Having said all that, I still can't help but feel this year was a letdown
over 2001. I'm not sure if a couple extra weeks would do any of us much good
-- not this time at least.
With that predictable whine, a half-hearted top 10 for 2002.
10. Undercover Brother -- Director Malcolm D.
Lee (Spike's cousin) did what hasn't been done in years: create a hilarious,
maybe politically incorrect spoof of racism that cuts both ways. Eddie Griffin
lapped up his title role, Afro and all, and even Denise Richards did a mean
take on a racist femme fatale. And what was up with all those mayo jokes?
9. Naqoyqatsi (Life as War) -- Native New Orleanian
Godfrey Reggio ended a 14-year drought in completing his Qatsi trilogy
with this often mesmerizing look at man's losing battle against (and morphing
into) technology. Philip Glass grounds his work with a wonderful, symphonic
score highlighted by guest soloist Yo-Yo Ma.
8. Punch-Drunk Love -- Actually, I thought Paul
Thomas Anderson's latest wasn't all that great; I'm still trying to figure out
if he had anything to say here. But at the same time, you have to love his daring,
trimming the fat that bogged down Magnolia. Here he goes for a little
magic realism of a romance between put-upon Adam Sandler (another Oscar-worthy
performance) and the idealization that was Emily Watson.
7. Secretary -- Director Steven Shainberg breaks
through the cheeky irony of his story about a dysfunctional young woman (a charming
Maggie Gyllenhaal) who falls for her S&M-loving lawyer boss (James Spader, who
deserves an Oscar nod). At last, a movie that explores S&M with humor, grace
and even sympathy.
6. Rodger Dodger -- Some viewers cringed at the
opening sequence, as ladies' man (Campbell Scott) holds forth on the dying breed
that is the male species, wondering if this is all this movie has to offer.
But then writer-director Dylan Kidd takes Roger's smugness and throws it right
back in his face as Roger spends the rest of the movie teaching his "tricks"
to his gullible, virginal nephew (Jesse Eisenberg).
5. Frida -- Ignore the episodic, cliche-ridden
script; director Julie Taymor's bio-pic of artist Frida Kahlo crackles with
life, thanks to a vivid star turn by Salma Hayek. Finally, a movie that connects
the dots between life and art (and back again).
4. (Tie) Catch Me if You Can/Minority Report
-- It's suddenly fun to watch Steven Spielberg challenging himself when
he could very well sit on the Jurassic Park franchise or burden us with
his historic revisionism. Minority Report featured that delicate balance
between snappy futuristic fun and a social critique of our obsession with crime
and punishment that would (hopefully) please author Philip K. Dick, while Catch
Me if You Can is Spielberg's breeziest film in years. Leonardo DiCaprio
and Tom Hanks are perfect together.
2. Bloody Sunday -- Screened at this October's
New Orleans Film Festival, Bloody Sunday is a riveting, cinema verite
look at the massacre of 13 peaceful Northern Irish protesters at the hands of
occupying British soldiers in 1972. Writer-director Paul Greengrass deftly mounts
the building blocks of tension that leave the viewer squirming with a sense
of dread over the inevitable outcome.
1. Y Tu Mama, Tambien -- Just when you thought
the road movie and its metaphor of discovery was all played out, Mexican director
Alfonso Cuaron comes up with his own unique take. Two friends from Mexico's
wealthy and lower class (Diego Luna and a brilliant Gael Garcia Bernal, respectively)
form a romantic triangle with an older woman (Maribel Verdu). Cuaron's exploration
of dreams, reality and how they shape contemporary Mexico is heightened by the
warm cinematography of Emmanuel Lubenzki, and rarely as sex been so accurately
rendered onscreen.
Runners-up: Far From Heaven, Monsoon Wedding,
Kissing Jessica Stein, Solaris, The Mothman Prophecies,
Barbershop.
Wished I'd seen: 24-Hour Party People, Gangs
of New York, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Fast Runner,
Possession, Road to Perdition, The Salton Sea.
Still waiting on: Adaptation, About Schmidt,
Chicago, CQ, Max, The Pianist, The Quiet American.
Overrated: The Hours, Insomnia, Sex
and Lucia, Signs, Sunshine State.
Greatish performances (not previously mentioned): Hugh Grant
in About a Boy; Mira Sorvino in Triumph of Love; Samantha Morton
in Minority Report; Richard Gere in The Mothman Prophecies; Edie
Falco in Sunshine State; Kirsten Dunst in The Cat's Meow; Dennis
Quaid in Far From Heaven; Meryl Streep in The Hours; James Nesbitt
in Bloody Sunday; Paz Vega in Sex and Lucia; Ryan Gosling in Murder
by Numbers.
