BEST MOVIES OF 2011 so far

[Chris Knipp]

It's very heartening that you maintain contact with the site and your contributions are very valuable even though few. I have Nostalgia for the Light and The Human Resources Manager with me in New York to watch on DVD. It's a great pity that I missed A Brighter Summer Day and in fact the whole Edward Yang retrospective at Lincoln Center -- I wasn't around when it was shown November 22-27. But I could have seen but skipped Lonergan's Margaret (I was here then, but my excuse is that I was busy with the NYFF screnings); if you'd hyped it earlier on I might have not missed it. These are among your shrewd recommendations. I'm surprised and interested that you are focusing on Palestinian films and wonder what drew you to to them -- the diaspora link; your own ancestry is Arab I now remember your explaining the origin of the name Jubis from "khubis", خبز -- bread in Arabic, when your grandfather(?) entering the country? As you may recall I have studied Arabic for many years and lived in Egypt and Morocco so naturally I'm interested in Arabic films in general. I have not seen all Elia Suleiman's films but I like what I have seen very much. I just missed The Time That Remains at the IFC Center ( January 7 - February 10, just before I cane back for the Rendez-Vous and New Directors/New Films. Good success with all your endeavors, thanks for your continuing contributions, and I look forward to more next year if you have more time as you say.

I think everybody loves Certified Copy, except me.*




__________________________
*I know it's very accomplished but it just seems too much like a trick, a posh parlor game, to me. It needs something more gritty about it, more like Fabián Bielinsky's Nueve reinas, not that that's necessarily a better film. Or maybe I would like it to be even more conceptual and artificial and surreal, like Rivette's L'Annee dernière à Marienbad... I don't know.

[Chris Knipp]

Good news in NYC for catching up -- this is #7 in the Metacritic's critics' combined 2011 best list but I have not seen it -- Kenneth Lonergan's MARGARET is coming back to Cinema Village Friday. Richard Brody reports this in his New Yorker Magazine movie blog reporting from a Tweet by Mike D'Angelo. Incidentally in his LA venue I find D'Angelo is another of the movie critics I like who is disappointed by Scorsese's HUGO. His Nov. 23 review was headed "Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' is a hollow spectacle." Milder than Walter Chaws one out of four stars, but still negative.

[Chris Knipp]

The VILLAGE VOICE i (Dec. 22, 2011) has published its annual film polls of 95 US critics. The critics' polls reflect more exotic offerings now available -- though not to mainstream American viewers. The list runs to 100; below are the top 20. A Separation is Iranian and not released yet even in NYC. Mysteries of Lisbon is a European miniseries, Uncle Boonmee is in Thai, Poetry is in Korean and film socialisme is in gibberish. Mainstream audience members would not be likely to want to sit through any of the top nine movies listed here, nor would the last three be accessible or appealing to them. But it's encouraging that a first-time small-budget US writer-director, Sean Durkin (Martha Mary May Marlene) is receiving top recognition, as is the British newcomer Andrew Haigh (Weekend), and the sophomore effort of the talented Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter), whose admired debut was Shotgun Stories (2007). The Best Actor and Best Actress lists give more famous names everyone will know. They are from longer lists too that you'll find on the VOICE website; the list titles are linked.

Though Chastain isn't listed here, the two big new actors of the year in film are Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Both seem everywhere all of a sudden and their outstanding talent has gained recognition. Chastain is in Tree of Life, Take Shelter, The Help, and The Debt this year. Fassbender is in Jane Eyre, X-Men: First Class, Shame, and A Dangerous Method. And that includes five of the most admired films of the year. It looks like Brad Pitt is not just a pretty face: he is listed as one of the year's best actors for his performances in both Moneyball and Tree of Life, and I don't think that's unjustified. The acting powerhouse -- he always projects steel spring energy -- is the astonishing Ryan Gosling, who appears in Crazy, Stupid, Love; Drive; and The Ides of March this year.

