top 10 films of 2010

There were so many good movies this year that it was hard to narrow down this list. It was exciting to see quality films (the already iconic Black Swan and True Grit) crossing over to mainstream audiences. Two films that almost made it were Nowhere Boy and The City of Your Final Destination, which I consider underrated.

So here goes my Top 10 of the year and some honorable mentions. Which films did you love this year?

10. The Ghost Writer

Spooky, entertaining thriller with Ewan McGregor stumbling upon the shady affairs of Prime Minister. Expertly directed by Roman Polanski.

9. The Kids Are All Right

I know there's a lot of controversy over the way Lisa Cholodenko portrayed California lesbian couple dealing with the return of their sperm donor but this deft comedy is more about how a family copes and protects itself than it is about politics. My friend said it best that Annette Bening deserves the award for "best acting with stemware." I could watch her performance for hours.

8. The Fighter

Unexpectedly rousing and moving study of a family pushing one (Mark Wahlberg) into the boxing ring while clinging to the past glory of another (Christian Bale).

7. A Prophet

Haunting, shattering journey into lives within a racially divided French prison.

6. Winter's Bone

Neo-noir in the Ozarks. A brave young woman (Jennifer Lawrence) on the quest to find her missing father to save family and home is met with many odds, while everyone around her fights to survive.

5. Blue Valentine

Great chemistry between two leads elevates this painful study of the beginning and the end of a marriage. A low-budget labor of love for the talented stars and new director/screenwriter Derek Cianfrance.

4. The Social Network

The film of the moment. Electric, engrossing look at the birth of Facebook.

3. Please Give

Sharply written comedy about Manhattan neighbors. Natural, authentic portrayals by Catherine Keener and Rebecca Hall and supporting cast.

2. Another Year

Lesley Manville gives an astounding performance as lonely, anxious friend of well-to-do couple (though my opinion of them turned by film's end). One of Mike Leigh's best, most potent character studies.

1. The King's Speech

Call me old-fashioned but I enjoyed this more than any other film this year. Colin Firth as stammering King George and Geoffrey Rush as speech therapist make a terrific duo. Uplifting, well-written, handsomely filmed.

Some other great films from the year...

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, Nowhere Boy, The City of Your Final Destination, The Secret in Their Eyes, White Material, Black Swan, Rabbit Hole, Carlos, True Grit, I Am Love, Greenberg, Inside Job, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Animal Kingdom, Night Catches Us, Easy A, Kawasaki's Rose, Mid-August Lunch, 127 Hours, Vincere, Tiny Furniture, Inception, Dogtooth, Miral, Wild Grass, Mother, The Girl on the Train

the powerful and the powerless

Ewan McGregor plays "the Ghost" (his name, fittingly, is never revealed) assigned to the memoirs of British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Bronson) in this atmospheric thriller from Roman Polanski based upon a controversial novel, The Ghost by Robert Harris. Taking the place of a previous ghost writer who died mysteriously, McGregor is sent to a house on a remote beach in wintry Massachusetts to begin his work. Meanwhile Lang is under intense scrutiny from the public and media for potential involvement in war crimes. McGregor finds his life in jeopardy as he uncovers unusual connections with people from Lang's past.

Polanski's films often deal with seemingly affable people committing the worst crimes against humanity. His best films (Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown) are foreboding ones, where innocent characters are seemingly unaware in how much danger they are in, the film carefully building suspense (though events seem to be happening in a seemingly loose manner) until it reaches a striking conclusion. The tensions that lie within the controversies of Polanski's real life are applicable to the mise-en-scène. Edited in final stages while Polanski was in a Swiss prison, this project takes on a creepy, claustrophobic air. Filmed in Germany, it often looks bleak and other-worldly, as if it exists at the edge of the earth. Polanski's filming is stylish and gripping--meshing realism (the topical nature of the news stories) with artifice (a look-alike Condeleezza Rice appears). The house set design is a marvel: a glassy, ironic dwelling, with huge open windows to the sea, yet so closed off from the outside world. Here, Lang's quirky mix of assistants (a well-played Kim Catrall among them) have established their mode and routines. A brilliant Olivia Williams, with a gray streak of stress in her hair, plays Lang's oblique and hardened wife, who is housing secrets of her own.

As in any adult thriller, the script is prone to melodrama. Although the dialogue is at times awful, the whole affair is tamed by a subtle, well-honed performance by McGregor and Polanski's gorgeously overcast visuals. Unintentional or not, the obvious parallels to Tony Blair and distressing, Bush era malaise (though the clouded ramifications of war seem unending) are less intriguing than the stylish look of the film itself. Like Michael Clayton, the movie is less a specific political statement and more a universal rumination on the powerful and the powerless. In Polanski's film, the powerful are weakened and isolated which leads them to be dangerously bitter and vengeful towards the powerless.

Alexandre Desplat (one of the finest film composers working today) recalls Bernard Herrmann with his brooding score, a kinetic and stormy myriad of bass clarinets and minor tones, adding to the gloomy but riveting atmosphere. In an interview, Desplat notes that Polanski wants the "music to mislead, to boost the energy in a scene, to create an invisible world and make it visible." ***1/2


-Jeffery Berg