Do you have your Academy Award favorites selected? The big night is this Sunday (at 4:00 PT on ABC).
I’ve made my picks, which I’ll share with you in a moment. I do this every year, of course, as do so many of us who love the giant screen and the artistry that can appear on it. My son Keith has a wonderful blog—moviesaremagic.tumblr.com—which I highly recommend if you love movie reviews that are presented with an artist’s touch. He also creates an annual e-mail chain with a loyal group of followers in which many different views on the year’s most discussed and noted films are offered. This year one of the big controversies was over “12 Years a Slave,” with some admiring it greatly and others questioning the depiction of the rape scene (along with other directorial decisions).
That’s how it is with movies. They are the quintessential American art form of the twentieth (and now twenty-first) century, and yet almost every film that Hollywood (here intended to mean movie-makers everywhere) releases can be assured of having some critics who will not like something about it. And, I’m quite sure, it’s no different with individuals like me who, lacking the kind of educated eye my son has, are every bit as certain of their opinions as a recognized top film critic is.
I no longer claim to be able to put together the definitive list of the best movies of the year. I can explain why I like certain films, just as I can express why I like a Van Gogh painting or a Maya Angelou poem. But in matters of art, subjectivity, even assuming sophisticated appreciation of the medium, is predominant; and that subjectivity is as partial to the whims of the moment (mood, setting, energy level, amount of unrelated stress, companionship at the time, and a host of other factors) as it is to the true quality of the work.
And so, with all that said, I’ve put together a list of films that I greatly admired from last year. I present them now in an order that is as arbitrary as the whole process of choosing those I’ve included was in the first place. I offer it now as a way to set up the Academy Awards spectacle, which we’ll all watch even as we know the members of the Academy are no more likely to choose the truly best film of the year than are any of us.
But lists are what writers like me produce, and so, with apologies to my son and anyone else who thinks I must be addled to have them in this order (or to have some on it at all), here are my twelve favorite films of the year:
12. “Mandela: the Long Walk to Freedom” – It was pure coincidence that this film opened within weeks of the death of the great South African leader, and I was undoubtedly primed to like it for that reason alone. It’s overly long, to be sure, and it probably is more than slightly hagiographic. But it is an important film and it contains a superb performance by Idris Elba that should have been recognized by the Academy.
11. “American Hustle” – The Academy honored this film with nominations in all seven major categories (screenwriting, directing, the four acting awards, and best film). It’s a fun take on the Abscam scandal of the early 1980s and features fine performances by all of the leads. I found it a bit hard to follow, which can be a drawback, especially when you’re not exactly sure how the ending came together. But it deserves all those nominations, which is reason enough for it to make this list.
10. “Inside Llewan Davis” – I’ve come to the conclusion that the Coen Brothers (Ethan and Joel) make better comedies/comedy dramas (“Fargo,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Burn After Reading,” “A Serious Man”) than essentially dark films (“Barton Fink,” “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” “No Country for Old Men,” yes I know it won the Best Picture award). This one is definitely dark, but it has that great music and a fine performance by Oscar Isaac (also not recognized by the Academy).
9. “Gravity” – After the wonder of the special effects (which are especially spectacular in 3-D, but is that cheating?) wear off, this film is woefully thin. But it does feature a first-rate performance by Sandra Bullock (who really can act when she’s given the chance), and the fight for survival, even if contrived as it was here, is universally engrossing, especially when survival wins out.
8. “The Wolf of Wall Street” – Yes, it’s ridiculously long and obscenely graphic, but it’s Scorsese and DiCaprio at their best and a load of fun. And, unlike “Hustle,” which was generally more highly regarded by most critics but takes considerable license on the real events it depicts, “Wolf” tells the true story of the swindler on whose memoirs the story is based.
7. “Philomena” – This one far exceeded my expectations and for reasons I wouldn’t have imagined, knowing what little I did of the story (another true tale, this one faithfully—pardon the pun—presented). It manages to expose the Catholic Church’s disgraceful treatment of unwed mothers while presenting a victim of that treatment as one who never loses her faith despite all she learns.
6. “12 Years a Slave” – Many, my son most definitely included, will wonder how I can have this film so low on my list. I admire it greatly as another meaningful telling of a powerful story, one that also exposes a part of America’s past that has received far too little notice. It is an epic film that deserves all the praise it is getting, and the awards it will likely win this weekend. I just didn’t feel it as intensely as I probably should have.
5. “Nebraska” – I greatly appreciated what many may have overlooked in their praise (excessive in my view) for Bruce Dern’s portrayal in this film. Rather, I cherish the depiction of the son (played by Will Forte) who is finally forced to grow up as he moves from caring for to caring about his father. It’s a small film, but one that I treasure.
4. “Stories We Tell” – This documentary by Sarah Polley is a remarkable exploration of one family (hers) and the secrets that exist within the inner circle of that family. I was mesmerized by the way in which Polley peeled away the layers of confusing relationships in the search for her mother and, ultimately, her father. That this film isn’t nominated by the Academy for anything is a disgrace.
3. “Captain Phillips” – Another true story, this one told with dramatic flair by Paul Greengrass (who showed his mettle with “United 93,” another under-appreciated film) and starring Tom Hanks in a performance that should win the best actor award but won’t because he wasn’t even nominated! The subtle message might escape some, but Greengrass isn’t glorifying the U.S. military here, any more than he is condemning the Somali pirates.
2. “Her” – Spike Jonze’s futuristic vision of a world without love, one that is consumed with technological diversions, is hauntingly sad and powerfully envisioned. Joaquin Phoenix is perfect as the man who develops a romantic attachment to his computer’s voice. “Her” isn’t fun to watch so much as it’s engrossing, and if it isn’t scary in depicting a future that might not be all that far off or all that off base, it should be.
1. “42” – All right, so I’m a baseball fan, and an old Brooklyn Dodger fan at that. Why shouldn’t this true story be just as important as one of a nineteenth century man who was kidnapped into slavery? Jackie Robinson’s story is just as compelling a tale of America’s not-all-that distant past, and if the script and production values weren’t as strong as the other films on this list, the film was the only one that had me in tears as one heroic man’s victory over racism was told.
OK, Ed, I’ll give you a pass on “42,” a solid B+ movie, well written, well acted, with good production values and, of course, based on actual history. I”m much more enthusiastic about many of your other picks, though. And I still need to see four of them. THis has been a good year for movies, hasn’t it?
Jan