Best Indivdual Shots of the Year

Sure the “motion” part of motion pictures is the selling point but I’ve always been a fan of single movie images. These moments in time or as Roland Barthes would say, “shadow[s] of the frozen moment,” remind us that movies can provide us with 24 works of art every second. Even bad movies can stumble into moments of visual greatness, quick as they may last (see my “Public Enemies” shot at #10)! Powerful images have a way of freeing themselves of the tyranny of the whole. They exist on their own artistic terms yet never get enough credit…

1. A Serious Man
D.P. Roger Deakins
I also have an obsession with the absolute first thing we see in a movie and the last. They are, after all, the alpha and omega of a story’s universe yet far too often filmmakers take these impressions for granted. Not the Coen Brothers. No final image was better last year than “A Serious Man.” The main character’s son is listening to music on once confiscated radio at school just as he’s about to finally pay that bully back (long story… but a good one). Suddenly, out of nowhere, a tornado hits. Random but also… not because the moment is juxtaposed with the boy’s father learning of his fate across town. This absolute final shot gives me chills. It’s an absolutely perfect cut-to-black moment. The shot is visually atypical of the rest of the movie (therefore not really a spoiler shot) but hammers home the notion of divine intervention, God’s wrath and… Jefferson Airplane.

2. Two Lovers
D.P: Joaquin Baca-Asay
“Two Lovers” was the second new film I saw in 2009 and it certainly stuck around, ranking as my number two film overall. Once again a movie with Two in it’s title ranks as number two. Grey is clearly a great visual filmmaker and I’m sure he would be quick to credit his cinematographer. While many of the extended two-shots (another two!) in this movie such as this or this or, yikes, even this (shameless self promotion) resonated, I fell in love with the above shot the second I saw it. Phoenix’s look is priceless. I said to myself that it’s so powerful and quirky that I had to find some way to talk about it. What’s great about how this shot comes off is the isolation in Phoenix’s character’s world. We not only can see but also feel how out of his element the charater is. That piece of art looming above his head (which was on location when Grey and co. got there) is perfect because adds a splash of strange humor.

3. Thirst
D.P Chung-hoon Chung
Speaking of strange humor. This show kept me thinking about the notion of what it means for a vampire to reach the absolute bottom of the barrel and a priest laid out on the floor and sucking blood from the IV of a man in a coma is pretty much there. Well, maybe not quite–Brad Pitt sucking on a dead rat in “Interview with the Vampire” might lower but that’s up for debate. The way he lays down implies a feeling that this man is far, far away from being human at this point. He’s a monster but in the most non monster-y way possible and between this and “The Host,” Korean filmmakers have nailed the realism of horror. I also love cinematography involving that white roomthe the two vampires make for themselves to mimic day and a shot and the end with the empty shoes which I won’t get into for obviosu reasons. But, really, nothing spells out the film’s quirky and dark tone than what you’re seeing. Plus, it’s kinda funny.

4. Antichrist
D.P. Anthony Dod Mantle
Hard to find a shot in this movie that isn’t striking. I’m even transfixed even when von Trier and Mantle zoom in on a plant in a jar of water. The one I settled on is not only a great shot but chilling in an undefined archetypal sort of way. The poetic visuals of a completely ruined human being laying alongside animals (known here as three beggars) in a cabin is iconic and will not be soon forgotten. To hammer home how much Lars von Trier and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle have shifted we really should consider the meta-sparse visuals of “Dogville” side-by-side with the hyper stylized “Antichrist” to see two polar opposite aesthetic approaches executed in equally effective ways; hard core function in one and harder core form in the latter. Filth, flesh and nature is what “Antichrist” is all about. And all are combined in this shot which, to me (and what do I know?), is like a neoclassical painting (horrible things are happening to beautifully naked people) come to life. Compare it to this, that or one of my favorites Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David and you may agree… or you may not (I know jack about art after all) or it just may confirm how much of a creepy ass hole Lars von Trier is.

5. White Ribbon
D.P. Christian Berger
Perfectly captures the eerie, off-balance tone of the movie in a way you can’t quite put your finger on but that’s reverberating through your body. A visually imposing and hypocritical authority blocks out the foreground while sheepish followers stand in the middle. One of the few innocent people in the whole movie meanwhile gets punished and relegated to the back. Life suck. This image says all that yet comes off so natural and unplanned. It just knocks me out every time I look at it. Something’s not right here. Something is very, very wrong. And beautiful.

6. You, The Living
D.P. Gustav Danielsson
The camera never moves and the editor never cuts. Images, then, have a way of lingering in this wonderful movie. This shot is the one most loaded with meaning, humor and horror. Roy Anderrson’s sensibilities are fascinating. Slow, depressing and morbid. In this scene a dinner party is huddled in a corner (no explanation for this… as if one is needed in an Anderrson film) as a man attempts to do that old trick of pulling the dinner cloth from a table. Anderrson’s interpretation of this age old gag is not just funny (all the shit falls…) but surreal (…to reveal a giant swastika on the table!!!). He’s also making a comment on Sweden’s hidden pro Nazi past. By the way, the guy pulling the cloth gets arrested (perhaps for revealing such a past) and, in the next vignette, convicted by a panel of beer swigging judges to be sent to death.

