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Top
10 Movies
of 2001
Imagination,
Emotional Truth and Wonder
by
Lois Wadsworth
Selecting 10 films from the previous year's crop is an annual ritual
for me. I've been doing this for 15 years or so, but it never gets any easier. This
year, two 2001 feature films shown in local theaters -- as different from one another
as imaginable -- vied for first place: Baz Luhrmann's exuberant musical extravaganza,
Moulin Rouge, and Wong Kar-wai's introspective, pensive romance, In the
Mood for Love.
Both add to our understanding of love, yet each film speaks a singular
cinematic language -- one very expansive, sensational and out there; the other inner,
imagistic and emotional. Embracing two such disparate number-one films satisfies
my wide-ranging love for cinema, especially in a year fractured by collective loss,
grief and anxiety.
The next three films, The Royal Tenenbaums, Monster's
Ball, In the Bedroom, and the final film, A.I. Artificial Intelligence,
are about American families fragmented by lost possibility, despair and uncertainty.
The highly stylized Tenenbaums is a family portrait of eccentric individuals
who long for the reassurance of a lost childhood. Monster's Ball's realistic
expression of the effects of violence on two families in a non-nurturing society
is both emotionally devastating and tender. In the Bedroom explores the natural
but impotent grief of middle-class parents whose only son is murdered. A stylistic,
futuristic tale, A.I. is about a non-human child who devotes his life to finding
the human mother who abandoned him.
The next two films, Tailor of Panama and Bridget Jones'
Diary, are thoroughly British exports that satirize conditions of modern life
through the spot-on sensibilities of their directors, writers and best-selling novelists.
Smart source material results in delightfully clever dialogue here. Tailor
skewers the post-Cold War, pre-Sept. 11 international spy business community, while
Bridget sinks her teeth into contemporary courtship rituals and pop-culture's
self-help market.
Sexy Beast is another British original, depicting the life
of a former East End London gangster now retired and enjoying the high life on the
Spanish Costa del Sol. His world turns upside down when a thug from his past brutally
coerces him to come back for one last caper. This spicy tale relishes its subversion
of the wise-guy genre.
Michael Mann's Ali is a minor-key character study of one
of the most public world sports figures of all times. Will Smith inhabits carefully
observed moments in Muhammad Ali's personal life, while Mann directs Ali's public
appearances with verve, humor and athleticism. Ali is a thoughtful examination
of race and personal courage in America.
Lord of the Rings is the riskiest film project of this or
any recent year. Millions have flocked to see Australian Peter Jackson's striking
cinematic epic, attracted by the uncanny timeliness of J.R.R. Tolkien's saga of the
early conflict between the forces of darkness and the rag tag complement of warriors
who venture out to do what must be done. Jackson lets its simple virtues of friendship,
courage and community speak to our time.
Together, these 11 films represent my idiosyncratic evaluation
of the best films of 2001, selected from the 75 films I saw and reviewed. The Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences lists 248 eligible films for 2001, but only 172
of them had theatrical runs in Eugene/Springfield during calendar 2001 or 2002, and
I chose not to see most of them.
Lara Croft, Jimmy Neutron and Max Keeble --
buh-bye. I missed Pootie Tang, Monkeybone, K-Pax and Jurassic
Park III. I let Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Spy Kids, Life As
a House and The Majestic come and go and come again without sampling.
I resisted the dubious charms of Josie and the Pussycats, The Wedding Planner,
Angel Eyes, Kate and Leopold, America's Sweethearts, Serendipity and
Hearts in Atlantis. I saw and failed to enjoy Texas Rangers, The
Center of the World, Sidewalks of New York and Pearl Harbor.
I regret Hannibal, One Night at McCools, My First Mister, Made,
Bride of the Wind and Heartbreakers.
Good movies, on the other hand, tell us about our collective dreams
and aspirations, help us discover who we are and how we feel. They reflect a larger
experience of the world than ours. Inspired performances expose real human emotion
and give us insight into our own. Engrossing stories lift us out of ourselves. Spectacle
satisfies a longing for pageantry that dwarfs our mundane concerns. The artful interaction
of story, characters, sound and image in great cinema bestows the memorable experience
of art.
