TOP TEN FILMS OF 2004

By Joel Johnson

My top ten films exclude all the big award-winners for 2003 that I saw during 2004. Unfortunately, I also have to exclude possible award-winners for 2004 such as Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby; Michael Radford’s William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice; Joel Schumacher’s The Phantom of the Opera; Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s A Very Long Engagement; Paul Weitz’s In Good Company; Shainee Gabel’s A Love Song for Bobby Long; and Terry George’s Hotel Rwanda. These have all received critical acclaim, and I am looking forward to seeing them in 2005. I considered putting Fahrenheit 911 on this list, but it is virtually impossible to assess Michael Moore’s films and distinguish between cinematic quality and political perspective. Just because my political perspective is similar to Moore’s doesn’t make the film great. The response to the film is, however, clearly a powerful statement on the public’s willingness to see nonfiction films on the screen. This is good news for aspiring documentary filmmakers. I should also offer the honorary mentions of The Machinist, The Incredibles, Shrek 2, and Still We Believe: The Boston Red Sox Movie (I’m really looking forward to the sequel!). So without further ado, let me introduce in ascending order my top ten films of 2004.

(10) THE DOOR IN THE FLOOR

Adapted from John Irving’s novel A Widow for One Year, this is an unusual adaptation in that screenwriter and director Tod Williams has limited the film’s story to just the first 150 pages of the novel. The story begins with the Cole family already in turmoil. Ted Cole (Jeff Bridges) is a writer and illustrator of children’s stories who describes himself as “a simple entertainer of children who loves to draw.” His wife Marion (Kim Basinger) carries a heavy burden of pain. Young Ruthie Cole (Elle Fanning) is entranced by a “shrine” to her two dead older brothers Tom and Tim, whom she only knows through these pictures. Into this world comes Exeter student Eddie O’Hare (Jon Foster) hoping to learn something about being a writer. The only essential job qualification is that he has a driver's license so he can drive around Ted, whose license has been suspended. He arrives, he is told by Ted, during “a sad period in a long and happy marriage.” Marion and Ted begin a unique arrangement, alternately living at the family home and a nearby apartment, but never being in the same place together. Eddie is the film’s moral center, but morality is under fire from several quarters. This is a very challenging film—with multiple scenes of graphic nudity and sexuality that may unsettle many filmgoers. However, the film purposefully integrates these scenes to good effect both dramatic and comic. Producer Ted Hope, introducing the film at the Maine International Film Festival, described both Bridges’s and Basinger’s performances as “the bravest of their careers.” While this might be dismissed as gushing hype, both performances are indeed brave and deeply human portrayals of very flawed characters. They, as well as young Jon Foster, certainly deserve consideration for acting awards. While it certainly may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it is well acted and engrossing from start to finish.

(9) STAGE BEAUTY

Richard Eyre’s finely made, though underappreciated, film is based on Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of his own play Compleat Female Stage Beauty. It spotlights sexual identity and gender confusion, offers sexual high jinks, and then shows one man caught in the whirlpool of a social change he has unwittingly set in motion. The Restoration period’s renowned actor Ned Kynaston (Billy Crudup) whom we meet in the opening scene—except we may not realize that we are seeing a “he”—is the best at portraying women. Since women were not allowed on stage at all, he was his time’s “leading lady.” Ned’s conceit will make several enemies—starting with the delightfully odious Sir Charles Sedley (Richard Griffiths)—and his successful life will soon unravel. The king decides women on stage will spice up theater. Ned learns that his new rival for roles is his disdained dresser Maria (Claire Danes). As if competing with women for female roles were not bad enough, his self-immolation is completed by his refusal to act with women. This petulance may have gone unnoticed except that waiting to audition is the King’s mistress Nell Gwynn (Zoe Tapper). She persuades King Charles II (Rupert Everett) to proclaim it illegal for men to perform women’s roles! Instead of the toast of London, Ned is unable to work, stripped of adulation, and completely vulnerable to retribution from those he has scorned. We become aware of Kynaston’s lifelong discomfiture. Trained young to perform feminine roles, he has never set boundaries between Ned the actor who plays women and Ned the man. Crudup’s performance, convincing as both a man and a woman, is delicately nuanced and powerfully intense. Claire Danes successfully matches Crudup by delivering what may be the most mature performance of her career. It also boasts an outstanding British supporting cast. If you like films that mix history, ideas, romance, and playful eroticism, Stage Beauty is a movie that you won’t want to miss.

