2010: The Year in Film

Hello, faithful readers! For those of you who have stuck around in my extended self-imposed sabbatical (all five of you), I thank you. For your loyal readership, you will be handsomely rewarded with this new rambling blog post! Unfortunately, the truth is that I really have no excuse for my absence, and for that I apologize. I started this blog in May of last year. My (admittedly personally ambitious) intent was to chronicle every single movie I saw with a thoughtful review. I started well with this goal in mind, but after a few months, things started to fall by the wayside, and as you can now see, I haven’t written a review in months. Many,many months. I want to extend great gratitude to good friend Thomas Flanagan, who has kept the blog as least partially alive with his thoughtful reviews. So here we are. It’s almost mid-April and we’re well into spring. What better way to celebrate the season than to reflect back on the year of movies in 2010? Timely, I know.

2010 was a strange year for movies, not only for cinema in general, but for my own personal movie watching habits. I probably watched less movies last year than I have in almost a decade. Between having a full-time job, other hobbies and interests and time with friends and family, my viewing habits just got pushed to the backburner. I didn’t bother to seek out the buzz movies like I had in years past. I didn’t have any real stake in who won Oscars this year (except for that excellent Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score!). Instead, my entertainment habits seemed to fall elsewhere. I went to more concerts this year than ever before. I watched more quality TV than I think I have in previous years. I also rarely visited the multiplex--I’ve realized I’ve grown weary of nearly any film that’s a sequel, remake, “re-imagining” or any film that has “Saw” in the title. Save for the excellent scheduling from local haunts such as the Belcourt Theatre, the offerings this year at the multiplex were few and far between. Sure, there were some clear highlights (anything Pixar puts out is at least worth a trip to the theater), but the overall selections seemed to be lacking this year.

Another shift from the multiplex this year: Netflix Instant Watch and Redbox. I know what you’re thinking--why pay $10.75 to see Iron Man 2 in the theater when you can wait 3 months and see it for $1.00? Studios aren’t particularly happy with this model (and understandably so), but it’s increasingly becoming the norm for many people. I still believe that the optimal place to experience a movie is the theater setting, but it often requires a time commitment that is difficult to negotiate. On the other hand, avenues such as Netflix Instant Watch allow one to watch a movie anytime and virtually anywhere. My biggest drawback to the Instant Watch is that the quality isn’t quite there yet (both in terms of content and actual picture quality). However, It provides a great avenue for independent films and documentaries. As of today, you can watch many of the acclaimed documentaries from last year (Restrepo, Exit Through the Gift Shop) and acclaimed foreign films (Everyone Else, Dogtooth) that you might not have the opportunity to see at your local theater. That’s where the real power of the service comes in. Where the option to rent a movie at your local rental store has become virtually extinct, the ability to queue up and discover many films you probably missed in a second is invaluable.

Now, not all is gloom and doom for the movies. There was still quite a lot to recommend from this past year. Aside from new films, I was also able to revisit a few older favorites and catch up on films I had never seen, some of which quickly moved up my list of all-time favorites. Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai (also a clear influence on last year’s The American) was a clear stand-out discovery for me. I was also able to catch bits of a Kurosawa perspective presented by the Belcourt, and I was lucky enough to catch both The Seven Samurai and Ikiru on the big screen, a true treat for any cinephile. Of the films that were released in 2010 (or foreign films released stateside in 2010), here is my top 20:

1. The Social Network
2. Winter’s Bone
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
4. Exit Through the Gift Shop
5. True Grit
6. Dogtooth
7. Toy Story 3
8. Let Me In
9. A Prophet
10. The Kids Are All Right
11. Inception
12. Black Swan
13. Shutter Island
14. Never Let Me Go
15. Somewhere
16. The Fighter
17. Best Worst Movie
18. Sweetgrass
19. Greenberg
20. The American

There are also a number of films I have yet to see, including (but not limited to): Carlos, The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, Another Year, I Am Love, Inside Job, Blue Valentine, Please Give, Mother, Everyone Else, Animal Kingdom, Red Riding: 1980 and Red Riding: 1983.

I want to thank everyone who periodically checks up on the blog from time to time, and I hope that I’ll be able to hold up my end of the bargain better this year.

Until then, stay tuned.

Enter the Void (2009)

By Thomas Flanagan (guest blogger)

Warning: Spoilers follow.

