FILM: Yohei Top Films for 2010!

The privately anticipated list of top films viewed in 2010.  Very much like my top 5... okay its 7 but I did the initial list and realised I had seen more that I had to include and couldn't drop any others... your understanding is appreciated.

So from the end starting at 5!

5.

FILM: Enter the Void

Paz Huerta looks out towards Shinjuku Neon in Enter the Void

Sensory experience unlike any other, made possible through technical precision and visionary ambition.  Story revolves around the first-person account of a brother and his afterlife spirit (not a spoiler) as he observes the  subsequent consequences of his death.  Shot beautifully in the neon underbelly of Shinjuku, the method used in its delivery suits so appropriately you can't help but be embodied (or disembodied) in its viewing.  Didn't even mind the near 10 minute (?) 2001 Odyssey like screen-saver sequence used to depict the shifting between life and the after.

4.

FILM: Boy

Taika as and with the boys

Local gems are few and far between, but this is one to be cherished, cheered and celebrated.  Taika seems to be blessed with many creative gifts, and one of them is to capture stories embedded in his own personality and translate them in films that connect so easily with others.  Boy is no different, and while there exists opportunity in its premise to glide and tow a more trivial comic line, it resists for a more complex passage of heart and meaning.  Taika's next test will be to see if he can carry the same strength in story, through the eyes of others.

3=.

FILM: Exit through the gift shop

Banksy as he appears in the film

The genius in this mock-doc is its layers, and the purpose these layers serve not just in the scheme of the film itself, but that in its commentary and effect on the artform of its focus.  It's not just a setup to laugh and point the finger at a marginalised personality.  It is a much grander façade that examines the question of populist street art, the manipulation of the public behind its understanding and value therefore imposed due largely to the influence of celebrity power and hype.  Banksy also uses the film in a somewhat guised manner to address and defend against past accusations of being a sell-out, (probably his main reason for making the film), but in the end you mostly agree with his points, and to the fact he's made a smart, tight film at prey to further writings and studies. 

3=. 

FILM: A Winter's Bone

Strength in Selflessness in A Winter's Bone

There's nothing fanciful or pretentious about this indie film, a fact which attributes to its success.  Simply put, it is an extremely well executed thriller led strongly by its lead Jennifer Lawrence, in a story about a girl forced to find her estranged father through necessity.  It uses our predisposed fears of the rural south (well mine anyway) to create an eerie atmosphere culminating in some chilling scenes.  Traditional filmmaking at its best.

2=. 

FILM: Inside Job

Those that participated probably wished they hadn't

Charles Ferguson follows up his exploration of human stupidity (see No End in Sight) with one on unbelievable greed in the even better Inside Job.  Plus the intellectual power and minus stunt ego of the Michael Moore films (which are still excellent), Inside Job tackles and lays to bear with clarity the architects, philosophies, history of flawed policy that sat in a sea of immorality, eventually leading to the collapse of the Global Financial system.  A film that fills you with so much anger to the point where you can't help but be absolutely disgusted at the smug elite who Ferguson manages to expose as they sit in their arrogance through revealing interviews shown in the film.

2 =.

FILM:  A Secret in their Eyes

Tension to a tee in A Secret in their Eyes

Winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film was not without reason for this Argentinian thriller.  Absolutely superb, like all the films on this list, it crafts technique into its filmmaking to inspire its storytelling, leaving you completely at its whim.  Most especially, it uses its native backdrop to infuse mystery, suspense and tension with such sophistication, you can barely comprehend the films eventual finale, much the less its journey and how you got there.  After seeing this thing halfway through they year, I was convinced, almost till the end, I had seen the best.

And the Number...

1.

FILM: The Social Network

We have his minimum amount of attention, but he has ours all

No filmmaker has made me feel like their films were made specifically for me more, than David Fincher's in the last decade.  Appealing to me is Fincher's intrigue that seems to stem from a fascination of the obsessed.  Methodical serial killer in Se7en, neurotic cartoonist turned investigator in Zodiac and the now well acknowledged Social Network demigod  that is Mark Zuckerberg.  From the very first scene, we see the genius that will germinate into his greatest achievement, and witness the flaws that lead to his social demise.  The thematic rags to riches progression pits us with Zuckerberg, and courtroom drama structure allow us to witness the dramatic highlights as the players deliberate and retell the construction and internal destruction of the most influential social communicating tool of the modern era.  Saw this twice in the space of a week and could've gone more.   

Nearly made the list:  Animal Kingdom (Best Auz Gangster film since Chopper... was so sooo close).  Let me in (Hollywood remake = usually bad.  But in this case, refreshingly good.  More talent from this Director of Cloverfield).  Inception (Hollywood film with smarts thanks to the ever consistent Chris Nolan.  Unforgivable omission for some).  The Town (Best Hiest film of the year and close to the best in the genre.  Ben Affleck proving his first see Gone Baby Gone, was no fluke.  Is he the next Eastwood?)

Didn't see: TRON (will do 2011)