4-3.

Ok Ok, I lied. But I will finish up the list today regardless, starting with...

4. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)- This movie is the reason why Guillermo Del Toro is booked up until at least 2017. He had shown flashes of brilliance in the few years leading up to "Pan's Labyrinth", directing "Blade 2" and "Hellboy". Not particularly great movies, but his crazy, fantastical vision began to come through (be it the demon-vampire creatures in "Blade 2" or the assortment of ridiculous monsters in "Hellboy"). When he wrote and directed "Pan's Labyrinth", Del Toro combined his knack for creating amazing science fiction/fantasy images with an engaging story grounded in reality. I've mentioned many times on this blog that my favorite story genre is magical realism, and this movie so beautifully combines fantasy and realism; the result is one of the most gorgeous, engaging movies of the decade. From the trailers and the talk, one might get the impression that the movie was worth watching just for the little girl Ofelia's fantastic "imagination sequences"; on top of that, I have heard people say that they were disappointed that the fantasy aspect of the movie was simply her imagination. However, for me, this is what made the movie so great: the two stories intertwined perfectly and created a harmony not often found in similar films. The fantastic aspects comlimented and strengthened the main plot, and that central plot similarly gave the fantasy story so much more life--making it profound on top of it being beautiful in itself. That being said, I cannot write about "Pan's Labyrinth" with at least once mentioning the Academy Award-winning cinematography of Guillermo Navarro. If you need evidence, just think of this: remember I mentioned how great the cinematography was in "Children of Men"? Well this movie was the same year, and "Pan's Labyrinth" was completely deserving of that Oscar. Amazing, amazing movie.

3. City of God (2002)- I remember hearing all the acclaim about this movie before I was even really that into film. I had never heard of a foreign film getting as much hype as "City of God" did the year after its release. So I watched it. Few films that receive incredible hype as "City of God" did are completely deserving of it, but this movie deserved all the hype--and more. Yes, the film is quite long; however, the plot is so incredibly engaging that it doesn't seem to drag at all--the pacing is so quick and snappy and the story so fresh and epic that length was never really an issue for me. Now that I think about it, a good comparison would be to the recent Best Picture winner, "Slumdog Millionaire". Not a bad movie by any stretch but hardly deserving of the insane amount of hype it received. That film was made for more money, with legit actors, a legit Hollywood director, and a similar storyline in many aspects. Both stories encompass a unique cultural center and both follow young brothers who take very different paths in life. Aside from those congruities though, "City of God" exceeds "Slumdog Millionaire"--the universally critically-acclaimed winner for Best Picture at the Academy Awards--in almost every aspect. It is beautiful beautiful beautiful. EVERY actor in the film was a non-actor from the slums of Rio (some even from the Ciudade de Deus slum itself). The film was shot on location in Rio--a very dangerous undertaking, even if not shot directly in the City of God itself. While embellished to an extent (it is a film after all), the story is remarkably true, and the depiction of Rio and the City of God slums is eerily accurate. If you buy/rent the film, there is also an hour-long documentary about the real Ciudade de Deus, and you will shiver at some of the imagery. "City of God" does not romanticize the story or place by any means, but because it is a film and an interpretation, there is an excitement and a lightness to the story; this becomes apparent when you watch the documentary. However, this does not dimish the incredible story, amazing acting (the best use of non-actors in a film I have ever seen--some performances were better even than the best of the decade by career, Hollywood actors) and breath-taking visuals from the slums of Rio. No, this movie is not overrated or overhyped: "City of God" is simply put one of the best films of the decade--and the acclaim really shouldn't stop there.

Oh boy

I took a really long walk at midnight last night and basically deconstructed all of existence systematically in my mind. It wasn't a very pleasant experience.

8-5.

Well, I fell behind, so for now I'll just list numbers 8 through 5 on my Top 25 Films of the Decade list--hopefully I'll be able to go back later on and give them justice with full entries. But alas, until then a simple number and a quick blurb will have to suffice...

8. Mulholland Drive (2001)- Not a huge Lynch fan, but this one is amazing in so many ways. Equal parts creepy, thrilling and confusing, if you have to watch one David Lynch creep-fest, this should be it.

7. The Assassination of Jesse James (2007)- The second best movie of 2007 and easily one of the most overlooked and underrated films of the decade. I want so badly to go deeper right now but for the sake of brevity I'll leave it at that for now. Beautiful BEAUTIFUL film.

6. Road to Perdition (2002)- Speaking of underrated movies this decade...I truly feel like this movie has not gotten the praise it deserves. It's what "coming of age" stories should fucking be. I hate "coming of age" movies and I'm not the biggest gangster movie buff, but the combination in this movie works perfectly (I do love Tom Hanks though). When I made this list I hadn't seen "Road to Perdition" in a while and was beginning to wonder if I have been idealizing it--but then I bought it and watched it last night. Verdict? My number 6 fav movie of the decade.

