Clémence Poésy) soon transition into delusions of escape, a party with two hikers (Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn) he met earlier in the day, and, in the film’s unquestioned highlight, a radio interview he conducts with himself over the stupidity of not telling anyone where he was planning to hike that day.

Throughout the film, Boyle places the viewer in proximity to Ralston’s viewpoint, whether he is diving into underground aquifers or drinking his own urine. Meanwhile, Franco, in an awards-worthy performance, shows Ralston progress through the five stages of grief. Thus, by the time a vision of his unborn son propels Ralston to finally seek a grisly escape, the once unthinkable seems almost inevitable in both his mind and that of the audience. While some may be unprepared for the visceral “money scene” – Boyle uses makeup and sounds effects to make viewers feel every hack through bone and sinew – its explicitness is essential to the film’s impact.

127 Hours succeeds in telling the story of a man who comes to grips with his own fallibility and vulnerability. When Ralston futilely screams for help after first being trapped in his rocky dungeon, Boyle slowly pans the camera out to show the sheer expanse of desolate earth surrounding him. Later, after Ralston climactically climbs out of his would-be catacomb, the heavens part and the music swells as he exclaims “I need help!” to three by-passers.

Matters become thornier, however, when Boyle expands the saga into a moral of redemption and salvation. Ralston is couched as a flawed man, but as best I can tell, he’s a wiseacre who doesn’t return his mother’s phone calls as often as he should and was negligent in his breakup with Rana. Otherwise, he appears to be a disarming, devil-may-care thrill-seeker who cares about his family and friends. Like Job, there’s a disconnect between the Ralston’s personal “transgressions” and the consequent tribulations heaped upon him, one that Boyle does not seem to adequately bridge.

However, the exegesis of the Book of Job is not necessarily righteousness and mercy, but rather the brutal lesson of man’s helplessness in the face of nature’s whims, whether inflicted at random or at the behest of a supreme being. The finale to Boyle’s film is joyful and life-affirming. But, like Into the Wild and Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man, 127 Hours is ultimately the story of a prideful man who fancies nature but misapprehends his place in it.

Neil Morris

*Originally published at http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/james-franco-is-out-on-a-limb-in-127-hours/Content?oid=1846799