Note: Films and individuals nominated for Academy Awards
2001 are noted by an asterisk. Alan Siporin hosts Kate Sullivan and Lois Wadsworth
on KLCC's "Critical Mass" at noon on Oscar Sunday (March 24) to talk about
the year in movies.
1: Moulin Rouge and In the Mood for Love
2: The
Royal Tenenbaums
3: Monster's
Ball
4: In
the Bedroom
5: The
Tailor of Panama
6: Bridget
Jones' Diary
7: Sexy
Beast
8: Ali
9: Lord
of the Rings
10: A.I.
Artificial Intelligence
1
MOULIN ROUGE*
Directed by Baz Luhrmann. Written by Luhrmann, Craig Pearce. Produced
by Martin Brown, Luhrmann and Fred Baron. Cinematography, Donald M. McAlpine.* Production
design, Catherine Martin. Art direction, Ian Gracie.* Set decorator, Brigitte Broch.
Makeup, Maurizio Silvi.* Editor, Jill Bilcock*. Costumes, Catherine Martin,* Angus
Strathe.* Choreography, John O'Connell. Original score, Craig Armstrong. Music, Marius
DeVries. Starring Nicole Kidman,* Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent and
Richard Roxburgh. 20th Century Fox, 2001. PG-13. 126 minutes.
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Satine (Nicole Kidman),
Star of the legendary Moulin Rouge.
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The first truly electrifying moment in Moulin Rouge comes when
a lovestruck Englishman, Christian (Ewan McGregor), turns to the smiling but calculating
Parisian courtesan, Satine (Nicole Kidman), and sings a tender, heartfelt love song
to her that won't be written for another 75 years. I knew then that I had entered
a universe I was in no hurry to leave. Just as Christian's giddy love ballad captures
Satine's heart, every lovingly created detail in the razzle-dazzle theatrical world
of the mythical Moulin Rouge captivated mine.
Shared backstage life of the club's imperfect performers forms
a family of sorts, at the head of which is the ruthless impresario, Harold Zidler
(Jim Broadbent). For all of the characters, even the smarmy Duke (Richard Roxburgh)
vying for Satine's love, the show is the thing. A joyous celebration of life, love,
truth and beauty, the film also turns its spotlight on the politics of show biz then
and now.
Visually delicious, the film splashes red everywhere, from Satine's
tawny locks to the cherry red satin dress she wears to seduce the Duke. Red heightens
passion, intensifies emotional warmth and burns with desire. Moulin Rouge
is the ultimate escapist film of the year, a delirious spectacle, in which feeling
is expressed through song and love is the risk we are all called to take. Bravo!
(See full
review.)
1
IN THE MOOD
FOR LOVE
Produced, written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. Executive producer,
Chan Ye-cheng. Production design, costumes by William Chang Suk-ping. Cinematography,
Christopher Doyle, Mark Li Ping-bin. Original music, Michael Galasso, Umebayaski
Skigeru. Starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Maggie Cheung Man-yuk. With Rebecca Pan,
Lai Chi, siu Ping-lam and Chin Tsi-ang. USA Films Release, 2001. PG. 97 minutes.
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Su Li-Zhen (Maggie
Cheung) and Chow Mo-Wan (Tony Leung).
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This intimate love story, set in Hong Kong in 1962, is the story of
Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung), each married to
spouses who are often absent. They move in on the same day to next-door apartments
in a crowded house. Drawn ever closer to one another, the lonely pair pass each other
in the hallway, talk through doorways, share magazines, newspapers and finally meals.
Tension builds between societal demands for propriety and duty and their own yearning
for love.
Close-up, the couple's body language and gestural nuance is hauntingly
captured by director Wong Kar-wai and cinematographers Christopher Doyle and Mark
Li Ping-bin. When Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan discover their spouses are having an affair,
sadness suffuses the air between them, which the moving music of composers Michael
Galasso and Umebayaski Skigeru echoes. William Chang's gorgeous production design
and mood-enhancing editing, like the film's visual techniques, reach us on an emotional
level.
This film challenges our passivity as viewers. There is no real
narrative structure and very little dialogue. The story is told through lush visuals,
poignant music, natural sounds, silence and the luminous faces of these fully embodied
characters. We fill in what happens offscreen, imagine what goes on after the lovers
part. But to touch the heart of the film, we must be open to the spiritual gift the
unexpected, elegiac ending offers us. (See full review.)
