The Fifties for 2010: Best Picture
Yeah, I know you were expecting Best Actress next, but I also know the kinds of folks who frequent this site, and I elected to make you wait another day. Plus, this list was easier to settle on.
Dogtooth, for the courage of its convictions, evoking cruelty without just being cruel, and culminating so precisely, with shivers of jet-black wit;
Everyone Else, for inhabiting a three-act structure without laundering a speck of life's messiness; I could have watched another hour, at the outset or end;
Mother, because it's The Host all over again but potently elevated in stylishness and feeling, with mother and son swapping the role of the beast;
Prodigal Sons, speaking of life's messiness, for making the filmmaker's present as fascinating as her past, her family's story as gripping to us as to her; and
Toy Story 3, for being an Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Playroom, an honest-to-god fable of purgatory and collective purpose, with sniffles and laughs.
Extremely honorable mentions to Fish Tank, Greenberg, and Lourdes, all of which have maintained formidable staying power in my mind and could conceivably move up this list upon a second viewing. A Prophet emanates lots of craft and an unpretentious self-assurance, but for whatever reason it's just never arrived to me as the full-on corker that it was for a lot of other people. Maybe I need to give that one another whirl, too. A glance over my Movies of 2010, using the grade-sort option, ought to let you know what other titles I considered for this category.
And tomorrow, the female leads.
Dogtooth, for the courage of its convictions, evoking cruelty without just being cruel, and culminating so precisely, with shivers of jet-black wit;
Everyone Else, for inhabiting a three-act structure without laundering a speck of life's messiness; I could have watched another hour, at the outset or end;
Mother, because it's The Host all over again but potently elevated in stylishness and feeling, with mother and son swapping the role of the beast;
Prodigal Sons, speaking of life's messiness, for making the filmmaker's present as fascinating as her past, her family's story as gripping to us as to her; and
Toy Story 3, for being an Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Playroom, an honest-to-god fable of purgatory and collective purpose, with sniffles and laughs.
Extremely honorable mentions to Fish Tank, Greenberg, and Lourdes, all of which have maintained formidable staying power in my mind and could conceivably move up this list upon a second viewing. A Prophet emanates lots of craft and an unpretentious self-assurance, but for whatever reason it's just never arrived to me as the full-on corker that it was for a lot of other people. Maybe I need to give that one another whirl, too. A glance over my Movies of 2010, using the grade-sort option, ought to let you know what other titles I considered for this category.
And tomorrow, the female leads.
Labels: Best Picture, Documentary, Fifties, International, Movies of 2010
posted by NicksFlickPicks at 12:00 AM
4 Comments:
I have to be honest and say that I mostly have never even heard of all the movie you mention but my knowledge about the latest movies is always very slim (I always need some time to catch up) but your little discriptions always make them sound very interesting!
Is it a coincidence that I finally read your "The Village" review (I had it in my favorites because I wanted to watch Citizen Kane first) the day that you totally cheated us? ;)
I knew I should save that review for some day because:
1) It's awesome!
2) The day would come that you'd totally not provide me with what my health needed so I'd have to compensate.
By the way, I really didn't get the Rosebud symbolism nor the random(??) parrot but I liked the film. And I thought Dorothy Comingore was mostly great.
This comment had so much to do with your bets pic choices that I feel I should let my mind wander a little more :p
This year just doesn't seem that strong, but it looks much better then last year!
Your description of "Toy Story 3" makes me wish I caught it in the cinema. Glad you liked "Fish Tank". I saw it before "Red Road," which is for the best, because if it had been the other way around, I would have had skipped it entirely. In her own way, Andrea Arnold is a super-surprising filmmaker, and I'm curious to see where she takes "Wuthering Heights".
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