Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Stephen Daldry, 2011)

“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” is a deeply flawed film: over-sentimental, with a haphazardly changing tone, and an annoying voiceover. Yet, I cannot help but consider it one of the best films of the year. Led by the extraordinary young actor Thomas Horn, the film captures the misery of the 9/11 tragedy and crafts an incredibly sad, yet equally heartfelt and hopeful work. Based on Jonathan Safron Foer’s novel [previously reviewed], Stephen Daldry’s film tells the story of Oskar Schell, who sets out on a mission throughout New York to find the lock for a mysterious key his dead father—a victim of the September 11 attacks—left behind.

The film’s imperfections only further its impact. Like Oskar’s youthful grief, the film is often reckless, yet emotionally powerful. Daldry’s claustrophobic close-ups and visceral array of unusual angles perfectly frame the film, and bolster superb supporting performances by Sandra Bullock, Max Von Sydow, and Viola Davis. I do not expect everyone to like this film, and can definitely understand why people call it emotionally manipulative. However, I believe that films do not need to be perfect, but like every artform, should seek to transcend the cognitive and resonate emotionally in the audience. “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” made me cry.

Highly Recommended (A-)

We Need to Talk about Kevin (Lynne Ramsay, 2011)

The first third of Lynne Ramsay’s “We Need to Talk about Kevin” grabs you by the neck and does not let go. Through the use of disjointed storytelling and unique, ambiguous visuals, the film’s opening perfectly achieves a sense of unfathomable disorientation, luring you into its distressing story. The film follows Eva—a fantastic Tilda Swinton—after her life falls apart. Through a series of flashbacks we learn that her teenage son Kevin has murdered his father, sister, and nine high school students. Eva is thus forced to live in a society that hates and blames her, haunted by her own maternal demons.

Like the book it is based on, the film is bound to leave you thinking about the origin of violence and the nature of mother-son relationships. Unfortunately, its tone falters in the middle, as it eschews its disjointed storytelling, adopting a more traditional structure intertwining Eva’s life before and after the traumatic event in a linear fashion. At times it also feels like the film overdoes its successes. Artistically, it overuses some of its visual motifs, making a nuanced film appear too obvious. In its narrative, the middle of the film, probably emulating the novel’s epistolary structure, often feels like a series of vignettes about Kevin’s evil actions growing up, failing to uphold the first third’s cohesiveness. The film’s ending, however, recaptures the opening’s tension and features one of the most terrifying and beautiful conclusions of any film this year.

Recommended (B+)

Beginners (Mike Mills, 2011)

After the death of his father, Oliver (Ewan McGregor) reflects about his own life and mortality, while beginning a new romantic relationship. With the exception of some interesting artistic and storytelling decisions, most of the main love story of Mike Mill’s “Beginners” is monotonous and, within its “hipster” novelty, predictable. The real heart of this film lies in its flashbacks, which recount the relationship between Oliver and his father Hal (Christopher Plummer), who comes out as a homosexual in his old age. Plummer deserves every accolade he has accrued for this performance. He transitions smoothly between comedy and drama, delivering one of the most heartfelt and pure performances of the year. Mills, who had already shown great promise as a screenwriter in 2004 with the underrated “Thumbsucker,” embellishes “Beginners” with some very beautiful scenes between Oliver and Hal: truthful conversations about love and life.

I am unable to fully jump on the “Beginners” bandwagon because every time the film returned to Oliver’s brooding romance, I immediately lost interest. The movie eventually fails to be as fantastic as it could have been due to the uneven quality and originality of its two storylines.

Recommended (B)

New Year's Eve (Garry Marshall, 2011)

In the style of his previous film—which I thankfully did not see—Garry Marshall’s “New Year’s Eve,” depicts a series of stories about relationships right on the last day of 2011. With the help of a large ensemble cast of familiar faces, from Zac Efron to Robert DeNiro, Marshall delivers a tediously long game of Spot-the-Star. While the movie attempts to portray classic holiday love stories tied with the season’s sense of possibility, if my New Year were ever as boring and mediocre as Marshall’s film, I would immediately cease all further celebrations.

