As 2010 drew to a close I made the optimistic prediction that 2011 would be an amazing year for film and as the months faded away without a classic in sight I began to eat my words. Sure, there were some really great films released in 2011, but none of them quite scraped a 9/10 score. So like 2010’s list, this list will contain the odd bit of filler…
20. Super 8
JJ Abrams’ latest was far from original but it was full to the brim with a warm sense of nostalgia, harking back to the golden age of wholesome family sci-fi. Super 8 is a film that’s expertly and lovingly made and the young cast give it their all, but it was just missing that certain something and it was such a shame the story had to resort to such familiar territory.
19. Blue Valentine
What Blue Valentine lacks in story it makes up for with raw, brooding intensity which is mainly thanks to the two astonishing central performances from Gosling and Williams who play the passionless couple on the verge of collapse with extraordinary realism. At times it seemed to take pleasure in torturing its audience with its close-up and confrontational approach but it’s a film that certainly stayed with me.
18. Warrior
I personally preferred this film to The Fighter, a film that’s similar both in its structure and theme. It ticked the boxes in a way that’s been done to death but it made up for what could be considered an auto-pilot build up with brilliantly choreographed intense fight scenes and heartfelt performances.
17. Crazy Stupid Love
This film transcended the ‘rom-com’ and made for an irresistibly enjoyable love story driven by a great cast and a surprisingly deep script. It’s only main fault is that it didn’t know how to quit when it was winning.
16. Black Swan
Not my favourite of Aronofsky’s works but a hauntingly visceral piece of melodrama all the same. At times it felt like a run-of-the-horror movie in a leotard but that was more than made up for by a breathtakingly intense conclusion and Portman deserved her Oscar for her commitment to the fragile role.
15. The Troll Hunter
What sounded like it was going to be a piss-take turned out to be one of the surprise gems of 2011. The Troll Hunter is a unique, absorbing piece of indie cinema that takes a well worn genre to weird and wonderful places.
14. Source Code
Duncan Jones is proving to be an up and coming talent with his mind-bending sci-fi outings. Source Code uses the Groundhog Day device of repetition but manages to never feel tiresome or predictable. It’s not the masterpiece that I feel Jones has the capability to give us but it’s a film with a surprise at every turn and it’s heart is in the right place.
13. The King’s Speech
It soaked up the praise and attention at the award ceremonies but that’s no reason to overlook it. It’s televisual in its aesthetic and the structure is somewhat rigid but with performances from Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter and especially Geoffrey Rush that really are Oscar-worthy it’s no surprise it was a crowd pleaser.
12. Hanna
Director Joe Wright (Atonement, The Soloist) oozes visual flare and Hanna, the story of a child assassin played by Saoirse Ronan, was his chance to shine. Personally I found the script to be full of flaws but what Wright did with it was nothing short of admirable, creating a film that delivered scene after scene of jaw-dropping action, including a brutal fight scene that takes place within a single tracking shot. Awesome stuff!
11. Melancholia
Von Trier’s latest was a spellbinding, nightmarish piece of work that managed to strike a balance between gritty lo-fi and all-consuming operatics. It also features a pitch-perfect clenched fist of a performance from the consistently reliable Charlotte Gainsbourg. That said, it’s not an experience I’d want to relive anytime soon.
10. True Grit
The Coens really know how to deliver the goods at a blinding pace and True Grit is another one to add to the pile. It’s far from being their greatest work though, the story severely tails off towards the end and at times it feels like a Western that was made for the hell of it but the performances, as usual with a Coen Brothers film, are stellar all around especially from newcomer Hailee Steinfeld and thanks to Roger Deakins’ cinematography it’s a visual feast. It’s probably The Coens’ most family-friendly film, even more so than The Hudsucker Proxy…although that isn’t really saying much.
9. Super
This seems to have been the Marmite movie of 2011. The setup is almost a carbon copy of Kick-Ass: a loser decides to put on a costume and fight crime like a superhero. But it’s execution was so audacious and uncompromising that at times it was impossible to know whether to be amused or disgusted. Instead of being a laugh-out-loud interpretation of the genre it’s a surprisingly poignant character study about a desperate soul who wants to rid the world of the evil that’s become too much to bear. Rainn Wilson, who I found to be a bit of a caricature in The American Office, is a revelation and makes for a character we want to help rather than encourage.
8. Tangled
The brilliance of Pixar has finally been matched and Disney seems to have remembered how to tell a fairy tale. Tangled feels like an instant Disney classic with spectacular dance numbers, gorgeous animation and characters that say a lot without saying anything such as Maximus the horse who pretty much steals the show.
7. The Tree of Life
Terence Malick’s all-encompassing, deeply personal poetic montage is a unique film in every sense of the word. It’s possibly the most spectacular work I’ve ever seen put to screen with ambition that’s almost too vast to comprehend. It’s a drawn out, occasionally preachy film that has a lot of baggage, but somewhere in there is one of the most beautiful films ever made.
6. The Skin I Live In
In other hands this could have been the the perverted, putrid larva of The Human Centipede but in the sparing hands of Almodovar it’s a meticulously crafted, haunting revenge thriller. Like the character he portrays Antonio Banderas acts with immense precision and Elena Anaya plays the angelic subject with aplomb. It could have so easily been ugly, but thanks to the intelligence of it’s maker The Skin I Live In is a thing of twisted beauty.
5. Another Earth
Here is a film that will undoubtedly divide audiences; some getting swept up in its contemplative dreaminess and some being put off by it’s artful pretentiousness. Admittedly it does try a little too hard in places but if you can look past that you’ll be rewarded with a strikingly original piece of indie cinema that’s driven by undiluted intelligence and ambition.
4. Rabbit Hole
Grief is a tricky subject in cinema and it’s one that’s often dealt with in a heavy handed manner. For me Rabbit Hole was a respectably subtle drama that had an ideal blend of touching poignancy and warm, understated humour. Eckhart and Kidman are both electric as the grieving couple who deal with their loss in opposing ways and their on screen chemistry is the driving force of the film.
3. Senna
I don’t much care for the sport of Formula 1 and when it’s on TV I would honestly prefer to switch over to Crufts. So I didn’t have massively high hopes for Senna, the documentary compiled almost entirely from archive footage, but I left feeling liked I’d just watched an enlightening and thoroughly engaging story. It’s one of the finest documentaries I’ve seen in recent years and one with a fascinating character at its core.
2. 127 Hours
This was one of the first films I saw in 2011 and it’s probably the one that made the strongest lasting impression on me. It’s an incredibly simple tale of survival and could have easily been a tedious bore but thanks to the stunning central performance from Franco and Boyle’s seemingly limitless visual flare it makes for a life affirming albeit exhausting cinematic experience. If it weren’t for the moist-eyed sentimentality in places, especially in the final act, it could have easily topped this list.
1. Animal Kingdom
This gritty piece of Australian realism isn’t a masterpiece by any means, but it’s rock-solid in literally every department. The performances all round are subtle yet packed with intensity and the characters that are being depicted are brilliantly realised.With a lot of true stories we feel like outsiders looking in at an arm’s length(see Snowtown for example) but here the story is always involving and full of shocking surprises. I feel that perhaps in a year of stronger releases this wouldn’t have been quite so high up, but compared to the overall standard of 2011 I have little hesitation placing it right at the top.
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