My Awards (2000-2009)

Happy New Years, everybody!

Now that I've had exactly one year to mull it over, I've decided on a special class of personal awards encapsulating the years 2000 to 2009, and present it to you, my readership, has a souvenir of my 34-week countdown of the best films of the decade. Enjoy!

Winners italicized:

Best Picture
Finding Nemo
Finding Neverland
The Lord of the Rings
Moulin Rouge!
The Pianist

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will be Blood
Joel & Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men
Peter Jackson – The Lord of the Rings
Baz Luhrmann – Moulin Rouge!
Roman Polanski – The Pianist

Best Actor
Johnny Depp – Pirates of the Caribbean
Heath Ledger – Brokeback Mountain
Daniel Day Lewis – There Will Be Blood
Bill Murray – Lost in Translation
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose
Scarlet Johansson – Lost in Translation
Nicole Kidman – Moulin Rouge!
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia
Kate Winslet – Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem – No Country for Old Men
Jim Broadbent – Moulin Rouge!
Tommy Lee Jones – No Country for Old Men
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Andy Serkis – The Lord of the Rings

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett – The Aviator
Ellen Degeneres – Finding Nemo
Rinko Kikuchi – Babel
Mo'Noque – Precious
Catherine Zeta-Jones – Chicago

Best Acting Ensemble
Almost Famous
The Dark Knight
Finding Neverland
The Lord of the Rings
Moulin Rouge!

Best Original Screenplay
Finding Nemo
Lost in Translation
Memento
Pan's Labyrinth
WALL-E

Best Adapted Screenplay
Children of Men
Finding Neverland
The Lord of the Rings
No Country for Old Men
Up in the Air

Best Cinematography
The Assassination of Jesse James
Children of Men
The Dark Knight
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
The Lord of the Rings

Best Film Editing
Black Hawk Down
Chicago
City of God
The Hurt Locker
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Production Design
Gangs of New York
The Lord of the Rings
Moulin Rouge!
Pan's Labyrinth
Spirited Away

Best Costume Design
Chicago
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gangs of New York
The Lord of the Rings
Moulin Rouge!

Best Original Score
Finding Nemo
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
The Lord of the Rings
Pan's Labyrinth
There Will Be Blood

Best Original Song
“Come What May”* – Moulin Rouge!
“Falling Slowly” – Once
“The Wrestler” – The Wrestler
“The Weary Kind” – Crazy Heart
“I Need to Wake Up” – An Inconvenient Truth

Best Sound Mixing
Black Hawk Down
Master and Commander
No Country for Old Men
The Pianist
WALL-E

Best Sound Editing
Avatar
King Kong
Master and Commander
Transformers
WALL-E

Best Visual Effects
Avatar
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Lord of the Rings

Best Makeup
District 9
The Lord of the Rings
Pan’s Labyrinth

Best Animated Feature
Finding Nemo
Ratatouille
Spirited Away
Up
WALL-E

Best Foreign Language Film
Amelie
City of God
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Pan’s Labyrinth
Spirited Away

Best Documentary Feature
Bowling for Columbine
The Cove
An Inconvenient Truth
March of the Penguins
Sicko

*Yes, I know that "Come What May" was actually written and intended for Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1995), but seeings as no one heard it until Moulin Rouge!, I'm calling it original.

Best of the Decade #1: Moulin Rouge! (2001)

No film this decade embodies the passion, excitement, innovation, power, and sheer magic of cinema quite like Moulin Rouge!, Baz Luhrmann's spectacular spectacular reinvention of the movie musical for the 21st century. It is an unparalleled triumph. Taking a simple premise of star-crossed lovers and a seemingly random collection of pop music hits (featuring everything from the "Can-Can" to "Like A Virgin"), Luhrmann gives us a work so original and unforgettable, to compare it with any other film would completely defeat its purpose. This is a movie to treasure and experience for the pure joy, sensuality, and romance with which it drips. Not to mention that incredible eclectic score! This is why we go to the movies.