VILLAGE BEST FILM LIST
The Tree of Life
A Separation
Melancholia
Certified Copy
Mysteries of Lisbon
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Margaret
Meek's Cutoff
Drive
Take Shelter
Hugo
A Dangerous Method
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The Descendants
Weekend
The Artist
Poetry
Shame
Film Socialisme

VILLAGE BEST ACTOR LIST
Michael Shannon, Take Shelter
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Peyman Moaadi, A Separation
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
George Clooney, The Descendants
Brad Pitt, The Tree of Life
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Ryan Gosling, Drive
Michael Fassbender, A Dangerous Method

VOICE BEST ACTRESS LIST
Anna Paquin, Margaret
Juliette Binoche, Certified Copy
Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia
Yun Jung-hee, Poetry
Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Keira Knightley, A Dangerous Method
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Viola Davis, The Help

P.s. Tomorrow I indeed will be able to see Lonergan's Margaret at Cinema Village, so I won't have that gap in my knowledge of the year's best. Today I saw Emilio Estevez's The Way, starring his father,Martin Sheen. Maybe not one of the year's vest, but a valuable experience, meditating as it does on mortality, loss, and other serious issues while taking us along the way of pilgrimage of San Juan de Compostela.

[oscar jubis]

It's very heartening that you maintain contact with the site and your contributions are very valuable even though few. I have Nostalgia for the Light and The Human Resources Manager with me in New York to watch on DVD. It's a great pity that I missed A Brighter Summer Day and in fact the whole Edward Yang retrospective at Lincoln Center -- I wasn't around when it was shown November 22-27. But I could have seen but skipped Lonergan's Margaret (I was here then, but my excuse is that I was busy with the NYFF screnings); if you'd hyped it earlier on I might have not missed it. These are among your shrewd recommendations. I'm surprised and interested that you are focusing on Palestinian films and wonder what drew you to to them -- the diaspora link; your own ancestry is Arab I now remember your explaining the origin of the name Jubis from "khubis", خبز -- bread in Arabic, when your grandfather(?) entering the country? As you may recall I have studied Arabic for many years and lived in Egypt and Morocco so naturally I'm interested in Arabic films in general. I have not seen all Elia Suleiman's films but I like what I have seen very much. I just missed The Time That Remains at the IFC Center ( January 7 - February 10, just before I cane back for the Rendez-Vous and New Directors/New Films. Good success with all your endeavors, thanks for your continuing contributions, and I look forward to more next year if you have more time as you say.

I think everybody loves Certified Copy, except me.*




__________________________
*I know it's very accomplished but it just seems too much like a trick, a posh parlor game, to me. It needs something more gritty about it, more like Fabián Bielinsky's Nueve reinas, not that that's necessarily a better film. Or maybe I would like it to be even more conceptual and artificial and surreal, like Rivette's L'Annee dernière à Marienbad... I don't know.

You remember well what I said about my family history. I'll be more specific: 3 of my 4 grandparents were Christian Palestinians (most can trace their roots back to Europe) who emigrated to America (well, Central America, El Salvador) in the 1920s when they were in their teens. My other grandmother was 1st generation Greek-Salvadoran so there you go. I am also taking a course in Middle-Eastern Literature (mostly Jewish and Palestinian authors) in the Spring and my professor (who was a farmer in a kibbutz for 12 years before becoming an academic) allowed me to write about films for my final essay for the course. Besides all that, I have always wanted to get real deep into Suleiman's films because I think they are great. I love THE TIME THAT REMAINS: A Chronicle of a Present Absentee and I look forward to writing a detailed analysis of it.
I hope you check it out. It's out on DVD. It's great that you'll be watching Nostalgia for the Light (and also the Human Res. Mger). I am watching a lot of new movies right now. Finally watched the amazing Meek's Cutoff and the very interesting Shame . I'm trying to watch enough 2011 movies to feel comfortable posting a list of favorites the way I've always done. I will also rewatch Tree of Life and others that looked promising on first viewing. I will not include Edward Yang's masterpiece as I consider it a 1990s film. I will post as soon as I hear it's being released on DVD.

[Chris Knipp]

I like Suleiman and look forward to The Time That Remains. It is not available from Netflix, not now anyway. I have Nostalgia for the Light and will watch it soon. I am afraid I was not so impressed by The Human Resources Manager. Israeli films are always interesting but I agree with those who thought this not as well framed as his previous films, its first part not integrated with its last part and its nameless characters lacking specificity or depth. Actually I am not as impressed by his earlier films as many are. Other Israeli directors impress me more. I feel like he was trodding on Tony Gatlif and Emir Kusturica territory and not doing as good a job at the wild Eastern European thing as they do (though they can be sloppy and uneven too for that matter, but when they're hot they're way better than this).

On the other hand I just saw Kenneth Lonergan's Margaret and was blown away by it. It's definitely going on my best list. I will put up a review of it.

