67. Sergio
The life and death of Sergio Vieira de Mello, Secretary General to Iraq and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is one of those stories you have to see to reaffirm knowing their exists contemporary political heroes about whom we would otherwise remain ignorant. It’s on HBO. This revolutionary student turned world diplomat had dashing good looks and remarkable commitment to justice and humanity. He participated with remarkable nerve in crucial world events only to die way too soon in a targeted bomb attack in Iraq. The film is beautifully and suspenseful structured. Beyond the subjects remarkable life is the bravery and voices of the two soldiers who attempted his rescue. It’s made all the more sad that this was editor Karen Schmeer’s final and gorgeously realized achievement before her own untimely end. A great film. I kept thinking, this is a truly remarkable man, and the cause of this – Bush – is so, so small and cowardly in comparison. Sad and enlightening, and engaging and inspirational.
66. The Woodsman(2004)
Finally catching up with Lee Daniels second produced movie after Monsters Ball has wonderful performances you can expect from him, even though he didn’t direct it. The tough subject of humanizing a child molester on release from prison goes where you hope it won’t go, but also has some really striking twists. In addition, the ‘bad guy’ is the protagonist, and a terse cop played well by Mos Def is the good guy. Everything turns on its head and it’s really well acted by Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick. So much happens in the small glances.
65. Babies
Two easy reasons why this movie has been written about – a release just before Mother’s Day, and two features in the Times on babies the same day. But what makes it so wonderful is stunning photography and a perfectly universal idea. This nature/nurture formula is given a magnificent cross cultural platform. It is entirely fascinating and engaging for its entire 70 minutes.
64. Exit Through the Gift Shop
What director Banksy has done is remarkable. By telling the story of video camera fanatic and street art super enthusiast Thierry Guetta, he manages to balance a surprising number of ideas while spinning a great yarn. To put it briefly Guetta, a Frenchman with nerve, enthusiasm, but questionable talent, documents some of the great street artists of the 90’s eventually falling into the rare confidence of anonymous ‘Banksy’, the real genius of that movement, who is seen only with his face in shadows and voice altered. The film eventually questions the legitimacy of street art and pop celebrity itself. The difference between Banky’s own art provocations and the commercial pop versions of the work he creates seems as clear as the difference between an original Warhol and those pop portraits available for order on-line. This is a complex, and amazing study of an important piece of the contemporary art world done by an artist of great wit, intelligence, and creative genius. And I don’t mean Thierry Guetta. The movie is not what you think it will be. It’s a story that questions its own validity, sort of the cinema version of Banky’s art. Brilliant.
63. Mother and Child (Rodrigo García)
The son of Gabriel García Márquez has written and directed a really adult and complex film about adoption, family, loss, need, and powered solely by the women characters who are some hard cases. The plot is pretty intricate, but it’s so beautifully underwritten and scenes play out with huge emotional resonance often with little or no dialogue. And it has probably the best ensemble cast you’ll see this summer including great Annette Benning and daring Naomi Watts performances. Race is a factor in the film but never discussed, and never a plot point, so the multiple stories are not like in Crash. It’s a wonderful handling of an optimistic post racial society, nevertheless fraught with deep personal problems based on loss and adoption. This will be the “other” Annette Benning adoption movie, but the one worth seeing.
62. The Square (Nash Edgerton)
Nicely made thriller in real noir tradition. Like the best old films in that genre, things go from bad to worse and worse for the most tawdry of reasons. The film really makes you squirm, not from violence but because at every turn the character of Raymond gets in deeper and deeper shit. Written by stunt man Edgerton and his brother. Great.