Where other films would buckle under the weight of such stylistic excess, Moulin Rouge! thrives off of it. The sets and costumes are more dazzling than you could even conceive in your imagination, so vibrant and colourful that they can survive Luhrmann's quick-moving camera and wild editing and come out just as sparkly on the other side. Even more importantly than the visual design, it's the performances that really light up the screen. Nicole Kidman is sassy yet heartbreaking, the tragedy of her character cracking through her sexy exterior more and more as death slowly overcomes her. As her fresh-faced and idealistic lover, Ewan McGregor bursts forth with an enthusiasm that, had it not been as overacted as it was, could have sabotaged the whole project. But McGregor knows the exuberance his part calls for, and he and Kidman play beautifully off each other, making their fairytale love seem real and believable in an unbelievable film. The supporting cast members are all aces, with special mention to Jim Broadbent as the gargantuan showman Harold Ziegler.

To claim the decade's best film is perfect would be false, but its imperfections are its charms, its eccentricities are why we love it. We love it for its frenetic humour, its energy, its ingenious use of music, its utter beauty, but most of all, for its tear-jerking and indelible love story, the least gimmicky and most beautiful thing any film could boast.

A Masterpiece.

Here's my favourite scene not only from Moulin Rouge!, but from any movie of the decade:

Thus concludes my year-long countdown of what I considered the best movies from 2000-2009. I'll officially wrap things up on New Year's with a specialawards ballot indicating the decade's greatest achievements in all the usual categories (I'm just geeky that way).

Best of the Decade #2: The Lord of the Rings (2001, 2002, 2003)

The epic undertaking of filming Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy certainly got results. Peter Jackson fills the screen with not only spectacular images but with strong performances from well-cast actors. Each shot is beautifully framed and lit by DP Andrew Lesnie, and Howard Shore's music is both rousing and touching.

While Fellowship of the Ring is the most immediately memorable and structurally sound of the trilogy, don't watch it unless you plan to watch its two sequels shortly afterward, because only then can one truly appreciate Jackson's achievement. With The Two Towers, he faced the structural challenge of fitting three separate storylines with no beginnings and no ends into a digestible cinematic narrative. But he builds the tension equally through all the subplots, balancing suspense and exposition, right up to the hair-raising Battle of Helm's Deep. The Two Towers also features one of the best performances of the decade from motion-capture and voice actor Andy Serkis as Gollum. Serkis' embodiment and vocalization of the simultaneously despicable and pitiable creature is so astonishing and authentic, that we soon forget Gollum is a CG character at all.

And it was in grand fashion that Jackson capped off his marvelous fantasy trilogy, not that the first two parts weren't grand enough. Complaints about Return of the King's seemingly endless ending are legitimate, but when one stops to think about it, there was no other way Jackson could have concluded such a lengthy piece of film (it is a 10 hour movie after all). In that respect, Jackson ties up all the loose ends quite appropriately, giving all the characters the detailed endings they deserve.

Best of the Decade #3: Finding Neverland (2004)

Many are quick to accuse this film of being overrated sentimental sap, but as far as I'm concerned, few films have captured the essence of imagination as poignantly and affectingly as Finding Neverland, the tenderly told story of how J.M. Barrie became inspired to write his long-lasting masterwork Peter Pan.

Johnny Depp is pitch perfect as Barrie, walking a fine line between eccentricity and believability, kind of like the film itself. It's a performance that could easily become creepy, but Depp never misses a step as the playwright and author who drifts effortlessly into the mind of his inner child upon meeting a widow and her four sons (young Freddy Highmore excels as Peter).

What could have been a fairly pedestrian tale is given a truly beautiful magic realism that enchants and enthralls us. The photography and music is deftly employed to ease us into a dreamlike state conducive to the fantasy elements of the story, and the rest is pure magic. Touching, memorable, and fit for all audiences, Finding Neverland makes a believer out of all who watch it. Don’t forget your hankies!

Best of the Decade #4: Finding Nemo (2003)

Finding Nemo is a film best described with superlatives: of all Pixar films to date, it is the most moving, most resonant, and most sincere, presenting the fears and struggles of parenthood through a funny, touching, and truly original story.
Thanks to the meticulous effects animation and production design, it is also the most gorgeous computer-animated movie you're likely to see, relishing in vibrant colours set against an oceanic backdrop of deep pastel blue. Equally as vibrant are the characters, fleshed out by perfectly written dialogue and an exceptional voice cast, boasting standout performances from Albert Brooks and especially Ellen Degeneres. Another important character is the one-of-a-kind music of Thomas Newman, who captures the emotional ebb and flow of the story like no one else could.

