Monday, February 25, 2008

No Country For Old Men


Me and the Oscars have often disagreed over our choices. Not this year. My favourite film of the year, No Country For Old Men, was the big winner on Academy Awards night, with four Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director.

This year, we even agreed on the Best Actor award. Daniel Day Lewis was simply fabulous in There Will Be Blood. I had picked No Country and There Will Be Blood as this year's front runners. I would have been disappointed if Atonement would have made it. The adaptation of Ian McEwan's book is eminently watchable but I wouldn't go as far as to say it is the best film of 2007.

My personal list of favourites (not in any particular order) for the year that has gone by are:

THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Liam Cunningham
Director: Ken Loach


Named after an Irish ballad written by Robert Dwyer Joyce, it is among my favourite films of the year. The performances are terrific and the photography unforgettable. Veteran director Ken Loach copped a lot of flak in the English press for what they described as an unfair portrayal of English soldiers in this film. Tim Luckhurst of The Times called the movie a "poisonously anti-British corruption of the history of the war of Irish independence".
The jury at Cannes clearly thought otherwise, and bestowed upon the film the festival's highest honour, the Palme D'Or. After watching the film, I tended to agree more with the Cannes jury than Luckhurst.

REIGN OVER ME

Cast: Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle
Director: Mike Binder

I like Mike Binder's films. I had enjoyed The Upside of Anger and Man About Town. But I simply loved Reign Over Me, a tale of two friends who were once room mates in college, and then they meet up post 9/11. Cheadle is his usual restrained self. But it is Sandler who steals the show with a heart-tugging performance, as the man who is trying to come to terms with the loss of his wife and three daughters.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bordem, Josh Brolin
Director: Joel and Ethan Coen


The Coen brothers thoroughly deserved the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars. In Anton Chigurh, played exceptionally by Javier Bordem, they have created a character as evil and menacing as Hannibal Lecter. The random violence, the moody build up and excellent acting all around combine to make No Country a modern-day classic.

ONCE

Cast: Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova
Director: John Carney


A friend had presented me the DVD of this film months ago, but I hadn't seen it until recently because I am not terribly fond of musicals. I loved it when I watched this modern-day musical about a busker and an immigrant and their eventful week in Dublin, as they write, rehearse and record songs that tell their love story. Made with almost documentary realism on the streets of Dublin, the film was shot in just 15 days with two DV cameras. John Carney has both written and directed this film.

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM

Cast : Matt Damon, Julia Stiles
Director: Paul Greengrass


I don't like sequels, per se. But this one, the third and the latest in Bourne trilogy, is my favourite of the three and would possibly go down as my favourite action movie of 2007. The action never flags, and the story doesn't bore you at any point as Bourne tries to find out more about his past and finally come back home. There is nothing new about the story but the execution is sleek, and Damon is good.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Cast: Dannel Day Lewis
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson


Essaying a written-for-Oscar role, Daniel Day Lewis comes up with an astonishing performance in this film about a turn-of-the-century oil prospector who moves to California in the early days of the business. Equally brilliant as Daniel Day Lewis is Paul Dano. Director Paul Anderson is just 38 but is considered as a master of his craft, and has already made such eminently watchable films as Magnolia and Punch Drunk Love.

WAITRESS

Cast: Keri Russell
Director: Adrienne Shelly


Keri Russell looks lovely and acts beautifully as the pie-baking, unhappily married waitress with a heart of gold. You just want good things to happen to her. I am rather sentimental about this movie, not just because it is very good. But also because its director Adrienne Shelly died even before Waitress was commercially released. Shelly's death was first considered a suicide. Days later, a 19-year-old Eucadorian illegal immigrant and construction worker confessed to killing the actress, whom he left hanging by a bedsheet from a shower rod in the bathroom of her Manhattan office / apartment.

DEDICATION

Cast: Billy Crudup, Mandy Moore
Director: Justin Theroux


Director Justin Theroux is the nephew of the famous Paul Theroux, not that it matters. My favourite romantic movie of the year, Dedication is different than most mushy Hollywood movies. Once his long time collaborator and only friend dies, Billy Crudup, a children's book author, is forced to work with a female illustrator. Crudup is brilliant as a cranky, misogynist author who slowly but surely falls for the pretty illustrator. Like all good films, this one has a terrific script, with lot of witty lines. Sample this one:

L
ucy : Do you just genuinely dislike me, Henry?

Henry: You know accuse of whatever you want, I'm probably guilty of it... contributing to global warming, killing a squirrel once, and using the word retard, and occasionally misinterpreted bigotry, but don't, don't... don't don't don't accuse of not liking you. Ok?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Stranger, You haven't kept in touch, nor told me about the new blog. But I have managed to stumble on to it, thanks to google. Hope you are doing well, and the ligament is ok. Your blogging seems to be as good as ever. I read this one, and then rented The Wind That Shakes The Barley. Thoroughly enjoyed the film, it's evident why the British media said nasty things about it. Let's keep in touch, and this time don't disappear on me.