Somebody drew a parallel between Margaret and the Iranian A Separation, as two culture's studies of legal systems and I thought that was interesting, though writers need to stop trying so hard to make clever connections among the year's films. Margaret is not even totally one of the year's films. But I think you're probably right in not listing Yang's. At least Lonergan is very much alive even if Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella are not.

I feel at a loss about what to include in the list. I think there are too many good candidates. As usual I'll have to spread them out ino English only, foreign only, and unreleased only lists, plus a separate best documentary list.

I have my worst of the year: Mark Pellington's I Melt with You, starring Rob Lowe. I need to see New Year's Eve, with Ashton Kutcher, which could be no. 2. And there would be a kind of poetic justice if the two most gorgeous men in Hollywood were in the two worst movies of the year.

[Chris Knipp]

Ebert's list has been out for some time but he added more later. I like most of his choices, though I think other new indie films such as Bellflower are less flawed than Another Earth, is one quibble, and I wouldn't rate Shame that high or Drive. I haven't seen all of these but I have reviewed many of them on this site. Interesting that he tried alphabetical listing once but it met with an "uproar." It's the method I prefer. I can pick my faves but I don't like to rate them like wines or something. Ebert's descriptions of the films are often very sweet and you can find them here.
__________________________________________________ ____________________________________________

ROGER EBERT'S JOURNAL
The Best Films of 2011
By Roger Ebert on December 15, 2011 4:06 PM | ovies won't be familiar. Those are the most useful titles for you, instead of an ordering of movies you already know all about.

One recent year I committed the outrage of listing 20 movies in alphabetical order. What an uproar! Here are my top 20 films, in order of approximate preference.

1. "A Separation"
2. "Shame"
3. "The Tree of Life"
4. "Hugo"
5. "Take Shelter"
6. "Kinyarwanda"
7. "Drive"
8. "Midnight in Paris"
9. "Le Havre"
10. "The Artist."
11. Melancholia
12. "Terri"
13. "The Descendants"
14. "Margaret"
15. "Martha Marcy May Marlene"
16. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2"
17. Trust
18. "Life, Above All"
19. "The Mill and the Cross"
20. "Another Earth"

Those are my top 20, leaving out documentaries, which I will list later. To include them on the same list would be ranking oranges and apples. There were many other excellent films in 2011, some fully the equal of some of these. Alphabetically:

"13 Assassins," "The Adventures of Tintin," "Beginners," "Blue Valentine," "Boy Wonder," "Certified Copy," "The Future," "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," "The Guard," "The Help," "Higher Ground," "I Will Follow," "J Edgar," "The Last Rites of Joe May," "Le Quattro Volte," "Margin Call" "Meek's Cutoff," "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol," "Moneyball," "Mysteries of Lisbon," "My Week with Marilyn," "Poetry," "The Princess of Montpensier," "Rango," "A Screaming Man," "Silent Souls," "Tyrannosaur," "Queen to Play," "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," "War Horse" and "The Whistleblower."

Note: Many of you asked if I forgot about "We Need to Talk About Kevin." Not at all. It doesn't even have an opening date in Chicago, and so will be on my list of the best films of 2012. But if it helps, just say I called it "one of the best films of the year," which it certainly is. Watch Tilda Swinton here as she talks with me about the film at the Toronto Film Festival: http://bit.ly/qYwRJf

--ROBER EBERT'S JOURNAL

[oscar jubis]

[QUOTE=Chris Knipp;27158]This is a tally that is updated, but at present it looks as follows. I've left out the scores and just give you the titles and the order they're in:
1 The Tree of Life
2 Certified Copy
3 Drive
4 A Separation
5 The Descendants
6 Hugo
7 Margaret
8 The Artist
9 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
10 Mysteries of Lisbon
11 Melancholia
12 Take Shelter
13 A Brighter Summer Day
Meek's Cutoff
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
16 Shame
17 Moneyball
Martha Marcy May Marlene
The Skin I Live In
20 Poetry
Bridesmaids
A Dangerous Method [/SIZE][/B]


I don't understand how they came up with the posted list. The list of the highest scores for 2011 films at metacritic is as follows:


