Living in Cinema’s 2007 Top 10
10. Paris je t’aime. Omnibus films are usually hit and miss affairs with a few good bits and a few bad bits canceling each other out. It’s tempting to approach Paris je t’aime as a series of 18 individual parts from 21 different directors, but the remarkable thing is how well they reinforce and play off one another, finally adding up to the most pleasant surprise I had at the movies in 2007. There were two stories that I didn’t like (one about vampires and one about mimes), but they were so short, before I could get restless the next story had come along. A wonderful cinematic small-plates meal that manages to satisfy like a main course, Paris je t’aime is a delightful celebration of Paris, of love, and of life in all its colors and moods.
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9. The Savages. Tamara Jenkins’ film about a brother and sister contending with the disintegrating health of their father walks a tightrope between comedy and tragedy, moving quickly from one to the other without ever falling on its face. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney prove they’re among the best working in movies. Not to be overlooked is Philip Bosco in his portrayal of an angry man descending into dementia. Unlike a certain other film about dysfunctional siblings (it rhymes with Shmargo at the Shmedding), The Savages leaves you shaken up, but with a sense of character growth and healing. I’m still not quite sure what to make of the final shot, but The Savages is still one of my favorite movies of the year.
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8. Black Book. I guess because it had the gall to portray bad guys as not always bad and good guys as not always good, Black Book was bizarrely pegged in some quarters as being another example of dreaded ‘moral relativity’. Of course, the very phrase is a chickenshit cop-out by people who are frightened by any degree of complexity in their universe. The irony is that Paul Verhoeven draws a thick black line between good and evil, going so far as to suggest that evil acts perpetrated by the so-called good guys are even worse than those perpetrated by the bad. A gleefully unsubtle mixture of historical drama and cartoon action thriller, Black Book will probably offend anyone who has ever been offended by a Paul Verhoeven movie, but they’re missing out on a fearless performance by Carice van Houten and the most effective anti-war movie of 2007.
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7. I’m Not There. In his examination of the many sides of Bob Dylan, Todd Haynes has completely destroyed the musical biopic, one of the most tired genres in cinema. Instead of tracing another rise and fall and rise character arc, Haynes holds the Dylan myth up to a prism, breaking it into 6 performances by 6 different actors. In so doing, he’s crafted ballsy, exhilarating and beautiful cinematic ode to one of the heroes of American music. The film threatens to fly apart into chaos at every turn, but somehow it holds together, helped immeasurably by ample helpings of Dylan’s music performed by artists ranging from Eddie Vedder to John Doe to Charlotte Gainsbourg to Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. My favorite moment in the film has the great Richie Havens singing Tombstone Blues with one of the Dylans, Marcus Carl Franklin.
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6. Zodiac. More concerned with the effect the Zodiac murders had on a community and on the men investigating the crimes than on the murders themselves, David Fincher’s film is a kind of police procedural that defies the audience the normal pleasures of the genre at every turn. By defeating audience expectations, Fincher explodes the comforting notion that a series of facts can be strung together to reveal the ultimate truth. Zodiac is a kind of meditation on obsession, on the knowability of the truth, and on a transitional period in American history between the naive optimism of the ’60s and they murky grey cynicism of the ’70s. Robert Downey, Jr. was great as journalist Paul Avery, but Mark Ruffalo was the real revelation with his more subtle characterization as Inspector David Toschi.
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5. The Darjeeling Limited. Those who no longer care to see through the surface stylistics of a Wes Anderson movie missed out on something terrific. Trimmed back from some of the excesses of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Darjeeling is a funny, genuine and heartfelt little yearning for brotherly love. Adrien Brody is a welcome addition to the cast of Anderson familiars and Owen Wilson turns in his most engaging performance since Dignan in Bottle Rocket. The film doesn’t exactly do the same thematic heavy lifting as some of the other films on this list, but damnit it takes all kinds and The Darjeeling Limited is one of the better. Special mention goes out to the compulsively listenable soundtrack.
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4. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. The most unfairly overlooked film of the year in terms of box office and critical reception, Jesse James is also one of the best. A rumination on fame and hero worship, the film features career best performances from Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt and terrific support from Paul Schneider and Sam Rockwell. Roger Deakin’s gorgeous cinematography helps Andrew Dominik’s film achieve a level of visual poetry unmatched in 2007. Long and slow to be sure, this is a complex, thoughtful western. It’s a sipping beverage meant to be savored and enjoyed like scotch, lighting up your tongue and warming your throat as it goes down.
