Barker's Best of Cinema, 2005
By Eric Barker

It's common to bemoan the sorry state of filmmaking at year's end, especially since the turn of a new century, but this year even the grimmest critics were pleasantly surprised by the goodness on hand. I'm skeptical about whether or not 2005 was actually better than all recent years - that really depends on what you like - but I'll concede that it was above average, with more skillfully handled political awareness on display than in the last two decades, at least, and much more attention paid in general to the art of storytelling.

David Strathairn is superb as the irreplaceable Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck.

The following list should be viewed as a work-in-progress, because I am not a professional movie critic, which means I don't get into movies free, and I don't get to see everything worth seeing right away. So, at least three possible masterworks are missing from this wrap up: Wong Kar Wai's 2046 , David Cronenberg's A History of Violence and Terrence Malick's The New World . These films either didn't stay in theatres long enough or, in a couple of cases, I was negligent in my duty as a fan of the director and didn't make the effort I should have (I generally do not go to a movie because of who is acting in it; the vast majority of actors, including stars, are beggars at the table of art-and-commerce, scrambling for crumbs like the rest of us).

But 2005's films were good enough, none of these movies would replace the eleven I've chosen for my list; they could only make it longer. So, maybe it was a great year after all, a certified 1939 (or 1967, or 1982; see this month's Classic essay, The Myth of 1939 ). But, being something of an historian, I also know that we never recognize the truly great films for what they are when they're under our noses, when sociopolitical reality, box-office reports and artistic prejudices are apt to cloud everyone's better judgment. The real masterpiece of 2005 may be as yet unknown to us. It may also be traveling incognito below.

Best of the Best, 2005

1. Brokeback Mountain :

Based on a 1998 novella by E. Annie Proulx, this already famous movie is a powerful drama about two young men who fall in love with each other in a time and place - Wyoming in the 1950s - where you could be killed for such things and people would just think you had it coming. Like all great lovers in art and history, Ennis and Jack struggle against the undertow of their forbidden desires, suffer long separations that tear them apart inside, blame each other when things go wrong, and wind up loving each other forever, in spite of every obstacle, betrayal and loss. It's the most convincing cinematic love story in ages, made for an era that simply doesn't know what to think about love any more, nevermind whom it might be between.

Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal give virtuoso performances, bringing out the full range of their characters' humanity with subtlety, humor, and a lingering resonance with real experience. Brokeback Mountain is only incidentally a “gay cowboy” movie; rather, it's a film for anyone who has ever loved someone that they couldn't have. Directed by the extraordinary Ang Lee, who never visited a subculture that he could not capture on film, it's the film of the year, beautifully photographed, brilliantly written by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana.

2. Capote :

My personal favorite independent/prestige film of 2005 (so far). It covers seven years in the life of Truman Capote, one of the great prose artists of the 20th century, while he was researching and writing his trend-setting “nonfiction novel” In Cold Blood . Capote was a fearless observer of the human condition and a marvelous eccentric, two qualities he deftly exploited to become one of the most recognizable celebrities of the 1960s, but he got much more than he bargained for when he decided to write his 360-degree look at the sensational murder of the Clutter family, a case that made national news in 1959.

Unfettered by the inconvenience of journalistic ethics, Capote became so invested in the personal lives of the people he met - in particular, one of the killers - that he lost his way, and ultimately his gift for storytelling. Though he wound up writing the book of the decade, he never finished another. Philip Seymour Hoffman gives an electrifying demonstration in How to Inhabit a Role, without question the year's most amazing performance.

3. Match Point :

For years Woody Allen's fans have had the sinking feeling that he was losing his edge, but in his defense, a guy who makes a movie a year is bound to produce a turkey now and then. Still, it's been twelve years since the lacerating satire of Bullets Over Broadway , which makes the sudden arrival of dark, steamy, sardonic Match Point all the sweeter. More akin to a noir thriller by Nietzsche than it is to any kind of Woody Allen film we're used to, that may also make it his most profoundly personal film since Manhattan (1979). It's a stripped down tale of lust and panic among the English upper crust, sans all of the Woodman's typical allusions to writers and filmmakers he admires. Well, there may be a touch of Bergman's merciless gaze in the way Woody unfolds the year's most chilling drama, one dreadful twist at a time, but that's only if you're looking for it. This is a cinematic master of the seventies and eighties daring to be a master again, a cause for celebration in any year.

