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 Written by [ Richard Sharp ] The first year of ChicagoFilm was jam-packed with quality filmgoing fare, particularly of the American indie variety. This year's favorites include new work from old masters, astounding work from filmmaking newbies and a more or less a whole lot of ideas and directions we'd never seen before and never expected. Here's our better-late-than-never list of 2004's finest film offerings: 1. The Life Aquatic It seemed like a large majority of critics held the considerable previous achievements of seemingly autistic auteur Wes Anderson against him in doling out tepid reviews to our favorite film of 2004. What they neglected to realize is that Anderson's fair to middling efforts are still modern American cinema's crème de la crème. From the insistence on consistent use of fonts throughout all of his works to the meticulously balanced shot composition, Anderson continues to put forth a voice that cannot be imitated. In "The Life Aquatic," the director clearly revels in the chance to play in Fellini's sandbox – the legendary Italian Cinnecita studios. He takes it for all it's worth, leaning on what look like long-discarded backdrops from ageless classics to add texture, depth and real humor. Using a boat nicknamed the Belafonte (sliced in half to allow for ease of camera movement and meta-narrative effect) as the film's key set piece, Anderson blends a pop culture junkie's sensibility with astounding technical creativity. Bill Murray's at his finest, Mark Mothersbaugh's soundtrack is brilliant and virtually every scene invites further examination. A warm, funny, inspirational film that reminds us how much we love the movies. 2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Michel Gondry is a huge fan of the French filmmaking pioneer Melieres, and in this film, you can see why. Fueled by a strange, dark, funny and remarkably complex script by Charlie Kaufmann, Gondry wields a quiver full of old-school camera trickery to remove memories in real-time from the troubled head of Jim Carrey. It's a wonder to watch, particularly when you realize what's being accomplished without the use of computer aided special effects. As a relatively young director, Gondry has amassed a fascinating array of music video credits (see the Director's Series DVD for a taste of his prodigious music video collection) and his talents are a perfect match for Kaufmann's meta-mental masterwork of a script. Weird and wonderful stuff. 3. Motorcycle Diaries Walter Salles pits Gael Garcia Bernal as a young "Che" Guevara, tromping around South America on a dilapidated motorcycle with pal Alberto Granada on the way to serve as volunteer doctors at a leper farm. Both the cinematography and dialogue are rich and well-conceived and Bernal’s performance announces him indisputably as one of the world's premier acting talents. This one deserves a Best Foreign Language Film award at this year's Oscars, but a convoluted set of regulations will sadly keep it out of the running. 4. Garden State Sure we may be partial to Zach Braff 'cause he picked up his education up in Evanston, and because his taste in music is impeccable, but the more we return to "Garden State," the more we want to stay there. Sure there's a fair bit of cheese in the mix, but for the most part, Braff's Quarter Life Crisis tale was a sincere, emotionally powerful look at an age and a subculture that needed to be discussed. Perhaps most impressive was Braff's own acting – in "Garden State" he holds his own alongside the prodigious talents of Natalie Portman and Peter Saarsagard. The Chicago Film Critic's Association pegged this one as the Best Film from a first-time director. We'd say it's one of the year's best films period. 5. Dogville How many people made it all the way through Lars Von Trier's three hour exploration of sex, power, politics and mob mentality? Not very damn many. Perhaps it was the fact that the set was largely imaginary, or that, even in the friendly confines of the Landmark Century, after that long your ass starts to get a little numb. It wasn't that I particularly enjoyed all of the scenes (watching Nicole Kidman get systematically raped was particularly hard to stomache), but when Von Trier sets you up to squirm in your seat, you should pay close attention. He takes on and conquers story-telling challenges with a skill and dedication that few filmmakers can match. In "Dogville," Von Trier manages to tell a complex and compelling story with little more than some chalk on the floor and plain uncompromising emotion. Has to be seen to be believed. 6. Before Sunset It might not have matched the raw intensity of its predecessor "Before Sunrise," but this film makes the list for simply being shot in the first place. An indie sequel to a film with little commercial success but a solid, committed fanbase, "Before Sunset" exists solely because director Richard Linklater and actors Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy wanted to continue a fascinating, rambling discussion on life, love, control and passion that they had held several years before. On a miniscule budget and a super-tight shooting schedule, they manage to keep you just as engaged in conversation in the second 90 minutes as you were the first 90, which is no small feat. The chemistry between Delpy and Hawke is tangible and Linklater's Nina Simone-fueled uncompromising ending is a gleeful groan-inducer. 7. Closer The lone big-budget offering on this list is here because of a challenging, sexually charged script and superb acting from Clive Owens and Natalie Portman. From "Cold Mountain" and "Garden State" to this film, Portman seems to be growing in stature in the last couple of years. She's perfectly suited as a stubborn, empowered but vulnerable young American woman in London and serves well worthy of the heartbreaking "I Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" theme throughout the film. For a film with such a celebrity-laden cast, "Closer" is a dark, unflinchingly honest look at relationships and how they can fall apart. 8. The Machinist A film that was largely overlooked at the box office and will most likely be forgotten at this year's awards ceremonies. Christian Bale shed a whopping 70 lbs. to play a mentally unstable factory worker in this noir-inspired mystery thriller, and it's an image and a performance that I can't seem to forget no matter how hard I try. Beyond Bale's frighteningly angular appearance is a plotline full of twists and turns, and both the soundtrack (full of odd and eerie theremin tunes) and the setting seem like they could fit any time or location. 9. The Saddest Music in the World If anything, it was fantastic to see stranger-and-retroer-than-thou Winnipeg oddball Guy Maddin get some screens across the country to play this bizarre tale of sad music, an amputee beer baroness, nymphomaniacs and wannabe Broadway sleazeballs. Maddin has long had a cult following based on silent movie era influenced works of madness like "Archangel," "Heart of the World" and "Tales of Gimli Hospital," but "The Saddest Music in the World" is his finest and most accessible work to date. Funny, fuzzy and fraught with sexual perversion, Maddin's work is a category in and of itself. 10. Tarnation As personal as filmmaking gets, low-budget or otherwise, "Tarnation" takes you far deeper into the life of filmmaker Jonathan Caouette than you may want to go. Telling the story of Caouette's struggle with personal demons and his mother's mental illness through old home video, short experimental films and ultra low-budget graphics, the film made "Capturing the Friedmans" seem like The Cosby Show, and in this case that's a good thing. The Also Rans "Donnie Darko Redux" A dark American indie classic making a well-deserved second round on the big screen. "Napoleon Dynamite" A low-budget with easily some of the year's most ingenious comedic moments. "Assassination of Richard Nixon" Tightly focused, thematically charged end of the year entry featuring Sean Penn's finest acting in the last 5 years. "Goodbye, Lenin" Wolfgang Becker and Germany's X Film Bureau meld the joy of Reunification with sleek, cool, larger than life imagery. "Five Obstructions" Sadistic bastard Lars Von Trier is trumped by his master, Jorgen Leth in a doc chock full of lunacy. "Brown Bunny" From the catfight between Ebert and Gallo to the infamous blowjob, thoroughly memorable film. "Overnight" Troy McClure – what an ass hole. [ 1 ] Written by [ Richard Sharp ] [ Home ] |
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 Copyright 2005 . All Rights Reserved Editor // [ Richard Sharp ] Creative Director// [ Scott Lindenberger ] |