7. The Road
D.P. Javier Aguirresarobe
As epic as it is bleak. This vast shot conveys depth, death (all plant life in this movie looks like that) and man’s small  and fleeting place in this post civilization world. For the overall look I picked Aguirresarobe as the best cinematography of the year and this shot is at the top of the reasons why.

8. Inglourious Basterds
D.P. Robert Richardson
A classic movie shot. There are many great shots in this movie but this is the iconic moment. And it’s official: a new generation of film lovers finally got their Rambo moment!

9. Moon
D.P. Gary Shaw
The decay of flesh juxtaposed with the corporate coldness of space and science. Note: The image looks crappy because I didn’t grab this directly from the movie. I don’t have a way of doing a screen caps on blu-ray–and if you don’t see Moon on blu-ray you’re missing something.

10. Public Enemies
D.P. Dante Spinotti
Christian Bale aims, shoots and fires. Michael Mann’s film may have missed the mark but this shot sure didn’t. Mann and the always great Dante Spinotti have a keen eye for cool shots (literally) and that’s probably because doc inspired handheld style allows for more experimentation and unplanned composition. This one, though, was very planned and it’s easily the film’s most memorable moment. And by that I simply mean that it’s one of the few things from this movie I haven’t purged from my memory banks.

Guilty Pleasure Shot: Knowing
D.P. Simon Duggan
What you’re looking at is balls. Total balls. Sometimes the goal of science fiction is to transport us to a different place. A place we never could have expected when we started the film. Knowing’s final shot is a thing a of audacious beauty. So full of hope, symbolism and painterly beauty that it turned many off. It feel the moment is earned and contains more ecstatic religious power than any Mel Gibson movie I’ve suffered through. It also managed to blow the socks off of “Battlestar Glatica’s” strangely similar but far more literal “new earth” ending concepts. With this, director Alex Proyas continues his streak of perfect final shots; “Dark City’s” pier closer is dear to me and “I, Robot’s” robo-Jesus final moment never gets enough credit so I will include it.

Best Poster Art
AKA poster art most likely to be displayed in my dingy apartment

 

…wow. wow, wow, wow. This is the most rich and evocative poster I’ve come across in a long time. I want this but may never get a print because it’s a limited edition deal. The poster is by David D’Andrea was made for Fantastic Fest.

…should have been the main poster for Basterds.

…the humans only angle is just brilliant marketing. And it doesn’t even say the movie’s name. Looks cool too.

…another Antichrist poster. I could see someone hating this poster design but I really grabbed me. Especially when I think about how these scissors are used in the movie. When I look at this I think the alternate title should be “There Will Be Blood.” Hum, I think that one’s taken though.

…usually Paul Giamatti movie posters are bad but this one gives off a cool “Being John Malkovich” vibe. Well, that and “Men in Black” (‘member that alien inside the head… aw, never mind). This is such an interesting poster I’m surprised nobody saw the movie. I’m including myself in that large group.

…yup, that about sums the movie up. That poor, poor priest. I particularly love how the human figures are positioned in such a way that implies the infinite loop of misery these two immortals sinners will be engaged in. Not just misery though, lust too.  The look on Kang-ho Song’s face says it all.

Worst Poster…

Extract. Someone got paid to come up with this? Really? Is this a joke? Sadly… yes. There are no redeeming qualities to this poster. It’s tacky and nowhere close to being clever which is ironic because the film’s pretty good in a cult comedy sort of way. It’s almost as if someone at the studio wanted to sabotage Judge’s film. And it worked. That the film is funny is the biggest tragedy of all.

Runner Up: Ghost of Girlfriend’s Past

Screams out, in every way possible, WE’RE NOT EVEN TRYING. WE GIVE UP.

Best Trailer

Fitting that the film with the best shot of the year also has the best trailer to go along with it. Now why didn’t this make my top ten again? I starting to freak out at the idea and may never let myself forget that I relegated “A Serious Man” to #12. Even so, I said it from day one that “A Serious Man’s” trailer is the most visually exciting and artful mainstream movie trailer ever made! It’s rapid fire editing and use of sound is absolutely perfect. It’s so good I’m surprised it didn’t convince the usual multiplex philistine to see, gasp, a Coen Brothers period movie. The rhythmic flow in the clip below does not represent the style and flow of the film itself (thank god) but it exists as a work of art in its own right which, some could argue, is the point of a well made trailer.

Worst Trailer#1: After Last Season
BEHOLD………………

Worst Trailer#2: The Boys are Back
Ever seen a trailer and made a audible sound of dejection? Something like EWICK or awwwaghh? Well this was a total ewick/awwwaghh!!! moment for me. And here I though the Brits (esp Clive Owen) were above bein so trite. Still not sure if the trailer is bad or just has the misfortune of trying to get people to see a worse movie. Since I would rather die than sit through this sappy crap I’ll just assume it’s both.

Trailer I had to see so much I got sick of: Duplicity and Shutter Island. When you see dozens upon dozens of moves in the theater in 2009 you don’t exactly expect variety in the trailers but to see the same two every time is agony. I sat through the two trailers so much I had to be creative or risk losing my mind. Ironically both movies were decent but I almost didn’t watch them.

Okay, I’m almost ready to let go of 2009. Just one more list to go and that’s the worst movies of the year.