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3. Syndromes and a Century. Sometimes a film is so inscrutable as to be off putting. Other times, it’s unknowability manages to break down your intellectual defenses and get inside your head, transporting you for a couple of hours to another place before returning you safely, changed and invigorated. Syndromes and a Century is just such a transformative experience. The trick is opening yourself up to it and giving yourself over without trying to categorize or explain it. So I won’t.
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2. There Will Be Blood. Somehow managing to be both monumental and personal, There Will Be Blood touches on some of the defining forces in the building of the United States, but at it’s heart it remains the story of one man attempting to fill the essential emptiness inside of him. You will not see a performance like Daniel Day-Lewis delivers very often. As oil man Daniel Plainview, a man whose rise and fall are grown from the same seed, Day-Lewis is absolutely magnetic. Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood turns in a beautiful and eerily dissonant score that makes the whole thing work. Though Paul Thomas Anderson’s longest film, There Will Be Blood is also his leanest and best.
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1. No Country For Old Men. The choice for my number one film of the year appropriately comes down to a near coin toss. Ask me any other day and I might pick There Will Be Blood. Today it’s No Country for Old Men. The Coen Brothers have taken an entertaining yet ordinary crime thriller and elevated it to the level of art with an ending that pulls the rug out from underneath you and denies you the satisfaction you expect. The result is a movie I’ve thought about and discussed more than any other in 2007. At once funny and sad, ordinary and lyric, visceral and philosophical, No Country is the Coen’s most mature film if not their best. Javier Bardem is funny and chilling as the demonic Anton Chigurh. Josh Brolin is perfect as stoic Llewelyn Moss, a man whose gruff exterior disguises a soft center. Overseeing it all is a terrific Tommy Lee Jones as Sherriff Ed Tom Bell, the voice of wisdom who no longer has all the answers. Not to be forgotten, Kelly Macdonald is adorable and kind of heart breaking as Llewelyn’s wife Carla Jean. Even in a remarkable year of amazing movies, they just don’t get any better than No Country for Old Men.
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Submit your own Top 10 for the Living in Cinema 2007 Readers Poll by emaling them to topten@livingincinema.com. Get further details here. To make your Top 10 public or to discuss other readers’ favorites, go here.
Filed under: Opinion
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I heart this list.
More, later…
Another entirely admirable job, Craig. You’re my hero. ;-)
Great list CK, loving the love for Assassination of Jesse James and I’m Not There….
It’s shockingly simliar to your own Top 25 Alexander, but I swear I wasn’t copying off your paper…
I don’t think you could’ve thorwn a stick without hitting great movie in 2007 Nicholas. The only hard part about such lists this year is what to leave off.
Also, for some reason your comments are still getting spammed so apolgies for the occasional delay.
Word.
One of these days I’ll finally get to see “Blood.”
The Alexander Payne portion of “Paris je t’aime” was my favorite mini-movie of the year.
craig wasn’t the final shot of ‘the savages’ supposed to be a hopefully ending of some sort….
after getting good job/professional related info toward the end about both p.s.h/and laura l.character we discover that the dog the bald guy(yes i’ll call him the bald guy) thought couldn’t survive treatment/rehab guess survived and rehabing fine with bit of help from laura l….
so despite the loss of thier father. it seems finally evrythinh else id falling into place for the brother/sister…and even for the dog too !!!
don’t you love a happy ending ????
wow that was really embarrassing to type.
ok craig….i threw a stick and hit transformers. you lose. ;)
for craig
http://boxofficeprophets.com/column/index.cfm?columnID=10432
Great list. I cannot wait to see Jesse James and TWBB — once again, trying to keep my expectations in check.
Kudos for giving some love to Black Book and van Houten. I saw that one at my college’s foreign film series and loved it. It communicates its themes without the preaching and self-importance - mistakes the Iraq-Afghan war flicks probably made.
I’m also interested in seeing Syndromes and The Savages…So many good films, I’ll still be catching up on 2007 come next January.
I’m with Glim on the Savages ending. Saving and extending the dog’s life (as well as improving the quality) was a form of personal redemption and empowerment after the guilt and helplessness she felt with regards her father’s nursing home decline and death.
Exactly, glim and sartre. I really loved The Savages. And Craig’s summary expressed it perfectly. The film managed an effective balance of tragedy and comedy. And the performances were excellent.
I’ll say again that Laura Linney and PSH in this film have been terribly overlooked and, dare I say, taken for granted.
