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Marcy's Picks - Top Ten Films of 2001 |
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| I like movies that make me feel good, but
the candy sweet confection of this year's French hit "Amelie"
and the precocious cuteness of "The Royal Tenenbaums" made me
sick to my stomach. It's good to know you can love a romantic comedy and
still have discerning taste. Listed below are my favorite films of 2001.
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1) Together
All movies should be be like "Together." You might think, how
does a film set in a Swedish hippie colony relate or interst me? Well it
does. Lukas Moodysson's ensemble drama doesn't fall to charicature and stereotype.
His actors create a full world, sad, happy, lovely people, exploring with
self, sexuality, family, making mistakes, and causing pain. In end, Moodysson
ties it up with what must be the happiest of happy endings.
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2) Last Resort
Pawel Pawlikowski's "Last Resort" snuck in and
out of theaters early in 2001. It seems like only I saw this wonderful,
small movie. When Russian Tanya and her ten year old son arrive in
London on the mother's impulse to stay with her boyfriend, they find themselves
stood up. Hence they are immigrants, and sent to live in Stonehaven, a miserable
English beach resort. Tanya (Dina Korzun) is a wonderful heroine, impulsive,
earnest, intelligent, and craving life to such a degree that she makes impossible
mistakes along the way. Their escape from the resort is filled with hope,
and that is how I seem to like my films these days.
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3) Kandahar
Mohesen Makhmalbaf's powerful film about a woman's journey into the Taliban
ruled country held me rigid in attention, both anxious and enthralled.
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4) In the Bedroom
I've had a crush on Todd Field ever since he played Ashley Judd's sensitive
boyfriend in "Ruby in Paradise," and so I was anxious to love
this film, and pleased that I did. The film, based on a short story by Andre
Dubus, is relentlessly sad, tense, beautifully acted, and gorgous to look
at.
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5) Hedwig and the Angry Inch
I hate musicals, I fidget through songs, and I couldn't wait to get out
of the theater during "Moulin Rouge" but John Cameron Mitchell's
"Hedwig and The Angry Inch" won me over.
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6) When Brendan Met Trudy
Roddy Doyle wrote this gleefully silly romance. I couldn't stop smiling.
all the way through the movie.
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7) The Princess and the Warrior
This uneven Tom Tykwer film features one of the most spellbinding moments
in cinematic history, when Benno Fürmann gives a breathless Franke
Potente a tracheotomy with a pocket knife and a straw underneath a truck.
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8) The Anniversary Party
Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cummings wrote and directed this acerbic,
warm, smart, funny film about an actress and a writer celebrating their
sixth anniversary.
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9) In July
Fatih Akin's film is airy and weightless, featuring three beautiful women
from all over the world who take Moritz Bleibtreu on a wild road trip.
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10) The Others
I don't care much for ghost stories, but this gimmick film actually works.
Nicole Kidman is remiscient of Grace Kelly, and yes there are ghosts in
the house. The children are wonderful. This is the sad British stuff of
Francis Hodges Burnett's imagination that take me back to my childhood.
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