Add one to the crowd: The best films of 2003
Published March 05, 2004
Every year, a slew of film critics and enthusiasts alike cover the web and print with their annual "top" lists. Unfortunately for myself, I don't have the privledge of being able to see everything I have an interest in by the close of the year. So, the Fog of War's and Elephant's eventually trickle out of New York City and Los Angeles and into my corner of the country - making this my belated attempt at throwing my two cents into an already-crowded well.
2003 was a year of many things cinematically, but above all it was the year of the documentary. After over a century of the medium's existence - which started with non-fiction film - the documentary has finally come into the forefront of the film world. Previous years might have brought us the likes of Shoah, Crumb or Hoop Dreams - but this past year alone had the onslaught of Capturing the Friedmans, The Fog of War, Stevie, Rivers & Tides, Winged Migration and many, many more. 2003 may be remembered as the year when The Return of the King swept the Academy awards, the foolish decision of the MPAA to ban DVD screeners, or the beginnings of the downfall of both Eisner and Weinstein, but the focus on a long-ignored form of expression may very well be the most cinematically important.
Before I make my belated claim at the best I felt 2003 had to offer, here are a few films that I have yet to see: To Be and to Have, My Flesh and Blood, The Company, Love & Diane, Friday Night, Ten, Unknown Pleasures, Demonlover, Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary, Japon, In this World, amongst others I am surely forgetting.
The best films of 2003
1. Elephant
Gus Van Sant's ode to the victims of school violence deservedly took the top two honors from the Cannes Film Festival jury, and leaped into controversy (as many Palme d'Or winners do). The win was surely a result of how mature the film's look on violence is, by refusing to dramatize it. Elephant is simply a film that displays the true sorrow and senselessness of slaughter.
2. The Son (Le Fils)
Not very far from Van Sant's film lies Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's The Son, a film that manages to create the ambiguity that surrounds their Rosetta while creating a moving and spiritual film. Not many films are as complex and ambigious about grief - and not many leave you with an ending that is as profound.
- Add one to the crowd: The best films of 2003
- Published: March 05, 2004
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- Section: Video
- Writer: John Lars Ericson
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Kill Bill and Elephant are certainly polar opposites in their outlook on violence - but the former is admittedly a joke. I find it much less offensive than any number of *serious* films that make violence as exciting, and in turn, reward and promote it.
I thought "Bad Boys II" was a great movie.
Nice list...but did you see BETTER LUCK TOMORROW? What did you think of it? How about BLUE CAR? Both good underrated flicks from 2003, IMHO, and I'd love to see Mr. Ericson's opinion on them.
P.S.: I am glad to see someone praising ELEPHANT. It's wonderful.
I've only seen the first half of Better Luck Tomorrow - which I liked, although not enough to the point where I think it would find a place in my top ten. I never did get around to seeing Blue Car - I might rent it one of these days, but there are quite a few other films I'd rather catch up on.
Thanks John, excellent list and fine description/explanation or each.
Cold Mountain underrated? I thought it was rather overrated with all the Oscar hoopla about it when it was being released.
Underrated in the sense that too many looked at it as simply a piece of Oscar mongering, rather than an actual film.
"The kinetic direction may have romanticized the environment..."
i disagree with this. In fact, although it had some of the style of other gangster movies that do actually romanticize the criminal underworld (lock, stock..., snatch, etc.) it also had more death of characters you thought were gonna make it. And in unpleasant ways - at times you could feel the heat as poeple lay dying from multiple gunshots. Not exactly what i'd class as romaticized...
City of God is not the most infamous example of style overtaking the responsibility of the filmmaker to portray violence as despicible. Some of the content is overshadowed by style - which is a mixed bag because the style is so glorious, it almost makes me want to forgive the glamorization - but Meirelles also relies on elements of stark realism to display the horror. The scene with the two children is horrifying to watch - and he doesn't spin his camera around frenzically to sugarcoat it.
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I liked your entire list until I saw Kill Bill sticking out like an infected pimple. Somebody pop it...please, please pop it....
I find it rather ironic that both Elephant and Kill Bill could make the same list, but some great films are mentioned otherwise. I STILL don't understand the Kill Bill hoopla, especially since 5-6 films on your Honorable Mention list are far superior.....but we have to give a token nod to all the onion ring-eating numbskulls scratching their shaggy heads until they finally run across a film they recognize - "Oh yeah, I remember Kill Bill!"
Excellent list....