Great list, Craig.
thanks (as always) sartre and alison.
also note during the film (what four times or so??)
we see the laura l. chracter *trying* to do the workout/moves from the exercise program that’s on tv(dvd whatever)
and not doing these sessions with much skill/grace.
but towards the end of the film we see her running with confidence at 20 miles and hour with a dog with dog that supposedly wasn’t long for this earth. cool… :)
Great list Craig, and I love the accompanying commentary. You’ll be pleased to know that Darjeeling ranks 30th across the averaged critics top 10 lists at MCN, so you’re not alone in rating the film more highly. Haven’t yet seen Syndromes, Paris, and I’m Not There but you’ve really whet my appetite for doing so. I thought Black Book was a terrific film too.
alison, you know i caught a free screening of the savages and i swear the foxsearchlight kids probably had a hundred plus(and no i’m not exaggerating)
free screening for ‘juno’ but i think only 11/12 were set for ‘the savages’
unless they added some more dates and last i check/ last week they hadn’t……
it’s ‘juno’ or bust for foxsearchlight….
but it is cool foxsearchlight has scripts up for their award hopeful stuff…
download or just read on line *cool*
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/awards/
or for you savages fans.take the express…
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/awards/scripts/savages.pdf
Your description for Black Book nearly turned me around on that movie and your description for I’m Not There has cemented my theory that I need to give it a second try.
I’m working through the late release stragglers of 2007 and having a blast doing it. Good job on the list!
loved Paris je t’aime. Tom Tykwer’s segment was particularly great.
Clearly seeing The Savages as the 2nd to last film after a long week at AFI caused a misfire in one of my synapses. Everything you guys say occurred to me and it makes the most sense, but let me just say I’m not convinced that her keeping of the dog is a positive development. I wish I could articulate further, but I can’t.
What is killing me about this list is how many things had to be left off. I think I could make a whole post out of the castoffs. Maybe I should. As has been noted elsewhere (at AD perhaps), what is remarkable about this year isn’t necessarily the excellence of the very top handful of films (which is still amazing), but the sheer number of top shelf films is incredible. Not every one is a classic, but I only saw a handful of dogs this year.
Joel, yeah I know Black Book is a hard sell, but damnit sometimes something just works for you…and other times it just doesn’t.
Sartre, I guess I’m not surprised more critics didn’t go for Darjeeling. Somehow it bothers me less than the frosty reception Jesse James received…(is that horse dead enough yet?)
Alison, Laura Linney was also good in Jindabyne, an odd little movie that didn’t make my list. You should check it out.
Ari and Harveyi, I think one of the great things about Paris is that everyone seems to have their particular favorites and not-so-favorites. I’m still amazed they work so well as a whole. Maybe because they’re so short, each one just provides a little taste.
WJ, I’ve said it before, but I’m almost envious of the people who still have some amazing things to see from 2007. I’m feeling a little of that post Christmas let-down when all the presents are opened and all the toys have been played with…luckily movie Christmas just keeps chugging along and there’s always more to come.
I was thinking earlier today that the year could have ended in October and I think I could have easily made a list of great movies I would have been pretty happy with for 2007. Then November and December just frigging steamrolled that entire list. Crazy.
A top ten will be hard. I’ve been thinking a top 25 might be more reasonable, and few of those with any real reservations. The other amazing thing is how many great movies I’ve seen this year that would pair for interesting double features too. I will include those picks when I make my list too.
Craig, I’m with you on the ending of The Savages, the keeping of the dog, despite the pain it may cause the dog, is evidence of the self-absorption of the Linney character, and proof that she probably learned nothing from her experience with her father and her brother.
This, for me, made the film a better movie. If it’s meant to be just another cheesy happy ending then I’m not on board.
I just caught Black Book last night, and I’m with you on this one too Craig, a surprisingly humane, empathetic Verhoeven film, but his penchant for nastiness serves him in delvering a movie refreshingly devoid, as someone above just said, of sermonizing. Van Houten is more than stunningly beautiful, she’s a terrific and charismatic actress.
Nice list.
Funny, because I took the ending of Savages as being something more upbeat but I like the dark version you and Craig put forth better. It’s more in keeping with the general tone of the film even if it isn’t explicitly spelled out by the director. I didn’t mind it being a happier ending either though.
