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

Black Swan

This Avengers movie is really getting out of hand

Grade: A –

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder

MPAA Rating: R

Running Time: 1 hour, 48 minutes

“We open…with Swan Lake. Done to death, I know. But not like this.”

In a film steeped in doppelgangers, ballet director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) may as well be channeling film director Darren Aronofsky as he makes this introductory – and slyly foreshadowing – pronouncement to his company in Black Swan. Indeed, the contentious relationship between Leroy and his new prima ballerina, Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), embodies the symbiotic, sometimes parasitic bond between artist and muse…or a filmmaker and his leading actress.

Yet, that allegory is but the amuse-bouche to a thematic feast. Set against the backdrop of a New York City production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Black Swan recounts the ballet’s plot through a contemporary idiom using the same “story within a story” format found in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes. The film opens with a literal rendering of the ballet’s prologue, during which Rothbart casts a spell that turns a princess into a virtuous white swan.

The scene cuts directly to Nina waking in the apartment she shares with her domineering mother, Erica (Barbara Hershey). Nina is one of several ballerinas auditioning for the role of the Swan Queen, but while Leroy is confident Nina can capture the innocence and grace of the White Swan, he worries she cannot exude the sensuality needed to perform her carnal twin, the Black Swan.

An uneasy relationship develops between the seemingly chaste Nina and her licentious understudy, Lily (Mila Kunis). Their rivalry expands into a twisted acquaintance as Nina – prodded by Leroy, curiosity, and internal demons – taps into her dark side and confronts the duality of her damaged psyche.

Black Swan exhibits the physical and emotional toll performers often suffer in pursuit of their art, a trait it shares with Aronofsky’s The Wrestler and one undoubtedly endured by Portman, who trained for months in preparation for this Oscar-worthy tour de force.

This concept of destruction as a necessary precursor to creation is revisited throughout the film, whether it’s Nina’s ascension at the expense of boozy, aging marquee ballerina Beth Macintyre (Winona Ryder, her very presence symbolic) or her forceful defiance of her maternal figure in order to unlock the sexual awakening needed along her path to artistic achievement.

Moreover, implications of Nina’s sexual abuse and self-mutilation serve as the backdrop for her compulsion to attain creative perfection. Aronofsky juxtaposes sexual maturation, particularly in a male-dominated culture, with ballet’s concurrent idealization and objectification of femininity. Shadows of Roman Polanski’s Repulsion are cast throughout: the insinuation that Nina fornicated with strange men in a bar draws a violent rebuke from her mother, and when Nina finally awakens her inner Black Swan, it comes only with the aid of sapphic stimulation.

There are parallels between Erica and Piper Laurie’s mommy dearest in Carrie, also a film about menstrual angst. As Nina prepares for the final pas de deux, a wound in the shape of a blossoming, crimson flower forms conspicuously near her lower abdomen. “I felt it,” she whispers as the final chord sounds, a smile of ecstasy creeping across her face. The crowd roars its approval as they – like we – demand more, no matter the price.

Neil Morris

*Originally published at http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/a-thematic-feast-in-black-swan/Content?oid=1884498