2
THE ROYAL
TENENBAUMS
Directed by Wes Anderson. Written by Wes Anderson* and Owen Wilson.*
Produced by Wes Anderson, Barry Mendel, Scott Rudin. Executive producers, Rudd Simmons,
Owen Wilson. Cinematography, Robert Yeoman. Production design, David Wasco. Editor,
Dylan Tichenor. Costumes, Karen Patch. Music, Mark Mothersbaugh. Music Supervisor,
Randall Poster. Starring Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow,
Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Danny Glover, Seymour Cassel and Kumar Pallana.
Narrator, Alec Baldwin. Buena Vista Pictures. Touchstone Pictures, 2001. R. 108 minutes.
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Tenenbaum family portrait.
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Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson create a fabulous family that lives in
New York, the Tenenbaums. The filmmakers distill the essence of the Tenenbaum's unique
dysfunctionality to reveal that family is a hardier, more pliable container for individual
creativity than we would have guessed. For a few emotionally explosive weeks, the
entire, eccentric clan is reunited and given a chance to work out all that went wrong
the first time. With imagination, wit, a graceful flair for telling details and a
pinch of meanness, Anderson and Wilson mix up a smooth, potent and compassionate
concoction.
The Tenenbaum child geniuses, Chas (Ben Stiller), Margot (Gwyneth
Paltrow) and Richie (Luke Wilson) return home because nothing in adult life compares
to their outrageous, indulgent childhood. Eli Cash (Owen Wilson), Richie's stoner
friend and longtime Tenenbaum wannabe, comes back, too. Royal (Gene Hackman) lies
to his long-abandoned wife, Etheline (Angelica Huston), and begs to come home to
die. Royal's children despise him, but he insists he wants to reconnect with them
and make things right. Predictably, he makes everything worse. Or does he?
This mannered comedy shows its darker side when Royal, in a moment
of jealous spite, calls his rival -- Etheline's business partner, the mild-mannered
Mr. Sherman (Danny Glover) -- a "buck," a nasty, racial slur. Royal's poisonous,
cruel self-absorption stands revealed. Anderson and Owens' pitch-perfect ears catch
the careless remarks that wound, the attitudes that kill. This seemingly light-hearted
movie brings all our casual cruelties to the surface, where we can see them, forgive
ourselves and others. And move on. (See full review.)
3
MONSTER'S
BALL
Directed by Marc Forster. Written by Milo Addica* and Will Rokos.*
Producer, Lee Daniels. Executive producers, Mark Urman, Michael Burns, Michael Paseornek.
Cinematography, Roberto Schaefer. Production design, Monroe Kelly. Editor, Matt Chesse.
Art director, Leonard Spears. Costumes, Frank Fleming. Starring Billy Bob Thornton
and Halle Berry,* with Heath Ledger, Peter Boyle, Sean Combs, Mos Def and Coronji
Calhoun. Lions Gate Films, 2001. R. 108 minutes.
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Leticia (Halle Berry)
and Hank (Billy Bob Thornton).
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In its bleak, bitter beginning, this realistic drama chronicles societal
and family brutalities so crippling that its first hour is nearly unbearable. Two
families living in a small town in the South disintegrate. Neither is acquainted
with the other, both are wrapped tightly in their own constricted lives, and there's
no understanding or tenderness at home or in the world.
After tragedy devours their families, survivors Hank Grotowski
(Billy Bob Thornton) and Leticia (Halle Berry) are thrown together by chance and
circumstance. When Hank discovers that Leticia is the wife of the last prisoner he
accompanied from Death Row to the electric chair, he wants to take care of her. And
when Leticia discovers that Hank was the prison guard who put her ex-husband to death,
she is angry. But each chooses kindness and compassion toward the other, not violence.
In our troubled times, there's a lot to be said for right action, and this emotionally
complex film says it compellingly. (See full review.)
4
IN THE
BEDROOM*
Directed by Todd Field. Written by Rob Festinger* and Todd Field,*
based on a story by Andre Dubus. Produced by Graham Leader, Ross Katz, Todd Field.
