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

The Ghost Writer

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Grade: A –

Director: Roman Polanski

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Tom Wilkerson, and Olivia Williams

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 2 hours, 8 minutes

Roman Polanski continues to use the silver screen to both explicate and exorcise his personal demons. From surviving Nazi persecution as a child in the Kraków ghetto to the brutal murder of his wife Sharon Tate at the hands of the Manson family to his conviction – and subsequent flight from sentencing – for having sex with a 13-year-old girl, Polanski’s real-life travails have informed and defined his film oeuvre.

Reportedly, Polanski had to complete editing of The Ghost Writer from the confines of a jail cell and then under house arrest at his Swiss chalet as he fights extradition back to the United States. In his grand return to the modern thriller (his first since 1988’s Frantic), a former British prime minister, Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), finds himself living as a virtual exile in a foreign land, partly to escape prosecution for legitimate charges nonetheless brought in a kangaroo court by accusers with duplicitous motives. Sound familiar? There is a lot more than a Napoleon complex going on in Polanski’s mind when Lang’s wife, Ruth (Olivia Williams), compares her husband’s hermetic life on a windswept patch of Martha’s Vineyard to Bonaparte’s banishment to the island of St. Helena.

That other unique and proverbial Polanski archetype – the inquisitive, self-assured loner who foolhardily believes he has a grasp on matters that are actually well beyond his comprehension – comes in the form of a nameless author credited as “The Ghost” (Ewan McGregor), hired as a replacement ghostwriter for Lang’s memoirs after the original scribe met an untimely death.

Lang is under investigation for sanctioning war crimes while in office, chiefly acts of rendition against terrorist suspects, and this premise propels the ghostwriter’s eventual efforts to connect the dots between his predecessor’s demise and the high-stakes political intrigue at play. It is worth comparing Polanski’s use of current events to Green Zone, Paul Greengrass’ polemical Iraq War actioner. Greengrass created fictitious characters and a plot whose unrealized purpose was to elucidate its real-life backdrop. By contrast, Polanski shrewdly exploits a topical controversy solely to service a fictional storyline, in the same way the real battle over water rights in California was mere window-dressing for the personal mystery and psychological drama at the center of Polanski’s Chinatown.

The Ghost Writer thrives on atmospherics, artistry, and acting. Polanski’s skills as a visual virtuoso remain in fine form. He brackets Ghost Writer with silent images portending unseen deaths – the first a shot of an abandoned car sitting alone on a ferry boat intercut with a body washed ashore bobbing in the surf; the last the sublime sight of hundreds of pieces of paper gradually being blown into view as they progressively litter a city street. In between, Polanski and screenwriter Robert Harris – adapting his own novel, The Ghost – fashion a plot that is both morose and pulpy. Accented by Alexandre Desplat’s haunting, orchestral score, Polanski constructs set pieces so tense and finely tuned that they would be labeled “Hitchcockian” if this was any other director.

McGregor reclaims much of his lost luster, ably supplying his role with the right blend of self-assuredness and vulnerability. Brosnan plays Lang as a cross between Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, while Williams is mesmerizing as the emotionally bruised but politically savvy first lady (shades of Hilary?). There are also sharp supporting turns from Kim Cattrall as Lang’s longtime assistant (and perhaps more), Timothy Hutton, James Belushi, Eli Wallach, and Tom Wilkinson as one of Lang’s shadowy acquaintances.

But the real star is Polanski. Whatever his personal travails, he remains a master filmmaker. And, neo-noirs like The Ghost Writer are not only his distinctive wheelhouse, but also a welcome throwback to clever, taut political-conspiracy thrillers. This is the old stuff…this is the good stuff.

Neil Morris