KEVIN WONG

So with Oscar season approaching, I figured I’d chip in my two cents as well.  Be sure to check out InContention.com, who do great and regular pre-Oscar coverage. 

Near-favourite movies: Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Up, District 9

Movies I shamefully have not seen yet and thus can’t include: Up in the Air, Crazy Heart, A Serious Man, The Informant, Moon

Movies I didn’t (really) like:

Inglourious Basterds (dir. Quentin Tarantino)

I loved Kill Bill.  I even enjoyed Grindhouse: Death Proof, though I did feel Quentin’s was by far the more overindulgent and lesser-paced of the two (I seem to be in the minority on that one).  But this movie to me was the brainchild of a 12 year old.  In the same way that Mariah Carey embraces her inner 12 year old girl archetype, Quentin’s inner 12 year old boy-archetype (according to traditional gender roles) is at full force in this.  He continues to show how scared he is of portraying women as anything more than avatars for revenge or deceit, he’s petrified of sex, he glorifies in violence, and he continues to write every single line of dialogue like it’s coming out of his own mouth as the most-clever-thing-he-bets-you’ve-ever-heard. 

It reminds me of the criticism of Mark Millar’s work on the Authority and the X-Men books, where the whole thing shouts at you “Isn’t this COOL? Aren’t I COOL? This is SO bad-ass!  Oh, check this out! Yeah, I’m hardcore!” and really, the whole thing is more irreverent and flat than anything.  Quentin’s other movies have been grounded in a humanity, a true protagonistic storyline with rise and fall.  This one was just a gleeful mishmash.  The defense that ”it’s a fantasy!” doesn’t really do it for me, because that’s not an excuse for distracted storytelling.

With that said, the man knows how to set up a shot, doesn’t he? The ending shots in the cinema are iconic as hell, and I won’t be forgetting those.  Likewise with Christoph Waltz’s amazing work.  The tension in his scenes was nearly suffocating. 

The Blind Side

My partner was so upset with the heavy-handed one-dimensional paw-strokes at this movie that he walked out after an hour.  I was almost close behind.  I get where this movie is going, but the storytelling is so lopsided, relying way too much on the juxtaposition Sandra Bullock’s saintly character versus the protagonist’s ever-grateful (save the misunderstanding at the ending) ‘gentle giant’ persona that the whole thing reads a bit too much like an after-school special from the 80s.  I don’t begrudge Sandra Bullock her likely Oscar, but it seems more that she’s going to get the award for deviating from playing herself onscreen in romantic comedies (albeit charmingly and well). 

FAVOURITE MOVIES OF 2009 SEASON

5. Coraline

Spink & Forcible in "Coraline"

I am a huge Neil Gaiman fan, and had a sense when I first read his book that it would make for a great movie.  A bit surprised that he didn’t go the Dave McKean route (maybe they felt the alternate-world thing was exhausted after Mirrormask), I’m very glad he thought of Henry Sellick to direct this piece (apparently he thought of Henry from the very beginning).

Henry and his animators’ work is the smoothest stop-motion work I have yet to see.  I’ll admit, not knowing much about the process leading up to the film, I had no idea it was stop motion until after the film was over.  I thought it was very clever, very stylized 3d animation.  The voice acting is superb (anything with Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, really), the character design is perfect and hilarious, and the pacing is wonderfully done.  It’s one of those movies where the original work gets enhanced, the story even more fleshed out through the full-length-film process.

When you get the chance, watch the Making Of videos for this movie as well.  How much does one pay for one of the models used in the film now?  I would LOVE Spink & Forcible dolls. 

4. A Single Man

Matthew Goode and Colin Firth in "A Single Man"

The temptation for this one to go in as #1 was great.  It’s the movie that has stayed with me the most out of this season, and I am sorry to see Tom Ford somewhat dismissed by the film community thus far.  It seems more that the general reaction to the film has been one of “oh! It wasn’t terrible!”, when it did far more than that. 

Tom’s storytelling in the film reminds me quite a bit of Zhang Yimou or Wong Kar-wai in terms of the use of perfectly set up shots, colour saturation/desaturations, and letting the music set the pace at times.  Christopher Isherwood’s novella is well-served by this kind of stylized approach.  Additionally, and I don’t know who to credit for this, but the flashback scenes between Firth and Matthew Goode are incredibly genuine, creating a sense of warmth and cameraderie out of otherwise-mundane moments.

Abel Korzeniowski’s score was painfully overlooked in the Oscar nominations.  I have to agree when some posit that the music branch of the Academy has gone awry.  I still cannot believe the Hurt Locker got in for best score over this one.

And finally, there’s Firth’s performance, which is my favourite of the year.  The long shot where he reacts to being told of his partner’s accident is pretty fantastic to see. 

Pacing issues (Ford gets a bit overindulgent with the water metaphor) pulled the movie down a bit, but it’s the movie that emotionally affected me the most this past year. 

3. Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

Saw this one at the Toronto International Film Festival and was really moved by it.  I think enough has been said about Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Mariah, etc., so I’ll keep this one short.

I will say though that those who lump this movie in with The Blind Side are somewhat missing it.  It’s both right and very wrong to over-ascribe racial dynamics upon this film.  Despite the really dark nature of the story, the film is still ultimately one of optimism.  Precious is no one-dimensional ever-grateful gentle giant.  She’s angry, she’s confused, she’s clumsy, she’s very nearly-broken, she’s strong, she’s protective, and she is ultimately the one to take control of her situation.  And the inter-dynamics of light-skinned versus dark-skinned have been argued enough elsewhere, but I will point out that while Precious’s teacher is constantly framed in a halo of white light, the scene near the end where she tells Ms. Weiss that Ms. Weiss cannot handle her is important in swinging any such dynamic in the other direction. 

I see the movie as an empowering, important, and pro-literacy message. 

2. The Last Station

The Last Station

I really was not expecting to be as emotionally drawn-in by this film as I was.  I expected to see a nice little biopic about the life of Tolstoy, and to be very academically-impressed by Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer’s work. 

Mirren’s work in particular is fantastic.  I was watching an interview where someone noted that it was her ability to play even the Countess’s maddest-moment with the utmost of dignity that makes you stay with her through the film.  I tried to picture another actress pulling the character off like this, and came up short. 

The final shots in the film are heartwrenching and gorgeous.  Story well paced and conveyed.

Also, would like to note that I hate films that tell stories in non-English locales where every character speaks English with an accent, as if that’s supposed to make up for the lack of the actual language.  But can you imagine how ridiculous it would be for a Chinese film to be made about life in London where everyone spoke Chinese with a terrible Anglo-accent? My gratitude to the actors in this film for keeping that to a minimum (are you listening, The Reader???)

1. An Education

An Education

 For me, this was probably the most perfect film I saw last year.  Best ensemble cast, near-perfect pacing, story nearly perfectly conveyed, and you never (through the director and actress Carey Mulligan’s work) lose the protagonist once.   It’s on at #1 because when I thought of these five films, the one that I would pick up immediately on DVD for the sheer joy of having it was this one. 

 I have to say that I feel both Peter Sarsgaard and Alfred Molina have been overlooked at the Academy for their work.  Particularly Sarsgaard, who pulls off the incredibly difficult feat of not making his character a creepy old lech, but rather a guilty, cowardly, flighty, comprehendable individual instead.   

Also, there’s the much-needed levity brought by Rosamund Pike, who also hasn’t been recognized enough for her amusing work.