From: Adam Kempenaar
To: Sam Hallgren, Eric Baker
Subject: Adam and Sam's taste test
There's so much I wanted to discuss today -- the Golden Globes, my reaction to Roman Polanski's 'The Pianist,' which I finally saw last night and walked out devastated in the best way possible, and David Edelstein's suggestion during the Slate Movie Club that film critics have wildly divergent tastes. Unfortunately, time isn't on my side and I need to end the drama surrounding my top ten films of the year, in addition to handing out some awards. My reasons for wanting to comment on the issue of film critics and taste should be obvious to anyone who compares my best-of list to your's, Sam.
4. Roger Dodger (Dylan Kidd) - In the current issue of Film Comment there's a feature called "When Interns Attack" where the high-brow mag's unpaid interns get to rip on their least favorite movies of the year. About 'Roger Dodger,' they quip: "Mr. DP, is that an earthquake in your pocket or are you just really excited to see me?" I love this line because it's funny, but also because I, too, was initially turned off by Kidd's blatant indie-ness -- shaky, hand-held camera with countless closeups, opening lunch scene with neurotic New Yorkers spouting pseudo-intellectual babble. By the end of this opening scene, however, I was laughing hysterically at the title character's bluntness, his ability to talk without censoring himself in any way. The dialogue throughout is some of the sharpest and funniest of the year, but what elevates the movie is the complexity of Campbell Scott's character and performance. Roger is absolutely enigmatic, a selfish, immature, confident womanizer who also reveals himself to be a thoughtful, intelligent, insecure romantic.
3. 25th Hour (Spike Lee) - If you thought the Philip Glass score in 'The Hours' was annoying, Terence Blanchard's is at least... well, 25 times worse in '25th Hour.' The first 90 minutes are nearly wall-to-wall music, which is typical for Lee but really annoyed me here because the cast and script -- David Benioff's screenplay (based on his novel) is probably the best Lee has had to work with since his own 'Do The Right Thing' -- are so terrific. There are few things I'd rather watch more than Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper talk about anything. And yet, there's Blanchard hammering every crescendo in the conversation as the two discuss the pending imprisonment of their friend Monty (Ed Norton) with the remains of the World Trade Center in the background. OK, so that's what I didn't like. Fortunately, the music stops just in time for one of the best scenes in the film -- a verbal showdown between Pepper and Rosario Dawson, who plays Monty's girlfriend and possible betrayer. Pepper stands out among all of the talented performers. Like Lee's best films, '25th Hour' is essentially an art film, with (mostly) unsympathetic characters and plot machinations that don't resolve, made to look like a Hollywood movie. The ending is a magnificently ambiguous, bravura piece of filmmaking.
2. Catch Me If You Can (Steven Spielberg) - Forget 'Adaptation,' the year's real post-modern triumph is ironically (wink, wink) the most conventional. Frank Abagnale (Leo DiCaprio) is a con man who owes his charmed life as an airline pilot, lawyer, and doctor, to the power of the image. If you can look and act the part -- as seen on television and the movies -- people will accept you as the real thing. Although I've never been a huge Spielberg fan, 'Catch' is a near flawless piece of entertainment. My only quibble would be a scene between DiCaprio and 'Alias' star Jennifer Garner as a high-priced prostitute that is so overplayed it almost grinds the movie to a halt. DiCaprio is better here (read "more believable") than he is in 'Gangs of New York,' displaying a natural charm and confidence that belies an innocent naivete. As we've come to expect, Spielberg spins Abagnale's tale into the search for a father figure in the form of Tom Hanks' by-the-books FBI agent who is always just a step behind. And this time, I fell for it completely. It's one of the most intriguing on-screen relationships since Tilda Swinton and her blackmailer in 'The Deep End.'
1. Punch-Drunk Love (P.T. Anderson) - I'm with you completely, Sam. I'm not sure I can explain exactly why this movie was my favorite film of the year, except that it is the movie I most want to see again. Just as David Lynch does, Anderson has created a film world that always seems skewed, artificial. But then he inhabits this world with characters who display all of the feelings of insecurity and rage and loneliness that we find in everyday life. Watching the two collide is a beautiful trainwreck.
Movies that would be in my top ten had I seen them earlier: Y Tu Mama Tambien, The Pianist
Honorable mention: Signs, Antwone Fisher, Minority Report, The Hours, 13 Conversations About One Thing, All Or Nothing, Chicago, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Spider-Man, Tadpole
Movies I expected to be better: Bowling for Columbine, Lovely & Amazing, The Sunshine State, Adaptation, Storytelling, Igby Goes Down
Could have been worse: Frailty, The Rookie, Changing Lanes, Hart's War
Best ending that never was: Ben Affleck's last line of dialogue in 'Changing Lanes'
Best performances of the year: Daniel Day-Lewis ('Gangs of New York), Barry Pepper ('25th Hour'), Natasha McElhone ('Solaris'), Richard Gere ('Chicago'), Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid ('Far From Heaven'), Campbell Scott ('Roger Dodger'), Hugh Grant ('About a Boy'), Christopher Walken ('Catch Me If You Can'), Adrien Brody ('The Pianist')
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