Exactly Chuck, her clinging to the poor dog and forcing it to run around on wheels to me is a sign of regression. I felt the positive developments at the end of the movie came in part because she’d learned to let go, but the last shot of the dog says she’s not quite there yet. Looked at that way, it does make for a stronger movie. Otherwise, the ending is way too soft and easy and sort of goes against the tone Jenkins set throughout the rest of it.
hmm any craig……regression ????? and could you please tell me what the luara l chracter ‘learned’ to let go of ??
anyway yes i’d going to seem i’m repeating myself. but that’s what i’m here for…..
try this slant.
ok it’s been established the laura l. character is a pet lover. remember the cat ???
and she liked the bald guys dog aka the dog seen last snippet of the movie.
remeber when the bald guy came over for ‘the session(gosh i’m so polite..) l.l. chracter asked did you bring… uh whatever the dog name is…
right remember…
also remember during that amzing sex scene in which l.l didn’t seem to into she glances at the dog and pets it paw.(that seen was awesome. and yeah all you normal people never ref it. normal people, bah humbug..)
so since she’s apet lover and it shown she already likes the dog and plus maybe there is a bit of a consolation prize/when all we went is the fortune cookie prize about getting the dog.
but remember it wasn’t her dog and it just an awsome ultra kind act that laura l. would go through this hassle.
maybe this helping rehab the dog thing is as stupid as going back to give a dying guy some water at whatever time a.m. in your beloved no country.
but it an ultra act of kindness and it shows what a big heart l.l charcater had. (hell i doubt i would have went through the hassle)
so doingn ultra kind act is a regession.maybe. but that cause is awesome/excellent.and yes it does fit in with the barrage of good news we get at the end of the movie. but the hater of happy endings..yes me.loved it and it was all so qucik/brisk. no damage yes done… :)
so yes craig it really is no country for reviews that watch 5,000 films during a festival.
tell you craig i’m not going to hold you ‘accountable’ coin toss style. for mishap this time…this time…
see craig, maybe kind acts are cool/ tell that to anton c.
so yes craig…it may have hurt l.l. charcater alot to just let the dog die.
hey i wonder if pet lovers thought this was a ‘regression’ ?????????
and yes i loved that l.l chracter has sex with a bald guy. and yes no one ever mentions this. arrrrrrgh……
go back to your talk of who is ‘hot’/looks hot.
whatever. you’re all ‘hot’.
“but let me just say I’m not convinced that her keeping of the dog is a positive development. I wish I could articulate further, but I can’t.”
In real life this might well be the case, you could argue that she is still pandering to personally unhelpful notions. But I thought the film presented the scene - reinforced by the script glim linked us to - in a way that underlined the personal empowerment and joy of what she was doing.
Glim, where’s your top 10? I’m anticipating it’ll be one of the more interestingly unique ones.
Remember Glim, The Savages is one of my favorites.
But also, I think she’s torturing the dog for her own satisfaction. She doesn’t want to part with it, so she’s going to extreme lengths to keep it around…just ilke she’d done with her father. She couldn’t bear the guilt of doing what I think would be the right thing.
But then I don’t currently have any pets so maybe I’m looking at it the wrong way.
That looked like one very happy puppy to me.
What an interesting list. Sadly, I’ve only been able to see four of those so far–No Country, Zodiac, Paris Je T’aime and Assasination of Jesse James. Most of the others were on my to-see list once they come to my wee Arkansas hamlet. You revived my interest in seeing the Darjeeling Limited, though, increased my interest in the others, and put Syndromes and a Century on my radar for the first time. Nice work.
I really enjoyed Paris, Je T’aime. Funny two of the ones I particularly enjoyed and remember were the vampire and mime vignettes, though I loved most of them. The one I didn’t get–am I too provincial?–was the weird Asian beauty shop one. I like things a little surreal, but I feel like I missed something there.
Loved No Country without reservation. I was transported by the cinematography and acting (in that order) of Jesse James, though next time I hope to see it when I’m not monumentally drowsy. It was awfully slow for a late show after a glass or two of wine.
Can’t say I’m a big fan of Zodiac. The acting was good, but the pacing, lighting, and narrative focus all seemed off. I didn’t necessarily want a conventional serial killer thriller (not a big fan of the scary flicks), but I didn’t want to be bored, and bored I’m afraid I was. Not consistently, but often enough. My perspective may be tainted, though, because my husband thinks Fincher is criminally overrated, and the laws of cinemosmosis may have prevented me from appreciating a film the person next to me was so clearly hating.
SInce you loved No Country, I’m happy to agree to disagree about Zodiac. Ok, truth be told, I’d be happy anyway. I’m not a movie Nazi.
I didn’t much care for the Asian beauty shop one in Paris je t’aime, myself, but again, they were all so short there was never any time to get grumpy about it.
The extent to which you like Darjeeling may depend on your opinion of Wes Anderson. I know he bugs some people. As with Soderbergh, I’m a Wes Anderson apologist and you have to take my opinion in such matters with a grain of salt.