Executive producers, Ted Hope, John Penotti. Cinematography, Antonio Calvache. Editor,
Frank Reynolds. Music, Thomas Newman. Costumes, Melissa Economy. Starring Tom Wilkinson,*
Sissy Spacek,* Nick Stahl and Marisa Tomei,* with William Mapother, William Wise
and Celia Weston. Miramax Films, 2001. R. 126 minutes.
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Matt (Tom Wilkinson)
and Ruth Fowler (Sissy Spacek).
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Todd Fields' impressive directorial debut set on the coast of Maine
concerns the family of a small-town doctor, Matt Fowler (Tom Wilkinson); a school
teacher, Ruth (Sissy Spacek); and their 21-year old son, Frank (Nick Stahl). Frank's
in love with Natalie (Marisa Tomei), a young woman with two sons, separated from
her husband. The scene is set, the characters are introduced, and the seeds of tragedy
are silently sown in the film's leisurely paced first hour.
When raw, ugly violence erupts, a wrong note enters what
had been a harmony of daily life's easy pleasures -- hard work on a lobster boat,
a little league ball game, a backyard barbecue, choir rehearsal. With Frank's death,
grief settles on Matt and Ruth like fog from the sea.
Ancient hurts and buried resentments surface. The stunned realization
that they can do nothing to put their child's murderer behind bars leads an act of
retribution, which completes the disintegration that Frank's murder started. The
film demands that we ask ourselves if we feel complicit in this revenge, and if so,
what it means that we have consented to it. (See full review.)
5
THE TAILOR
OF PANAMA
Directed, co-written and produced by John Boorman. Produced by
Kevan Barker. Executive producer and co-writer, John le Carré. Written by
Andrew Davies. Cinematography, Philippe Rousselot. Production design, Derek Wallace.
Editor, Ron Davis. Costumes, Maeve Paterson. Composer, Shaun Davey. Starring Geoffrey
Rush, Pierce Brosnan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Gleeson, Leonor Varela and Catherine
McCormack. Columbia Pictures, 2001. R. 110 minutes.
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Andy Osnard (Pierce
Brosnan) and Harry Pendel (Geoffrey Rush).
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A character-driven, comic spy thriller in which Pierce Brosnan, old
double-aught-seven himself, plays a devilishly clever, smarmy British intelligence
agent, Andy Osnard. Geoffrey Rush plays Harry Pendel, Osnard's lying recruit, tailor
to Panama's decadent class of landowners, rich politicos and former Noriega drug
lords. Both are urbane, witty men who dress beautifully, but Osnard is a heartless
womanizer, while Pendel loves his wife, Louisa (Jamie Lee Curtis), and their two
children. Pendel's imaginative whoppers short-circuit restraint commands from his
underactive impulse control center and stir Agent Osnard to ecstasy.
John Boorman, Andrew Davies and John Le Carré's sophisticated
and ironic film kicks the stuffing out of the Cold War spy genre. Rush, Brosnan and
Brendan Gleeson romp through their paces, delivering biting humor and deliciously
physical performances. Even the minor characters, especially the self-serving stuffed
shirts in the agency, give their all to this grossly underrated but hugely entertaining
black comedy. (See full review.)
6
BRIDGET
JONES' DIARY
Directed by Sharon Maguire. Produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner,
Jonathan Cavendish. Screenplay by Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies and Richard Curtis,
based on Fielding's novel. Cinematography Stuart Dryburgh. Editor, Martin Walsh.
Production design, Gemma Jackson. Costumes, Rachael Fleming. Original score, Patrick
Doyle. Starring Renée Zellweger,* Colin Firth and Hugh Grant; with Jim Broadbent
and Gemma Jones. Also, Shirley Henderson, Sally Phillips, James Callis, Celia Imrie,
Embeth Davidtz, Honor Blackman and Crispin Bonham-Carter. Universal Pictures. Miramax,
2001. R. 94 minutes.
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Bridget Jones (Renee
Zellwegger) and Mark Darcy (Colin Firth).
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This irreverent comedy about an irresistibly human, single gal in
London stars Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones, who's determined to make herself
over into the kind of girl a good man wants to marry. Failure stalks all of Bridget's
plans to stop drinking, lose 10 pounds, give up ciggies and avoid wankers (also called
arseholes).