We Were Here
Metascore: 94

* Release Date: Sep 9, 2011

#
My Perestroika
Metascore: 90

* Release Date: Mar 23, 2011

#
Poetry
Metascore: 89

* Release Date: Feb 11, 2011

#
The Artist
Metascore: 89

* Release Date: Nov 23, 2011

#
The Arbor
Metascore: 88

* Release Date: Apr 27, 2011

#
I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You
Metascore: 87

* Release Date: Mar 25, 2011

#
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Metascore: 87

* Release Date: Dec 9, 2011

#
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Metascore: 87

* Release Date: Mar 4, 2011

#
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Metascore: 87

* Release Date: Jul 15, 2011

#
Moneyball
Metascore: 87

* Release Date: Sep 23, 2011

#
The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu
Metascore: 87

* Release Date: Sep 9, 2011

#
13 Assassins
Metascore: 87

* Release Date: Apr 29, 2011

#
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Metascore: 86

* Release Date: Apr 29, 2011

#
Of Gods and Men
Metascore: 86

* Release Date: Feb 25, 2011

#
Children of Hiroshima
Metascore: 86

* Release Date: Apr 22, 2011

#
The Interrupters
Metascore: 86

* Release Date: Jul 29, 2011

#
City of Life and Death
Metascore: 85

* Release Date: May 11, 2011

#
Nostalgia for the Light
Metascore: 85

* Release Date: Mar 18, 2011

#
Take Shelter
Metascore: 85

* Release Date: Sep 30, 2011

#
The Tree of Life
Metascore: 85

* Release Date: May 27, 2011

#
Meek's Cutoff
Metascore: 85

* Release Date: Apr 8, 2011

#
Position Among the Stars
Metascore: 84

* Release Date: Sep 15, 2011

#
The Descendants
Metascore: 84

* Release Date: Nov 16, 2011

#
Project Nim
Metascore: 83

* Release Date: Jul 8, 2011

#
Hugo
Metascore: 83

* Release Date: Nov 23, 2011

#
Le Havre
Metascore: 82

* Release Date: Oct 21, 2011

#
Incendies
Metascore: 82

* Release Date: Apr 22, 2011

#
The Trip
Metascore: 82

* Release Date: Jun 10, 2011

#
Certified Copy
Metascore: 82

* Release Date: Mar 11, 2011

#
To Be Heard
Metascore: 82

* Release Date: Oct 14, 2011

#
Mysteries of Lisbon
Metascore: 82

* Release Date: Aug 5, 2011

#
The Inheritors
Metascore: 81

* Release Date: Sep 9, 2011

#
Beginners
Metascore: 81

* Release Date: Jun 3, 2011

#
Weekend
Metascore: 81

* Release Date: Sep 23, 2011

#
Kati with an I
Metascore: 81

* Release Date: Apr 8, 2011

#
Thunder Soul
Metascore: 81

* Release Date: Sep 23, 2011

#
Melancholia
Metascore: 81

* Release Date: Nov 11, 2011

#
Midnight in Paris
Metascore: 81

* Release Date: May 20, 2011

#
Tuesday, After Christmas
Metascore: 81

* Release Date: May 27, 2011

#
The Mill and the Cross
Metascore: 80

* Release Date: Sep 14, 2011

#
The Four Times (Le Quattro Volte)
Metascore: 80

* Release Date: Mar 30, 2011

#
Senna
Metascore: 79

* Release Date: Aug 12, 2011

#
Coriolanus
Metascore: 79

* Release Date: Dec 2, 2011

#
Drive
Metascore: 79

* Release Date: Sep 16, 2011

#
The Soft Skin (1969)
Metascore: 78

* Release Date: Mar 11, 2011

#
My Joy
Metascore: 78

* Release Date: Sep 30, 2011

#
Putty Hill
Metascore: 78

* Release Date: Feb 18, 2011

#
Foreign Parts
Metascore: 78

* Release Date: Mar 10, 2011

#
The Guard
Metascore: 78

* Release Date: Jul 29, 2011

#
The Yellow Sea
Metascore: 78

* Release Date: Dec 2, 2011

#
The Princess of Montpensier
Metascore: 78

* Release Date: Apr 15, 2011

#
Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness
Metascore: 78

* Release Date: Jul 6, 2011

#
Benda Bilili!
Metascore: 77

* Release Date: Sep 30, 2011

#
Bill Cunningham New York
Metascore: 77

* Release Date: Mar 16, 2011

#
Circo
Metascore: 77

* Release Date: Apr 1, 2011

#
Louder Than a Bomb
Metascore: 77

* Release Date: May 18, 2011

#
Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest
Metascore: 76

* Release Date: Jul 8, 2011

#
Rebirth
Metascore: 76

* Release Date: Sep 2, 2011

#
Jane Eyre
Metascore: 76

* Release Date: Mar 11, 2011

#
Buck
Metascore: 76

* Release Date: Jun 17, 2011

#
Inni
Metascore: 76

* Release Date: Nov 11, 2011

#
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Metascore: 76

* Release Date: Oct 21, 2011

#
World on a Wire (1973)
Metascore: 76

* Release Date: Jul 22, 2011

