Best Films of 2011 (plus two for 2012)

Assembling a list of the Top Ten Films of the Year was a delight this time around, as 2011 was a marvelous year at the movies. A quick glimpse of the films that I finally decided on will tell you a great deal about the variety and quality of cinema 2011-wise.

At first I was going to simply list the films in alphabetical order, but given that people want to know the opinions of various writers and critics as to exactly what their number one film is, I will be listing the films in order. Still, it seems a bit silly to talk about the difference between my sixth and seventh favorite film of the year. But, hey... there's no perfect method here, so this is what I'll go with in this post.

Before I list my Top 10 of 2011, I do want to mention two films that I saw at the Chicago International Film Festival back in October that would have made my list if they had been given a normal theatrical release. They are Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan of Turkey and Miss Bala, directed by Mexican filmmaker Gerardo Naranjo. The former is a haunting study of a murder investigation that takes place over the course of one evening and part of the next day. It's brilliantly directed and photographed and I think it is a masterwork.

Miss Bala is a damning look at the drug wars that are currently tearing apart families in Mexico. Narnajo gives us a story of a young woman who only wants to compete in a local beauty pageant, but is kidnapped and forced to work with a drug trafficking gang. It's first-rate entertainment and an argument against the insanity of this criminal behavior and it's a memorable film.

However, since both Miss Bala and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia are technically going to be considered as 2012 films, I will have to wait until next year's list. I am quite confident both will be on that list in one year's time.

So on to the list... The Best Films of 2011

1) Melancholia (Director, Lars Von Trier) - The apocalypse, at least according to Von Trier. This is a film that challenges you and stays with you for a long time. How would we react if we knew that the world would end in a matter of hours, especially if we knew the violent manner in which it would happen? The prologue, set to the strains of the Wagner's overture to Tristan und Isolde, is a stunning sequence, filled with unsettling images, while the ending is both memorable and awe-inspiring. Kirsten Dunst gives a beautiful, multi-layered performance as the woman who maintains a calm amidst the madness surrounding her.

2) Hugo (Martin Scorsese) - Who would have thought that the director of Raging Bull and Taxi Driver would have had this enchanting film inside of him? This is both a dazzling visual display as well as a fond memory of early cinema; it's also a call from Scorsese for film preservation. All of the director's colleagues perform brilliantly in this fantasy aimed at children and adults; especially noteworthy are the production design from Dante Ferretti, the costumes of Sandy Powell, the photography of Robert Richardson and the editing of Thelma Schoonmaker. Scorsese clearly had the time of his life making this film and it shows in his accomplished, effortless direction.

3) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson) - A marvelous adaptation of John Le Carré's classic spy novel set in the Cold War era of 1974, this movie looks like it could have been made in 1974, given the emphasis on old-fashioned story telling. The excellent script along with Alfredson's classical direction combine to give the viewer a treat for the ears and eyes. Beautiful performances by the entire ensemble, especially from Toby Jones and Tom Hardy, while Gary Oldman is quietly brilliant in the lead role of Smiley. It's been some time since we've seen a spy film this good.

4) Moneyball (Bennett Miller) - I liked this film very much the first time I saw it; I loved it the second time around. Based on Michael Lewis' book about Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane's attempt to radically change how a major league baseball team would be assembled, the movie was a nice balance between the actual games of the A's 2002 season along with Beane's inner doubts. Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian wrote a brilliant adapted screenplay, finding a human story amidst the mountain of baseball statistics. Brad Pitt turned in his most complete performance to date and Jonah Hill as Beane's assistant was charismatic and quite funny.

5) Into the Abyss (Werner Herzog) - Herzog's chilling look at the effects of a triple murder on several individuals, from the families and friends of the victims to the killers themselves. Herzog gracefully conducts interviews just off camera, asking each person a few questions about their feelings, all the time respecting their viewpoints. Herzog himself is against the death penalty, but this is not a film that rides this argument, rather it gives us great insight into the human condition, especially when it involves grief. At times moving, at times unsettling, but always absorbing.