All said, Finding Nemo is an unrivaled gem of a movie, the acme of refined and intelligent family entertainment, and quite simply the best animated film of the decade.

BRILLIANT SCORE ALERT:


(For those keeping track, this gives director Andrew Stanton the distinction of being the only film maker with two movies in my top ten of the decade.)

Best of the Decade #5: The Pianist (2002)

Drawing on his own experiences in war-torn Poland, mastermind Roman Polanski gives us a riveting story of survival told from the point of view of a Polish Jew during the Nazi occupation of Warsaw. It's the famed director's most personal film to date, and marks a soul-rending feat of naturalistic and emotionally naked direction.

Making the most of a terrific sound design and some outstanding photography, Polanski puts us right in the shoes of Wladyslaw Szpilman (very well played by Adrian Brody) has he escapes the Warsaw ghetto by virtue of his cunning and the aid of his friends. Polanski's smartest decision is to not linger too long or deeply in the politics and history of WWII, but to keep focus on the story of Szpilman, his family's ordeal, his ordeal, and his miraculous survival. It's an incredibly compelling human drama that ends in triumph but still leaves us on a sorrowful note, as we contemplate the price at which Szpilman's freedom has come.

Best of the Decade #6: Spirited Away (2002)

From the unfathomable depths of master animator Hayoa Miyazaki's imagination comes this modern masterpiece about coming of age and summoning the courage you never knew you had. Akin to Alice in Wonderland, Spirited Away places our young heroine, Chihiro, in a bizarre fantasy world – a bathhouse run by and frequented by ancient Japanese spirits – with strong thematic ties to her real world. Already burdened by the anxieties of moving to a new town and school, Chihiro encounters challenge after challenge after challenge in this dreamlike universe, as well as an array of incredible characters, all of them highly allegorical in relation to Chihiro's inner quest. She must first overcome the tests and trials of this world before she is ready to face the same ones in real life. This subtle but very mature character arc makes Spirited Away as strong an adult character study as it is a children's fairytale; prestigious but not pretentious.

Auteur that he is, Miyazaki includes several of his most frequently visited themes and motifs, including love & friendship, greed & gluttony, and man's exploitation of the environment. His visual approach is also quite distinct. Having hand drawn many of the pictures himself, it is clear from watching Spirited Away that it is the work of a brilliant and devoted artist operating at a level of genius. Few films (let alone animated features) have ever looked as vivid, inventive, and flat-out beautiful as this one, which boasts arguably the richest production design of the decade.

Best of the Decade #7: WALL-E (2008)

The opening scenes of this masterpiece from Pixar play out as a dark Kubrikean science-fiction; a disturbing painting of the ravages of environmental indifference and mass consumerism on our planet. But at the heart of it, WALL-E is a love story of beautiful simplicity yet surprisingly deep in its subtextual implications. The ultimate message is one of hope for the future of humanity, presenting the two robots as a kind of futuristic Adam and Eve. Some might even perceive one particular scene as being the pseudo-sexual conception of a new humanity, whereby WALL-E puts his "seed" into the "egg-shaped" EVE (this character's name is no coincidence). The next generation of humans is even meant to resemble babies in space, sucking up liquid meals, virtually no bone density, unable to walk. It signifies human civilization in infancy, a civilization of which WALL-E and EVE are virtual father and mother.

As for the somewhat blunt environmental message, the film makes a point of suggesting that our new technology (and consumption thereof) is not to blame for the environmental crisis, but our own contentedness to sit back and assume everything is OK. The machines are not an enemy that needs to be fought. Our story's savior is one such machine himself. It's human kind's paradigm that needs to be confronted; Man cannot rely solely on his machines, but with machines, he can achieve more than he ever could alone. It's through that combination of the old and the new that civilization will evolve (an idea poignantly evoked during the gorgeous end credits).

The film-making itself is a testament to the combination of the old and the new, where the classics of the silent era are emulated with the most visually stunning of modern technology. High praise must be sung for writer-director Andrew Stanton, who recognizes that a picture is worth a thousand words. WALL-E is made up of thousands of said pictures, each one as effective and filled with emotion as the wordiest of dialogue. WALL-E speaks a different type of dialogue. One with a more universal appeal. With WALL-E, Pixar has created a perfect marriage of the most modern film making techniques and the most ancient ones, hearkening to a time when the movies didn't rely on sound to get the point across.