#
Margin Call
Metascore: 76

* Release Date: Oct 21, 2011

#
A Dangerous Method
Metascore: 76

* Release Date: Nov 23, 2011

#
Bobby Fischer Against the World
Metascore: 76

* Release Date: Sep 9, 2011

#
Submarine
Metascore: 76

* Release Date: Jun 3, 2011

#
The Muppets
Metascore: 76

* Release Date: Nov 23, 2011

#
Love Exposure
Metascore: 75

* Release Date: Sep 2, 2011

#
Rango
Metascore: 75

* Release Date: Mar 4, 2011

#
Silent Souls
Metascore: 75

* Release Date: Sep 16, 2011

#
Attack the Block
Metascore: 75

* Release Date: Jul 29, 2011

#
Win Win
Metascore: 75

* Release Date: Mar 18, 2011

#
Bridesmaids
Metascore: 75

* Release Date: May 13, 2011

#
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
Metascore: 75

* Release Date: Sep 2, 2011

#
The Desert of Forbidden Art
Metascore: 75

* Release Date: Mar 11, 2011

#
Caterpillar
Metascore: 75

* Release Date: May 6, 2011

#
Point Blank
Metascore: 75

* Release Date: Jul 29, 2011

#
Scheherazade Tell Me a Story
Metascore: 75

* Release Date: Aug 12, 2011

#
Pina
Metascore: 75

* Release Date: Dec 23, 2011

#
The Woodmans
Metascore: 74

* Release Date: Jan 19, 2011

#
Tabloid
Metascore: 74

* Release Date: Jul 15, 2011

#
Into the Abyss
Metascore: 74

* Release Date: Nov 11, 2011

#
The Time That Remains
Metascore: 74

* Release Date: Jan 7, 2011

[Chris Knipp]

I don't understand how they came up with the posted list. The list of the highest scores for 2011 films at metacritic is as follows:

You have copied out all Metacritic's 2011 Movie Releases by Score list of what the Metacritic aggregators estimated at the time to have been the most high rated films during the year. The most enthusiastic individual reviews. But that's not the same as the films that the critics now, at the end of the year, decide in thinking back over all the films they've seen are the year's best. The title of the list I gave from Metacritic is 2011 Film Critic Top Ten Lists. (Metacritic also prints the individual lists there.) They explain their combined list thus:

Below, we collect every year-end Top Ten list published by major film critics and publications. This page will be updated throughout December and January whenever new lists are published; be sure to check back frequently.

We Were Here and My Perestoika, which got such enthusiastic reviews at the time, and hence rank so high on the list of the highest scores for 2011 films at Metacritic, don't figure in the 2011 Film Critic Top Ten Lists compilation. Often critics find nothing but good to say about a given film, but at year's end don't decide to rank it as highly when considering it in a wider context. Rankings are cruel, and by nature limiting. Reviews on the other hand are a chance to celebrate and eulogize. But when the time comes to make the list of the year's best, what got the biggest rave at the time may not be the best indication.

[oscar jubis]

Thanks for the reply.
There are some films that simply have not been viewed by a significant number of critics because they don't have a publicity machine behind them and had limited or short releases. Retentive primacy also plays a factor in that films watched at the beginning of the year get forgotten. There is a natural tendency to list recently-viewed films, especially by people who don't keep records. I imagine there are critics who figure Suleiman's amazing THE TIME THAT REMAINS: Chronicle of a Present Absentee was a 2010 release. It feels that way: it opened in NY on January 6, 2011. Same goes for the best completely forgotten 2011 release: I TRAVEL BECAUSE I HAVE TO, I COME BACK BECAUSE I LOVE YOU (which I plan to rewatch soon). For me that is probably the clearest indication that a movie is good: whether or not I feel compelled to rewatch it (and how it holds up during those viewings and reveal stuff I didn't catch before).

[cinemabon]

Did I just miss it somewhere, or did you review "My week with Marilyn" somewhere else? The performance of Michelle Williams blows any other female performance of the year out of the water. If that isn't a Best Actress performance then I don't know a fucking thing about the one gut feeling I've had my entire life.... its that good.