6) We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay) - A beautiful film about an ugly subject- mass murder. Kevin is the son of Eva and Franklin; the young boy seems to hate his mother, while greatly admiring his father. Eva, brilliantly portrayed by Tilda Swinton with great inner strength and fierce pride, struggles with her son's behavior, yet still embraces him after his horrific deed. Ramsay is a director fascinated with the power of images; this along with her approach of presenting this story as a puzzle that moves back and forth in time makes this an unforgettable experience.

7) The Kid with a Bike (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne) - A sometimes serious, sometimes enchanting film about an 11-year old by who has been abandoned by his father and whose bike has been sold. Mad at the world, he refuses all attempts at love and friendship until a local hairdresser in her 30s agrees to take him in on weekends, altering both his and her perspective on life. This is one of the most mature studies of teen-age troubles that I have ever seen. Both leads- Thomas Doret as the young boy and Cécile de France as the hairdresser - are naturally gifted performers and it's the ease with their characters that help this film become the charmer it truly is.

8) The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius) - A black-and-white silent film in 2011? Who would ever think this would be a success? Well it's been an unmitigated one, thanks to the vision of Hazanavicius who gives us a film that respects audiences' love for both silent films and for human stories. This is funny, sweet and charming all rolled into one, yet it has its moments of pathos as well. Great performance by Jean Dujardin as George Valentin, the silent film star and a fine score by Ludovic Bource that recalls Chaplin's early work.

9) Le Havre (Ari Kaurismaki) - A film about the simple dignity of the everyday man, as Kaurismaki gives us a story of a humble middle-aged shoe shine in the port town of Le Havre who discovers a young refugee from Africa and plots to protect him and ultimately reunite him with his family. It's funny in a droll, offbeat way and it gives you pause to think as well. Just lovely!

10) A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg) - The true story of Freud, Jung and Sabina Spielrein, one of their patients. The film deals with hidden desires and urges and what happens when we act on them. The thinking of these famous doctors may be rational, but ironically their actions are not always so. Marvelous performances, especially by Viggo Mortensen as Freud and how nice to see Cronenberg tell a story without having to resort to violence.


Other films from 2011 I admired include Margin Call; War Horse; The Skin I Live In; The Descendants: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Last Rites of Joe May.

A Spy Thriller Extraordinaire

I admit that I was a bit apprehensive about what my reaction would be to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. After all, I've seen too many spy thrillers that shift focus from one exotic location to the next while introducing a bewildering group of characters; all of this can make for a confusing and frustrating film experience. Happily, this film shows us what can be done with this genre when everyone - from the screenwriters to the actors, the director and all the technicians - have their batteries charged and work in unison to craft a superb thriller.

TTSS is based upon the classic novel of the same name from John Le Carré. Set in the midst of the Cold War in 1974, the story revolves around the fact that a Russian mole has infiltrated the British intelligence agency MI-6. A British Undersecretary recruits spy George Smiley (Gary Oldman) to investigate this issue; Smiley in turn persuades his assistant Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch) to do whatever it takes to find the individual who is passing secrets along to the Russians.

The screenplay, adapted by Peter Straughan and Bridget O'Connor (she died late in 2010), is a model in how to economize a complex story that has several plot lines. The film opens in Hungary with a botched assignment and then takes us straight into the "Circus", the nickname for the MI-6 group. We meet this small gathering of spies and see how their inner circle works; their meeting room with its soundproof walls a testament to their secrecy.

We also follow Smiley and Guillam, working from outside the Circus and meet a young British spy named Ricki Tarr who reveals some key secrets from his recent encounters with a Russian spy and his lover. Each character from Smiley and Tarr to Control (John Hurt), Smiley's former boss as well as Percy Alleline (Toby Jones) and Bill Haydon (Colin Firth), two members of the MI-6 inner circle are written with a beautiful clarity and preciseness.

