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.