2001: Movies merit awards
By Brian Tanaka
1. Memento
The independent film, Memento, crossed boundaries from the art houses to the multiplex. Weaving an ambiguous storyline of amnesia and noirish foul play, director Christopher Nolan showed the world that films are still a long way from being generic. Guy Pearce deserves the highest praise (though the Oscars will probably snub him) as Leonard Shelby, an amnesiac dedicated to solving the mystery surrounding the death of his wife. Remember Sammy Jenkis.
2. Waking Life
Waking Life contributed to the film industry by surpassing the children's stories with grown-up humor like Shrek and Monster's Inc. and creating an entirely adult animated film. Thick with philosophical insights on the human perception and our relationship with the dream world, writer/director Richard Linklater creates a dream world of his own, incorporating computer animation over shots filmed digitally. No falling anvils, no kicks to the groin, or anything you'd see at Spike and Mike's, Waking Life combines a witty and insightful script with cutting technology to create the ultimate trip.
3. Mulholland Drive
Never before has massive confusion created an enjoyable experience to the moviegoer like David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. Requiring at least three viewings before the skin of the plot starts to make sense, Mulholland Drive is the epitome of Lynch films. Incorporating bits and pieces of genius from each of his previous films, he magnificently transforms a film that was initially supposed to be the television pilot for a seasonal show on ABC.
4. Amelie
This is the film that will keep you smiling from opening titles to end credits. Director Jean-Pierre Jaunet sways away from his usual dark films like Delicatessen and City of Lost Children to bring the ultimate story full of warmth and love. Each scene is marvelously colored in bright shades of yellow and greens, creating the euphoric world of our lovers. Audrey Tautou's performance is so genuine that it's impossible to see anyone else as the lovable Amelie.
5. The American Astronaut
"Hey Boy. Hey Boy. I got a message for you."
Infectious songs, eclectic characters and the most disjointed story of the year, The American Astronaut is everything you wouldn't expect from a film. Corey McAbee takes viewers to an overwhelming space world where a saloon is on the asteroid Ceres, silver miners live in a floating barn in the sky, and a space cowboy named Curtis must deliver a box holding "a real live woman" to the planet Jupiter, inhabited entirely by men who praise "the boy who has actually seen a woman's breast." A truly special treat for all who actually got to see it.
6. Ghost World
One of the finest comic-to-film conversions to date, Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World encapsulates everything special about the Daniel Clowes comic and adds his own personal dementia to it. Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi give performances worthy of Oscars, perfectly reflecting the attributes of Enid and Seymour, not to mention their uncanny resemblance to the comic book characters.
7. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The fact that director Peter Jackson (known before for his underground films Meet the Feebles, Heavenly Creatures and Bad Taste) got the rights to make The Lord of The Rings trilogy is one miracle. The fact that he made Fellowship of the Ring enjoyable to both unknowing audience members as well as fanatics of the J.R.R Tolkien books is another. Filmed in Jackson's homeland of New Zealand, Fellowship is a visual masterpiece of lavish landscapes that submerse audiences into the land of make-believe.
8. The Princess and the Warrior
Tom Tykwer fuses his previous talent from Run, Lola, Run and Winter Sleepers to create a hybrid film that is every much heart-pounding action as it is emotional drama. Franka Potente delivers a enigmatic role of Sissi, the young nurse at an asylum who is saved from death by Bodo (Benno Furmann).
9. Donnie Darko
In some ways it is a satiric look at the nuclear family of the '80s, in others a social drama about a teenager lost in a world of confusion. Mixing the '80s trend of time travel with a hallucinogenic rabbit named Frank, Richard Kelly finds comfort in the anarchaic. Perhaps Donnie has found a way to travel through time, or just the looking glass to foresee the future.
10. Ocean's Eleven / The Man Who Wasn't There
Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven revisits the entertainment and cool found in the Rat Pack original. Teaming with numerous celebrities (including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Andy Garcia), Ocean's Eleven not only delivers a quality heist story, but also a lot of fun.
The Coen Brother's The Man Who Wasn't There follows the road of James M. Cain with reason, the Coens wrote the script to mimic all the elements of his hard-boiled detective novels. The Coens also add their own personal touch of insanity with a linear murder film that takes a complete twist in the final thirty minutes reminiscent of their past film Barton Fink. Billy Bob Thorton's cool demeanor as Ed Crane combined with the black and white cinematography of Roger Deakins and the Coen Brothers directing drive this modern film noir.
Honorable Mention:
Jump Tomorrow (dir. Joel Hopkins)
The Royal Tenenbaums (dir. Wes Anderson)
The Pledge (dir. Sean Penn)
The Devil's Backbone (dir. Guillermo del Toro)