(8) THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

Reviewing the films for the year 2004 could not be complete without including Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. This film was subject to an incredible amount of controversy regarding anti-Semitism, a right-wing political agenda, its extreme violent content, and its willingness to disregard the usual “rules” for making a successful film. The entertainment press was amazed that Gibson decided to use the “dead” languages of Aramaic and Latin for the film’s dialogue and positively agog that he would even consider doing so without providing subtitles (he eventually did opt to use subtitles). Gibson put his own money on the line by self-financing the film and hit the jackpot. The archaic foreign languages gave the filmgoer a powerful sense of “being there” to witness Jesus’ passion and the intense violence made Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross more real than any other screen rendition. People who had not seen a movie in a theater in decades went to see this one. The film is true to the Gospel accounts of the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion. The film is no more anti-Semitic than are those biblical accounts nor is there a political agenda. Mel Gibson has done all Christians a favor by focusing on the central tenet of Christianity and by making faith an open discussion topic for all of us. This film is the classic Easter film because it shows that message of God’s love in action.

(7) ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman has established himself as the creative genius for clever off-kilter comedy that playfully addresses more serious issues. Two of his scripts (Being John Malkovich and Adaptation) have been nominated for Academy Awards. This one could get him a third. Kaufman reteams with Michel Gondry, director of the Kaufman-penned Human Nature, producing a delightfully strange love story between Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) while meditating on the importance and meaning of memory. Playing against type, Carrey is a repressed character whose life changes when he meets the very spontaneous Clementine. The relationship blasts off like a skyrocket but eventually hits the skids. Afterwards, Clementine decides to rid her mind of the now-bad memories. Joel, not to be the only one left with memories of the relationship, decides to have his memories of Clementine selectively cleansed by Dr. Howard Mierzwiak’s (Tom Wilkinson) team of Lacuna memory erasers, the same group that eliminated him from Clementine’s memory. This is, as they say, where the real fun begins. It turns out that the Lacuna team is a mix of Keystone Kops—minus the slapstick—and Peyton Place. While the team of Mierzwiak—Stan (Mark Ruffalo), Mary (Kirsten Dunst), and Patrick (Elijah Wood)—try to maintain control of their own memories, emotions, and Joel’s memory erasure process, we see inside Joel’s mind. Focusing on Joel’s memories allows Jim Carrey to display his gift for manic energy. We eventually see Joel dragging Clementine through his memories trying to hide from the search-and-destroy mission of the memory-eraser technology. Kate Winslet appears as free-spirited as she has been since her star-making role in Heavenly Creatures. This is, however, Jim Carrey’s best acting performance, blending his wild physical comedic skills in the service of delivering a dramatic character.

(6) BON VOYAGE

This terrific French production deserved to be seen by a wider audience. One of the most difficult filmmaking challenges is presenting the audience with two distinctly different tones within the same movie. It’s especially challenging to layer a farce onto a serious multicharacter drama. But that is what director Jean-Paul Rappeneau has successfully done in this film about the chaos and dislocation accompanying the defeat of France in June 1940. I love films that respect history as the backdrop for the story. I don’t know what France was like just before the surrender to the Nazis, but the situations and the characters presented here ring absolutely true. The war has freed a man (Grégori Derangère) wrongly convicted of murder, and he dutifully follows Viviane (Isabelle Adjani)—the beautiful, selfish actress for whom he went to jail—to the port city of Bordeaux. It is full of refugees—some rich and powerful—seeking to maintain an independent France, to preserve their life of privilege, to save their very lives, or to profit from the desperation of others. Not everyone is looking to escape. Some anxiously gather information and catalogue resources to serve the Nazi conquerors. Our attention, however, is drawn less to what will happen to France and the ongoing war than in how it will affect the individuals trying to survive as best they can. Through it all comedy, tragedy, and romance abound. It is easy to understand why it won four Cesar awards and was nominated for eight others.

(5) RAY

Ray Charles, one of the most popular figures in the last fifty years of pop music, passed away in 2004. Unlikely as it may seem that his memory would soon pass into obscurity, Taylor Hackford’s outstanding film about Ray Charles’s early life and early career will certainly delay any chance of that happening for many, many years. It shows Ray Charles’s personal struggle out of poverty and tragedy. Growing up fatherless, he lost his brother, his mother, and his eyesight before becoming an adult. However, Ray is not a sanitized biopic made to beatify its subject. It also shows his difficulty in finding a unique expression for his talent and his problems with drugs, women, and caring for his family. The film showcases not only his musical legacy, but also his unique life. Though there are some aspects of his life the film chooses not to address, Hackford’s film is an exhilarating experience bolstered by several fine performances and a terrific soundtrack of Ray Charles’ music. However, none of it would be half as successful without an absolutely fabulous performance by Jamie Foxx, who so thoroughly inhabits the title role that one never thinks that one is seeing Jamie Foxx play Ray Charles, just that one is seeing Ray Charles.

