Some of My Favorites of ‘07

Unlike a real critic, I don’t have to go to movies I don’t think I’m going to like. I don’t have an editor assigning me films to review, nor do I feel the need to see everything, so I can warn the public–the members of which don’t listen to critics anyway–not to waste its hard-earned dime. Therefore, I can’t rightly call any list I might come up with “best-of,” because I have no idea if it’s true. Consequently, here are a few films released in 2007 that I liked, in alphabetical order:

Eastern Promises

Viggo Mortensen banishes the ghost of Aragorn past in this ferociously intense thriller from David Cronenberg. I’ve searched my head for a polite way to describe his character Nikolai; the words tough, enigmatic, hard-edged come to mind, but the term that keeps popping up is “bad-ass.” Mortensen invests every scene he’s in with danger and menace, and the expectation that something terrible might happen at any minute. He’s aided and abetted by Cronenberg’s taut direction, which combines with Peter Suschitzky’s cinematography and Carol Spier’s production design to produce an atmospheric, gritty mise en scène. But in the end, the movie belongs to Mortensen, who in an early scene nonchalantly cuts the fingers off a corpse, then puts a cigarette out on his own tongue. Now that’s bad-ass.

No Country for Old Men

Joel and Ethan Coen’s film works on so many levels it’s scary; fortunately, it’s best considered as a whole. All departments work together seamlessly to support the brothers’ nihilistic vision. Take the acting: Josh Brolin’s Llewelyn Moss exudes working-class brio and vulnerability, and Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh is the embodiment of West Texas emptiness. Roger Deakins’ blown-out cinematography captures the soul-deadening heat of small towns like Odessa and Del Rio. It’s my considered opinion that the Coens were screwed in the ‘96 Oscars . . . who watches The English Patient any more? Fargo, on the other hand, has entered the national lexicon, it’s become part of the national zeitgeist. Maybe 2007 will be their year. (you can read my review of No Country for Old Men here).

Once

Who knew that a micro-budgeted Irish musical could create such critical buzz, or appear on so many year-end lists? Yet director John Carney’s Once is the real deal. Shot on a high-def shoe-string, it doesn’t look like much, but features naturalistic performances from first-time actors Glen Hansard (the guy) and Markéta Irglová (the girl). He’s a street musician, she’s a classically-trained pianist, and Carney’s minimalist script develops their relationship organically, without any of the creaking plot machinery we see in more conventional films. There are no Obstacles placed in the way of our protagonists happiness, no trumped-up conflict to give the drama “weight.” Just a lilting narrative that encompasses and mirrors the fine songs written by Hansard (of the Irish band “The Frames”). Once is a sweet little drama that feels absolutely right, as if it could really happen that way.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd is a Broadway musical adaptation by Tim Burton. No . . . really! And it’s pretty good, at that. He’s pared down Sondheim’s stage play so that it’s lean and mean, with no meat wasted. At the same time, it’s a truly cinematic experience, not simply a filmed stage play. His cast-led by Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter-don’t have Broadway singing chops, but in a film, they’re not really needed. After all, you don’t have to project to the rafters night after night. Depp gives an fine, if rather one-note, performance, but it’s Bonham Carter who shines. She invests the meat-pie baroness Mrs. Lovett with a hilarious combination of wry cynicism and blasé nonchalance. The only misstep is the casting of Sacha Baron Cohen as Todd’s first victim-his performance is far too broad and self-conscious. That aside, Sweeney is a funny, appropriately over-the-top adaptation of an important musical.