Tuesday 22 December 2009

End Of The Year - Best And Worst

Although I have detested Best Of lists all my adult life for some unknown reason I feel compelled to write one this year. I'm sure someone could find a deeper meaning in under all this - I simply don't care.

Neither the best of nor the worst of are in any order - they are simply the ten films I loved the most and the ten I hated the most.

Best Of 2009 -

1) White Ribbon

Michael Haneke constructs perhaps what is most comprehensive and self-contained look at fascism the screen has ever seen - set on the cusp of World War I, a small Austrian village is beset by strange events which are somehow linked to the children of the place. Haneke creates a place so real and displays an understanding of the way of life so well that it almost feels like a documentary at times. Simply brilliant.

2)Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call: New Orleans

Werner Herzog re-invents the Abel Ferrara classic - starting with an outrageous scene set during the New Orleans floods, Herzog creates a neo-noir world touched by the Mad Hatter - Nicolas Cage's lieutenant is a brilliant creation: the physical and vocal transformation Cage gives the character throughout the movie makes one think as if he is channelling Olivier and Mckellan in their Richard III role.

3)Inglorious Basterds:

Tarantino rocks. That's all one needs to say about his tribute to World War II action-exploitation films which starts with what is perhaps the most perfect 20 minutes in any film this year. Christoph Waltz's Hans Landa steals the film as a memorable, well-crafted villain with the best lines in the whole script.

4)A Serious Man:
The Coen Brothers craft a comedy that is clearly inspired by their own life in the suburbs as children. A great cast give life to a series of off-beat characters who try to make sense of the mysteries of life.

5)Up In The Air:
George Clooney makes this modern re-telling of 'The Flying Dutchman' aided by a terrifically intelligent script. Jason Reitman is proving himself to be an expert craftsman of satirical movies with heart.

6)Accident (Yi ngoi):

Pou-Sou Cheang finally fulfills the potential he has showed in his previous two pictures: 'Accident' is a modern masterpiece - a character piece that is so low key and beautiful that it becomes a heartbreak just to watch it. Louis Koo gives the performance of a lifetime as the assassin who is obsessed with finding out who is destroying his perfectly-controlled life. A gesture he makes towards the end of film encapsulates the entire script in one small move: a near-perfect film in every way.

7)Vengeance:

Johnny To continues his excellent streak with a tale of revenge starring none other than French rock'n'roll icon Johnny Halliday. Yes, the film might falter near the end but by that point To and his screenwriter Wai Kai Fai have painted the screen with so much inventiness that you are willing to forgive them anything. One to watch over and over again.

8)Nefes Vatan Sagolsun:
Out of Turkey comes this mind-blowing exploration of the army and the war against terror. Courting controversty before even its' release, Levent Semerci's Nefes is an even handed exploration of the soldiers and their mentality - through some terrific actors, he explores each man with an unflinching eye and finds some universal truths about what war does to people. On a par with Aleksandr Sokurov's 2007 masterpiece 'Aleksandra' , 'Nefes' is a film that deserves to be seen on a much larger scale.

9)A Prophet:
Jacques Audiard creates a prison drama that simply turns the whole genre upside down. Terrific character-work and an amazing evocation of the claustrophobia of prsion gets mixed with Eastern religious myths and creates what is going to remembered as one of the most seminal films of not only 2009 but of all time. Special mention must go to lead actor Tahar Rahim whose transformation on screen from a small time nobody to an extraordinary maniupulator is a sight to behold.

10)Pontypool:
The most outright intelligent horror film of the year. Nothing can compare to 'Pontypool' when it comes to re-inventing the horror film as a verbose game - an amazing script brought to life by an amazing cast. The thinking horror fan's new champion.

Worst of 2009

Special mention: Zombie Women Of Satan: I can't honestly add this to the list because I never finished watching it. After 20 years of watching everything, Zombie Women of Satan was the film that broke my limits of patience and I walked out after 20 minutes. To call this a film is an insult to cinema in general.

1)Outlander:
How can someone make an idea so cool as 'a spaceman amongst vikings' so dull? So to find out, you have to watch the million hour long snoozefest called 'Outlander'

2)The Proposal:
This should be subtitled 'How Not To Make A Romantic Comedy'. Take two leads with zero chemistry, throw in the worst possible pedestrian script and the result will still be nowhere as bad this 'thing' that played cinemas only a short while ago.

3)Terminator Salvation:
Just plain stupid.

4)Angels & Demons:
A film that is as clunky as the books - but there's no doubting its' success at the box office.

