Year in Review: 2009
Once again, I find myself in a position where I’m consistently disappointed and underwhelmed by what are supposed to be the “great” films of the year. 2009 has a slew of awards contenders like Where the Wild Things Are or Precious: Based On The Novel “Push” By Sapphire that have come up short for me, failing to live up to the hype. Instead, 2009 was the year of the blockbuster for me, a year of great mainstream fare that will be represented on this year’s list of my favorites of the year, interspersed with some smaller films that surprised me.
As is always the case with these lists, I have not seen every film released in ‘09, and some films I hope to catch up with soon are:
Crazy Heart
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker (Viewed 2/12/10): The film is a string of impressively-mounted and well-executed action set pieces in search of cohesion as a film. There’s some interesting stuff going on, and if Bigelow ends up winning the directing Oscar, I’m fine with that, but I’m not as sold on the film winning Best Picture.
In the Loop
Invictus
Julia (Viewed 1/26/10): Tilda Swinton is quite good as the eponymous Julia, and the movie is balls-to-the-wall everything-goes holy-shit-what-just-happened crazy. It’s too long by about a half hour and doesn’t make me reconsider this list at all, but it’s worth seeing, if only for Swinton.
Moon
Nine
A Serious Man (Viewed 2/19/10): This is Coen Brothers in esoteric mode, and as such, I felt a bit alienated from the film. I think that’s what the film wants to have happen, so objectively, it’s successful at shunning its audience, but for this viewer, it was at the expense of actually caring about the characters and story. Gorgeous cinematography, though.
Sherlock Holmes
If you’re outraged that any of these didn’t make this list, it’s because I haven’t yet seen them.
With that, my favorite films from 2009:
With subsequent views, this film has steadily fallen down my list, but it holds on at number 10. I always find the number 10 film of a Top 10 list to be a sort of wild card spot, somewhere to put a fluffier or more flawed movie that you want to call attention to. For this year, Watchmen easily fits the bill. It’s not anywhere near a great film or a completely flawless film, but it’s an entertaining one, and it’s filled with big ideas. It has all the social commentary that The Dark Knight wanted to have, but actually followed through on it in a more intriguing way.
What started as a great BBC miniseries was adapted into a nearly great American film with State of Play. In fact, the film only falls apart as much as it does as it wraps things up, straining too hard to be faithful to the twists of the more complex source material. Still, what the film gets right it does extremely well: the commentary on the state of print media is spot-on, the acting is great across the board, and even the technical details are superb. Notice how lived-in and authentic the sets all feel and how the muted cinematography suggests the seventies-era journalism films that have clearly influenced this one. It’s genre-filmmaking done exquisitely well.
At least director/co-writer Tom Ford gets you in the right frame of mind from the beginning. Frenzied score dances over stylized images of a body floating in water, suggesting a highly-stylized and melodramatic film to come. Yes, the film has style to spare (this is, after all, from famed designer Tom Ford, making his film debut) and it’s sometimes overbearing, but you have to give everyone involved credit for making such a bold artistic statement. The film is true to itself, and generally works in the service of the story at hand: that a man, having lost his lover in a car crash, has decided to kill himself at the end of the day. Throw in a career-best performance from Colin Firth (who erases any debt he owed to the gay community after his atrocious involvement in last year’s Mamma Mia!) and just as strong work from Julianne Moore and the rest of the supporting cast, and the film is beautiful both on the surface and emotionally.
I’ve never been so stressed out in a theater. I’ve never seen an audience erupt with yells at the screen so enthusiastically. These are both great, great things, and Orphan did them both. Vera Farmiga and Isabelle Fuhrman are both superb in the film as troubled mother and adopted daughter, respectively. Fuhrman, in particular, gives the kind of performance that horror films tend to elicit from the best child actors: she’s chilling, spot-on, and sells every batshit-crazy moment of creepy Esther’s run of terror through her new adoptive family. Some have called the final twist goofy, and I don’t disagree, but at least it explains the events of the film without relying on “she was haunted” or “some malevolent force caused it.” If I fault the film at all, it’s because of the tendency to feel test-screen edited. That is to say: the final showdown feels tacked on and the jump scares seem added for the sake of adding cheap scares that the film doesn’t need. If the film had been trusted a bit more to carry itself on its own creepy premise and the artistic merits of the craft that went into the film, we’d have a truly great addition to the horror canon.
Can J.J. Abrams do any wrong? With Star Trek, it seems like the answer is a resounding no. He accomplishes the near-impossible with the film: he re-boots the franchise while satisfying longtime lovers of the series and newcomers alike. The film has uncanny casting, relying heavily on actors who we all recognize but who were unknown enough to come cheap, and the result is that the actors a) have something to prove, so they bring their A-game and b) look like they’re all just happy to be invited to the party. The film is simply fun, and it does action intelligently, something Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, um, didn’t. Abrams is the king of mainstream fare that doesn’t play to the lowest denominator, and he gets my vote to handle any franchise film from here on out.