In this modern age of film, an era where CGI graphics have become a crutch for uninspired filmmaking, it can be a crusade to find a film that is both innovative and visually stunning. We as “old-timers” hearken back to the model spaceships of Star Wars and the mechanized shark of Jaws. We cry foul at the diluted, polluted, and played special effects most often employed to entertain today’s ADD-plagued audience. It stands to reason that when a film of true visual integrity arises, we stand and take notice. Gaspar Noé’s 2009 psychological thriller Enter the Void is truly an avant-garde slice of heaven. The magnitude of the genius employed in the visionary concept of this film makes it impossible for me to justly compare it to any previous film; however, there is an aura of Hitchcock, of classic film noir, and grindhouse realism that is inescapably palpable in this movie. To the modern cinematographer, ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you your current day Citizen Kane.

The movie itself is a loose adaptation of “The Tibetan Book of the Dead”. Oscar, a young American expatriate living in Japan, is shot and killed in a narcotics sting gone awry. Over the course of the movie we see the repercussions of Oscar’s death, as well as why he turned to crime and how hope was extracted from his tragedy. In terms of its content, this film is not for the faint of heart. Noé’s imagery includes scenes suggesting an incestuous relationship between Oscar and his kid sister Linda, rampant drug use, child separation, a clear depiction of not only an abortion procedure but also a frame of the aborted fetus, and gratuitous sexual encounters (it is said that Noé picked Paz de la Huerta for the role of Linda because she, “likes screaming, crying, and showing herself naked”). The combination of the soon to be described visuals and the jarring subject matter makes this film dangerously emotionally gripping.

It is to be expected that any drug movie will contain powerful imagery, and most drug movies elect to highlight the negative consequences of the counter-culture. Requiem for a Dream and Trainspotting are just two examples of very disturbing films, so much so that dare I say anyone would present one positive sentiment regarding heroin. Where Enter the Void succeeds is that it ventures into uncharted waters. While Oscar does partake in drugs, the character’s downfall is actually brought about by pre-existing psychological trauma. Due to a horrific car crash in which both his parents were killed (as Oscar and Linda helplessly looked on from the back seat), Oscar received a tremendous amount of mental strain. Couple that with a failed promise to never leave Linda shortly before the siblings are separated, and film chronicles the birth of an antihero. We see that due to severe psychotic anguish Oscar becomes quite apathetic and Linda turns to promiscuity to, pardon the pun, fill the void in her life. It is not drugs that negatively affect either character; rather, drugs merely act as a tool to paint a backdrop for this film, and what a vibrant backdrop it is.

The penultimate sequence in the film revolves around a camera panning above a psychedelic Tokyo, sometimes entering windows of rooms in skyscrapers, where we see various scenes of hedonistic pleasure, genitals aglow in the process. We finally enter a hotel room where we see Alex, Oscar’s best friend, making love to Linda. We enter her abdomen, where we see the process of ejaculation and the fertilization of an ovum. The film concludes with birth anew, as a child is brought into the world. This scene is fundamental in that, although the previously described imagery is quite blunt and graphic, we see that Oscar’s death allows Alex and Linda to find love, and brings the circle of life to a complete revolution. It is doubtful, however, such crass scenery can be fully examined with visuals as exhilarating and effervescent as those Noé presents. Red, green, and blue automated disco lights, as well as strobe lights, were used to crate a surreal feeling pervasive in many of the interior sequences of the film. For outdoor scenes a combination of shots taken from a helicopter flying over the city and CGI were forged to create an LSD-inspired Tokyo. The psychedelic flavor was further enhanced by neon lights and various camera tricks, such as accentuating reflections and dark areas, as well as introducing flickers mixed with motion blur, chromatic aberration, and focal distortion. The result is an acid-freaks dream, a glowing city filled with constant visual and auditory stimulation, a pulsating world hindered only by the limits of one’s imagination; in short, a cinematic masterpiece.

The only area where this motion picture stumbles is the acting department. While not critically hailed, Paz de la Huerta and Cyril Roy perform quite admirably in their roles as Linda and Alex, respectively. Nathaniel Brown (Oscar) is quite mechanical, however. This was intentional because Oscar is never shot from the front (the scenes where he is alive are shot from his point of view, thus, the only clear depiction of him displays the back of his head and his shoulders). Noé selected Brown for the role because he believed that a seasoned actor would be quite uncomfortable with this minimalization, and Brown, an aspiring director, saw the artistic merit in that approach. Unfortunately, however, Brown’s disconnection with the role becomes apparent in his depiction of Oscar, and his scenes are quite choppy. This, however, should not stop you from viewing this film. Rarely does a film arise that not only takes you on a visual journey but also engages every emotion, and this is surely a film that succeeds in that task. Enter the Void perfectly illustrates a psychedelic experience, something even those at the pinnacle of LSD use could not do, and I suggest you buy the ticket, take the ride.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5