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2000: The UK Critic's
Review of the Year
by
Ian Waldron-Mantgani, December 30, 2000
Ah, it's over; the year that was called the first
of the 21st Century by people who couldn't count, the year the US Presidency
was handed over to a blithering incompetent who didn't even win the election,
and the year in which I reviewed every UK cinema release with a nationwide
release date, save for a few cheapo kids' movies from the latter half of
December.
There were big movies that were supposed to get
nationwide release dates but in the end suffered minimal or scattered
distribution -- some I saw, like "American Movie", and others I sadly missed,
such as "Titus" and "The Yards". Maybe my Top 10 would look different if
I had seen a few more pictures over the past twelve months, but as I did
review approximately two hundred, I think I can proceed with a reasonable
degree of confidence.
The best films of the year:
1. "The Filth
and the Fury"
Raging against the establishment is not unknown
in rock music, but more than any other band in history, the Sex Pistols managed
to provoke it into exposing its own hypocrisy. In an England overwhelmed
by strikes, unemployment, the rise of extremist politics and a uselessly
complacent government, the definitive punk rock group's torn clothes and
promises of "Anarchy in the U.K." made more sense than any other piece of
culture. They lasted no more than 26 months, imploding in January 1978 after
a nightmare American tour, but still managed to rally half of Britain into
outrage over the monarchy and encourage a generation of youngsters into
expressing individuality, frightening the authorities so much that they were
banned by local councils, denied a chart listing when one of their singles
reached No.1, and blacklisted as 'subversive' by MI5.
Aesthetically, director Julien Temple's documentary
about the Pistols revels in iconography; thematically, it avoids the measured
tones of hero worship and offers us the story with grotty, spotty, gob-ridden
warts and all. For Temple, it is an atonement for his "Great Rock 'n' Roll
Swindle" (1980), a version of the tale that was manipulated into a
self-exaltation piece by the band's egomaniacal manager, Malcolm McLaren.
It's also a wickedly anti-establishment black comedy and a heartbreaking
tragedy about what happens when passionate people are cooped up together
in a pressured situation.
"The Filth and the Fury" is an important historical
document and one of the best films about music ever made, with power coming
from both the Pistols' great compositions and Temple's filmmaking style,
which takes us back to the 1970s with cleverly irreverent use of archive
footage, and voice-overs rather than onscreen interviews, so everything happens
in our head, like a radio play, creating a hypnotic spell that never
breaks.
2. "High
Fidelity"
The antithesis of such trash as "Love & Sex",
adapted from Nick Hornby's novel about a record shop owner's musings on life,
love, music and work. John Cusack stars as Rob, a fan-boy constantly rearranging
his LPs, thinking about heartache, and trying to get on with the daily grind,
in a wonderful witty movie that captures the texture of alternative culture
and avoids such Hollywood pitfalls as getting caught up in a cumbersome plot
or letting the dialogue turn into phoney sitcom psychobabble.
3.
"Magnolia"
The sins of fathers, sons and lovers are poured
onto the audience in an operatic torrent of emotion by Paul Thomas Anderson's
epic follow-up to "Boogie Nights", which confirms his emergence as one of
the great directors. Terrific performances by a huge ensemble cast, including
Academy Award nominee Tom Cruise and the late Jason Robards, filmed in uneasy
close-ups at a breathtakingly urgent pace, with sly humour, surface and hidden
depth, and a boldly inventive climax of biblical resonance that still has
cinemagoers talking, nine months after the movie opened.
4. "Wonder
Boys"
Michael Douglas stars as a novelist and college
professor hitting hard times in this brilliant bittersweet comedy, incredulously
stepping through a weekend of thefts, nagging publishers, dead dogs, odd
students, love interests past and present, transvestites, and midget James
Brown look-alikes. The mess of the situation is excruciating for the Douglas
character to experience but hilarious to watch; the genius of the movie is
the way it takes both points of view, mixing elements of farce with tender
emotion, taking screwball situations and letting them play out in calm
tempo.
5. "The Talented
Mr. Ripley"
Anthony Minghella, who won an Oscar for his direction
of "The English Patient", is an expert at making audiences respond to characters
in complex ways. In this masterful thriller, Matt Damon plays a deceptive
psychopath we fear but feel compassion for, and we also understand both the
attraction and anger he experiences in regard to his key victim, a selfish
member of the idle rich played by Jude Law. Details of the plot create unbearable
suspense, as Damon's schemes threaten to crumble on top of him; the movie
is mainly a great character study, beautifully photographed by John Seale,
who recreates the dreamy, boozy, sun-baked colours of Italy in the
1950s.
