#9 – 15
ROMANCES
Before Sunset
Directed & co-written by Richard Linklater, R
The best love stories of the year couldn’t be more different on the surface, yet are at heart very much about the stumbling block for all great romances: the discrepancy between the truth of who we are and the idealism of what we expect from our special others. Two former lovers have spent a decade dreaming and wondering about the other in Linklater’s gentle “Before Sunset,” and when they finally do meet again, things aren’t how they expected them to be. One could argue that the entire film is a daydream in the head of the male lead (a gaunt, aging Ethan Hawke), feeling himself in a dead-end and speculating about impressing an old girlfriend (Julie Delpy) who has made something with her life. Oscar nominee for Adapted Screenplay.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Directed by Michel Gondry, R
For “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” screenwriter Charlie Kaufman has written his most accessible and perhaps his best script yet, replacing narrative showiness and virtuosity with sincerity and affection for his two leads. Played by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, they are a couple that’s fallen apart, and each has hired a futuristic agency to erase memories of the other. Things go wrong for Carrey, who finds himself lost in his own mind, definitely one of the year’s best other worlds. Oscar winner for Original Screenplay and nominated for Actress.
A Very Long Engagement
Directed & co-written by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, R
The battle between harsh reality and romantic fantasies comes to a head in Jeunet’s “A Very Long Engagement,” in which a determined farm girl (Audrey Tautou) refuses to let go of the magical notion that her fiancé did not die in World War I, despite all the “Saving Private Ryan”-esque incidents she encounters. As with “City of Lost Children” and “Amelie,” Jeunet again shows his ability to fly in and out of fabricated worlds, and delights in showing how our lives lace in and out of each other. Oscar nominee for Cinematography and Art Direction.
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Collateral
Directed by Michael Mann, R
Despite a script that runs the gamut from brilliant and insightful to middling and mechanical, director Mann has made another superb ode to The City. This is probably the first American movie shot on digital video that uses that medium to its advantage, and the result is a wondrously murky, washed-out, and grimy urban landscape. The images tell a different, better story than the story does, which is itself a pretty compelling tale of an innocent man (Jamie Foxx) in the hands of a killer (Tom Cruise). Oscar nominee for Supporting Actor Foxx and Film Editing.
Ghost in the Shell II: Innocence
Directed & co-written by Mamoru Oshii, PG13
A cops-and-robbers story is just a clothesline for the year’s best animation, a stirring, powerful, and slow-moving collection of fascinating images in place of the breathless pace of its predecessor, centering on a strange nowhereland between flesh and machine. I’d be lying if I said I knew what was going on, but that’s part of the mysterious allure of “Innocence.”
CRITICAL FAVORITES
Hotel Rwanda
Directed by Terry George, PG13
Three of the year’s biggest critical favorites (I listed “Million Dollar Baby” earlier) are about middle-aged men struggling not with the realization of dreams, but with letting dreams go. Real-life ordinary hero Paul (Don Cheadle) must let go of his illusions about the West coming to the rescue of him and his people, and in doing so he saves hundreds of lives. Oscar nominee for Actor, Supporting Actress Sophie Okenodo, and Screenplay.
Sideways
Directed & co-written by Alexander Payne, R
If “Million Dollar Baby” pares its characters down to their essentials, then “Sideways” surrounds them with all their defenses and neuroses. The world of “Sideways” is the good life of California wine country, of good meals in sensible portions that don’t make you feel tired, and good wines that cause those good meals to swim through our senses. The eyes through which we see all this belong to a man (Paul Giamatti) who can have it all and appreciate it all, but has no one with which to share it. Oscar winner for Adapted Screenplay and nominated for Picture, Director, Supporting Actor Thomas Haden Church, and Supporting Actress Virginia Madsen.