5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)- Ugh. The deeper I get into this list the more I want to write. But it's 11:30 and I'm fucking tired. Anyway, Eternal Sunshine is everything I love in one movie: Kaufman as a director has too much of a writer's mentality and Gondry as a writer lacks substance and structure...but together, in this movie, they are an unstoppable force with each working at their strengths--Kaufman as writer, Gondry as director. Subtle, smart, funny, heart-tugging, beautiful, complete.

Well, there you have it. Again, will update with full posts when I get the chance (you can tell it was getting hard to keep the above short). But that's for later. Tomorrow, I'll be posting the number 3 and 4 films (and I mean it, damnit), so look out!

The Artist

Well, you've probably noticed I haven't updated my decade movies list in a few days. Truthfully I've been pretty preoccupied with other things and haven't found a lot of time to write multiple paragraph entries (as I'm doing for the final 10). I'll try and find time to catch up over the next couple days so I can finish the list before the New Year hits, but for now you'll have to settle for some of my thoughts.....

Recently I came across this song by a band called The Hush Sound. Having the privilege of knowing and working with many artists from many disciplines, I can very much relate to the lyrics. While I've never been in a serious relationship with an artist, these words sum up why I don't know if I ever could. I've always had a weakness for female artists, but for a lot of reasons--many expressed perfectly in the song--I've also had an aversion to them.

"The Artist" paints both sides: why artists are so attractive and why it would certainly be destructive to be intimately involved with one. Of course, this is all generalization, but I can certainly speak with a good degree of second-hand experience as well as through my friendships with artists. The line "you perceive all of these things I'd never have known" hints at the depth of emotion and personality of an artist: the ability to break down the most mundane of objects and ideas and reveal their stark nakedness ("you find all of your ugly meanings/in the things I find beautiful").

But this is also the problem. The "canvas", or whatever the medium might be (film, still image, stage, writing paper, etc), becomes the outlet for all of these perceptions and emotions and deep thoughts and desires and pain--sometimes to the point where the canvas becomes their whole world. The stanza that stands out most to me is this: "But your eyes are drawn of charcoal/they're black they're so cold they're so imperfect/because they see a sleeping world/where waking isn't worth it". I can speak to this because I am an artist myself, and I regularly struggle with a lot of these points I've mentioned. My deepest ideas and thoughts are expressed through story and film, to the point where I become closed off and hollow; every day is a challenge to keep myself grounded and focused and emotionally healthy.

I don't know if I could bring myself to be in a serious relationship with an artist because I see what I am--even as a very light example of the ideas expressed in this song--and realize that I could not willingly subject myself to such a potentially destructive line of thought.

Then again...I can't stop myself from falling for them. A great risk, surely, but also the possibility of an amazing, unfathomable connection. Perhaps that's what keeps attracting me: to me the challenging relationships are the only one's worth their weight, and in my eye artists are certainly the most challenging--and often the most beautiful.

Really though, all that might be needed is someone there to say, "love will you turn out the lights because we're already home."

Here are the lyrics in full:

"I know that you're an artist
You're the hardest one to deal with
Everything that you conceal
Is revealed on your canvas

You find all of your ugly meanings
In the things I find beautiful
Do you see the fall is coming
Come I'm falling into you

You perceive all of these things I'd never have known
Love will you turn out the lights 'cause we're already home

You painted me in pastels
Colors that don't tell of any boldness
'Cause that's the way you'd love to see me
So delicate so weak so little purpose

But your eyes are drawn of charcoal
They're black they're so cold they're so imperfect
Because they see a sleeping world
Where waking isn't worth it

You perceive all of these things I'd never have known
Love will you turn out the lights 'cause we're already home

How how can you live without your lies
Oh oh love I've had enough of you tonight

All of these things I'd never have known
Love will you turn out the lights 'cause we're already home
You perceive all of these things I'd never have known
Love will you turn out the lights 'cause we're already home."

9. Lost In Translation

9. Lost In Translation (2003)

There aren't many movies on this list that I can say resounded the way "Lost In translation" did the first time I saw it and still manage to maintain that original luster; even after six years and many, many viewings, Sofia Coppola's coming out party shines as bright as when I first saw it.

As slow developing and unstructured as the film seems, it's brilliance lies in the world Coppola constructs from various layers. From a purely technical standpoint, the soft focus and soft lighting that dominates the film casts the whole thing in a dreamlike haze, out of which everything else in the movie is strengthened, specifically the tone and pacing.

