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By Dave McCoy
MSN Movies
Something shocking happened in 2004. No, I don't mean the fixed election or that Star Jones found someone to marry her. No, even more improbably, Hollywood rediscovered its magic formula.
Usually, year-end roundups moan that cinema is dead and Hollywood lacks talent or vision. Sure, Hollywood turned out a bunch of crap this year, but it was much easier finding engaging entertainment at the multiplex. Not since 2000, when Hollywood turned out five bona-fide masterpieces in one year -- "Traffic," "Erin Brockovich," "High Fidelity," "Wonder Boys" and "Almost Famous" -- has Tinstletown been this hot.
"Kinsey," "The Incredibles," "Spider-man 2," "Eternal Sunshine," "Closer," "The Aviator," "Mean Girls," "Ocean's Twelve" and parts of "Team America" all proved that Hollywood had something to say this year. And wonderfully stupid comedies returned as well, with "Anchorman," "Eurotrip," and "Dodgeball" leading the way. That trend, plus the fact that the American public started sending documentaries like "Fahrenheit 9/11" towards the top of the box office charts... well, it's enough to make even the most cynical cinema snob smile.
Here is a look back at 2004 at the movies:
Year's Best
10) "Dig!"
The most interesting character of 2004 was
Anton Newcombe. The catch? He wasn't made up. Newcombe is the
singer/songwriter/leader of the psychedelic pop band Brian Jonestown Massacre and the mesmerizing, raucous rock
doc "Dig!" explores his explosive nature, alongside with that of his friends and
rivals the Dandy Warhols. Newcombe may be gifted, but he's also a train
wreck, sabotaging every career break he and BJM get. For all of the movie's
energy and humor, there is an underlying tragedy. Director Ondi Timoner followed both bands for seven years as they try
to make it, and besides a portrait of Newcombe's tortured genius, "Dig!" also
doubles as candid, unforgiving look at the music business. In a year where rock
docs made a comeback, "Dig!" dug the deepest.
9) "The Dreamers"
Italian auteur Bernardo Bertolucci practically rose from the dead and made
his best film in three decades. The media focus was on graphic sex that earned a
NC-17 rating, but this tale of three young cinephiles living in Paris during the
late '60s is playful, smart and often hilarious. It's a movie made for movie
lovers, as the three characters/lovers would rather quote or act out their
favorite film scenes than live in turbulent reality that looms dangerously
outside their sealed-off existence. It's Bertolucci's love poem to the medium
that made him. Ultimately it's about escapism as existence, the blissful
ignorance of youth and trying to hold on to it for as long as you can. Oh, yeah,
and the sex is hot.
8) "We Don't Live Here Anymore" /
"Closer"
Two films, eight characters, four
couples and tons of cheating, deception, anger, and cruelty. Date movies, these
are not. However, both present a brutal honesty about relationships that is
startling and refreshing. "Closer" is playwright Patrick Marber's ugly look at single life (characters call
each other "strangers"); "We Don't Live Here Anymore" is first time director John Curran's domestic drama about two failing marriages.
The acting -- especially by Clive Owen in "Closer" and Laura Dern in "We Don't Live Here Anymore" -- is never showy
and always emotionally wrenching. Both films feel like the intimate American
films made in the '70s; nothing really "happens," people simply exist, make
mistakes and live with the painful consequences. But both will leave you
shaken.
7) "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and
Spring"
Pan Asian cinema is the best in the world right
now, and Korea is leading the way. The latest from acclaimed director Kim Ki-duk (you may remember his tale of quiet
self-mutilation, "The Isle") presents a man's life in five segments. The
entire film takes place on a floating temple in the middle of an isolated lake.
Not much is said, much of the action takes place off screen, but it's
nonetheless a compelling drama with strange surreal touches. Rarely has cinema
captured the philosophy of Zen like this one.
6) "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
It's too
bad this was released so early in the year. Had it been released now, people
would be talking about Oscars. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's best script (so far) explores tough
questions: Is it better to erase lovers from your memories when things fail, or
is that pain worth it because of the good times? Or is that pain essential to
growth? Jim Carrey gives his finest performance, but really the film
belongs to Kate Winslet. She's a breath of fresh air and exuberance,
yet grounds this complex cerebral examination and mind-bending stylistic
experiment with her warmth and natural magnetism.