Bridget fancies her boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), but she's
also attracted to Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), a barrister. She embarrasses herself,
wears the wrong underwear for an intimate moment, utters the wickedly wrong thing
at the wrong time. Cleaver and Darcy both notice, but only one of them loves her
just as she is. The London Evening Standard called Bridget "the Spirit
of the Age," and so she is. Kudos to first-feature-film director, Sharon Maguire,
and writers Richard Curtis, Andrew Davies (again!) and Helen Fielding, Bridget's
creator. (See
full review.)
7
SEXY BEAST
Directed by Jonathan Glazer. Written by Louis Mellis, David Scinto.
Produced by Jeremy Thomas, Denise O'Dell. Cinematographer, Ivan Bird. Music, Roque
Baños. Editors, John Scott, Sam Sneade. Production design, Jan Houllevigue.
Art direction, James Alexander-Hamilton, Steve Simmonds, Marcus Wookey. Costumes,
Louise Stjernsward. Starring Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley,* with Ian McShane, Amanda
Redman, Cavan Kendall, Julianne White, Alvaro Monje and James Fox. Fox Searchlight
Pictures, 2001. R. 88 minutes.
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Don Logan (Ben Kingsley).
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Although Ben Kingsley's performance as the unhinged hired killer for
a London mobster has been appropriately honored with an Academy Award nomination,
don't overlook Ray Winstone's equally brilliant portrayal. Gal (Winstone) has retired
from crime and is now happily baking his ample flesh in the Spanish sun and sharing
the good life with his wife and pals. Hot-headed Don and cooled-down Gal are joined
at the hip in a lethal dance of wills. Eventually Don's powers of persuasion work,
but not before violence erupts in this earthy, Mediterranean paradise.
Beneath the film's surface smolders a lusty love between middle-aged
Gal and his wife, Dee Dee, that provides a surprisingly strong antidote to Don's
vicious fury. Directed by Jonathan Glazer in his feature film debut, this unique
caper film is a wild, terrifying experience, shot through with a dark wit and laced
with imaginative menace. Glazer brings the best of his music video and commercial
background -- brevity, precision, inventive angles, indelible images -- to this cinematic
shocker. (See
full review.)
8
ALI
Directed by Michael Mann. Written by Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher
Wilkinson, Eric Roth and Michael Mann, based on a story by Gregory Allen Howard.
Produced by Michael Mann, A. Kittman Ho, Paul Aradaji, Jon Peters, James Lassiter.
Executive producers, Howard Bingham, Graham King. Cinematography, Emmanuel Lubezki.
Production design, John Myhre. Editors, William Goldenberg, Stephen Rivkin, Lynzee
Klingman. Costumes, Marlene Stewart. Music, Lisa Gerrard, Pieter Bourke. Starring
Will Smith,* with Jamie Foxx, Jon Voight,* Mario Van Peebles, Ron Silver, Jeffrey
Wright, Mykelti Willamson, Jada Pinkett Smith, Nona Gaye, Michael Michele, Joe Morton,
Giancarlo Esposito, Albert Hall, David Elliot, Michael Bentt, James N. Toney, Charles
Shufford and Rufus Dorsey. Columbia Pictures, 2001. R. 158 minutes..
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Howard Cosell (Jon
Voight) and Muhammad Ali (Will Smith).
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Imagine recreating the explosive years between 1964-1974 when the
civil rights and black pride movements fought against America's endemic racism, when
urban riots, political assassinations and scandals, the Vietnam War protests, youth
rebellion, drugs and rock and roll music shook America to its core. Michael Mann
accepted the task of further refining this era of sprawling social concerns by focusing
on the most provocative, most written-about and photographed athletic wonder of the
world, Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay, the sometimes heavyweight champion of the
world.
Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki gives the film the look of a souped-up
documentary, active yet personal, beautiful but not pretty, always visually interesting.
Will Smith inhabits the fighter's persona, showing Ali's quick mind and clever public
repartee. But he also exposes Ali to our gaze in private moments of vulnerability,
uncertainty and loneliness. Mann brilliantly pulls together the film's standout visual
imagery, sound, music and silence to picture a man so representative of his time
yet so particular and true to his own self that we find ourselves in Ali's very presence.
