The Year in Lists, Part II: Filmbrain's Top Ten of 2005

Despite what many others are claiming, 2005 was not a stellar year for film (for me at least). Compared to last year, where several films had me over the moon, there wasn't that one film that stood out far above all others, screaming to be #1. Ranking the ten films below was a game of endless shuffling. This year's batch of top ten lists seems even more uniform than usual, which leads me to conclude that the pickins' was mighty slim. The endless praise being heaped on Brokeback Mountain has steered me away from it, at least until the hype dies down. As for History of Violence, yes, I enjoyed it, but it seemed slight after seeing Caché just a few days after. Once again, troubled, damaged, and/or otherwise doomed relationships are at the heart of half the films on my list. Come to think of it the most upbeat film is about a political assassination. Three cheers for despair. . . In reverse order: 10. The New World. Terrence Malick, USA I thank my lucky stars I caught this before Malick snipped twenty minutes out of it, and you have just a few days left to do the same. One thing I forgot to mention in my review is the soul-stirring use of Wagner's overture to Das Rheingold -- a piece of music that could easily come off as pretentious in the wrong hands. Here it sends shivers down the spine. 9. Head-On. Fatih Akin, Germany There's an incredible re-birth taking place in German cinema, with an ever-increasing number of new directors (many from Berlin) who are turning out intelligent, challenging, offbeat fare that harkens back to the days of a young Herzog, Wenders or Fassbinder. Though many have not yet found their way to the States, we were lucky enough to get Fatih Akin's Head-On, a gritty, unlikely love story that contains more than its fair share of sternum kickers. (Got that, Dobbs?) 8. Kings and Queen. Arnaud Desplechin, France Though I still prefer My Sex Life..., Desplechin's latest finds the auteur at his peak. 150 minutes of solid character-driven dialog without a single unnecessary line. Plus, it unironically appropriates Moon River -- now that's quite a feat. 7. 5x2. Francois Ozon, France There's an extra feature on the 5x2 DVD that has Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Stéphane Freiss auditioning for Ozon by reenacting a scene from Bergman's Scenes From a Marriage. How apropos, for 5x2 can be viewed as a postmodern rendering of that film. Ozon uses the fashionable reverse structure to tell the story of Marion and Gilles, from their divorce to their first date. Yet what elevates the film beyond a mere gimmick is in what Ozon chooses not to show us, rather than what he does. Though we know all too well how this couple will end up, the five sequences wind up clouding the details rather than making them evident. This  beautifully tragic film shows how it's never merely one thing that breaks up a marriage. Ozon's use of music reaches new heights here, and there's a dance sequence (set to a Paolo Conte song) that is almost Godardian in its perfection. 6. Innocence. Lucile Hadzihalilovic, Belgium/France Written off by many as fodder for the raincoat crowd (thereby avoiding the need to actually discuss it), Innocence was truly one of the most challenging and haunting films of the year. Hadzihalilovic skillfully captures the metamorphosis of young girls into young women -- those final days of innocence -- and does so within a surreal, creepy framework that continually leaves you imagining the worst. This film, more than any other this year, remained burned in my brain for weeks after seeing it. Full review here. 5. Caché. Michael Haneke, France/Austria Did you spot him? Be honest. Full review here. 4. L'Esquive. Abdel Kechiche, France A film all about the power of language, L'Esquive was one of the most original films I saw in 2005. Sure, it's little more than teenagers screaming at each other for two hours, but Kechiche manages to turn it into pure poetry. This should have been the foreign film on everybody's lips this year, but it came and went without a trace. Sara Forestier's performance, as the blond object of desire for the boys in the Banlieue, was nothing short of breathtaking. Full review here. 3. The President's Last Bang. Im Sang-soo, Korea Another film that (sadly) never managed to find an audience. Im's darkly comic take on the assassination of President Park Chung Hee is a perfect film in every respect. Im is a master craftsman, and it shows in every frame of this film. Full review here. 2. L'Intrus (The Intruder). Claire Denis, France Who else but Claire Denis could turn a philosopher's forty-page rumination on his heart transplant into a globetrotting cinematic masterpiece? At the Berlinale market screening, more than half the audience walked out. At the Walter Reade screening, Ms. Denis was barraged with angry questions from an irate audience. Why such reactions? See it for yourself and find out. But one thing -- play this movie LOUD. 1. The Squid and The Whale. Noah Baumbach, USA The fillet of the year. Seems that I'm not the only who experienced self-identification with both the situation and characters in this oh-so-New York tale of divorce and its aftermath. But watching Walt was like watching myself in the early 80s, right down to the strumming of Hey You on a beat-up acoustic. Superb acting, a powerful screenplay, and a whole lot less expensive than a visit to my analyst. Could/Should be on the list: The Dying Gaul, Yes, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Broken Flowers, Dear Wendy, Nobody Knows.

Comments

[Darren]

"But one thing -- play this movie LOUD."

Exactly! Rosenbaum recently called Beau Travail Denis's only musical, but I think he's got it wrong. Beau Travail is a ballet; L'Intrus is her musical. Instead of a traditional score, though, the music is the sound design itself -- the hum of electricity in a morgue, the drone of forklifts, the whisper of wind in a forest.

