If there's one positive thing to say about the 2001 movie year, it's that, in the manner of Being John Malkovich, an unusually large number of high-profile releases dared to shake up the cinematic status quo by pushing all sorts of envelopes, and in some instances even shredding them. Indeed, roughly a third of the pictures in my Top 20 managed to delight countless film fans with their brazenness and annoy just as many with their refusal to provide a smooth moviegoing ride. Movies like Memento, Vanilla Sky and Mulholland Drive dared to throw the rulebook regarding narrative streamlining right out the window, while pictures such as Amelie and Moulin Rouge revelled in their makers' abilities to tinker with the technical aspects of the medium (perhaps it's no coincidence that the hallucinatory drink absinthe prominently figured in the plots of two of the year's pictures -- Moulin Rouge and From Hell -- since it often seemed like most directors were bombed out of their gourds while orchestrating many of these head-turning films).
This influx of cutting edge entertainment was a boon, given that other aspects of the movie year were less enthralling. The early months of 2001 saw a glut of vulgar comedies seemingly aimed at folks who couldn't spell "wit" if you spotted them the "w" and "t," while the summer season -- often a period of exceptional popcorn pictures -- failed to deliver the goods, instead serving up movies of such low standing (e.g., Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Swordfish, Evolution) that even turning off the brain couldn't prevent some rot from infiltrating that precious gray matter.
If you've noticed that I haven't mentioned how the September 11 tragedy affected cinema, that's because it really hasn't... yet. Sure, some release dates were changed here and there, and in an absurd implementation of Orwellian logic, the World Trade Center was digitally removed from a handful of new releases. But it won't be for another year or two that we'll see whether the event has truly changed what types of films will be produced (jingoistic titles, less violent features, more humanistic dramas, etc.).
In the meantime, here's a look at what the past movie year did have to offer. True, there's nothing on the level of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey -- you know, the one that optimistically suggested humankind would have fully penetrated outer space by now -- but there are still a handful of titles worthy of time capsule inclusion.
THE 10 BEST
1. MEMENTO (Christopher Nolan). The best picture of 2001. Like Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep -- a movie so confusing that even Raymond Chandler (who wrote the original novel) couldn't figure it all out -- this audacious neo-film noir about an amnesiac (Guy Pearce in a well-tuned performance) searching for his wife's killer is so mesmerizing, you'll gladly see it again and again just to keep rearranging all the pieces and making them fit in any number of ways.
2. THE OTHERS (Alejandro Amenabar). Superior to The Sixth Sense in every facet, this late-summer sleeper not only justifies the promise of writer-director Amenabar's earlier Spanish-language films but immediately vaults itself into the lofty company of such enduring ghost stories as The Innocents, The Uninvited and The Haunting.
3. HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (John Cameron Mitchell). On an emotional level, the most affecting movie of the year is this brilliantly staged, scored and performed rock odyssey about a transsexual drag queen from Germany who's obsessed with issues of self-worth and self-identity. In this difficult role, show co-creator John Cameron Mitchell delivers the performance of the year.
4. AMELIE (Jean-Pierre Jeunet). It's been a decent year for film Francophiles, what with the releases of (among others) With a Friend Like Harry. . . and The Closet. But nothing from that Gallic country could touch Jeunet's intoxicating (and highly imaginative) romantic comedy about a puckish pixie (adorable Audrey Tatou) who seeks to improve the lives of those around her.
5. MONSTER'S BALL (Marc Forster). The anti-Amelie, this startling downer (albeit with fleeting rays of hope) ventures into Affliction territory with its hard-hitting tale about a gruff prison guard (Billy Bob Thornton) and his relationships with his bigoted father (Peter Boyle), his confused son (Heath Ledger), and a struggling waitress (Halle Berry) he meets right after overseeing her husband's execution. Look for this to open in Charlotte some time over the next few weeks.
6. MONSTERS, INC. (Pete Docter). Shrek, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Spy Kids -- all fine, all fun. But for a family flick that took it to the next level, the pick is clearly this latest playground of a picture from the creators of the Toy Story twofer. The gags are fresh, the visual style is dazzling, and the bond between gentle giant Sulley and little Boo is unexpectedly moving.
7. A BEAUTIFUL MIND (Ron Howard). Sure, they played fast and loose with the facts -- so what else is new in Hollywood? -- but between Howard's bold direction, Akiva Goldsman's carefully balanced script, and intuitive performances by Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly, this biopic about troubled math genius John Nash Jr. not only works as a character study but also gives us a sense of how one's world view might be tainted by all manner of inner demons.
8. GHOST WORLD (Terry Zwigoff). After conquering the documentary format with 1995's Crumb, Zwigoff now makes his mark in the world of fiction films with his stinging adaptation of Daniel Clowes' cult comic book. Thora Birch is right-on as the disaffected teen questioning what she disagrees with (basically, everything around her), while Steve Buscemi delivers a career performance as the middle-aged schlepp whose very cluelessness, as Birch's Enid notes, practically makes him cool in his own right.