However, what's even more amazing is the reported "ad-lib" apparent throughout the entire making of the film--not just with some of Bill Murray's scenes. Not only was the film shot in just 27 days, but supposedly the script itself was more of a rough outline than anything else (Coppola used pictures she took around Japan to simulate the locations in the film) and she wasn't even sure if Murray was going to show up for shooting (she's said she wouldn't have made the film if she didn't get him for the role as it was written with him in mind). Sometimes though, things just work out, and a directors passion and dedication to a project are certainly a testament to this.

In the case of "Lost In Translations", things didn't just "work out". The film went out to get nominated for four Academy Awards (picture, actor, director and screenplay for which it won) and very high critical acclaim. Certainly Bill Murray put on (quite possibly) the performance of his career and one of the greatest of the decade, but the success and excellence of "Lost In Translation" extends far beyond the acting of Murray--and really even the script. Coppola took these pieces and painted an entire world around them, using the pallets available to her: images of Tokyo, bits and pieces from her own childhood and life experience and the dreamlike vision that really drove the film. The story itself is captured completely and complimented perfectly by the movie's slow (but not too much so), laissez-faire pacing and dream-like, "hazy" tone--in turn made possibly by the way the pacing itself and the style of shooting.

All of these elements came together unimaginably well by the hand of Coppola, creating a work that so richly captures the themes of the film--from loneliness and alienation in a completely foreign environment to deeper existential ideas of finding meaning in life through the viewpoint of different generations and human connection. These are certainly not light topics, but Sofia Coppola balances them with a deft hand and a light touch, letting them resonate subtly but with great impact. Murray and Scarlett Johansson complete the image, giving it vibrant life and meaning. If creating new worlds for an audience to step out of themselves and get lost in is one of the aims of filmmaking, then Coppola has succeeded with flying colors. Every time I watch "Lost In Translation", I lose myself in the Toyko she paints and in turn the characters that inhabit her framed, temporal world. And trust me, as a filmmaker, this is an incredibly difficult task and something I should strive to emulate with everything I make. I only hope Sofia Coppola can even get close to replicating the beautiful filmmaking she put on display in "Lost In Translation".

10. Half Nelson

Now that we're down to my top 10 films of the 00's, I'll be posting one at a time in order to give proper attention to each of these amazing films. First up on our way down is...

10. Half Nelson (2006)

This movie has a lot of elements I normally hate...child actors (and non-actors at that), somewhat bare script and unorthodox structure, lots of hand-held camera-work, lots of improvisation, way too close to realism for my comfort...but, somehow, director Ryan Fleck makes this work--and makes it work really fucking well. "Half Nelson" goes to show that a movie doesn't have to have a huge budget ($700k) and a polished "Hollywood" script and director to be great. Here's some of the reasons why "Half Nelson" should have just been another boring "independent Sundance" movie:

1. $700 budget
2. Shot in 23 days
3. Entirely hand-held except for one sequence
4. Developed from a 19-minute short film
5. Unknown director/writer
6. Rehashes the worn "teacher with a heart of gold" adage
7. Contains large amounts of improvisation (and from kids!)

I could go on, but you get the point. The fact is, "Half Nelson" takes these supposed "weaknesses" and turns them into strengths. The result is a very organic film that seems to transcend all of the "independent" and "Sundance film" stereotypes. The story, for example, takes the tried and tired "teacher with a heart of gold" theme and gives it a dark realism so believable that it makes the topic engaging and almost new.

Basically, "Half Nelson" is about an elementary school teacher, played by Ryan Gosling, who is both an inspiration to his students and a complete fuck-up in his own life--he's a crack addict, his relationships are on the rocks and he seems crippled by depression that is so well-portrayed in the film that it really rubs off on the viewer (or at least it does for me). A large part of this is due to Gosling's absolutely incredible performance--movies with a $700,000 budget don't have actors nominated for academy awards. But his Academy nomination was truly a testament to his chilling realistic performance.

However, Gosling could not have done it alone: he was helped by some top-notch directing and a group of normal elementary school kids eager to be in a film. Some of the best scenes in the film are Gosling's classroom history lessons, and they really help the film to take on an identity of its own. The student interactions are largely improvised, from my knowledge, and that combined with the organic feel of the handheld camera-work and Gosling's brilliant performance make it feel as though you are watching documentary footage of actual class lessons.

Of course, a movie is still not much without the story. While "Half Nelson" is not necessarily linear, that is actually part of the point. In his classroom lectures, Gosling's character, Dan, teaches history--but he teaches it using "dialectics", a method of argument that has four main principles which are illustrated in the film. I won't get into it here, but the central idea evoked here is that of "change". This is represented throughout the script, which revolves around Goslings character and his interactions, princibly with one of his students, Drey, played by the wonderful Shareeka Epps. The story is not stagnant by any means, but it does evolve slowly and loosely, as far as plot goes. However, this element compliments the realism of the film, as well as its themes, and the performances are perfectly in tune with this. You might have to think about the ending a little bit, but if you paid close attention to the film, you'll realize it is actually quite perfect.