[girish]

Darren--We first saw the movie a year and a half ago, and I can still hear that guitar loop clattering around in my head.

[Gregor Samsa]

I am going to see The Squid and the Whale this weekend, but I can't imagine seeing a better film from this year than The New World. This film just seems to come from another planet. I'm looking forward to the 4 hour version supposedly being released on DVD in March.

[la_depressionada]

wow fb is that how it was? who knew growing up poor was such an advantage. my youth was much more like: it's hard to be a saint in the city.

[Filmbrain]

LaD --

My identification with the film is less about economic class than it is about the divorce (and other things I'd rather not share.)

[Peter Nellhaus]

I was looking forward to seeing The New World. Now I don't know if I should see the revised theatrical release or hold out for a theoretically more complete DVD version.
Thanks to the praise given on a film in your other list, The Wayward Cloud DVD is on its way to my mailbox as is Survive Style 5. Several Korean titles mentioned are also on my Nicheflix queue.

[Aaron Hillis]

(Don't worry, Filmbrain, nobody knows about your chronic semen-wiping.)

[Mikko]

Filmbrain,
What you say about Innocence, in my mind, equals to the definition of the best film of the year. Especially the last sentence: "This film, more than any other this year, remained burned in my brain for weeks after seeing it."

Anyway, thanks a lot for these lists. They will be of help in sorting out the Asian films I'm expecting to see in Rotterdam in about a month. While I didn't enjoy Peacock at all, I'm really looking forward to many of the films you've mentioned in this as well as the other list.

[Filmbrain]

Mikko --

I'm curious -- what was it about Peacock that you didn't like?

[Greg Samsa]

Peter,

I would certainly encourage you to go see whatever version is released on the 20th, this film will greatly benifit from experiencing it in a theater. Also the new cut is apparently being done at the request of and under the supervision of Malick. Remember Kubrick cut 15 minutes of footage from 2001 after its early screenings and I don't see anyone pining away for those lost minutes. It will be fantastic to see the 4 hour version though, I am very very excited for it. Hopefully at some point this will see a theatrical release as well.

[HarryTuttle]

Is it a french-heavy list or what? ;) I'm really happy for Kechiche that he and his cast got such a good reception in the USA, one of my dearest french films in recent years.

It's good to see someone else who re-evaluates A History of Violence to a masterpiece like Caché.

Did you really like Dear Wendy?

[christopher]

i'm seeing cache tomorrow, so i'll see if it's half the movie others have held it up to be. but no love for syrianna? so far it's my favorite film of 05.

[Mikko]

Filmbrain,

I have to admit that I wasn't prepared for such a long film, and I left the screening for many different reasons. Anyway, discussing the film later with a friend of mine (who watched the whole film), we both thought that it was pretty mediocre and dull, even needlessly long. I personally hated the acting of the film. Maybe it's that I was expecting something extraordinary and what I got was practically a mainstream film with a slower pace. Anyway, it just didn't resonate with me at all. It felt too simplistic, and naive, although I understood that was the characters' personality.

[Jim Flannery]

Um, I don't see anything titled Peacock on this page, or in the filmbrain archive, or (for the last 5 years) on imdb. What are you guys talking about?

[Filmbrain]

Sorry Jim -- my archives at the moment are a bit wonky. Here's the link to my original review:

Peacock

It appears in the list below this one -- best undistributed films of 2005.

[Jim Flannery]

Ah! Thanks. Strange that imdb didn't have the english title listed either, but i've found it there now. Hopefully it'll make it to one of the festivals here in the backwoods of SFO this spring ... (it's like living in a different timezone, only it's eight months wide :-\)

[burritoboy]

5 x 2? 5x2?!?!

Yuck! I found the structure convoluted for no particular reason. The comparison with Scenes from a Marriage is apropos - Scenes is a movie that attempts to deeply understand it's characters, and 5x2 is completely superficial: the wife is a passive-agressive priss; the husband is a commitment-phobic, thinking-with-his-penis shithead. What's new about this stuff?

[Filmbrain]

It would be foolish for Ozon to try and replicate what Bergman did. (Plus, ole' Ingmar took six hours to do it.)

I think your assessment of the pair is a bit flippant -- sure, some of their uglier traits shine through, but as the film progresses, we seem to grow evermore distant from them -- as if we actually know less than we did at the start. It really worked for me, and I felt it was very original.

[la_depressionada]

we have ways of making you talk.

i'm going to write to armond white. i actually watched war of the worlds and paid good money (okay sneaked in after the family stone) to see munich. it was a little reminiscent of the early 70s pakula type parallex view or maybe marathon man. that increased my spielburg quotion 200% in the last decade.

[burritoboy]

"sure, some of their uglier traits shine through, but as the film progresses, we seem to grow evermore distant from them -- as if we actually know less than we did at the start."

I didn't feel that. The last section (the first in time) sets up the relationship too smugly: the (future) husband cheats on his (then) girlfriend with his (future) wife, setting up the series of equally pathetic affairs within their (later) marriage. The (future) wife is a passive-aggressive priss even then.

I don't think the movie told us anything about failing marriages or relationships - there are so many of those that they are almost a seperate genre, especially within French cinema. The question is whether the movie would have been anything but run of the mill if Ozon hadn't played time machine. I think that question's answer is no.