(4) FINDING NEVERLAND

Peter Pan has taken flight in the imaginations of countless children and children-in-spirit for nearly one hundred years. Finding Neverland seeks to remind people that the character who represents the timeless desire to remain a child came from the mind of one particular person—British playwright J. M. Barrie. This film tells how four boys and their beautiful, but sickly, mother (Kate Winslet) help the writer deal with professional and personal failures to create his greatest masterpiece. It also tells how he helped them—particularly Peter (Freddie Highmore), the third brother—cope with tragic family losses. While there is a certain truth to this story, it should be noted that the film does play fast-and-loose with many facts so that one should not accept it as Gospel truth. The storyteller knows that the truth shouldn’t get in the way of a great story, and this is a great story. Barrie is, of course, fortunate to have Johnny Depp bring him to life on-screen. Depp has a boyish appearance and a quicksilver personality that make him perfect as a man with a wondrously youthful imagination. Finding Neverland starts slowly revealing Barrie’s personal and professional difficulties. We don’t meet the Llewelyn Davies family until several minutes into the film. Though their appearance quickly reveals another side to Barrie and gives the film an immediate boost of energy, the film doesn’t truly hit its stride for quite a while. However, by the time Peter Pan is ready to debut and its theatre audience is sprinkled with orphans, the magic has happened. Director Marc Forster has made a film, markedly different in tone from Monster’s Ball, which touches the audience’s emotional core.

(3) KINSEY

There are some who think Kinsey, by studying sexual behavior and then publishing his findings, let loose on society a slew of ills from AIDS, pedophilia, and pornography to homosexuality, promiscuity, and the decline of marriage. Nearly fifty years after his death in 1956, Alfred Kinsey continues to be a controversial figure. Bill Condon, in creating this exceptional, even-handed film, lets us reevaluate his life, his times and his legacy. Condon shows us Kinsey’s life during the early twentieth century to sense how his life was shaped. As a college professor, he finds that misinformation about sex is being taught in a college-level health class. Willing to teach about sex, Kinsey finds  that there isn’t a lot of scientific information on the topic. Very little had been done to bring the scientific method to the study of sex. So begins his voluminous research into sexual behavior and all things sexual. This is not a film that simply lauds Kinsey’s relentless study of sexuality. There are consequences to his openness about sexuality. Kinsey’s most loyal assistant Clyde Martin chastises him: “Sex is a risky game, because if you’re not careful, it will cut you wide open.” Condon has done a superb job getting quality performances from everyone in his cast. Liam Neeson and Laura Linney especially are both fabulous and deserve strong consideration for award recognition. Condon’s intelligent script and his direction make this unusual life come alive.

(2) VERA DRAKE

Vera Drake is a tremendously powerful and thought-provoking film that is spot-on in every phase. The acting is superb throughout the ensemble. Imelda Staunton leads the way, delivering an Oscar-worthy performance as the title character, an abortionist who says she “helps girls out when they can’t manage by themselves.” The 1950 London settings are fully convincing. This time frame is equivalent to pre-Roe v. Wade America. Every single scene fits perfectly into the storytelling mosaic. Leigh’s direction is sure-handed and yet never draws attention to itself. One has a lot to consider after watching the film, and it has the potential to be a starting point for both sides of the abortion debate to actually talk and listen to each other. I suspect that, while Ms. Staunton’s performance may be recognized by Oscar, the film overall will be viewed as too dark and not quite commercial enough to garner Best Picture recognition. That would be a shame because you won’t find many films better made than this one.

(1) SIDEWAYS

Sideways is the fourth collaboration between director-screenwriter Alexander Payne and screenwriter Jim Taylor—and their third adaptation of a novel for the screen. Although they have received praise for their earlier films, this is their most successful film, and it is delightful. Payne and Taylor are able to mine comic nuggets of gold in the midst of addressing thought-provoking issues from our collective human experience. A superb job has been done in casting four talented actors in the four primary roles and then getting terrific performances from Paul Giammati, Thomas Haden Church, Sandra Oh, and Virginia Madsen. The creative melding of the writing, the direction, and casting the right actors to create real and memorable characters trickles down even to those who appear only briefly on screen. This contemporary story is character driven. The filmgoer may not like everything the characters do—no one could approve of all their actions—but the filmgoer will never stop caring about them. The direction and camerawork is economical and efficient—never drawing attention to itself at the expense of the story. Despite being over two hours long, the film successfully keeps the filmgoer engrossed and conceals that it really is a fairly long movie—it just doesn’t feel like one. Part of this needs to be credited to the fine score composed for the film by Rolfe Kent. The score consists of a variety of woodwind-driven bistro-style jazz pieces that subtly highlight the mood and provide an insistent energy, subtly driving the film’s narrative.  

 

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