Maybe it's the war in Iraq. Maybe it's Paris Hilton. Maybe it's the second wave of the seventies. Whatever the reason, down was in this year, at least with me. Most of the movies on my top ten are about as bleak as Vilsack's chances in '08.
10. Tsotsi
"What kind of bastard would break a dog's back?"
Not exactly a downer, but the journey to redemption in this flick is harsh. Breastfeeding-at-gunpoint harsh. In a plot point that became de rigeur in '06, a car is jacked with a baby on board. Many other filmmakers would take this opportunity to amp up the treacle as our antihero carjacker is slowly humanized, but writer/director Gavin Hood pulls no punches. The movie earns your respect, frame by beautifully composed frame. Performances are outstanding, and the soundtrack kicks ass.
Note: Earned a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in '06, but wasn't officially released in the States until last year.
9. Happy Feet
"Yeah, I saw an animal do that once and then they rolled him over and he was dead."
George Miller surprises me here in much the same way he did with the Babe films (yes, both of them), taking a premise that turned me off in trailer form, and using it to launch into quirky, original territory. From the Moulin Rouge-inspired opening to a genuinely surprising plot turn to the downright gorgeous cinematography (seriously, it's probably the most beautiful movie I saw in '06), the film never stops distinguishing itself from just about every other animated film in a year overcrowded with animated fare (though Cars comes a close second).
8. Why We Fight
“When war becomes that profitable, you’re going to see a lot more of it.”
Perhaps the most depressing notion posited by this doc about how no one listened to Eisenhower's farewell address is that no matter who's in charge, Democrat or Republican, war is always profitable and, in some creeping sense, preferred. How much easier is it as a legislator, the film intimates, to vote for conflict when you know it will bring millions of dollars to your constituents? How similar is the Iraq War to scores of conflicts around the world in which the U.S. has had a hand since the end of WWII? How difficult is it to defeat a bill to make more stealth bombers when each state has a contract to build a different part? Say the most left-wing lunatic gets elected in '08; what this doc seems to say, and quite compellingly, is that it really won't make any difference, because that's no longer where the problem lies.
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1 - Lisa McKay
Congratulations! This article has been chosen as a BC Magazine editor's pick this week.