Well, I haven’t seen Bottle Rocket yet, though we just picked up the DVD from a bargain bin, but I loved every other Wes Anderson movie except Life Aquatic, which was a mess. Stylish, but awful. So, I’ve been torn between wanting to see Darjeeling and not wanting to go through the last one again. I’ll watch it though, with tempered expectations. I do love me some Adrien Brody.
I liked Aquatic, though it’s not my favorite. In some ways though, Darjeeling felt like something of a return to form…a more simple and personal film than the sprawling Aquatic. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.
I think Darjeeling is more likely to appeal to Anderson fans that didn’t enjoy Life Aquatic, but I only say that because I like Life Aquatic more each time I see it. I think mathematically I should have liked Darjeeling Limited more than I did, so I’m looking forward to revisiting it on DVD.
I also love Wes’ films, even the much maligned Life Aquatic. So much so that it might even be my favorite. It doesn’t feel messy to me but I can easily see how it would come across that way. I think a second viewing helped, and by the third I was totally in love with its universe and humor.
I’m a Tenenbaums guy, but this is a little like picking a favorite child… if I had children……. and wanted to keep them.
I found Bottle Rocket to be overrated, even after seeing it a second time, but I think Rushmore is a good film, The Royal Tenenbaums is excellent and The Life Aquatic, while flawed, had its virtues.
The Darjeeling Limited was (and before I say this, let me acknowledge how bizarre a comparison this is) was kind of like Anderson’s The Departed to me: technically well-made movie that felt a little bit like “leftovers” from previous outings. Therefore, I liked it, saw the director’s personality shine through it (more so in Anderson’s film) and regarded it as an interesting experiment. Though, I didn’t think much of it overall.
Anderson seemed to pick up steam, at least for me, from Bottle Rocket (okay but very overrated) to Rushmore (a fine film) to The Royal Tenenbaums (sort of the apex of his career thus far, displaying a deeper sense of purpose, maturity and deftness while still having fun). The Life Aquatic felt both like something different and I admired its anarchic sense of being. Truth be told, I actually would probably rather sit down and watch it again right now than either Bottle Rocket or Rushmore.
I’m afraid Bottle Rocket and Rushmore are films that age disproportionately fast due to the fairly widespread copying of them. I still like Rushmore, though, something I could never say about Bottle Rocket.
I like discussions about filmmakers’ careers and how wildly different people can interpret the peaks as being valleys and valleys as being peaks. For instance, I thought Citizen Ruth was a nasty, excessively angry and almost mean-spirited film by Alexander Payne but I loved Election and found About Schmidt to be a powerful fruition for him. Sideways, while quite good on its own terms, still feels like a step down from Schmidt to me.
And of course it’s always interesting to hear directors talk about their own careers. Francis Ford Coppola, for instance, is fun to listen to even if you find yourself ardently disagreeing with him about his own filmography.
Tying your thoughts on Payne to Paris Je t’aime, I really liked his input in that film and the funny thing is, at first I thought I was going to hate it.
Wes Anderson. I love Dignan so I have an enormous reserve of affection for Bottle Rocket, though it’s not my favorite. Rushmore was technically my ‘first time’ with Wes Anderson so it will always be memorable in that way. I also have an abiding crush on Margaret Yang and everything she stands for (I can’t help it, I do love me the nerdy girls!), and as much as I love Bill Murray in that one, the thrill is gone fo rme to a point.
Tenenbaums is the end-all-be-all for me. A perfect movie.
Like Joel I think Aquatic gets better ever time I see it, however it still seems a little uneven to me. It feels like Anderson was getting a little too big for his britches with the expensive meditteranean location shooting and whatnot. But I still love it.
Darjeeling I can’t explain my passion for because I know it’s not perfect. Will it stand up to time? Will it get better upon repeat viewings? I don’t know.
I haven’t seen Citizen Ruth, Alexander. But I enjoyed each of his other three films. About Schmidt stunned me with its dark and brutal honesty and it was quite something to see Jack hollow himself out so completely.
Were does one go to become a movie critic? I gave up years ago listening to critics, because all of their reviews are based on their tastes and preferences.
I answered an ad on the inside of a matchbook.
Lol, Craig!
Chris, what else would a review be based on? Were a critic to assume he “got” what someone he didn’t know would like, wouldn’t that be worse than going by what he liked and extolling the virtues of it?
I get the idea that film critics may be out of touch with what middle America likes or that you may not have found a critic you consistently agree with, but what’s the point of criticism if you don’t base your feelings off your own preferences?