12/24/09

Shosanna Dreyfus, the Jewish milk farmer’s daughter turned young refugee turned angst-ridden cinema owner turned blood-covered heroine in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, is the greatest thing I’ve yet seen this year from the cinema world. The scene where Shosanna, depicted with amazing dramatic range by Melanie Laurent, is interviewed by the Colonel Hans Landa (aka the Jew Hunter, played by the explosive yet suave Christoph Waltz) over strudel is one of the most understated and brawny bits of acting I’ve seen in years. Both actors own the screen through the entire film, and that’s just the tip of Tarantino’s latest iceberg. Known for his neurotic auteur approach to filmmaking and never-ending headful of ideas, QT offers up his most creative bit of storytelling yet in Basterds, penning the kind of scenes that are bound to find their way into film history books. 

But enough about what I consider to be, thus far at least, the film of the year. Of the 42 or so 2009 films I’ve seen thus far, Tarantino’s latest resonates with me most. That said, there are a number of very promising films I’ve not yet had the opportunity to see. So, before I get into sharing my favorite films and performances I’ve seen thus far in 2009, here’s a list - ranked, natch - of the Lucky 13 Most Promising Films from 2009 that I still need to check out: 13. Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon; 12. Cary Funkunaga’s Sin Nombre; 11. Jim Jarmusch’s The Limits of Control; 10. Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air; 9. Tom Ford’s A Single Man; 8. John Hillcoat’s The Road; 7. Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker; 6. Lon Scherfig’s An Education; 5. Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah; 4. Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces; 3. Duncan Jones’ Moon; 2. Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles; 1. Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs a tire-larigot.

Five favorite performances by a female actor in 2009 (so far): 5. Rachel Weisz in The Brothers Bloom; 4. Emily Blunt in Sunshine Cleaning; 3. Amy Adams in Sunshine Cleaning; 2. Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia; and, with a bullet, 1. Melanie Laurent in Inglourious Basters. Still need to see Audrey Tautou in Coco Before Chanel, Penelope Cruz in Broken Embraces and Nine, Carey Mulligan in An Education, Emily Blunt in The Young Victoria, Samantha Morton in The Messenger and the dreamy Marion Cotillard in Nine.

Five favorite performances by a male actor in 2009 (so far): 5. Blue Guy No. 12 in James Cameron’s Avatar (kidding); 4. Michael Stuhlbarg’s awkward and retro do-gooder loser in the Coen Brothers’ wholly original A Serious Man; 3. Joaquin Phoenix’ suicidal - and unlikely - Romeo in James Gray’s refreshingly realistic Two Lovers; 2. Christoph Waltz’ brutally erudite Jew hunter in Tarantino’s Basterds; 1. Souleymane Sy Savane’s incredibly lovable and real-to-life cab driver in Ramin Bahrani’s moving Goodbye Solo. Still need to see Sam Rockwell in Moon, Viggo Mortensen in The Road, Vincent Gallo in Tetro, Daniel Day-Lewis in Nine and Heath Ledger in that Terry Gilliam film with the impossibly title. Oh, and I guess I’ll check out George Clooney in Up in the Air and the dreamy Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart.

Six favorite directorial performances of 2009 (so far): 6. Joel and Ethan Coen (A Serious Man); 5. Wes Anderson (Fantastic Mr. Fox); 4. Ramin Bahrani (Goodbye Solo); 3. Ryan Fleck (Sugar); 2. Spike Jonze (Where the Wild Things Are); 1. Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds).  Still need to see  Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces, Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles, Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air and, most importantly, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs a tire-larigot. Something tells me QT might have this one locked down this year.

Five favorite screenplays of 2009 (so far): 5. Neill Blomkamp’s District 9; 4. Ryan Fleck’s Sugar; 3. Spike Jonze and David Eggers’ Where the Wild Things Are; 2. Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man; and at No. 1, by far, Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. Still haven’t seen … err … almost too many to mention in this case. I figure the scripts for An Eduction, The Hurt Locker, Up in the Air, Gomorrah, Sin Nombre, A Single Man and Cold Souls are all very good.

Favorite cinematography of 2009 (so far): I’m fairly certain that Tetsuo Nagata’s work in the Jeunet film will take the cake, but, thus far, the amazing Robert Richardson’s work in Basterds is tops, followed by Roger Deakins (A Serious Man) and Frederick Elmes  (Brothers).

Five lease favorite films of 2009 (so far, keeping in mind that I don’t keep too much track of the bad films I see): 5. Third act of Funny People; 4. Coraline; 3. Observe and Report; 2. New Moon; 1. Watchmen

Five favorite DVDs released in 2009: 5. Made in U.S.A.; 4. Last Days of Disco; 3. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her; 2. Inglourious Basterds; 1. The Human Condition

And, finally, my 25 Favorite Films of 2009 (so far): 25. Tyson; 24. Zombieland; 23. The Brothers Bloom; 22. I Love You Man; 21. Brothers; 20. Gigantic; 19. Avaar; 18. Sunshine Cleaning; 17. Knowing (surprisingly great sci-fi thriller from the man behind the great Dark City, Alex Proyas); 16. Away We Go; 15. Star Trek; 14. Julie & Julia; 13. Two Lovers; 12. Adventureland; 11. Whatever Works (significantly better the second time around … and very quotable); 10. Public Enemies (a bad example of digital cinematography, but otherwise pretty great); 9. A Serious Man; 8. (500) Days of Summer; 7. Sugar; 6. Goodye Solo; 5. District 9 (in the year of sci-fi, this one edged out the great Star Trek for me); 4. Where the Wild Things Are; 3. Fantastic Mr. Fox (in the year of hip childrens’ films, this one edged out the dreamlike Wild Things for me); 2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (not a children’s film but a fantasy/thriller film … and maybe the best Potter film yet); 1. Inglourious Basterds.

Written by G. William Locke