(See
full review.)
9
LORD OF
THE RINGS
THE FELLOWSHIP
OF THE RING*
Directed by Peter Jackson.* Written by Jackson,* Fran Walsh,* Philippa
Boyens,* based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien. Produced by Barrie M. Osborne, Peter
Jackson, Fran Walsh, Tim Sanders. Executive producers, Mark Ordesky, Bob Weinstein,
Harvey Weinstein, Robert Shaye, Michael Lynne. Cinematography, Andrew Lesnie.* Editor,
John Gilbert.* Music, Howard Shore.* Original song, "May It Be," Enya,*
Nicky Ryan,* Roma Ryan.* Production design, Grant Major. Art direction, Grant Major.*
Set decorator, Dan Hennah.* Visual effects, Jim Rygiel,* Randall William Cook,* Richard
Taylor,* Mark Stetson.* Costume design, Ngila Dickson,* Richard Taylor.* Makeup,
Peter Owen, Richard Taylor.* Sound, Christopher Boyes,* Michael Semanick,* Gethin
Creagh,* Hammond Peek.* Starring Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen,* Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen,
Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando
Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean and Ian Holm. New Line Cinema, 2001.
PG-13. 178 minutes.
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Arwen (Liv Tyler).
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Peter Jackson's much acclaimed film chronicles the beginning of an
epic showdown between Middle Earth's coalition of elves, dwarfs, wizards, men and
hobbits and the ancient forces of evil, now awakened and on the move. Shortly after
the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) appears at his door in the Shire, the old hobbit
Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) disappears, and his nephew Frodo (Elijah Wood) leaves in
the company of Sam (Sean Astin), Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd).
Frodo's mission is to smuggle out a ring of power wanted by the dark Lord Sauron,
but being the ring-bearer brings him and his friends more trouble than they bargained
for. Even as they leave the comforts of home far behind, evil riders close in on
them.
Jackson's significant achievement is not only in the film's superb
special effects, realistic battle sequences and sweeping visual design, but also
in finding and remaining true to the spirit, meaning and intention of the myth. Jackson's
approach is respectful and unpretentious, but he uses the source material creatively.
The language of cinema speaks with a fresh, improvisational sensibility in this artful
film. (See
full review.)
10
A.I. ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE
Directed by Steven Spielberg. Produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Steven
Spielberg, Bonnie Curtis. Written by Steven Spielberg, based on a 1969 Brian Aldiss
short story, "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long," and the screen story by
Ian Watson. Executive producers, Jan Harlan, Walter F. Parkes. Cinematography, Janusz
Kaminiski. Production design, Rick Carter. Editor, Michael Kahn. Music, John Williams.*
Costumes, Bob Ringwood. Special visual effects and animation by Industrial Light
and Magic.* Robot characters by Stan Winston Studio. Starring Haley Joel Osment and
Jude Law, with Frances O'Connor, Brendan Gleeson and William Hurt. Warner Bros. Pictures
and DreamWorks Pictures, 2001. PG-13. 140 minutes.
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David (Haley Joe Osment)
and Gigilo Joe (Jude Law).
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I saw A.I. on DVD eight months after seeing it in the theater,
in part because certain scenes never left my mind. Its cinematic splendors, intellectual
ideas and emotional pleasures overwhelmed me the second time. I don't usually reverse
my first impressions in print, but I heartily recommend a second viewing (with an
open heart) of this Spielberg/Kubrick science fiction hybrid.
Earlier I saw the film as a dream about a robot child who wanted
to become a real boy, which resonates with other concerns Spielberg has explored.
But the more profound theme, I now believe, is the responsibility we all bear to
return the love of a wholly trusting child. The parents in A.I. fail in this
regard, even as we, collectively, fail to see or treat children as special beings
capable of great love. The film shows how unprepared children are for an uncertain,
even cruel world, and how we cannot protect them from it. More hopefully, the film
expresses an undying belief in the possibility of love. (See full review.)
Back to top
Tier
Two
Very good
films from 2001
by
Lois Wadsworth
AMéLIE: Jean Pierre Jeunet's sparkling, original hit film stars the incandescent
Audrey Tautou as a Parisian charmer out to make the world a better place. Amelie
practices random acts of magic, tiresomely tinkering with other people's lives until
a true friend sets her straight. Imaginative tale about loneliness in the city of
love. (See
full review.)
