If I Ruled the World: My Picks of the Year

I think you meant Carey Mulligan...

          Yes, it's the week of Oscar nominees and Oscar gripes. Nobody got what they deserved (besides Moneyball and Rooney Mara) and, yes, it's all political and self-congratulatory. What did we expect? This is the 84th time we've gotten nominations. After 84 times of being burned, who should we even be mad at? If film awards were really for the most artistically daring and skillfully presented works, what would this year really look like?

        Well, have no fear. I'm taking this awards season into my own hands. These are the real winners, here (In my opinion, obviously.) I ain't got the politics. 

       Also, before we start, I should note that I have not yet seen The Artist, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, A Separation, Shame, and Albert Nobbs. 

Let's get this show on the road. 

Best Female Supporting Performance

          

          Jessica Chastain has had an incredible year in film. She was the embodiment of grace in Terrence Malick's Tree of Life, a woman trying her best to be the embodiment of grace in The Help, and the best supporting performance of the year in Take Shelter. While Chastain's many performances could have all ended up on this list, I choose Take Shelter for its high demands. Chastain had to act against the mighty tower of superhuman skill that is Michael Shannon. And she completely stole the show. Her performance is powerful and honest, and by far the best supporting performance of the year. 

Other Nominees:

Charlotte Gainsbourg in Melancholia

Carey Mulligan in Drive

Shailene Woodley in The Descendants

Chloe Moretz in Hugo

Best Male Supporting Performance

          John Hawkes terrified audiences everywhere in last year's Winter's Bone, and I was eager to see what came next. And boy, did he deliver. Hawkes is mesmerizing in Martha Marcy May Marlene. I believe everything he says as if I'm one of his devotees in the film's cult. Hawkes is one of those rare performers that can say everything he needs to say with a look. Here's hoping he continues down this line of terrific script choices. 

Other Nominees: 

Patton Oswalt in Young Adult

Jonah Hill in Moneyball

Albert Brooks in Drive

Ryan Gosling in Crazy Stupid Love

Best Screenplay

          Say what you will about Diablo Cody's other endeavors, Juno and Jennifer's Body. Talk about her sentimentality, or her reluctance to break free of a certain style over substance, or her "quirky" dialogue. But when you see Young Adult, I promise that you will be blown away. This is some of the most mature and confident writing I've seen in a very long time. Cody's film, inexplicably marketed as a comedy, is one of the saddest movies I have ever seen in my life. Stripped from the screenplay is any of the charm, the quirk, the smugness of her previous work. All we are left with is a lonely, depressed alcoholic trying to come to terms with her meaninglessness. The work is dark, haunting, melancholy, and excellent. One of the best screenplays in a long time. And absolutely what Sofia Coppola wishes she could do, but clearly can't. 

Other Nominees: 

Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian, Moneyball

Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene

Lars Von Trier, Melancholia

Jeff Nichols, Take Shelter

Dan Fogelman, Crazy Stupid Love

Best Cinematography

         

          Call it boring, pretentious, endless, rambling, or silly. On some days I'd agree with you. But take one look at any frame of this fantastic film, and you'll see that Emmanuel Lubezki's work in The Tree of Life is nothing short of miraculous. This is the most beautiful movie I have ever seen. Any screenshot of this movie could be framed on my wall as a perfect piece of art. Seeing this movie in the theater was one of the greatest movie experiences of my life, if only for those amazing creation shots. 

Other Nominees:

Manuel Alberto Caro, Melancholia

Jody Lee Lipes, Martha Marcy May Marlene

Janusz Kaminski, The Adventures of TinTin

Newton Thomas Sigel, Drive

Wally Pfister, Moneyball

Bob Richardson, Hugo

Alwin H. Kuchler, Hanna

Best Leading Female Performance

          Kirsten Dunst blew me away in Lars Von Trier's elegant, devastating Melancholia. Every second with her on screen is electric, dynamic, fascinating. Dunst, who I've never really thought much of as an actor before this film, has officially solidified herself as one of my favorites. With just one movie. She's that good, here. Dunst takes great material and makes it excellent. I love her performance in this movie. 

