So, today I saw a film that completely through my recent “top ten of the decade” list into disarray. This would/is my new number 2.
A bunch of films watched between ten thousand words of papers and essays.
1. There Will Be Blood
Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007.
US
When compiling this list there was only one dead cert for inclusion. And this was it. There was literally no other contender for the top of this list, it really was that clear cut. There Will Be Blood is the single greatest film produced in my lifetime. At its (dark, dark) heart There Will Be Blood is the story of the formation of society. The manner in which religion seeps in to this society charts the structural formation of the film, before the narrative is distracted and wholly consumed by greed. En-route religion breeds superstition, which in turn adds to the overtly protectively insular attitude taken on by our protagonist. There Will Be Blood is a film that stands without question alongside the true greats of cinema history. Be it listed alongside Citizen Kane, or The Godfather, Paul Thomas Anderson has created a film that is everything the cinema professes to represent. We see struggle, we see hope, and we are rewarded with success, only not necessarily in that order, and not necessarily singularly.
2. Two Lovers
James Gray, 2008.
US/FRA
James Gray, perhaps the most continental of young American Filmmakers produced a series of mini-classics over the last ten years, each of which star the fascinating Joaquin Phoenix, but while his most recent piece, Two Lovers may lack the scale of his previous two post-2000 pictures The Yards and We Own the Night, it is the intimacy of the piece that really lets it shine.
Phoenix has never been better than in his turn as the lonely/confused/torn Lester, nor will he ever be, are the rumours of his premature retirement to be believed. The films locale of Brooklyn, New York is as key a character as any of the supporting turns, as provided by the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Isabella Rosellini. Lester is an obvious self-reference point for the viewer of the film, with the supporting players being easily mouldable base models easily attachable to any number of different mindsets. Indeed the scene in which a heartbroken Leonard steps out onto the deserted New Years Eve streets of Brooklyn, as people celebrate in the distance is one that will no doubt linger on in the mind of the viewer long after Two Lovers is over.
3. Gangs Of New York
Martin Scorsese, 2002.
US
Martin Scorsese’s foray into the world of the historical epic, and a film semi-derided upon it’s initial release is still my chronological favourite Scorsese since Goodfellas. Released just weeks after a very different piece of epic cinema, The Two Towers, Gangs of New York showed that the auteur could provide a wholly similar product to the spectacle-endowed blockbuster filmmaker, while maintaining the thematic and tonal traits one would expect from “A Martin Scorsese Picture”.
If Daniel Day-Lewis’ Bill the Butcher provides the films bounding chassis, representing the frame of his beloved America, then it is Leonardo DiCaprio’s underappreciated Amsterdam Vallon that brings the pulse, indeed the mobile force of change into the equation of a land being reborn. The justifiability of second generation immigration could be interpreted very differently seven years on from its initial release, in a world controlled by paranoia and fear of the usual, which appears to be one of the most dominant themes of the past decade.
4. Batman Begins
Christopher Nolan, 2005.
US
The ultimate post-September 11th piece of mainstream cinema, Batman Begins eschews the neon-nineties Schumacher-Batman flicks for a film grounded in fear. The over the top enemies of the earlier films are no longer part and parcel of the Batman franchise, instead we see terror reign, in a world where the imagination is the one true enemy.
It’s easy to forget just how well made a film like Batman Begins is, especially when viewed in the light of its overt commercial success. Alas Batman Begins has a genuinely effective emotional crux point at its core. In fact, the section of the film in which Bruce Wayne’s parents are murdered is handled incredibly, with a pitch perfect pace and incredibly effective subdued tone.
While they may lack the spectacle of the manner in which the self-produced expansive/inclusive Marvel pictures, or indeed can they lay claim to being the initial rejuvenating force within the comic-book led Hollywood assault, the Christopher Nolan directed Bat-flicks contain a level of accomplishment thus far untapped by any other film producer. That’s not to say that there aren’t any other ‘great’ comic book based pictures, I hold the second X-Men film in very high regard, and genuinely adore the Spider-man films, but even they haven’t reached the sort of legitimacy that Batman Begins and The Dark Knight have. The disjointed narrative structure of Batman Begins is what sets it higher than its successor for me.
