2008 Hindsight

For over seven years, I've tried to make sure that I saw at least one new movie a week, and to write at least one full review a week. However, in 2008, I decided it was time to re-shift some of my priorities, so I missed most of spring and fall, deciding that I would now only write reviews when I had the urge. Thus, I also prepared not to write a year-end wrap-up, like I usually do, simply because I felt I would not have seen enough movies in the year to feel comfortable doing it.

But in December, I just couldn't resist trying to see whatever movies I could in preparation for the annual awards season. Thus, I wrote a fresh slew of reviews in a small amount of time; and since most of these movies were being touted for year-end kudos, I now feel that maybe it's all right to at least present a Top 10 list. I kept track of the awards being handed out and the Top 10 lists of critics being tallied, so that I could watch the movies catching the most heat. So while I don't believe what I viewed was comprehensive -- there were still some gaps that I ideally would like to have filled -- I feel that this is at least a fair enough representation of what I enjoyed the most this year, with perhaps a slight chance that I might've caught something else that I would have enjoyed more.

1. The Dark Knight
Technically, I feel my top two choices -- The Dark Knight and WALL•E -- should be tied, and, yes, I said this last year too. But since last time I gave the official number one spot to the Pixar movie, this year I'll flip it, so The Dark Knight gets to be number one here. I'm surprised that, by now, this would look like an obvious choice because the Batman Begins sequel has gotten a lot of love already, made a gazillion bucks, and is even tipped to be an Oscar Best Picture nominee possibility. I thought by the end of the year, we'd have other films superseding it, and I was prepared to be one of the few people to claim that it was something truly special. Well, it looks like I'm not so unique after all. The Dark Knight deserves the honors it has received. It's a re-evaluation of the place of morals and ethics in a universe increasingly feared or exposed to be lawless, hopelessness countered with the idea that hope and civility must be our natural defense -- all packaged as a smart summer blockbuster.

2. WALL•E
According to online Top 10 list tallies (like Movie City News and CriticsTop10), WALL•E is the most acclaimed film of the year. To that I say, right on! It's a beautiful, lyrical movie that takes advantage of its form -- computer-animated cinema -- to deliver a love story against the background of a science fiction warning about the state of our planet in relation to rampant consumerism and environmental ignorance. It's simply a marvelous achievement, and I'm glad to see so many others think so too.

3. Be Kind Rewind
My friend and I were joking about those movie critics out there who seem to give certain directors a free pass (e.g., Armond White with Steven Spielberg or Brian De Palma; or Kenneth Turan with Clint Eastwood). Then we thought about who we might give free passes to, and I figured out my answer: Michel Gondry. I've loved or nearly loved every one of his movies (and I've only missed one: Human Nature). I love his music videos too. He connects with me because he loves creativity; and Be Kind Rewind is a love letter to creativity itself. It's a movie that celebrates the joy one feels when one can point proudly at a work and be able to say, "I made that."

4. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Yes, yes, I know. This movie seems to get hammered more and more everyday. It's become quite unpopular, and, frankly, I think people have gotten too hard on it. Maybe I'm the only one sees it this way, but I think it's actually the deepest Indiana Jones movie in terms of personal themes. The first two were mostly just the action spectacles they had meant to be; the third explored a father-son relationship, but when you think of all three movies, none of them had much to say about Indiana Jones himself -- the character, the man. In Crystal Skull, he's at a point where everything is taken away from him -- what family he knew, his old friends, his job -- and the world around becomes less and less familiar, perhaps more hostile (the nuclear explosion scene is one nice visual metaphor). He's saved because he rediscovers an old love, which leads to his gaining a new family and a new lease on life. In other words, for the first time, we can see him getting lonely, and his new adventure now has a purpose of healing, of synthesizing bonds, of shaping a new perspective, of meeting the challenge of the future. So yes, I really liked this movie. So sue me.

