Chattanooga Pulse

Is it possible for any film critic hope to have a complete Top 10 list at the end of a given year?  Not unless one does it for a living…and since precious few of us can pull that off, there are bound to be a couple films I’ve missed that didn’t make my list.  Nevertheless, here are my ten favorite films of 2009.  Feel free to take them or leave them.  (Personally, I think you should take them.)

10. Moon. A strange and unique one-man show starring Sam Rockwell as a lone astronaut presiding over the harvest of Helium 2 on the moon.  Infused with a heavy, impending dread by newcomer Duncan Jones’s direction, Moon is a slick, polished affair with some staggering handcrafted special effects and a contagious score by Clint Mansell.  Supposedly there is a trilogy in the works.

9. Where the Wild Things Are. Maurice Sendak’s classic story enchants yet again in Spike Jonze’s beautiful, expansive retelling.  It isn’t a children’s film, but it’s perfect for those of us who grew up with the book and look back fondly on the days when we thought and spoke like children.  It also wars with (500) Days of Summer for the best soundtrack of the year.

8. Lake Tahoe. A young man crashes his car against a telephone pole and looks for help in fixing his vehicle. Lake Tahoe feels like a search in itself as the camera lingers on scenes with long takes of the sometimes desolate, sometimes beautiful scenery.  When the reason for the movie’s title is revealed at the end, it becomes apparent that this young man who crashed his vehicle has been searching for something far more important than car parts.  Innovative and ponderous, Lake Tahoe may be an endurance test for some, but give it a chance—it may find a home in your soul.

7. Inglourious Basterds. Tension, tension, tension, from the first scene to the last.  Quentin Tarantino’s latest is also a film nerd’s dream come true, complete with historical references, visual nods, and a diabolically satisfying finale in a movie theater.  Darn good entertainment.

6. The Soloist. Joe Wright’s lovely film about the friendship between a Los Angeles Times columnist and a homeless cellist was nearly forgotten by everyone in the midst of the spring movie dregs, but here’s hoping it will find a new life on DVD. You’ll find beauty at every turn in The Soloist—in the relationship forged between the two men, the music that inspires one of them, the cinematography that verges on the divine, and so much more.

5. That Evening Sun. The story of an aging man trying to stake his claim on property that is rightfully his, That Evening Sun is a languid slice of Southern grit in which Hal Holbrook gives the defining performance of his career and director Scott Teems inaugurates his own career as a wise and sure cinematic craftsman.  It’s a shame that this masterful film (shot entirely in Knoxville) hasn’t received more buzz.   Keep watch for it in Chattanooga in the coming months.

4. Avatar. James Cameron’s latest sci-fi opus is three hours of unmediated wonderment with the most seamless use of CGI and 3D to date, classic story structure, a distillation of transcendental thought that would make Thoreau squeal in delight, and towering action sequences so thorough they could be considered separate films in their own right.   To miss this film on the big screen would be to miss the dawning of the future of blockbuster movies, a future that should have the pubescent Michael Bay cowering in the shadow of the mighty James Cameron.

3. Up. Pixar achieves perfection again in their most visually arresting picture yet, a masterpiece of color and light with a G-rated story that could steal the heart of even the most calloused moviegoer.

2. A Serious Man. In the seconds after physics professor Larry Gopnik receives a phone call in the final minutes of A Serious Man, we become aware that Joel and Ethan Coen are yet again toying with our cinematic senses.  But this time, it’s on a cosmic level…and we’ve quite literally laughed up a storm.

1. Up in the Air. George Clooney is Ryan Bingham, the man your boss calls when he doesn’t want to fire you face-to-face, and his story is one for people who are daily forgetting the importance of communicating meaningfully with others—people like me, and probably you.  Director Jason Reitman (Juno, Thank You for Smoking) exchanges his smarmy “indie flick” sensibilities for something surprisingly old-fashioned (think Frank Capra without the cheese) and winds up with a funny, bracing, and thoroughly true film for our time and place.  Up in the Air is one for the ages.