APOCALYPSE NOW
REDUX: Francis Ford Coppola and sound wizard Walter Murch
re-mastered and re-edited the original 1979 dailies to create this definitive director's
cut. This hallucinogenic Vietnam War epic is even more amazing today, with Vittorio
Storaro's exquisite cinematography, several entirely new scenes, fuller portraits
of the film's indelibly etched characters and Coppola's preferred ending. (See full review.)
A BEAUTIFUL MIND: Ron Howard's film about the schizophrenic reality of math maven
John Forbes Nash is a stirring fictional testament to a remarkable individual. An
engaging tale of an intellectually brilliant man who marries the right woman and
saves his life with her help, the film benefits from superlative performances by
Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly. (See full review.)
BLACK HAWK DOWN: Set in Somalia as rival war lords wield life
and death power over starving civilians, Ridley Scott's urban combat film follows
American special forces units into the squalid streets of Mogadishu, where 18 of
them die and more than 70 are seriously injured. From 500 to 1,000 Somalis died.
The documentary-like re-enactment of the 15-hour long battle is clearly mapped out
for the audience, but it's hard on first viewing to get close to specific soldiers.
A deeply unsettling testament to how a simple mission can take a wrong turn and end
in disaster. (See full review.)
THE DEEP END: Tilda Swenson creates a singularly resourceful woman
who responds to her teenage son's serious problem with courage and commitment in
Scott McGehee and David Siegel's domestic thriller. Like In the Bedroom, violence
cuts close to the bone here, and the audience is drawn into experiences it does not
wish to condone yet clearly understands emotionally. (See full review.)
GOSFORD PARK: Robert Altman's ensemble drama is better than just
good; it may be his greatest. Gossip and backstabbing are the primary pleasures upstairs
and downstairs at a hunting party on an English country estate, circa 1932. Twenty
top-drawer actors flesh out the culture war between the idle rich and hard-pressed
domestics, and among the titled old-money elite, new money upstarts and vulgar American
celebrities. What a hoot! (See full review.)
THE MAN WHO WASN'T
THERE: Cinematographer Deakins shot
Joel and Ethan Coen's tangled tale of twisted intentions, blackmail, infidelity and
dirty little secrets in the luminous black-and-white of late 1940s noir. That flawed
characters abound is worth mentioning only because many people have forgotten that
in pre-television films, most characters were imperfect. The Coen's tribute to pulp
fiction is not entirely successful, but it's a bracing tweak of the genre. (See full review.)
MULHOLLAND DRIVE: David Lynch's tales of old Hollywood also have a
splash of pulp, but his film is as mysterious as the Coens' is naturalistic. You
cannot take your eyes off the screen, Mulholland is so beautiful, so lush.
But when you try to connect the images into a coherent pattern, you can't. Or rather,
you make a story, then find it's all wrong, revise, learn that's not quite right,
revise again ... until you give up. Thanks to a fabulous performance by Naomi Watts,
seeing her and Laura Elena Harring work out the narrative arc is worth watching again.
(See
full review.)
THE OTHERS: Nicole Kidman stars in Alejandro Amenábar's
classy ghost story set on the Isle of Jersey in the last days of WWII. She lives
in an enormous old Victorian with her two children, who require special care. Peculiar
ghostly sounds are heard, figures are seen, and the high-strung mother doesn't know
whom she can trust. It's a scary, roller-coaster of a film beautifully turned out.
(See
full review.)
VANILLA SKY: So many critics dismissed Cameron Crowe's remake
of Abre los ojos (by the director of The Others), a lingering quest
for reality vs. illusion, that it's not cool to say you enjoyed it. But I did, especially
after second viewing. Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz make it easy on
the eye, and Crowe's sensibilities deliver. (See full review.)
WAKING LIFE: Talking heads in cartoon visual style marks Richard
Linklater's latest effort, which grows on you. More people than I like its psychedelic
flavored pop art look and appreciate the opinionated lectures that pass for conversation,
but I like it well enough to say you haven't seen anything like it before. It's either
a dream or a long, strange trip. (See full review.)
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