Best of 2008
Paranoid Park
Van Sant’s other movie from this year was the fourth and most accessible in a brilliant run of fiercely indie contemplations on death (following Gerry, Elephant and Last Days). I simply adored it. Felt very much like a music video ode to youthful excitement and confusion without being a commercial for something. Nostalgia, poetry and meditative serenity rush from the screen into my soul. Spoke directly to me. Wish I made it.
Synechdoche, New York
Kaufman’s directorial debut isn’t without its flaws - pacing and focus might come in time to the brilliant writer, but perhaps for a story so strange and all-encompassing, these flaws are in fact devices that actually help articulate this visionary masterpiece. Has life ever felt so simultaneously significant and meaningless? Such is the poignance of great cinema. We infuse life with such meaning. Death too, apparently.
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
I don’t remember when I went to see this movie. I saw it on a Times top ten this year, so I’ll put it here. What a powerfully cringe-y yet humane film. Sometimes I feel like a sheltered, spoiled, uber-American kid - this film, which takes place in a oppressive, unfortunate Bucharest, Romania, makes my life seem especially petty and overwrought with privileged rumination.
The Wrestler
I didn’t think I’d love this movie, even when watching it. But it’s stuck with me in a very tender way. Rourke is so damn good; it makes me profoundly sad. I am really impressed with Aaronofsky’s ability to reinvent himself and give us such a raw, honest, stripped-down movie experience. Wes Anderson could learn a lot from such brave direction and career choice.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Much superior to the amusing lark written by Fitzgerald, this movie achieves an emotional crescendo rare in such Hollywood fare. Powerfully touching and grand without the cloying saccharine quality from which most films of this scope suffer (Gump/Clint Eastwood/Ron Howard), Button offers a slant on life that, for me, provides a solid inquiry into the human experience, and a lush jaunt into visual bravado that moviegoing is all about. But why the modern-day/flashback device?
Let the Right One In
Shot awesomely, like some sort of twilit dream I had, this Swedish genre-hybrid is rather sublime. I think that insatiable vampire-dom represents a part of our collective psyche that exists very close, actually, to the part of us that romanticizes childhood. What a great topic: ravenous, soul-crushing innocence.
The Last Mistress
Catherine Breillat called this the best French movie ever made. Hardly, since her own Fat Girl is in fact a better film, but her self-aggrandized stance is certainly impressive, and her confidence shows. This is a staunchly honest look at love/lust and its annoyingly stubborn, mysterious ways. An American director could not have been so true to the heart, I don’t think.
Reprise
This Norwegian tale of two young writers captures the fun, anxiousness and camaraderie of youthful creativity up against the world, and against oneself. The filmmaking is spirited and entertaining.
Funny Games
Not sure about this. Not as good as the original, which is one of my favorite all-time. In fact, this one is barely worth mentioning. Despite terrific casting and intriguing conceptual aims, this exact remake of Haneke’s own Austrian film is rather underwhelming. See the original, which speaks reflexively of its own sadomasochism without the burden of anticipation and re-hashed intellectualism.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Really funny. In a year that’s given free reign to pop comics (Ferrell, Stiller, Apatow, etc), this film stands above the rest. Though the rest were all quite fun, too.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
This movie was released in mid-August and is still playing in New York and Berkeley! That says it all, really. But because it doesn’t really say it all, I’ll add that this movie speaks of modern creative and romantic ambition in a very relevant way. Woody Allen still knows how to contemplate life while provoking our interest and jubilance.
Milk
Yes, a touching, important, great movie. I think the Academy will have to over-recognize it to atone for their Brokeback blunder.
Wall-E
Charm alone seems enough to keep audiences at ease through prolonged silence. The added social commentary on our gluttony and disregard for our environment is beautifully thrown in. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down indeed.
Man on Wire
Inspirational and entertaining. If only we were all a bit more like Phillipe Petit - exuberant, joyous, talented and quirky.
Encounters At the End of the World
Werner Herzog is a real son-of-a-gun. His attitude toward his material make this film at once a romp and an odd think-piece. It’s for his perspective that this film - and his whole oeuvre - are so fascinating.
The Dark Knight
It was enthralling and crafted as if contending for awards. Unfortunately, it’s slipping from my mind. The superhero vehicle remains an inferior genre, no matter its gravitas.
