This year's list suffers from the same deficiencies as the last and is handicapped by new faults. As in previous years, this amateur, unpaid critic was unable to see all of 2003's notable releases. So, in spite of the undoubted merits of "The Barbarian Invasions", "Whale Rider" and "Monster", none of those films can, in good conscience, appear in the following rankings. This article also appears after the Oscars, so only my humble word can assure the reader that the opinions of the Academy had no influence on my selections. The reader will note the absence of any Renee Zellweger films. That omission is a conscious one.
I play freely with chronology (as Roger Ebert did in 2003 when he listed "City of God" as one of the best films of 2002) and the concept of release dates in order to highlight notable theatrical re-releases. Of course, no serious critic can let their lower tastes show, no matter how strongly they resist suppression. So with regret I omit "Torque," "Wrong Turn," and "Darkness Falls."
1. City of God (Cidade de Deus) Fernando Meirelles's Brazilian gangster epic is sprawling, energetic, and visually poetic. The template is familiar: a group of friends grows up in poverty in one of Rio's favelas, or shanty towns; their ambitions, unsatisfied, lead them into crime. Less a genre film than a meditation on urban poverty, featuring strong performances from a cast of amateurs and a powerful immediacy, "City of God" was a blockbuster in its native country.
2. Lost in Translation Introspective, melancholy and a catalogue of bittersweet observations, Sophia Coppola's film tells the story of an aging actor (Bill Murray) filming a commercial in Japan, where he befriends the younger wife of an American photographer (Scarlett Johanssen). This is one of the most satisfying film relationships in years; unresolved, indeterminate and truthful.
3. Mountain films of Leni Riefenstahl and Otto Fanck (January 17-31, 2003, Walker Art Center) Featuring the early acting work of Leni Riefenstahl, Otto Fanck's anachronistic but visually ambitious "Mountain Films, " "The Holy Mountain" (1926), "The Big Jump" (1927), "The White Hell of Pitz Palu" (1929), and "Storm over Mont Blanc" (1930) received a rare theatrical re-release.
4. American Splendor Harvey Pekar's comics, which offer bittersweet observations of his life in Cleveland, are adapted for the big screen. Wisely, directors Shari Berman and Robert Pulcini draw on the strengths of the original work: its raw (and frequently changing) visual style and Pekar's own acerbic voice.
5. Le Cercle Rouge Hong Kong turned Hollywood director John Woo re-issued Jean Pierre Melville's 1970 crime masterpiece in the summer of 2003. Boldly stylized, comically mannered, and featuring excellent performances from Alain Delon, Yves Montand, and Andre Bourvil, "Le Cercle" is Melville's finest work, bookending a richly inventive period in French cinema
6. Bubba Hotep Elvis did not die in 1977. Tired of fame, the aging performer passed the torch to an impersonator and retired from the spotlight. We find him in a Texas nursing home, where he joins forces with JFK (Ossie Davis) to battle an invading, soul-eating mummy. Director Don Coscarelli (Phantsasm, Beastmaster) takes his premise seriously, giving his characters a rare humanity; the best scenes are reflective conversations between the aging cultural icons. As Elvis, Bruce Campbell cements his iconic status.
7. Spider David Cronenberg continues his string of mature, daring work with the tale of an aging schizophrenic and his troubled early life. The nature of Spider's past is uncertain, shifting, and elusive, a series of contradictions that Cronenberg explores with his rich, trademark visual style. Miranda Richardson and Ralph Fiennes, in the title role, offer strong, haunting performances.
8. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Peter Jackson concludes his ambitious trilogy in grand style. Visually impressive and consistently entertaining, Jackson distills Tolkein's more complex work into an action film and, on that level, is an extraordinary success. Feeling less like a literary adaptation than a return to the cinemascope epics of the 1950s and 60s, "Return of the King" offers a world of certain values and rousing, if conventional, heroism.
9. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Peter Weir, best known for "Gallipoli" and "Picnic at Hanging Rock," tries his hand at more conventional historical drama. The result is maritime adventure as virtual reality; events begin in medias res, immersing the viewer in the finely detailed world of Patrick O'Brien's novels. Russell Crowe is more dour than O'Brien's Captain Jack Aubrey, but Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin, the ship's doctor and man of science, serves as an excellent foil.
10. Eyes without a Face An unlikely but welcome reissue of Georges Franju's 1960 French language horror film in which a plastic surgeon kidnaps women, surgically removing their skin in an attempt to restore his daughter's damaged face. An atmospheric and tragic tale lies beneath a sensational premise.
© 2003 by Sten Johnson. All rights reserved.