Roger Ebert's Favorites -- Available on Film Fresh!
Submitted Tue, Mar 30, 2010 10:20 by marinaThere may not be one movie critic whose opinion is the be-all-and-end-all of a film's reception...but, nevertheless, Roger Ebert might come pretty close. Ebert's reviews are syndicated to more than 200 newspapers in the US and worldwide. He was the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1975, the first film critic to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the first to receive honorary degrees from the University of Colorado, the AFI Conservatory, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Perhaps Ebert has distinguished himself as a critic for so long because of his "relative" and democratic approach to criticism. Ebert likes to consider a film's prospective audience before he assesses its value, which allows him to remain flexible through decades of changes in cinema.
Ebert received over 400 comments on his website when he recently posted his list, "The Best Films of 2009", which he divided thoughtfully into both "mainstream" and independent movies. Whether or not his readers agreed with his choices, there's no doubt that even their objections reaffirmed Ebert's importance in the world of criticism.
We've highlighted a number of films from Ebert's list (along with his descriptions) below that are also available on Film Fresh. Ebert's Hollywood selections might be obvious choices, but his adminiration for great 2009 indies like SIN NOMBRE and JULIA direct our attention toward lesser-known pictures that still deserve praise:
A star is born with Carey Mulligan's performance
as a 16-year-old schoolgirl who is flattered and romanced, along with
her protective parents, by an attractive, mysterious man in his mid-30s
(Peter Sarsgaard). He's sophisticated, she's not; she sees him as a way
out of London suburbia and into the circles she dreams of entering.
He's not a molester but an opportunist and role-player, and Lone
Scherfig's film is wise about what people want in a relationship and
what they get. Faithfully adapted by Nick Hornby from the memoirs of
the well-known British journalist Lynn Barber.
"War is a drug," the opening title informs us, and in one of the best war movies ever, Jeremy Renner plays an expert member of an elite bomb disposal unit in Iraq. Somewhat guarded by a protective suit, he handles delicate mechanisms designed to outwit him. It's like chess. He's very good at his job, but is that what drives him to put his life on the line hundreds of times? Not pro-war, not anti-war, not about the war in Iraq, but about the minds of dedicated combat soldiers. Directed flawlessly by Kathryn Bigelow; as one critic's group after another honored it in their year-end awards, it became a sure thing for picture, actor and director nominations.
Quentin Tarantino is a natural and joyous filmmaker who feeds off his own tory story that fearlessly rewrites history. It finally comes down to a conflict between a fatuous Nazi monster (Chrisophe Waltz) and a fearless French Jewish heroine (Mélanie Laurent), with Brad Pitt as a knife wielding American commando leader. You have to hand him this: it's one World War Two movie where we don't know the ending. Waltz won best actor at Cannes 2009, has swept the critic's awards, is a shoo-in as best supporting actor.
The heart-rending story of an overweight, abused young teenager and the support she finds from a teacher and a social worker, who both glimpse her potential. Harrowing, depressing, and yet uplifting, as director Lee Daniels uses her fantasies to show the dreams inside. What a sure and brave lead performance by newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, and what a powerful one by Mo'Nique, as her heartless mother. She, Mariah Carey, Paula Patton and Sherri Shepherd are all but unrecognizable as they disappear into key supporting roles.
Another great film the Coen Brothers, returning to their homeland of the Minneapolis suburbs to tell the story of a modern-day Job who strives to be a good man, a "serious man," and finds everything--but everything--going wrong. Michael Stuhlbarg gives a virtuoso lead performance as the suffering man, who earnestly tries to do the right thing. Fred Melamed is inspired as his best friend, who, he discovers, is having an affair with his wife. The friend tries to console him; he is grief and grief counselor at once.
In Japan, a young man apprentices to the trade of "encoffinment," the preparation of corpses before their cremation. It is the only employment he can find, after he loses his job as a cellist in an orchestra that goes broke. The company owner approaches the job as a sacred vocation, and although the hero and his wife find the task unsettling, he slowly learns a new respect for himself through respect for the dead. A visually beautiful and poetic film by Yojiro Takita. Winner of the 2009 Academy Award as best foreign film.
the third remarkable film by Ramin Bahrani, after "Man Push Cart" and "Chop Shop." In Winston-Salem, NC, a straight-talking man around 70 (onetime Elvis bodyguard Red West) gets into the taxi of an African immigrant (Souleymane Sy Savané, from the Ivory Coast). For $1,000, paid immediately, he wants to be driven in 10 days to the top of a mountain in Blowing Rock National Park, to a place so windy that the snow falls up. He says nothing about a return trip. As a friendship develops between them, the days tick inexorably away.
The most striking performance in Tilda Swinton's exciting career. Only poor marketing prevented this from succeeding as the thriller of the year. Swinton plays an alcoholic slut who agrees to help kidnap a child, and ends up with him on an odyssey in Mexico through a thorn thicket of people you do not want to meet. If there's one thing consistent about her behavior, it's how she lies to all of them. Directed by Erick Zonca.
Atop the fright cars of a train running north through Mexico, hopeful emigrants ride toward their dream of the United States. Two stories: We follow a young woman from Honduras, and Casper, a young gang member who robs those riding on the cars. During the odyssey, scenes of great beauty join with others of the horrifying closed world of gangs. We realize that the difference between the two worlds is the scope of their dreams. An extraordinary debut by Cary Fukunaga, only 31. Won for direction and cinematography at Sundance 2009.
To read Roger Ebert's list in its entirety, click here!
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