4. Munich :

Steven Spielberg's 25th feature as a director is his most mature work to date, without a single gratuitous moment calling attention to his presence behind the camera. Instead, all of his skills are focused on telling the gripping story of a secret Mossad hit squad that tracked down the terrorists responsible for murdering Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics. The agents took out the terrorists one at a time over a period of several years, which makes for many varied moments, some of them unbearably suspenseful. But Munich is an action movie with a conscience, drawing us close to the deaths it describes, daring to question the wisdom of revenge in the modern world by showing what real revenge does to a man's soul, especially one who begins his quest with the best intentions. The film never, ever apologizes for the assassination of cold-blooded killers, but it doesn't lie about the cost, either, it doesn't let us get away with cheering for some one-dimensional good guy. With a superb screenplay by Tony Kushner ( Angels in America ) and Eric Roth ( The Insider ), from the book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team by George Jonas.

5. Good Night, and Good Luck :

A fantastic docudrama about the brighter side of journalistic ethics, once upon a time, when the nation's most powerful newscaster, Edward R. Murrow, took on the most frightening demagogue of the day, Senator Joe McCarthy. Parallels to now, anyone? No, not really, because there's no one with Murrow's brains and guts who could even get hired in contemporary, multinational corporate broadcasting (sorry, Anderson Cooper). Terse and funny, as scrupulously faithful to facts as its protagonist, this film is all business, moving straight to its points and making them with reason and finesse. Director and co-writer George Clooney recreates a 1950s atmosphere of smoke-filled press rooms and free-flowing alcohol, and intelligent people threatened by political psychosis, with loving care. Outstanding black-and-white cinematography by Robert Elswit.

Honorable Mention, 2005 (alphabetical)

Batman Begins: Director Christopher Nolan ( Memento ) revivifies a dead franchise and makes it better than ever, humanizing Bruce Wayne, crafting an action masterwork that is genuinely funny, thought-provoking and thrilling from first to last. (complete review from June ‘05 http://www.shotgunreviews.com /reviews/batmanbegins.html )

Cinderella Man: Wonderful on every level of moviemaking, and one of the best films ever made about the Great Depression. Ostensibly about a little guy who beat the odds - heavyweight boxer Jim Braddock - the film's heart is in its portrayal of how some men are able to transcend lives of quiet desperation through an abiding love for their families.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin : Here's an idea, how about a sex comedy that's really funny, made by and for people who seem to have actually had sex at some point in their lives? The constant gags are riotous, while the requisite crudity is made palatable by a genuine feeling for how people really behave. Indie goddess Catherine Keener should have been Oscar-nominated for this movie rather than for Capote , but they don't give Oscars for great craftsmanship in slapstick sleepers.

King Kong: Peter Jackson's bold monument to the fairy tale that made him a filmmaker is too long, but it's also the rarest of big ticket fantasies, a remake of a classic that improves on the original. Spectacular showmanship, great entertainment (complete review from December ‘05 http://www.shotgunreviews.com /reviews/kingkong.html )

The Squid and the Whale: Divorce is not funny, except in this ruthlessly quirky film stuffed with superior performances, including Jeff Daniels as an arrogant bastard in permanent denial, Laura Linney as the woman who's over it, all of it, and especially 12-year-old Owen Kline (son of Kevin) as the baby of the family, torn in his allegiance to both parents.

Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit: The endlessly inventive feature debut of Nick Park's endlessly inventive, plasticine puppet shows starring a bumbling inventor and his silent, smarter dog. Like its series predecessors, the film's glorious stop-motion animation proves that an art form is only as good or bad as its artist. Delightful comedy, with hilarious voice work by Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter.

Top Rated American Feature of 2005 by users at Internet Movie Database: Frank Miller and Roberto Rodriguez' Sin City . Also loved by Roger Ebert. Although visually speaking it was certainly an innovative work, I finally found it, to borrow a venerable film noir line, awfully cold around the heart.

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