- Elephant
Gus Van Sant presents high school life in a documentary-like fashion, following several students through the everyday fabric of an extraordinary day. A fictional recreation of the Columbine massacre, the director allows the environment to speak for the characters, and skillfully edits to create an incredible sense of foreboding for the spectator. The film never takes a sanctimonious tone, but rather presents the various factors as sparse landmarks within their world. Mostly, the film restores some dignity to teenagers by reminding us how very hard it was for all of us as we faced the pressures and pitfalls of teenage life.
- City of God
Fernando Meurilles successfully condenses a 700-page novel about life in the slums of Brazil’s so-called Ciudad de Deus. In doing so, he creates a comprehensive account of the characters and their interactions over the two decades in which the film takes place. In the strong characterizations and tour-de-force performances by actual gang members, he allows the audience not only to see the inevitable decline of a failed housing experiment, but also the brief moments of joy in the short lives of the youths that reside there. The film’s stylistic virtuosity and narrative brilliance easily make it one of the best films of the year.
3. Kill Bill Vol. 1
Quentin Tarantino returns after way too long an absence to show us how a great film should be made. A postmodern spectacle of epic proportions, the director manages somehow to synthesize everything he’s ever seen into a brilliant, delicious serving of one sensation after another. The film is enjoyable on so many levels, but primarily it’s the central performance of Uma Thurman as the Bride that elevates the film beyond ordinary popcorn fare.
- 21 Grams
Mexican writer-director Alejandro Innuratu’s American debut manages to avoid all of the pitfalls of Hollywood convention in this harrowing account of the intersection of several depressing lives. Here, the director utilizes highly evocative cinematography and editing strategies, yet somehow manages to expose the gritty realities of his characters. Benecio del Toro is exceptional as an ex-con struggling with faith in extraordinary circumstances. Sean Penn anchors the film with his riveting work as a dying mathematician given another chance to live. In another film, Naomi Watts would have stolen the movie from under these actors with the rawness of emotion that she channels.
- Lost in Translation
This film is as good as everyone says it is. Sophia Coppola manages to convince us of a growing love between a washed-up Hollywood actor and a lost philosophy student who meet in Tokyo’s Four Seasons Hotel by placing the audience in the center of the romance. Coppola sheds her former reputation as daddy’s little girl in a big way and comes into her own with a restrained, hopeful and mature portrait of two lost souls who briefly find happiness. Bill Murray is brilliant in his nuanced portrayal of Bob and up-and-comer Scarlett Johannson is exceptional as the ingénue.
- Capturing the Friedmans
Andrew Jarecki’s first documentary is a highly disturbing and thought-provoking piece. The film uses actual family-shot footage of a family in crisis after patriarch Arthur Friedman is accused of multiple counts of sexual abuse involving a minor, and also calls into question his son’s involvement in the charges. While this material seems straightforward enough, the director consistently throws roadblocks in the way of a single interpretation of the truth. It is absolutely impossible to walk out of the film unaffected, without pitying this family as you watch it slowly implode.
7. Falling Angels
Canuck director Scott Smith’s sophomore effort is a mature examination of peripheral existence at the change of the decade from the ’60s to the ’70s in suburban Canada. A coming of age story of three sisters, the film manages to convey a sense of dysfunction without ever resorting to the melodramatic antics of an after-school special. The fact that none of the girls can ever really enunciate their pain remains one of the film’s great strengths, in addition to strong performances from Canadian indie mainstays Katherine Isabelle, Callum Keith Rennie and Mark McKinney.
- Mystic River
An ensemble piece par excellence, Clint Eastwood directs a remarkable cast through the sufferings of generations and the haunting reminders of a past that was never reconciled. Sean Penn once again gives a stellar performance as Danny, with equally spectacular turns from Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins. A strong supporting cast rounds out the authenticity of the setting of the film, the Boston neighbourhood that is a character in its own right. Less a straight-ahead drama than a modern-day Greek tragedy, the film is an extraordinary example of American drama at its finest.
- The Barbarian Invasions
French-Canadian auteur Denys Arcand returns to form in the deeply affecting sequel to his 1986 hit Decline of the American Empire. Here, the filmmaker’s rumination on his own mortality challenges the viewer to see the way the world is reflected in the eyes of old friends, as the dying embers of idealism are replaced by the realities of everyday life. The film’s greatness lies in its ability to express highly intellectual concepts while ensuring the viewer relates to the emotional core of the story.
- Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Peter Jackson continues to re-write the rules of 21st-century filmmaking by rounding out his trilogy with the best installment to date. This film serves as a textbook example of how to juggle the new technology available to filmmakers while never sacrificing the thematic concerns of the original source material. An important high watermark in epic filmmaking that will be regarded far in the future as one of the first true sensations of the 21st century.
Honourable Mentions: Dying at Grace, The Secret Lives of Dentists, Go Furthur, Fix: The Story of An Addicted City, Russian Ark, 28 Days Later.
Disappointments: The Statement, Buffalo Soldiers, Big Fish, American Splendor, that Matrix thing.
