By Pamela Zoslov
*Note* Where possible, we have linked to Pam's reviews for her picks. Many of those reviews ran in Scene Magazine, so most of the links will take you to their website.

Here are some
films I especially enjoyed in 2012. Including more titles would, I'm
afraid, be a stretch.
Comedies were mostly unmemorable in 2012, maybe because there's so little to laugh
about in these times. Anglo-Irish playwright and filmmaker Martin
McDonagh's wickedly funny, bloody action comedy centering on a Shih
Tzu stolen from a mad gangster, was a revelation, with a brilliant
cast (Colin Farell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken) and sharp, clever writing. Looser and less jewel-like than McDonough's
nearly perfect IN BRUGES, it was still the funniest film of the year, and of
course, it faded without notice.
The
documentary-like texture and painstakingly accurate period details
(down to the '70s hairstyles and eyeglasses) made Ben Affleck's
heart-thumping drama about a Hollywood-based ruse enacted to save a
group of hostages from Iran in 1979 one of the year's best films.
While certain elements of the story were invented or exaggerated for the sake of
entertainment (there was no chase down the airport runway, for
example), the film largely avoided American jingoism, providing an
objective narrative introduction about Iran's history with the U.S.
that commendably included this country's engineering of the
overthrow of Iran's democratically elected president Mohammed Mossadegh in
1953.
One of the rare films to make truly good use of 3D was Ang Lee's adaptation of Yann Martel's
best-selling novel about an Indian adolescent boy who finds
himself the sole human survivor of a ship disaster that has killed his
family. He's cast adrift in a lifeboat with a hungry Bengal tiger, a refugee from
Pi's father's zoo. Despite running a bit long in the middle section, the film, using a largely unknown cast, gracefully
handles the story's philosophical components and tricky back-and-forth
narrative structure.
I have a penchant
for mournful, philosophical black comedies like this, another that was barely noticed in 2012. Steve Carell plays an insurance
man facing the imminent apocalypse, who finds himself on a road quest
with his pretty, calamitous neighbor, played by Keira Knightley.
Lorene Scafaria's film maintains a pleasantly sardonic tone while finding hope
in the face of imminent annihilation.
THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES
Lauren Greenfield
plugged into the zeitgeist of the Occupy movement accidentally; she
was making a documentary about billionaire developer David Siegel and
his wife Jackie, who were building the country's largest and most
expensive home. During the making of the film, the real estate bubble
burst and the wealthy family found themselves utterly at sea, trying to
tighten their belts, cut back on atheir lavish lifestyle and sell the
obscene Xanadu-like estate. The film is a surprising character study,
humanizing rather than lampooning its wealthy subjects while also illustrating the mechanics of capitalist greed. Its likeable
spokeswoman, Jackie, a former beauty queen turned pampered trophy
wife and mother of a huge brood, is refreshingly candid, handling
her challenges and increasingly indifferent husband with self-aware
humor.
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
David O. Russell's
breathless, vertiginous style was an asset to this eccentric
comedy-drama based on Matthew Quick's novel about a former teacher determined to reunite with his estranged wife after spending time in a
mental institution. Brad Cooper showed his increasing depth as
troubled protagonist Pat, Jennifer Lawrence was pure quicksilver as
the improbably named Tiffany, a fellow outcast who sets her sights on
Pat. How is it that a movie that climaxes with a silly dance
competition emerged as one of the year's best? As I always say, it's the
writing, stupid; Russell's rapid-fire screenplay is first-rate. The
film also featured the first comedy role in years — Pat's Philadelphia Phillies-crazy dad — worthy of Robert De Niro.
THE OTHER SON and
5 BROKEN CAMERAS
Two
films, a drama and a documentary, that address the Israel-Palestine
conflict with insight and sensitivity. THE OTHER SON, Lorraine Levy's
story about a Tel Aviv family who discover that their
teenage son was switched at birth with the son of a Palestinian
family, explores the artificial barriers created by the
apartheid-like system and the everyday humiliations (checkpoints,
lack of access to health care) experienced by Palestinians. In the
sobering documentary 5 BROKEN CAMERAS, Emad Burnat, resident of the
Palestinian village of Bil'in, buys a video camera to record his
newborn son. He begins documenting his village's nonviolent protests
against the building of a separation wall by Israelis. Over five
years, five cameras are successively shot or smashed by Israeli
military. His wife begs him to stop filming, but Burnat bravely continues to record, capturing a series of frightening night raids and daily arrests.
Glad to see 'Queen of Versaille' made someone's list. I liked that one a lot more than I expected to, and I think it really gives some insight into the mentality of the super rich and the strange sort of bubble world they live in. Hubby seems like he'd be an a-hole money or not, but the "Queen" struck me as being basically a likeable person, not stupid but just ignorant of the world outside her own. Also loved 'Argo', and wish I had seen 'Seven Psychopaths' and 'Seeking a Friend'.
ReplyDeleteAs for your comment about some critics hating movies like 'Seeking' and 'Jeff Lives at Home', although I didn't hate 'Jeff', I didn't love it. For me, movies like that one create a phenomenon not unlike the "uncanny valley" in computer animation. What I mean by that is that on the one hand they want to come across as realistic and relateable, but on the other hand the style of comedy they employ tends to feel a bit sitcom-y to me. I prefer my comedies to either be a little more grounded or else go completely over the edge into slapstick and/or absurdity. Like you say, a matter of taste. Still, of all the "stoner relative who turns out to be the wisest one in the family" movies that have come out recently, I think 'Jeff' was the best.