It seems we have suddenly been plunged into the peculiar depths of the year ending. When you go into a store, there are lines of people buying Christmas gifts at the checkout that are near unimaginable and when you open a magazine or the New York Times, you are instantly greeted with a best of the year list. I would like this blog to be no exception. Firstly though I must stress my key limitations, firstly I am not inhuman. I have not read every book, listened to every album and seen every movie released this year. Second, even if I was inhuman, I do not necessarily share your taste. I will be publishing lists all the way to New Years of the best of 2010. Without further adieu....
Top 10 Films Of 2010 (in no particular order)
1)
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: It is rare that I see a movie more then once in the theater yet alone three times. I saw Scott Pilgrim first in an advance screening at the AMC in Toronto, then in New York and lastly a free screening at the Bloor Cinema, Toronto's most iconic rep theater. While the film has some flaws (the fights get repetitive, the ending is mismatched with the rest of the movie), Scott Pilgrim is the most consistently enjoyable and original film I've seen this year. Scott Pilgrim retains the spirit of the comic while also adding some unique touches from the director Edgar Wright. It is consistently entertaining and clever. Most importantly, it stays in Toronto. From Sonic Boom to Pizza Pizza, from Broken Social Scene to Metric, the whole city and its culture is here.
2)
This Movie Is Broken: This Movie Is Broken is the second Toronto set movie on this list. I enjoyed seeing a new approach to the concert film using the experience of three concertgoers as the backdrop to the music. Also, it has the most unexpected ending of the year.
3)
Carlos: Seen as a five and a half hour whole at the Bell Lightbox, Carlos was consistently engaging with some of the best use of music of anything I've seen this year. I would say Oliver Assayas is one of the most interesting and varied (compare this film with the understated and beautiful Summer Hours) directors working today.
4)
127 Hours: Another one of the most interesting directors working is Danny Boyle. In this film, his first after Slumdog Millionaire, he manages to create an intense, moving and very watchable film from an event which one would believe to be impossible to make a film from.
5)
The Social Network: I think many would find the creation of software around as difficult to film as the events of 127 Hours but David Fincher and Aaron Snorkin through some small fictionalization achieve it. This is an interesting and engaging film about who we are now in the Facebook age.
6)
Kings Of Pastry: I would have never thought that someone dropping a cake would make a whole film audience gasp in shock and upset but this wonderful new film by D.A. Panabaker and Chris Hedgens achieves that. It takes a subject so far mostly seen in Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen and turning it into a strictly human story about the desire to create something beautiful. It creates drama with a slow burn but coming out with a delicacy as carefully made as anything in the film.
7)
A Small Act: I was kinda dragged to this film but was pleasantly surprised. The film tells the gripping story of the Kenyan man who starts an organization to educate Kenyan kids naming it after the holocaust survivor who paid for his own education. The film shows both the struggle of the kids but also the hope of small acts and the effect they can have.
8)
Please Give: Please Give is about when the desire and guilt that leads to give to charity means that you can never give to yourself or those around you. Please stars one of my favorite actresses Rebbecca Hall as well as Cathrine Keener and Oliver Platt who are also pretty good. Sarah Vowell cameos as well.
9)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead: It's Shakespeare with vampires, a score by Sean Lennon, a twisted indie romance and a vamping Hamlet. What's not to like?
10)
The King's Speech: I enjoyed The King's Speech which is jolly good. Any movie that has as one of it's key moments, Colin Furth yelling various curse words in rapidfire as King George the 2nd has got to be fun. There is still a depth to it though. Rush's character's backstory of giving soldiers speech is quite powerful and Furth gives a great performance as the king unable to speak who is finally given speech.
11)
I Am Love Riveting with Tilda Swinton giving the performance of the year-in italian no less.