Other Nominees: 

Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene

Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Charlize Theron in Young Adult

Viola Davis in The Help

Best Leading Male Performance 

         

           Michael Shannon's performance in Take Shelter is not only my favorite performance, of any kind, all year, but it is one of my favorite performances of all time. He is so convincing, so scary, so effortlessly terrifying in this role that I will have a hard time seeing him as anything else. Shannon works with his eyes, his body language, and silence to craft an intense and emotional performance that is unlike anything I have ever seen. Go see this movie. Now. Michael Shannon is unbelievable. 

Other Nominees:

Ryan Gosling in Drive

Brad Pitt in Moneyball

George Clooney in The Descendants

Asa Butterfield in Hugo

Best Director

          Nicolas Winding Refn had already made a name for himself with Bronson, the Pusher trilogy, and Valhalla Rising before his outstanding Drive, but nothing could have prepared me for what he did with the film. The material itself is quite barebones and minimalistic -- the screenplay based on a novella of the same name that consists mostly of interior monologue. But Reft, after meeting with Ryan Gosling and listing to REO Speedwagon, found a way to make the film something more. With impressionistic cinematography, long takes of silence punctuated by unspeakable violence, and performances from some of the best actors working today, Refn turned Drive into the must see movie of the year. The style, the performances, the soundtrack, the story. Everything works, here. And it's because of Refn's skill as a filmmaker that it all came together so well. 

Other Nominees:

Lars Von Trier, Melancholia

Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene

Steven Spielberg, The Adventures of TinTin

Kelly Reichardt, Meek's Cutoff

Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Bennett Miller, Moneyball

Joe Wright, Hanna

Best Film of the Year

          Despite his insistence that he's a Naze. Despite his inability to have a charming persona in public, Lars Von Trier really is one of the great living directors. Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves, Antichrist, Dogville, and Europa are all masterpieces. And then, even further up the spectrum, there is Melancholia. This is the movie Trier has been trying to make for over twenty years, and he has finally done it. It has his dark humor, his knack for pulling incredible performances from his female stars, his gorgeous cinematography, his ever-present need for some kind of gimmick (another planet in the sky!), and signs of his devastating depression. Melancholia is a near-perfect movie. The best film of the year. 

Other Nominees: 

Drive

Young Adult 

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Take Shelter

The Adventures of TinTin

Hugo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Descendants

Crazy Stupid Love

Insidious 

Hanna

Who are some of your picks for the year? Let me know in the comments or on Facebook!

Movie Review: Drive

         

           "I used to produce movies. They were violent, sexy little films. The critics called them European," says Albert Brooks's Bernie about halfway through Drive--a violent, sexy film that many critics are also calling European. However, this critic must say this up front, Drive is an excellent, thought-provoking, controversial and violent film that seems to not care about its own hype, and I love it for this reason. But I must also say this, the film does carry hype, and it may not live up to thing you're expecting.

          First off, Drive is not The Transporter, as many people have been saying. Of course, a film containing a good looking man who drives a car and gets in a fight must be a rip off of a Jason Statham film. Because, you know, it's the only other movie that contains such things. Forget Bullitt, Mad Max, Gone in Sixty Seconds (The good one and the crappy one), Vanishing Point, Two-Lane Blacktop, and a whole host of other films, The Transporter is the movie that Drive is totally ripping off. Okay, enough bitter sarcasm.

          One of the first things I read about Drive, after its director, Nicolas Winding Refn, won the best director award at Cannes, was that he had intended the film to be some sort of hybrid between Purple Rain and Blue Velvet--filled with dark, moody atmosphere while simultaneously oozing some sort of pop-rock vibe. After reading that interview, Drive immediately became my most anticipated film of the year. Add that to my admittedly frightening love of Ryan Gosling and my admiration for Refn's previous work, and you're looking at somebody who was fully prepared to love every waking second of Drive. 