To say that Batman Begins was a creative success would be a huge understatement, but not only did it do the seemingly impossible and kick start the Batman franchise, but it changed the focus of the way in which Hollywood operates. And while it’s influence may not be entirely welcome, for Hollywood became obsessed with the films concept and born a culture of reimagining, rebooting and remaking in it’s wake, but I would argue that Batman Begins is a good enough film to make up for the deluge of unoriginality that followed in it’s footsteps.
5. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Andrew Dominik, 2007.
US/AUS
The “noughties” belonged to one genre for this viewer, and that genre was the Neo-Western. Inspired by the likes of Clint Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josey Wales and John Sturges’ Bad Day at Black Rock, an influx of post-modern, ultra realistic films set in various outbacks, off-roads and unbeaten tracks saw the light of day in the 2000’s. Tommy Lee Jones’ Guillermo Arriaga-scripted The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada arguably kicked off a sub-genre that culminated success wise three years later with the Jones-starring, Coen Brothers-directed No Country For Old Men, when that film took the big prizes at the 2007 Academy Awards. In between we had John Hillcoat’s outstanding The Proposition, the lauded HBO film Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and the Edward Norton vehicle Down in the Valley. Mainstream Hollywood even attempted to join in with the dire Ghost Rider. Anyway, I digress, the best of this (wild) bunch is Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, an intrinsically powerful and exhaustingly charted exploration of the concept of celebrity and obsession.
Brad Pitt provides a performance that pushes even his turn in Fight Club to one side, as the laconic yet brutal outlaw. It’s perhaps a testament to Pitt’s qualities as a screen presence, and in keeping with the films subtext that he is quite clearly the star of the piece, in spite of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford being the story of Casey Affleck’s Robert Ford. The film opens with Ford at the centre, and closes with his death, with James being little more than a Kurtz style mythical figure, sweeping in and out of the film, dictating the tone and mood of the picture as he passes through.
6. Children of Men
Alfonso Cuaron, 2006
US/UK/MEX
While this film excels in many areas, boasting an outstanding cast, a beautiful sense of scale, incredible cinematography and inspired direction, Children of Men was the best science fiction film of the decade for one reason above all of this; its world. The direction, sense and cinematography combined with the best art direction of the noughties to create perhaps the single most accomplished vision of the future ever seen on screen. The world of Children of Men feels terrifyingly real, yet wholly relatable to.
That director Alfonso Cuaron manages to create such a fundementally “English” feel to the film may come as a surprise when one takes into account his Mexican background, although it could be considered that it is in the political detail (the fear of immigration) that gives it this very localised depth. Cuaron’s knack of forming character can be seen in the supplementary material produced alongside his earlier films, wherein he produced a novella detailing the histories of the characters featured in Solo Con tu Pareja and Y tu Mama Tambien, and with Children of Men this extends to beyond the human, with the world of the film being as much of a character as anything.
The cinematography of the film is to die for, with Emmanuel Lubezki’s wonderful tracking shots being a thing genuine wonder, while the plot manages to tell a very basic tale whilst maintaining originality an indeed surprise. The philosophical angle holds up academically too, with renown philosopher Slavoj Zizek being one its staunchest supporters. The influence of Children of Men has already begun to be felt, with Terminator : Salvation being little more than a wanton homage, and in turn a poor imitation.
Children of Men is an incredibly satisfying piece of cinema, and representative of a decade that proved incredibly successful for a trio or Mexican filmmakers. Guillermo Del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro González Iñárritu (and to a lesser extent Guillermo Arriaga) brought a fresh wave of talent to the mainstream from South America, and should be considered one of the defining aspects of cinema in the first decade of the 2000’s.
7. 35 Shots of Rum
Claire Denis
FRA
The sole entry from 2009, a year which from afar looks rather tame, but in fact boasted many great pictures. Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler is the most memorable flick from the first half of the year, with the likes of District 9, Star Trek and Moon providing a resurgence for science fiction that Avatar couldn’t maintain. 35 Shots of Rum makes this list simply because it provided the single most wonderful screening of the year, with it’s tale of family making up for in emotion what it lacks in complexity. The film presents a very modern, very real Paris, eschewing the charm and whimsy that the dawn of the decade and the likes of Amelie and Moulin Rouge brought with it. Its a look at the city that is reminiscent of the work of Franju or Bresson, and one that struck an immediate chord with a genuine lover of the city.
Oh, and the Nightshift sequence is still the most engaging scene I’ve seen in a motion picture all year!