9. IN THE BEDROOM (Todd Field). A Maine couple (Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson) are violently shaken out of their passive lifestyle by the murder of their college-bound son at the hands of his girlfriend's estranged husband. Suddenly, normal routines seem pointless, dialogue feels inadequate, and the urge for retribution becomes overwhelming. Actor Field's directorial debut takes no soothing shortcuts in its examination of the ease with which insidious evil can seep into even the most seemingly stable environments.
10. VANILLA SKY (Cameron Crowe). It doesn't quite match Spain's 1998 original, Open Your Eyes (opening Friday courtesy of the Charlotte Film Society), but Crowe's mind-blowing mind-bender -- think The Elephant Man meets The Matrix -- is that rare work that refuses to pull its punches even when they risk causing self-inflicted wounds. Along with A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Moulin Rouge, this was 2001's premiere love-it-or-leave-it title -- all in all, a good year for movies that made people talk, think, and often vehemently disagree.
The Next 10 (Honorable Mentions): No Man's Land; Bridget Jones's Diary; Lantana; startup.com; From Hell; Gosford Park; Moulin Rouge; Mulholland Drive; The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; The Tailor of Panama
Best Actor: John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch); Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom); Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind); Billy Bob Thornton (Monster's Ball & The Man Who Wasn't There); Denzel Washington (Training Day)
Best Actress: Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive); Nicole Kidman (The Others); Renee Zellweger (Bridget Jones's Diary); Halle Berry (Monster's Ball); Judi Dench (Iris)
Best Supporting Actor: Steve Buscemi (Ghost World); Jim Broadbent (Iris & Moulin Rouge); Paul Bettany (A Knight's Tale & A Beautiful Mind); Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring); Joe Pantoliano (Memento)
Best Supporting Actress: Sissy Spacek (In the Bedroom); Carrie Ann Moss (Memento); Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind); Cameron Diaz (Vanilla Sky); Marisa Tomei (In the Bedroom)
Disappointments: Ali, Hannibal, I Am Sam, The Majestic, Ocean's Eleven, Pearl Harbor
THE 10 WORST
1. 15 MINUTES Back in the 70s, could anyone have predicted that Robert De Niro would turn into a movie whore, taking any part offered just for the sake of an extra paycheck? This time, the overexposed actor finds himself in last year's worst film, a rancid thriller that purports to have insight into topical issues like media manipulation and rampant violence but is really nothing more than a sensationalistic glorification of gory excess.
2. FREDDY GOT FINGERED Public enemy #1 Tom Green wrote, directed and stars in this unwatchable comedy in which, among other things, he masturbates a horse and chews through a newborn's umbilical cord -- and those are the more tolerable scenes!
3. MALENA Officially a 2000 release (it opened in NY & LA), this didn't play the rest of the country until 2001, making it fair game as far as I'm concerned. This casually cruel "coming of age" tale from Italy would have been universally lambasted for its misogynistic streak had it not arrived under a protective coat of "art-house chic."
4. JOHN CARPENTER'S GHOSTS OF MARS At the rate that Carpenter's career continues to deteriorate, we can soon expect John Carpenter's Love Songs of the 70s Infomercial, John Carpenter's Alpo Commercial, and John Carpenter's End-of-the-Broadcasting-Day Test Pattern.
5. K-PAX My 10 Worst lists -- not to mention the nation's multiplexes -- have been free of Robin Williams for two years running. So go figure that two accomplished actors like Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges would fill the void with this nauseating pap in the Patch Adams vein.
6. HEAD OVER HEELS / SAY IT ISN'T SO / SAVING SILVERMAN The beginning of the year witnessed so many stupid gross-out comedies, it would seem a waste using three slots to single out the worst of 'em. For those keeping track, these are the ones featuring, respectively, supermodels covered in excrement after a toilet explodes, a guy with his hand stuck up a cow's ass, and Neil Diamond.
7. MONKEYBONE Admittedly, not every 2001 title that tried to do something different worked. Case in point: Monkeybone, the gargantuan flop (cost: $75 million; gross: $5 million) that stranded Brendan Fraser in yet another dud far beneath his obvious comedic abilities. It's a toss-up as to what was more noxious: the vapors emanating from the title character's behind or Whoopi Goldberg's performance as an eyepatch-wearing Death.
8. GLITTER Rhymes with Litter, Titter, Bitter, Shi. . . -- well, you get the drift. Any of those words could apply to this instant camp classic about a wide-eyed innocent (Mariah Carrey, killing all chances for a movie career) who becomes a pop star in about the time it takes to listen to a single on the radio.
9. JOE SOMEBODY Why anyone would release such a dreadful, no-frills comedy against a wide array of year-end heavy-hitters is a mystery even more challenging than the one at the center of Memento. Tim Allen's first question at his 2002 psychic reading: Is there life after Buzz Lightyear?
10. BANDITS A Bruce Willis vehicle makes this list almost every year, but this time, it's not his fault: He's actually easier to take than co-stars Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchett, whose atypically annoying work, combined with Barry Levinson's misplaced whimsy, help make Bandits a crime against cinema. *