I found Rian Johnson’s first film Brick to be a solid first film, but a tad esoteric, one of those films where you watch and you probably get what Johnson’s doing and appreciate his hand with homage, but aren’t really enjoying yourself that much. With The Brothers Bloom, Johnson has followed up with the same exercise in genre-exploration, this time with the con film, but the difference is in tone – this film is flat-out fun where Brick was kind of a drag. In Penelope Stamp, Johnson creates one of the most original and joyous characters I’ve seen in a long while, and Rachel Weisz plays her perfectly. And though Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody don’t look anything like brothers, the rest of the film is so effortlessly complex and successful at what it sets out to do that you can’t help but overlook it to enjoy the film as a whole. Johnson’s next film will be about time travel and I can’t wait to see his spin on the genre.
I hesitate to put this film as high as I have on my list, mostly because there isn’t a ton of precedent for it: when was the last time a franchise film this deep in a series was this good? This flat-out enjoyable? This accomplished? Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is easily the best of the series, because they’re finally taking themselves seriously. The craftsmen involved seem to be treating this not as a means to an end, some obligatory film to make a bunch of money, but rather a film that can stand on its own as solid filmmaking. The production values are all top-notch, the technical merits outstanding, the acting plateaued at a better-than-average level from the leads. All in all, there simply isn’t much of anything wrong with the film. It’s the first time I saw a Harry Potter film and felt happy that I was revisiting the characters, the first time it didn’t seem like a chore or that I was watching the film out of obligation to the series. That has to count for something, right?
When I first saw 500 Days of Summer, I had to be sure. I had to see it again to be assured that I wasn’t simply won over by its charms and dazzled with its flashy style. Upon second viewing, the very best thing happened: the film only deepened for me. This is like the hipster-era answer to When Harry Met Sally… and as such, it’s verifiably awesome. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are both perfectly cast as late-twentysomething co-workers who embark on a 500-day relationship, and the film’s fluid movements forward and backward in time effectively track the ups and downs they encounter along the way. The film is riddled with stylistic flourishes like the fluid timeline, a musical number complete with an animated character, and a strikingly-brazen sequence where dreams and actuality play out side by side. The genius of the film, though, is that it all is in the service of the story. Director Marc Webb has been given the new Spider-Man franchise reboot and given his success here, the choice bodes well for the franchise. (Finally, on a wholly superficial note: I absolutely covet Gordon-Levitt’s wardrobe in the film – can I look that effortlessly stylish in my life, please?)
With my top two choices this year, I am again faced with the common dilemma about what constitutes a “great” film and what constitutes a “favorite” film. If Away We Go falls in the number-two position for any one reason, it’s probably because I realize that a lot of my love for the film is personal. Yes, I will defend the film’s objective pleasures and technical merits, from the great screenplay to sublime acting from the ensemble cast. But the film resonates with me because it is about that next big step that I am about to face in my own life: that place where you finally have to figure out how to be a functioning adult and make something out of your life, where you can no longer coast through your twenties aimlessly hoping to figure things out. Beyond the personal attachment I have to the movie, though, it’s simply a joy to watch: bitingly funny with a slew of talented actors delivering the lines, and director Sam Mendes finally letting loose a bit and delivering a film that I don’t think anyone thought he had in him.
My roommate pointed out that my favorite films from the past three years have all been animated titles, and it’s not through any particular predilection I have for the genre – it’s just been a good few years for animation. Though Pixar doesn’t continue its streak this year (I thought Up was good, but safe), animation continues to reign supreme with Coraline, the most artistically fresh film I saw all year. As I mentioned in my Aughts round-up, the feeling I got while watching Coraline is the closest that I can approximate watching The Wizard of Oz must have felt like. I consistently felt like the film was surprising me with its visuals, continually inventive in the way that the story of a girl exploring a sinister alternate world was being presented to me. The stop-motion animation is perfectly suited to Coraline’s story, capturing the hazy grays of Coraline’s reality and the bright colors of the fantasy land she stumbles upon. Even more impressive is that 95% of the film is made of practical effects, the filmmakers only relying on CGI when absolutely needed, proving that there is still magic to be had in sheer artistry and craftsmanship. It was the most impressive film I saw from 2009.
And in a switch from previous years, I’d like to offer a few bonus prizes to recognize some films or performances that were perhaps overlooked elsewhere on the site:
© 2004-2009 Ben Waldorf. Posted January 21, 2010.
I’ve gotta say I totally agree with most of your picks. I’m so happy that you liked 500 days of summer. I totally enjoyed it but then the other day I heard it get torn apart by a critic. And same with Away We Go. That was a truly brilliant movie and I know its a movie I’ll be able to watch again and again. You know though, I am totally surprised Up in the Air isn’t on here at all. Personally, I loved that movie. I thought it was not only an amazing period piece but one of the best character driven movies I’ve ever seen. Ending with the great “up in the air” ending that has been interpreted in so many different ways by friends. But I suppose its all opinion. Keep on writing, buddy! I enjoy reading your stuff
— Patrick Jan 22, 08:10 PM #Thanks, Patrick! I thought Up in the Air was good, but not great. It sort of loses its grounding when it tries wrapping things up, but it’s certainly a very timely and solid film with some great performances.
— wbw Jan 22, 08:25 PM #a lovely list. i really like away we go, but it seems many americans hate this film. i like watchmen, coraline and star trek too.
i don’t like up in the air, i hope precious could win best picture in oscar
— Vince Jan 22, 09:06 PM #