Finally, there is the soundtrack, which provided in large part by the Canadian band Broken Social Scene. There is minimal score, but the ambience of some of BSS's songs essentially acts as such. The rest of the soundtrack is very well placed, and the songs really serve to drive some of the more intense scenes in the film, where simple "bare realism" would not suffice.

In the end, "Half Nelson" in a way stands alone on this list in many ways, simply because it is quite unlike most of the films on the list. Really, it is unlike most films in general: a truly organic piece of art that rises above many of the common conceptions of feature filmmaking today. The result is a beautiful and thought-provoking piece that towers above films with budgets 100 times larger, actors with much more acclaim, and directors and cinematographers with much more experience. If you're an aspiring filmmaker and need a shot of hope in light of the slim chances of ever making it in Hollywood, look no farther than "Half Nelson". And even if you aren't, it will be tough to find a piece as true to life as this.

13-11.

13. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)- What's not to love about this movie? When I first made the list, I wasn't sure this was an 00's film, so I was psyched when I found out it was. Anyone who knows my taste in movies knows my love of the Coen Brothers. However, "O Brother" is hardly just a testament to that. The movie takes a classic story and piece of literature and completely turns it on its head, giving it a fresh new taste. The classic Coen Brothers signatures are there--the epic sarcasm and dark humor, the quick, crisp dialog and strong cast of supporting characters. Joel and Ethan Coen have always been known for their tight scripts, preperation, and adhereance to detail while shooting, and this is certainly the case for "O Brother". But it's those little bells and whistles that really make this movie shine: the incredible award-winning soundtrack, the dust-bowl imagery, and of course the incredible supporting cast. John Goodman in particular shines as the "cyclops"--in this case a con artist bible-salesman--and other amazing performances are given by Charles Durning, Michael Badalucco (as Babyface Nelson), Wayne Duvall (as Homer Stokes) and Ray McKinnon. Despite the great performances of the leads (Clooney, Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson), it is these supporting characters that carry the film and really complete the film's dust-bowl/depression-era imagery.

12. The Prestige (2006)- Christopher Nolan is another of my all-time favorite directors (and it's no coincidence he is one of two--or three depending on how you look at it--directors with two films on this list, the Coen brothers bring the other). I tell people the reason I like Nolan so much is because he almost single-handedly carries the modern noir genre, as evidenced by films like "Following," "Memento" and even "The Dark Knight" (trust me, this film is undeniably modern noir in so many ways). However, his noir vision is perhaps best executed in "The Prestige", a film that recieved slightly less fanfare than it should have, as it bridged the gap between "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight". I'll be honest, though, one of the main reasons the Prestige is here is because it combines two of my favorite genre elements: film noir and magical realism. The result is an incredible story somewhere between mystery, thriller and science fiction. Like a noir, the film is cast in an eerie and somewhat sinister mystery and does not follow a linear timeline, but the film takes another dimension altogether when the little bit of "magic" is introduced--and it's this element that makes the film so great for me. Truly and simply one of the most enthralling films of the decade, I could watch this film 100 times and not lose interest. (Also, David Bowie has an amazing cameo as Nicolai Tesla...and Scarlett Johansson is really fucking hot. Oh, and Michael Caine again.)

11. There Will Be Blood (2007)- This one will probably draw some raised eyebrows for where its positioned. Before you start crying "blasphemy!", let me just say this: I have only seen this film once, and it did not blow me away the first time. For many of the films on this list, it look more than one viewing to really fall in love (I even hated "The Royal Tenenbaums" the first time I watched it). This is definitely the kind of film that will take subsequent viewings to fully appreciate, but that being said, I'd say its place at number 11 speaks to the strong initial impression. While it's true "There Will Be Blood" did not blow me away, it was clear that this was a great work of filmmaking. There is no doubt that Paul Thomas Anderson directed Daniel Day-Lewis in probably the finest individual performance of the decade. Simply put, Day-Lewis was absolutely bone-chilling in his portrayal of oil mogul Daniel Plainview, and Anderson's style and subtle touches perfectly complimented the performance. And "subtle" really is the word I'd choose for this movie. Despite the dark subject matter, the film does not come off as heavy-handed: the soundtrack by Jonny Greenwood and gorgeous cinematography by Robert Elswit are both eerily beautiful, but they hardly dominate the film (well...maybe the cinematography at times). Both the soundtrack and photographer are well-balanced and subtle enough as to not take away from the real centerpiece--Day-Lewis--but they are never lost completely, which is quite impressive, considering the performance in question. Who knows, five years and a few more viewings from now this may become one of my all-time favorites, but for now you'll have to take solace in its place at number 11 on the list.