Not that I've got anything against sound. On the contrary, Ben Burtt's exceptional sound effects for this picture intelligently help convey the thoughts and moods of all the robot characters. His achievement here almost equals his groundbreaking accomplishments on Star Wars over 30 years ago. Credit also Thomas Newman for his equally inventive score.

It may not be perfect, but WALL-E represents one of the decade's cinematic milestones; utterly gorgeous in its visual and audio design, brimming with thoughtful and important ideas, and above all else, a genuinely moving romance that overcomes all odds.

Best of the Decade #8: No Country for Old Men (2007)

Hopelessly dire in its content and tone, No Country for Old Men is the most entertainingly depressing film of the decade, and an A+ social commentary from the prolific Coen brothers. As implied by its ambiguous and divisive ending about a discouraging dream had by the film's hero and moral centre (played with superb restraint by Tommy Lee Jones), the main theme of the film is about the futility of battling evil, and the desperation felt by those that take up the good fight anyway. Like the film’s steely villain (an outstandingly creepy Javier Bardem), violence and chaos cannot be stopped. Delayed, wounded perhaps, but to try and vanquish it is a fool’s errand. It'll walk the earth ‘til the end of time. Fun, huh? The Coens also dabble with themes of the randomness of the universe, what we can chalk up to fate and what we can control ourselves.

Ever the visual storytellers, the Coens and their DP of choice, Roger Deakins, give the film a dark and foreboding atmosphere. The Coens themselves (under their longtime pseudonym Roderick Jaynes) cut the footage together as only they can, amping up the excitement so subtly that you barely notice. Equal praise must be given to sound designer Skip Lievsay, whose nuanced sound mix is one of the most effective of the decade.

Best of the Decade #9: Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

With his spark of imagination and his knowledge of the craft of cinema, Guillermo Del Toro seamlessly integrated a tragic historical drama and a dark fantasy (borrowing elements from ancient mythology), filled it with unfathomable images, and topped it off with an ending Shakespeare couldn't have written better himself. The result is an uncontestable masterpiece. Del Toro's story is one loaded with allegory and double meaning, worthy of - nay, requiring - dissection and multiple viewings. It is movingly conveyed by a talented assembly of actors in which it is just impossible to find a standout; they're all too good.

But to only say Pan's Labyrinth is an expertly told story would be a disservice to the film, for it is also a thing of utter beauty. Eugenio Caballero's production design is BRILLIANT, brimming with more thematic details and subtleties than can possibly be detected even if you watched the film a hundred times. It is exquisitely shot by Guillermo Navarro (note his excellent use of the trees in the forest scenes), and provided with a gorgeous and unforgettable musical score by Javier Navarrete. Some sequences are quite scary, so or full effect, watch it in the dark.

BRILLIANT SCORE ALERT:

Best of the Decade #10: Lost in Translation (2003)

Sophia Coppola's Lost in Translation places a deadpan has-been actor trying to avoid a marriage past its prime and a young newlywed starved for her husband's time and attention in the foreign environment of Tokyo. Both characters (superbly played by Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson) are desperately lost and confused, facing hard transitional points of their lives, mirrored by their alien status in an unfamiliar city. But with each other, they are able to find fleeting but meaningful refuge from their unhappiness. It is not really a romance (as some have mislabeled it), but a quiet character study of two unlikely companions who rely on each other's love to muster the strength to move forward into uncertain futures.

BRILLIANT SHOT ALERT:

This opening shot of Johansson's bottom thinly veneered by a pair of soft-pink panties puts us into the relaxed yet observant state of mind that's perfect for watching Lost in Translation. She's neither naked nor clothed, just somewhere in between. It establishes a basic colour scheme (we come to associate Charlotte with soft pink) and communicates her restless desire for intimacy. Like the whole film, the shot is simple yet nuanced, sure of itself yet understated, beautiful but not in a sexual way. It's eternally memorable, and it gets my vote for the single best shot of the decade.

Catch up with previous "Best of the Decade" entries here.