[Chris Knipp]

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN was part of the New York Film Festival and I reviewed it in the 2011 NYFF Festival Coverage section October 9. I noted Michelle's accomplishments -- and Eddie Redmayne's -- in their respective roles and said the movie "looks likely to draw some attention at Oscar time. "

[cinemabon]

I followed your thread, unfortunately I am unable to post any reply to that post. However, I would just like to go on record that I thought "My week with Marilyn" was a superb and highly overlooked film and should be included on some of these lists for "best" acting catagory.

Kenneth Branagh's interpretation of Lawrence Olivier was spot on (although I thought Julia Ormand's Vivian Leigh was restrained at best and Judy Dench didn't even try to copy Thorndike, rather just an aging Judy Dench, which is alright since I like her anyway). And while Eddie Redmayne performed his part as the dewy-eyed youth caught in the headlights of a film production company, it was Michelle Williams who captured that essence of Marilyn - the way Monroe looked into the camera, the way she walked, the way she held her head - everything about the actress Williams managed to channel via her masterful performance. My wife, who does not watch "old" movies the way I do, came away fascinated with Marilyn Monroe, wanting to know more about the actress and her life. She peppered me with questions for two days! It is rare that an actor can give so much to role and bring life to well known personality in such a way that compliments that person with the most sincerest form of flattery.

If "My week with Marilyn" is not nominated for Best Actress or Best Supporting Actor, I feel it will be the one of the worst sins the Academy has ever commited... and since I am not without sin, I will not cast any stone, only aspersions.

[Chris Knipp]

Only the reviewer cleared for the festival can post in the Festival Coverage threads. That's why I put up a thread for the festival in the Forums. So you could post a comment on MY WEEK WITH MARILYN on the NYFF 2011 Forum thread.. You have to go back and find it. The search box in the upper right of this page willl take you there. I think that would be here:

http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.p...ight=nyff+2011

Definitely Williams' performance is the greatest focused feat of mimicry. It's essential that it be convincing and impressive or the movie, which remembers a celebrity, would probably not work. None of the other actors tries that hard; just an approximation in the spirit of the person and the period is deemed to be enough, I reckon. I wasn't that impressed by Brannagh's imitation of Olivier's voice, look, etc., but I guess the film gives the memoirist's sense of how he behaved then, and Brannagh is an authoritative actor. He seemed to be the new Olivier at first, though he hasn't quite lived up to that great promise.

Of course Marilyn is the center of attraction. The story wouldn't exist without her. But young Clark (Redmayne) is equally essential. It's he who had the experience and wrote the memoir and it's all seen through his starry eyes.

I'm planning to see this movie again today with a friend.

[cinemabon]

Much of the film also relies on the Marilyn Monroe "look" or to be more specific, the way she appeared when photographed. It takes a good cinematographer to copy the work of others while at the same time making it appear fresh. So that in addition to Williams' performance and the direction given to the scene by Simon Curtis, the lighting and photography by first time film shooter Ben Smithard (who came from a history of television shows) deserves special mention as well. Curtis chose someone who captured the essence of Marilyn with light in several scenes (such as the bath tub scene, her first entrance onto the production set, and the staircase in the castle). I was especially impressed with the variety of ways the Curtis/Smithard team captured her spirit in the way they had her supine on the bed and the chaise lounge (we could add make up effects here, too). I felt at times I was watching Marilyn in a studio being shot by some expert cameraman, moving his lens into any position and catching that beautiful essence of senuality that she projected with so little effort.

[Chris Knipp]

Elizabeth Olsen with Hugh Dancy
of Martha Marcy May Marlene
at NYFF

I'm still working on my 2011 Best Movies Lists, but here is a teaser, a whole list of Best American films. I know your favorite movies aren't listed here. But these are mine -- I think. I will have Best Foreign (including other English-speaking countries this time), Best Unreleased (in the US) and I am working on a Shortlisted list. Also a list of American Indie films, because those are victories. That list includes Pariah and Terri. You will be able to get these on DVD.

BEST AMERICAN
Tree of Life (Terrence Mallick)
Melancholia (Lars von Traier)
The Descendants (Wes Anderson)
Margaret (Kenneth Londergan)
Moneyball (Bennett Miller)
Martha Marcy May Marlene Sean Durkin
Margin Call (J.C. Chandor)
Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)
Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols)
Crazy, Stupid, Love (Glenn Ficarra, John Requa)
Warrior (Gavin O'Connor)