Originally posted December 29, 2006:
TOP TEN
1. "The World" / 6. "Half Nelson"
2. "Tristram Shandy" / 7. "Changing Times"
3. "Innocence" / 8. "The Proposition"
4. "The War Tapes" / 9. "United 93"
5. "The Sisters" / 10. "The Queen"
The film year for me began in earnest at an amusement park on the outskirts of Beijing and ended, for our purposes here, on a balcony with a sweeping view of the Tokyo skyline.
That might seem like classic cinematic escapism. But those two movies -- the Chinese film "The World" and the cross-continental epic "Babel" -- tell human stories so real and universal that you feel them in your neighborhood, and maybe in your bones.
It's the opposite of escapism; it's searching for a connection, whether reaching out across the globe to another culture or merely across the armrest in a dark theater for the hand of the person next to you.
In a year devoid of a true blockbuster A-plus standout (or a year in which the '06 A-listers won't arrive in Albuquerque until next month), it was all about the tactile. (Epitomized in the sensually resplendent love story "The Fountain.")
In a year in which most documentaries were relegated to my list of honorable mentions, it was true-life dramas that provided that human connection this year.
Among those that hit close to home:
The French takes on middle-age relationships: "Changing Times" (with the heartbreaking Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu) and "Heading South" (with the hardened Charlotte Rampling).
The ballads of 30-something women: "Friends With Money" and "The Sisters."
The bleak loneliness of young adults: "Somersault" out of Australia and "Lower City" from Brazil.
The brutal realities of childhood: the shocking, stark French films "Innocence" and "L'Enfant (The Child)."
The rough urban-America fables: "Half Nelson" and "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints."
The intractability of the Middle East: "Syrian Bride" and "Paradise Now."
The films that cleverly used gimmicks to entertain the hell out of me: "Brick" and "13 (Tzameti)."
And the charming dry humor of the whimsical "Duck Season" and the melancholy "Lonesome Jim."
Of course, real life did show up in documentaries. Films don't get any more raw or honest than "The War Tapes," which features footage shot on the ground by Army National Guard troops in Iraq but also tells the deeply personal stories of the men and their families. Or "Darwin's Nightmare," perhaps the bleakest explanation of globalization and human nature you'll ever find.
With "49 Up," filmmaker Michael Apted proved that you can make anyone's life story interesting if you just let it unfold. And I was moved to tears by the music and the humanity of both "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man" and "The Devil and Daniel Johnston."
They weren't documentaries, but Paul Greengrass' high-tension "United 93" and Stephen Frears' pristine "The Queen" might as well have been.
And, of course, Michael Winterbottom, who made the best comedy of the year ("Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story"), literally mixed fact and fiction to get to the darkest side of our nature: our willingness to torture each other in the name of God or country ("The Road to Guantanamo").
I saw exactly half of the movies on my top 10 at the Guild Cinema. You just can't get the big picture without regular visits to the single-screen art house in Nob Hill.
It was at the Guild where, in the middle of the year, I traveled not by distance but in time and saw two brilliant movies that would have easily made my list - if only they hadn't been released nearly 40 years ago.
Go to Alphaville or Netflix and find "Spring Night, Summer Night" and "David Holzman's Diary."
"Spring Night, Summer Night" (also known by the less articulate title "Miss Jessica Is Pregnant") is a rarely screened gem about Appalachian life in the 1960s. It is probably the most beautifully shot movie I've ever seen. It also happens to be the only movie made by J.L. Anderson. And it's a masterpiece.
That same retro weekend brought the recently revived "David Holzman's Diary" to town. It's perhaps the first-ever mockumentary, about a guy dealing with a breakup. It was shot in summer 1967 in New York, and 98 percent of it is legit -- the sounds and the images of the city are not made up.
The film is a jarring immersion in that place and time. More real than real, it seems.
My movie year wrapped up on that high-rise balcony in "Babel," the story of interconnected lives (and fragile ones at that) spanning Morocco, the U.S.-Mexico border and Japan. Its director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, as well as any filmmaker around today, captures the hum of human existence.
"Babel" isn't a great movie. It invites you to pick it apart, to take issue, to question its fairness, to complain about Brad Pitt again, if you must.
But if ever a filmmaker should get credit for merely attempting to create a masterpiece, it is Gonzalez Inarritu, who also tried with "Amores Perros" and who failed much more so with "21 Grams" two years ago. (We're not cutting Sofia Coppola and "Marie Antoinette" that same slack this year.) With "Babel," Gonzales Inarritu exposes some of the basic truths of our role on this planet, and he is surehanded with his depiction of the randomness of our actions and their consequences.
"Babel" is not for everyone. And it could have been, like a lot of films this year, shorter and just a little less tidy at the end. But there was no denying its magnificence - in its cinematic sweep across continents and in the mature way it understands the way we misunderstand each other, whether it's a language barrier, a handicap, a generation gap or a gender divide.
Back at the Guild, it was there, in January, that I saw "The World," the story of aimless, star-crossed young adults working at an amusement park outside Beijing. The attractions include the Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower and other architectural wonders.
The characters have the world at their fingertips. Their escape comes via their imaginations. They use their cell phones to share their feelings. Through giddy animation they fly through the air on magic carpets.
But their escapist fantasies can't hide the fact that it's not the manmade wonders of the world that bridge the divide; it's the look in another person's eyes, the touch of skin.
It was in the Guild, around twilight in January, that I had "The World" at my fingertips. It was the moment I realized that the person sitting next to me in the dark was both a fascinating mystery and, potentially, the one who could lead me to a place where we both might unlock the secrets.
After spending most of the year estranged, at arm's length, struggling to trust each other, we finally connected. We went to see "Babel." We held hands and watched the world unfold before us and unravel.
*****
Here's the rest of my list:
Honorable mention: "Shortbus," "L'Enfant (The Child)," "Duck Season," "Lonesome Jim," "Darwin's Nightmare," "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," "Paradise Now," "Road to Guantanamo," "Sir! No Sir," "Syrian Bride," "Brick," "The Devil and Daniel Johnston," "Heading South"
Best director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, "Babel"
Best actor: Jack Nicholson, "The Departed"
Best actress: Julia Jentsch, "Sophie Scholl: The Final Days"
Biggest disappointment: "Marie Antoinette"
Wish I'd seen: "Infamous," "Running With Scissors"
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