5)Friday the 13th:
A remake so dull that by the third act you want Jason to step out of the screen and smash a hatchet into your head.

6)The Fourth Kind:
Re-invents how badly made a movie can be: indecisive, schrizophrenic plotting is aided by actors who are sleep-walking through the whole thing.

7)Lesbian Vampire Killers:
Sets back the comedy-horror genre by about 50 years. Infantile humour, grating characters and the sort of innuendos not seen on the screen since the demise of the Carry On series - and at least those had some terrific actors in them.

8)Passengers:
Anne Hathaway does Sixth Sense - awfully.

9)The Spirit:
Proof that Frank Miller has lost his mind. Ugly, offensive and completely unbearable. Will Eisner is spinning in his grave so fast he might actually come out.

10)Public Enemies:
Hello - my name is Micheal Mann and today I'll show you how to suck the charisma out of an enigmatic gangster story. Mann's dullest work is not helped by a script that simply does not know where its' sympathies lie. The film ends up being drag all the way to the end simply because you do not care about a single character in it. Wasted opportunity by a greatly talented team.

That's it.

AMENDMENT:

I can't believe I forgot 'Thirst'. I apologise profusely. It's one of the best of not only this year but any. It blew my mind. I love it so very, very much.

Tuesday 15 December 2009

Vengeance (Johnnie To - 2009)

A new Johnnie To film is always a cause for celebration in my eyes - here's an assured and skilled director who slowly and surely builds on the themes he has been exploring for the past decade , gifted with an unflinching eye as well as a deep and unbreakable bond with the city in which he operates.

To operates in the same realm as Jean Pierre Melville - his films are deconstructions of the old Hollywood noir and gangster films. When you sit down the watch a Johnnie To film, you do not only enjoy a story but a wholly rounded universe with its' idiosyncrasies and habits - with characters who have fully formed bonds and attitudes towards the world around them.

It's always joyful for To to playfully explore the boundaries of his films - playing with codes of honour, of male bonding but most of all with beautiful gunplay elevated to almost art form.

And 'Vengeance' is a true winner from this angle: the set pieces are things of immense beauty: slow, carefully choreographed dances of death which keep the viewer hooked.

But for my money Vengeance falls short of being one of Mr. To's greatest: a corny third act trick moves the film into a realm that is different than what the director is capable of handling and suddenly this error glares out very obtrusively in the middle of the film, distorting the rest of action along with it.

Let's track back for a second. 'Vengeance' star Johnny Hallyday as Francois Costello - a one-time assassin who is now a chef and lives a comfortable life in Paris. However his peace is shattered when his daughter and her husband are brutally murdered in what looks like a gang attack in their own home. Costello travels to Macau and swears to his daughter that she will have her vengeance on the men who took everything away.
As a foreign man in a strange land , Costello is not able to go very far with his investigation. However a chance encounter leads him to meet a trio of assassins for hire played by Anthony Wong, Lam Suet and Lam Ka Tung. He hires the trio to help him find the killers and complete his revenge.

With such a classic storyline, To and his screenwriter Wa Ka-Fai lose no time in piling up impressive set pieces: the opening attack on Costello's daughter is both brutal and shocking - shown in slow-motion to increase the effect. Hallyday makes an effective character- his eyes almost animal as they fill the screen up in regular close-ups.

One of To's advantages is that he makes use of a cast of actors in pretty much every movie he directs: this allows him to work with the actors who are comfortable with their roles and can bring out the feeling of the piece without looking silly. So the presence of Lam Suet and Anthony Wong and Simon Yam come as no surprise to regular followers. The trio of assassins are classic To creations: they are silent, efficient and bound by a code of honour that goes a lot deeper than anyone can imagine. The scene where they escape the apartment block with Hallyday in tow is one of the impressive in the film: the way they work shows to the audience how at ease with each other these men are and how their roles are well-defined within their group.

But that third act set-up: it feels as if the script has to take such a wild turn because it has written itself into a corner: Hallyday's dementia - introduced quite late in the film - is already a hard to swallow issue - however with the further addition of this scene, the film comes unstuck and it's not until later when Costello starts to extract his revenge can it recover.

However these are minor quibbles for a film which is so effective in its' execution: Although largely silent, To's frames contain all the elements needed to tell a story. From the sordid lights of Hong Kong's downtrodden districts to the lines of Costello's face, every little detail required is there to enrich the story. Add to this some distinctly beautiful moments which update noir traditions and you have an almost unmissable film.

Here's hoping that Mr. To's next film can avoid the pitfalls of this one.

Vengeance does not have a Uk release date yet.