5. The Wrestler
See, I even think Crystal Skull has a lot in common with The Wrestler, because Randy "The Ram" is in the same position as Indiana Jones -- he's lost everything he's familiar with, and the future looks bleak. But poor Randy won't quite have Jones's luck. The Wrestler is a tragedy about a simple man and his very straightforward problems, but they're no less scarring to him for their simplicity. It's perhaps an even sadder story because the character's path parallels with the path of the actor who played him -- yet Mickey Rourke is at least enjoying the accolades of his comeback. Randy, sadly, won't find such luck.

6. Milk
Sean Penn gives the best performance I've seen from him in a movie made even more relevant by the recent 2008 elections in California. But did I also mention that it's a life-filled joy of a movie as well? If you've never believed that one man can make a difference, Milk might change your mind. It's a film capable of positive influence, a reminder that a civil rights struggle must be won with persistence and determination, one battle at a time.

7. Waltz with Bashir
Waltz with Bashir is one of the most original movies of the year. As a documentary, it isn't documentary-like, since it's about the filmmaker's exploration of his own memory; thus, it's about subjectivity rather than subject reporting. As an animated movie, it pays no heed to the traditional uses of the medium -- it simply uses it as a tool to assist in the exploration, enabling the filmmaker to create imagined re-enactments with a surreal tone. Yes, there are many movies that tell us war is madness, but none of them ever put it quite like this.

8. Rachel Getting Married
In this year, I would select Sean Penn as the best actor, although Mickey Rourke would be very close. No one, though, comes close to Anne Hathaway for best actress in Rachel Getting Married for me. She has truly broken free playing Kym, the messed-up former drug addict with a family that doesn't quite know how to handle her. The part is complex, with multiple sides to it, and it needs to earn both the audiences' scorn and sympathies -- and thanks to Hathaway, it does. Also deserving of praise is Rosemarie DeWitt as the sister Rachel; the two actresses allow us to get to know two very human beings in a movie that's about but one cheerful event for a family that seems to have endured many less cheerful ones.

9. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Funny, but when I think about it, Dear Zachary has a very similar message to The Dark Knight -- that when faced with an unjust world, we still have the choice to take the high road. In the case of this searing homemade documentary, David and Kathleen Bagby, parents of slain doctor Andrew Bagby, take the place of Batman. Watching the movie is to marvel at their strengths of character, but it also isn't afraid to show us their moments of weakness as well. The movie's conclusion is that it's worth it to maintain such strength, that it will eventually yield its own kind of rewards. And yet, watching it, one still wishes more could've gone right for them. Could we ever be as strong?

10. Taxi to the Dark Side
This is the film that won Best Documentary last year at the Oscars, but it didn't actually hit theaters in the U.S. until January of 2008; then, it had distribution issues which didn't allow it to be widely seen, despite having won that award. It got high praise from critics who had seen it, but when it came time to take note of the year's best, Taxi to the Dark Side seems to have gotten left behind. After all, it won the top award already, and it came out so long ago, so why talk about it now? Well, it is an excellent movie that neatly summarizes one of Bush's shameful legacies. Now that times might be a-changin', it can serve as a cautious reminder, and it deserves to be viewed. It came out in January 2008; let's not forget it at the end of the year.

Overall, I feel that three documentaries on the list might be too much (and, frankly, before I saw Rachel Getting Married, the 10th place would've gone to another documentary, Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World), which tells me that I still perhaps have not seen enough movies for the year. Or maybe the documentaries really were just better. Well, that shall remain to be seen -- hopefully I will catch titles such as Synecdoche, New York; A Christmas Tale; The Edge of Heaven and others, and see what I think of them in due time.

Meanwhile, 2009 promises to be busy, so I may see even less of this coming year's movies. But for whatever I do catch, I'll write a review. As the end of this year showed me, sometimes I can't help myself.

Thank you for reading and please have a happy new year.

©Jeffrey Chen, Jan. 15, 2009

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