Yale's top ten list for 2010

I know I am running late with my top ten list for 2010, but since I don’t receive tickets for advance screenings or passes for the numerous film festivals around the world, I couldn’t see every film that counts for 2010 until the new year. This was a surprisingly good year for films, specifically foreign cinema. I know my personal top ten list for 2010 won’t influence academy voters, but I’d like to think that my opinion counts with the best of them. Here are my favorite films of 2010…………

1. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATOO. This Swedish hit was overlooked by the academy, but I was mesmerized by this grand and richly layered mystery. Noomi Rapace gives an outstanding performance as the sexually ambivalent hacker who helps uncover the disappearance of a woman almost forty years ago. As much as I liked the Girl Who Played with Fire (2010) I still felt that the first in the trilogy was the strongest and the most accomplished narrative. Just when you think the mystery is solved and the film is over, the plot reveals a bold character development, which reminded me of Kathleen Turner’s scheming plan in Lawrence Kasdan’s Body Heat (1981).
2. ANIMAL KINGDOM. This dark, gritty, and tension-filled independent film from Australia takes a generic crime story and turns it into an in-depth, sociological and psychological portrayal of a teenager’s survival amongst a dysfunctional family of born and bred criminals. Jacki Weaver gives an Oscar-worthy performance as the conniving, matriarch ringleader of the family. This film was overlooked by many, but I was really glad to see that Jacki Weaver received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.
3. MOTHER. A terrific, Hitchcockian thriller from South Korea. A desperate mother cares for her only dim-witted son who’s accused of murdering a young girl. Skeptical about the police investigation, she sets out to find out who was really responsible for the murder. A unique hybrid of quirkiness and mystery makes this one of the best thrillers of the year.
4. NEVER LET ME GO. This is an absolute jewel of a film. Never Let Me Go is an exquisitely crafted tale about love, loss, individuality, and the boundaries of life. I was in awe of the visual overtones of this sumptuous love story. The film has a terrific, sci-fi like revelation, which gives it an improbable connection between images and content. Andrew Garfield, better known as Mark Zuckerberg’s roommate in The Social Network gives a remarkable supporting performance here, and is a career worth tracking. He’s going to become a big star, considering he just got the lead role in the new Spiderman film, but make sure to see his earlier work.
5. THE GHOST WRITER. Roman Polanski is back in action with this highly intelligent mystery, which is reminiscent of his earlier work from the 60s. Even though there is very little violence, Polanski provides a timely, political thriller, which is more suspenseful than most big budget action films this year.
6. EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP. Documentary filmmaking has never been this fun and inventive. The story is about a shopkeeper’s attempt to document the famous graffiti artist, Bansky, who is revealed as a mystery throughout the film. This spontaneous and hip documentary calls attention to its eccentric filmmaker, but you never know who is really creating the documentary until midway through. I had a smile from cheek to cheek watching this artistic and very funny opus.
7. LET ME IN. A horror remake of the Swedish hit, Let the Right One In (2008), does justice to the original and director Matt Reeves shows a little mastery in direction. This film is about the unlikeliest of friendship between a bullied twelve year old boy and a mysterious girl vampire, who teaches him some life lessons along the way. Both elegant and chockfull of gore, Let Me In is a creeper of a keeper, which cleverly reinvents the vampire genre conventions.
8. 127 HOURS. Aaron Ralston is an adventurous young man who ditches his 9 to 5 life to climb the dangerous crevices of Utah’s canyons, and unfortunately, he gets his arm pinned under a bolder. Narrow spaces and a narrow narrative, but director Danny Boyle gives us a wide range of brilliant imagery—from shaky, digital-video footage to high-resolution textures. 127 Hours is undoubtedly, an unflinching look at a real life, grueling experience.
9. BLACK SWAN. Darren Aronofsky has finally honed his directing skills in this balletic and nightmarish soap opera of the highest order. A strange, very strange psychosexual melodrama, not for all taste, but I think it’s safe to say that Aronofsky’s vision of a hardcore ballerina on the brink of a psychological meltdown is so strong, he transcends what could’ve been a campy, backstage look at the ballet scene in New York City to a dark, brooding, and artsy feast for the audience into a more bizarre world. Black Swan will fall somewhere in between the erotically-charged Mulholland Dr. (2001) and the sexually frustrating Repulsion (1965).
10. THE KING’S SPEECH. A triumphant and beautiful drama about King George VI humiliating defect as a stutterer and his rare companionship with his speech teacher. Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush give Oscar-worthy performances in this uplifting period piece about a conflict that is universal, whether you’re about to be king to the throne or promoted from a busboy to a waiter. In addition, this is the best photographed film of the year. I love how the director keeps the actors at the edges of the frame, and the cinematography provides a gloomy, pastel hue, which evokes the period of the film.