Favourite Films of 2009

1. Fish Tank

Dir. Andrea Arnold

[BBC Films, U.K]

Arnold follows her dark and stunning debut, Red Road, with something more palatable but no less uncompromising. Quietly intense, the films' ‘gritty’ social realism resulted in a deluge of comparisons to the work of Ken Loach. Whilst there are legitimate points of comparison, Arnolds' style and execution is vibrant and original, deserving of acknowledgment outside of a ‘Loachian’ framework. To me it certainly felt like the years most important piece of filmmaking and bodes well for British cinema.

2. Mary and Max

Dir. Adam Elliot

[Melodrama Pictures, Australia]

Director Adam Elliot eschews the shine of this years other animation successes: Up, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, etc. Eliot instead favors an intensely muted colour palette of browns, grays and blacks, perfectly matching the somber, gloomy melancholy that presides over the lives of the characters. Wonderfully weighted, perfectly timed, emotionally poignant without any schmaltz and visually creative and exciting, Mary and Max was my favorite surprise of the year. Despite the slightly depressing subject matter the film does not lack mirth. There are wonderful moments of joy that arrive from the strangest of places, making the feeling enormously powerful. Whilst some might bemoan the fact that it's not suitable for children, I think it's great to get an animation all to ourselves.

3. Let the Right One In

Dir. Tomas Alfredson

[EFTI, Sweden]

Glancing over the synopsis of LTROI, you could be forgiven for mistaking it for just another teen-vampire film, circling Twilight’s monopoly. However, apart from it being a coming-of-age story of a teenage vampire, the two films have nothing in common. Alfredson’s Nordic tale of vampiric love has all the grace and dolorous beauty that its counterpart lacks. Superbly crafted and wonderfully understated, perhaps the films' biggest triumph is that it somehow doesn’t feel like a vampire film. Alfredson deserves further praise for abstaining from displaying every frame of gore and action to the viewer. Often the violence is meticulously framed so that we don’t see all that is happening but still feel the full effects. The film culminates in an impeccably orchestrated finale, which ranks up there with my favourite scenes in cinema.

4. Frozen River

Dir. Courtney Hunt

[Cohen Media Group, U.S.A]

Following a surge of films about forgotten middle-America (see: Ballast) and American explorations of social realism, Frozen River is certainly the most impressive feature debut of the year. With extremely tight resources, Hunt crafts a tense and terse thriller which examines the dangers and desperations involved in illegal immigrant smuggling. There is an authenticity that runs throughout the film, helping achieve a relentless portrayal of poverty stricken America. The film falters in its final moments, succumbing to the temptation of resolving order and seeking redemption. However, for a debut feature, such minor problems are easily overlooked.

5. Moon

Dir. Duncan Jones

[Liberty Films U.K, U.K]

So, Bowie’s son can direct, and he also digs space. Sweet. It’s great to see a British film of this kind made so well. Jones carves out an otherworldly atmosphere of brooding solitude and despair and creates a meaningful work of science fiction, accessible to those not familiar with the genre. For me, the ‘poignant’ themes of memory and existence raised in the film were fairly glib. The films true accomplishment is in the crafting of the distinctly original eerie tone.

6. The Hurt Locker

Dir. Kathryn Bigelow

[First Light Production, U.S.A]

Kathryn Bigelow masterfully recreates the immeasurable tension and fear of the everyday duties of soldiers in Iraq. The story is told honestly and without over-sentimentally. Brutally tense and terse, it’s hard to imagine a more accomplished cinematic representation of modern warfare.

7. Adventureland

Dir. Greg Mottola

[Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, U.S.A]

Admittedly, this film has been done before, and will be done again. However, Despite it being a big ‘ol indie clichy with precocious geeks getting girls that are way too hot for them, there’s a great amount of sensitivity and humour in the story. Unlike many films of its kind, were encouraged to laugh at the pretension of using phrases like ‘per se’, rather than take it seriously (see: Squid and the Whale) Mottola really cares for his characters, resulting in complete plausibility in spite of their generic indie-boy/girl credentials. Added charm supplied by a wonderful Yo La Tengo score and music from The Velvet Underground. It’s a film that made the most of its conventions and resources and packed a whole load of charm.

8. Where the Wild Things Are

Dir. Spike Jonze

[Warner Bros. Pictures, U.S.A)

Only days after seeing the film, my memories of it are blurred in a childlike reverie. This is exactly the films strength. Jonze captures the chaos, unstained imagination and innocence of childhood and presents it to us in a thrilling hipster-friendly spectacle.

9. An Education

Dir. Lone Scherfig

[BBC Films, U.K]

Desperately charming, wonderfully acted and greatly entertaining, An Education is certainly the most quintessential English production of the year. Carey Mulligan’s preciously elegant lead performance as Jenny is stunning and reason enough to see the film. The film is packed with British charm and whit but tends to gloss over the darker elements of the story that would have provided much needed shadow from the gleam.

10. Watchmen

Dir. Zack Snyder

[Warner Bros. Pictures, U.S.A]

In short, if you’re a fan of the comic, you’ll love it. If you’re not familiar with the source material, you’ll most probably be left mystified as to why it’s often lauded as the greatest-ever graphic novel. The film sort of requires background knowledge to understand the depth of story. Perhaps this is bad filmmaking, or maybe it’s just impossible to get all the issues of the comic into a film of a watchable length. Either way, for fans of the comic it still was a remarkable experience to see the characters of Watchmen immortalised on screen.

Honorable Mentions

Sin Nombre (Cary Fukunaga, Mexico)

Paranormal Activity (Oren Peli, U.S.A)

Milk (Gus Van Sant, U.S.A)

Looking For Eric (Ken Loach, U.K)

The Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson, U.S.A)

Star Trek (J.J. Abrams, U.S.A)

Up (Pete Docter, U.S.A)

The Imaginarium of Dr. Panassus (Terry Gilliam, U.K)

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Phil Lord and Chris Miller, U.S.A.)

Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, U.S.A)

The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky, U.S.A.)