The Oscars were this past weekend, and, despite a strong Best Picture winner (The Hurt Locker is an intense masterpiece) and the thrill of seeing a woman win Best Director (over her ex, no less), it was a year of mundane efforts (I only gave a five star review once for 2009). The Academy chose the most mundane of them for their nominees, An Education being the only other Best Pic nom that I was even excited about. Not that it’s all about me, mind you; there are critics raving about Up In The Air (uneven), Precious (overkill), The Blind Side (cheese), A Serious Man (seriously dry), Inglourious Basterds (disjointed) and Avatar (beautiful but boring, a quality only acceptable in men). The best are, as usual, to be found in the writing categories: In The Loop, aBest Adapted Screenplay nominee, is one of the sharpest and wittiest films made in years. My favourite movie of the year, however, was Michael Haneke’s stark, austere and perfectly executed The White Ribbon, which nabbed nods for Best Foreign-Language Film and for its dreamy black-and-white cinematography and, sadly, lost both. Haneke tones down his house of horrors routine for a subtle but deeply emotional look at the goings-on in a 19th century village where strange events have thrown inhabitants for a loop. Are people constantly being hurt because of one person’s sadism, or are the children of the village bad seeds? Haneke only asks the questions, he doesn’t answer them, and in doing so provides a psychological exploration of personalities that never falters in its intensity. Then he surprises us by displaying moments of tenderness that break your heart. After you’ve marveled at this masterpiece, go back to his earlier classics, The Piano Teacher (La Pianiste), The Time Of The Wolf, Funny Games (either version) and Caché.
The Oscars were this past weekend, and, despite a strong Best Picture winner (The Hurt Locker is an intense masterpiece) and the thrill of seeing a woman win Best Director (over her ex, no less), it was a year of mundane efforts (I only gave a five star review once for 2009). The Academy chose the most mundane of them for their nominees, An Education being the only other Best Pic nom that I was even excited about. Not that it’s all about me, mind you; there are critics raving about Up In The Air (uneven), Precious (overkill), The Blind Side (cheese), A Serious Man (seriously dry), Inglourious Basterds (disjointed) and Avatar (beautiful but boring, a quality only acceptable in men). The best are, as usual, to be found in the writing categories: In The Loop, aBest Adapted Screenplay nominee, is one of the sharpest and wittiest films made in years. My favourite movie of the year, however, was Michael Haneke’s stark, austere and perfectly executed The White Ribbon, which nabbed nods for Best Foreign-Language Film and for its dreamy black-and-white cinematography and, sadly, lost both. Haneke tones down his house of horrors routine for a subtle but deeply emotional look at the goings-on in a 19th century village where strange events have thrown inhabitants for a loop. Are people constantly being hurt because of one person’s sadism, or are the children of the village bad seeds? Haneke only asks the questions, he doesn’t answer them, and in doing so provides a psychological exploration of personalities that never falters in its intensity. Then he surprises us by displaying moments of tenderness that break your heart. After you’ve marveled at this masterpiece, go back to his earlier classics, The Piano Teacher (La Pianiste), The Time Of The Wolf, Funny Games (either version) and Caché.