Some of the stories are slightly enjoyable. For example that of Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer), a shy secretary who quits her job and hires delivery boy Paul (Zac Efron) to fulfill a series of fantastical New Year’s resolutions before midnight. None of them, however, is decent enough to lift this clunky, dull, poorly scripted holiday bomb. “New Year’s Eve” upholds the [new?] Hollywood tendency that if you get enough A-listers in one room, you can forego the screenplay. Filmmakers need to remember that what made “Love Actually” such a fantastic holiday movie was its pitch-perfect screenplay and overall manufacture, and not its vignette structure.

Not Recommended (D)

The Help (Tate Taylor, 2011)

Tate Taylor’s “The Help” is often condescending and emotionally manipulative. However, despite its use of cinematic gimmicks to control the audience’s tears and laughter, it is not a bad movie. The film narrates the lives of a series of black maids in Jackson, Mississippi and race relations in the South in the early 1960s. When Skeeter, a progressive white woman, returns to Jackson after college, she sets out to write a book about the lives and tribulations of these maids. The book and their stories become entrenched in the Civil Rights movement.

The movie delivers two hours of enjoyable superficial pensiveness about race relations, effectively doing exactly what is expected of it, though nothing else. You will not regret watching “The Help,” but you will have forgotten most of it after a week. The ensemble cast, however, rises beyond the film’s limitations and features some of the best performances of the year, particularly from Viola Davis and the up-and-coming Jessica Chastain. Despite the screenplay’s one-dimensional, stereotypical characterizations—for example, the sassy, witty maid played by the charismatic Octavia Spencer—the performances are quite nuanced and, unlike the film’s emotional manipulation, truthful.

Ambivalent (B-)

In a Better World (Susanne Bier, 2010)

The 2011 winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film is as bleak as it gets. Susanne Bier’s “In a Better World” is perfectly designed, technically, artistically, and dramatically, to keep you at the edge of your seat. The film tells the story of two Danish families, whose lives become interconnected due to the friendship of their children. Christian—the young William Jøhnk Nielsen in a virtuoso performance—is a troubled preteen who moves to Denmark with his absent father after the death of his mother. Elias is a shy young boy who is constantly picked on at school. His parents are the caring Marianne, and Anton, a Swedish doctor who spends most of the year working in a refugee camp in North Africa.

Taking us from the gruesome violence of a Sudanese refugee camp to the vicious nature of first world bullying and class relations, “In a Better World” is a powerful quasi-clinical study of the causes, consequences, and universality of human aggression. However, despite its flawless editing, the second half of the film drags a bit and feels thematically repetitive. The screenplay also fails to truly interlace its various storylines, which work fantastically on their own, but feel disjointed together. Despite its flaws, “In a Better World” is a fine example of the great quality of current Danish cinema.

Recommended (B+)

Bridesmaids (Paul Feig, 2011)

Paul Feig’s “Bridesmaids” is probably the best movie to come out of Judd Apatow’s comedy machine. It tells the story of Annie, a woman in her mid-thirties who loses all of her savings when her pastry shop goes bankrupt. After her best friend Lillian gets engaged, Annie starts to compete against one of the bridesmaids—the rich and beautiful Helen—for Lillian’s affection. The screenplay offers plenty of highly comedic moments, particularly in its first half, as it gives us a humorous look at the life of an unsuccessful woman in her mid-thirties. These, however, often turn into tasteless slapstick, so expect your share of toilet humor. The last third of the film, while devoid of crude jokes, is extremely formulaic and presents an obvious and predicable moral ending.

The movie’s biggest asset is its ensemble cast, particularly Kirsten Wigg and Melissa McCarthy’s heartfelt and hilarious performances. The supporting characters, however, are never fully developed. Contrary to what the movie’s publicity may tell you, the viewer barely gets to meet the outlandish bridal party, who would have made the film much better. All in all, “Bridesmaids” is a fine comedy, which, like every movie with the Apatow stamp, eventually falters by eroding its smart jokes with tasteless humor.

Ambivalent (B-)