         But the movie really is not a hybrid of two strikingly different '80's films whose titles begin with a color. It actually feels a whole lot like American Gigolo. From the font of the opening credits to the synthesized, soundscapey soft-rock soundtrack, to the way in which the main character seems to only exist because of his profession, all I could think about was how similar these two movies are. However, instead of male prostitution gone wrong, Drive is all about a heist gone wrong. Or perhaps it's about more, perhaps it's about a choice gone wrong. Or maybe a lack of choices. Or maybe it's about something totally different, like the violence of American cinema, or the evil of greed. Maybe it isn't about anything. I don't really know. I don't think you do either.

         The main character, played by Ryan Gosling, is named Driver in the credits. In the film, his name is never mentioned. He has no past, no family, no goals, and no real personality. He's a good enough guy. He's loyal to his boss, he's fiercely protective of his girlfriend, Irene, and her son. He is even protective of his girlfriend's husband, who returns from a two-year stint in prison during Driver and Irene's courtship. But who is he really? He loves fixing and driving cars. That's about it. Driver keeps mostly to himself, usually letting those around him do the talking. In this way, the characters who surround Driver are the ones who define him. The ultimate existential protagonist.

         In fact, the only time Driver seems to have some sort of humanity inside of him is when he explodes into a violent rage. Like a switch going off, Driver is able to unleash a violence more intense than anybody in my theater, including me, expected. And the most terrifying part of it is, the people he hurts only deserve so much. When he decides to fight back he goes all the way, whether the audience is rooting for him or not. Sometimes the violence is so shocking and so sudden that it takes a second to even register that it happened.

       Of course, movies today contain violence far more shocking than what can be found in this film. Gore levels have reached an all time high in Hollywood films. Even Refn's previous film, Valhalla Rising, contains far more violence in its first half hour than Drive's entire runtime. But there is a difference. Valhalla Rising lets the audience know what kind of movie it is right away. Drive does the opposite, letting the audience think it is one thing, before changing drastically halfway through the picture.

      The film begins in typical heist movie fashion. We are treated to a scene in which Driver helps two men escape from a crime. Driver is calm, collected, confident, and amazing at his job. The opening chase sequence, hands down, is one of the most riveting sequences I've seen in the theater since The Dark Knight's bank robbery opener.

       We then get to see Driver at his other job, performing dangerous maneuvers as a stunt driver for Hollywood movies. In this job, he also excels because of his amazing talent and seemingly infinite calm. However, after the film gets into a nice rhythm and falls into the formula we've come to expect from movies like this, it goes off and becomes something totally different. Something totally, unbelievably chilling. The film turns into a wrestling match between two ideas: whether or not we like the protagonist. At first, Driver is exactly the kind of action movie star we've paid to see. But then, after some time with the character, we learn to fear him. We begin to question his morals. Who is he exactly? How much do we really know about him?

       He is an action movie star performing action movie stunts, but he is missing that Jason Statham charm. Which makes us wonder, why do we pull for the protagonist of action movies in the first place? Because they are usually the best looking and most charming characters? Surely such grisly acts of violence should be met with shock and horror instead of high fives and laughter. Drive is a film that seems to question the audience's morals. It seems to be constantly asking us if we should trust such a protagonist.

     Drive is superbly directed in a style somewhere between European Art-house and Mumblecore minimalism. The performances are exceptional, especially those from Albert Brooks and Ryan Gosling, and the music (excluding a couple of questionable choices) is perfectly, ironically chosen. If you were a fan of the George Clooney espionage thriller The American, or you are, for some reason, a huge fan of American Gigolo, I recommend you see the movie immediately. If you like action scenes where the camera captures the scene by shaking incoherently, then look elsewhere. I'm sure Paul Greengrass is working on something new.

       As the film finally reaches its dark, violent end, it leaves us with one last joke. Will there be a sequel?


I give Drive 9/10 bloody hammers.