Director Tomas Alfredson takes this labyrinth plot and weaves it into an absorbing thriller. By necessity, there are numerous scenes of spies sitting around talking about what their next move will be; these are not the most exciting cinematic situations imaginable, but Alfredson does an excellent job bringing out all the drama in these moments. His pacing is superb and I can only imagine that he was at least partially influenced by Alfred Hitchcock, especially in the way that he draws out suspense. Watch the scene in the opening moments that takes place in the café in Hungary and note how the director slows things down as he cuts back and forth between all the individuals - key characters as well as bystanders - that are present at this locale.

Alfredson's attention to detail - something necessary in a complicated story such as this - is impressive. A drop of sweat that lands on a table, the Undersecretary buttering his toast, a half-empty pack of cigarettes are all momentary images that help define the complexities of this story. This is a movie that demands your attention during its entire length, so every small piece of information that is presented could be a major clue in the ultimate revelation. How nice to see a film that respects its audience for its intelligence and then rewards them on so many levels.

Along with his cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, Alfredson gives us a world of dark images; moody grays, browns and blues are the primary colors here and it's the sensation of gloom that hangs over the lives of the characters in this film. We do see a few scenes of the spies at Christmas parties and such where they let their hair down for a while, but these are fleeting moments of frivolity in their existence. The everyday happenings of these characters is generally mundane, with only a few encounters among outsiders providing a bit of relief. The production design, from the meeting rooms to the research rooms to Smiley's drab dwellings enhances the solemnity and loneliness these men face and place us squarely in a time and locale that capture a sense of gloom among both these individuals and their respective governments.

Another important contribution is the film's original score, composed by Alberto Iglesias. His cue for the sequence near the beginning of the film, where we first meet the members of the Circus and see the environment in which they labor, is marvelous. Haunting and sad, this theme, written in a minor key, features a mournful passage for oboe and muted trumpet. It's subtle, complex and quite memorable - you may not realize it at the time, but it grabs you and stays within your soul. The music as a whole gives you a beautiful sense of the loneliness of the spies and Iglesias writes with the necessary subtleties needed; this is a score that never announces itself, yet it fits the film like a well-tailored suit. This is among the top two or three scores of the year and it has all the beauty and resonance of a Jerry Goldsmith score from his glory days of the 1970s. This is about as high a praise as I can give to an original musical film score!

The entire ensemble delivers an amazing array of performances, especially from Jones, Hurt and Firth, as well as Mark Strong as world-weary spy Jim Prideaux. But there are two actors whose work in this film must be singled out. As Smiley, Gary Oldman delivers a performance of uncommon discipline and subtlety. His character is a decent man, but one who is deeply flawed; adding to his mistrust of his fellow man is the fact that his wife cheated on him with a former colleague. Smiley is reluctant to let anyone into his world, the one exception being Guillam; in a remarkable scene in Smiley's living quarters, he bares his soul in a somber monologue about a flight he took years ago and what he learned during that situation. Oldman delivers much of this speech directly to the camera and it's a moment of quiet grace for his character.

Viewing the world through his oversized horn-rimmed glasses, Smiley seeks the truth, but makes for the realization that the majority of the individuals he meets are dishonest. He says what he has to say quietly, raising his voice only once in the film, always keeping his guard up. Oldman has been known for his quirky roles in the past (Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy, Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK to name only two); here he gives us a solemn, proud man who quietly and gracefully lights up the screen. It's an outstanding performance, the finest I have seen all year.

The other remarkable performance here is given by Tom Hardy as Ricki Tarr. The brief episode of his character, who elicits dangerous secrets from a beautiful Russian woman, is one of the most engaging in the film and Hardy relishes this time on screen. We see the self-doubt in his face and hear the fear in his voice, as he knows that everyone is out to learn about his secrets. There's a seductive charm to Hardy's performance and the film's tone changes ever so slightly during his time on screen; Hardy has great charisma and his moments with Oldman are riveting.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a superb return to the spy film genre. Both a marvelously crafted thriller as well as a commentary on the mistrust and selfishness of individuals who indirectly affect the policies of their governments, the film is an absorbing, highly intelligent drama that is among the best of 2011.