6. "Being
John Malkovich"
This is like a walk through a long maze of rooms,
where each new door provides a hilariously bizarre payoff to the last. John
Cusack stars as a porn puppeteer who finds a portal into the brain of actor
John Malkovich, and, no, that isn't the weirdest thing in the movie. Like
many great works of art, this one defies description.
7. "Coyote
Ugly"
One of the year's best, and one of the worst.
This is a trash masterpiece -- cheesy, simple-minded, cliché-ridden
garbage, but with strong rhythm, technical polish, sex appeal and the courage
of its convictions. The story is that oh-so-original tale of a wide-eyed
girl who moves to the big city in search of fame and fortune, surrounded
by shameless melodrama and obvious jokes. We also get lowbrow scenes of sexy
waitresses dancing on bars while hosing down customers and setting whisky
puddles on fire. A fantastic midnight movie that dives so deeply into tackiness
it achieves a kind of purity -- it rises beneath bad taste.
8. "Small Time
Crooks"
Woody Allen's latest combines the goofy spirit
of his early efforts with the look and texture of his recent, more sophisticated
work. This is a film by the greatest of living directors, a man with a childish
sense of humour and the skill of a professional craftsman.
9. "Stir of
Echoes"
One that got away -- despite favourable reviews
and a terrific performance by star Kevin Bacon, this superior spook story
failed to set the box office on fire or even get a very big release. With
chillingly intense atmosphere, multitudinous plot threads that never come
across as forced screenplay manoeuvres, rich details and a final shot that
is a remembrance of the implications of the story, not just a cheap trick,
"Stir of Echoes" shames fare like "The Sixth Sense".
10.
"Frequency"
Cop Jim Caviezel is reunited with his dead fireman
father (Dennis Quaid) by way of a ham radio that somehow defies the space-time
continuum. With skilful scenes of melodrama that rely on the simple, potent
notion of getting to speak to a loved one from days gone by, this is the
kind of film that moves audiences to the brink of tears. It risks losing
them by turning into a thriller, but the plot requires it, director Gregory
Hoblit ("Primal Fear") has prepared us for it with early tonal signals, and
every development is driven by the principle of loved ones in danger. A terrific
mainstream movie, the most commercial on my list, that hits base after base
except for in the final scene, when in come soppy music cues and truly dreadful
makeup.
Of course list-making is a largely inadequate
and arbitrary process, so here I offer ten more films, any of which could
be interchangeable for the bottom few slots on the list above:
"Boiler Room", about a good kid's seduction
into a bogus stock exchange firm; "Boys Don't
Cry", a chilling portrayal of heartland America;
"The Cider House Rules", a sweet
Dickensian epic adapted from John Irving's best seller;
"Dancer in the Dark", with its
award-winning Bjork performance and audacious mixture of melodrama, musical,
parable and guerrilla filmmaking; "The Green
Mile", a thoroughly absorbing supernatural fairytale about good and
evil living under the same roof; "Man on the
Moon", in which Jim Carrey immersed himself in the role of groundbreaking
comedian Andy Kaufman; "One Day in
September", a chilling documentary recalling the terrorist seizure
of the 1972 Olympics; "Toy Story 2",
a worthy sequel to an animated classic;
"Unbreakable", M. Night Shyamalan's
moody follow-up to "The Sixth Sense";
"X-Men", the superhero movie of alarming
depth which would have easily slipped into my top 10 if it hadn't been hacked
to 95 minutes by the idiot executives at 20th Century Fox.
And in case you're really stuck for something
to see or rent, here are twenty more runners-up: "The 6th Day",
"American Beauty", "Bringing Out the Dead", "The Cell",
"Disney's The Kid", "Erin Brockovich", "Final
Destination", "Galaxy Quest", "Hollow Man", "Jesus'
Son", "Meet the Parents", "Open Your Eyes", "The Road
to El Dorado", "Shaft", "Shanghai Noon", "Sleepy
Hollow", "Summer of Sam", "Sweet and Lowdown", "Three
Kings", "Wonderland".
And the ten WORST films of the year:
"Eye of the Beholder", "Hanging Up", "Love, Honour and Obey", "The House
of Mirth", "The Next Best Thing", "Ordinary Decent Criminal", "The Story
of Us", "Stuart Little", "Timecode", "Where the Heart Is".
I will of course be valiantly slogging through
whatever our cinemas have to offer again in 2001. Thanks for all your support
over the past year, and God bless… especially if you send money. Why
does no one send money?
COPYRIGHT© 2000 Ian
Waldron-Mantgani
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