Why does this feel so arbitrary? Two of the top ten films didn't screen in U.S. theaters in 2007, but I saw and loved them. English actress Romola Garai makes it here not once twice. Sarah Polley earned her spot once again, this time as a director. Daniel Day-Lewis and Viggo Mortensen went over the top and belonged there. Wes Anderson has returned. My list, submitted with the usual trepidation.
1. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
IFC Films
I tried to sell this film just the other day to a friend: the one movie where the girl actually gets the abortion, and the adjective that I chose to apply to the experience was "horrific." The word choice still stands, but 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, directed by Cristian Mungiu, is a small masterpiece. Set in 1980's Communist Romania, The film not a history lesson or a didactic treatise about the rights of women, but an engrossing, moving story of a young, extraordinarily likable and competent woman (Anamaria Marinca) who valiantly tries to help her best friend take care of a problem.
2. Atonement
Focus Features
Atonement got even better the second time that I saw it. Romola Garai (making her first appearance in the top 10 of the year) is surly and petulant as the middle Briony of a finely cast trio. Not only is Keira Knightley stunning in her green dress, but she gives good disdain. The score is menacing, the cinematography gorgeous, and the story holy compelling with a perfectly lovely, sad sad ending.
3. The Darjeeling Limited
Fox Searchlight
Wes Anderson's story of three brothers on a train trip across India to find spiritual enlightenment filled me with delight. It was almost enough to look at the spectacle of Jason Scwartzman, Adrian Brody, and Owen Wilson filling the frame. Better still when they speak. The Darjeeling Limited features wonderful luggage, the debut of Amara Karan, a poisonous snake, a six thousand dollar belt, and an abundance of unprescribed pharmaceuticals. But more important, the journey of the Whitman's journey is moving. Brothers who want to bond. I understood their impulse. Saw them change and grow, while I laughed at their antics.
4. There Will Be Blood
Paramount Vantage
The intensity of Paul Thomas Anderson's epic oil drama There Will Be Blood is hard to match. Daniel Day-Lewis takes down his younger nemesis Paul Dano, time after time, and somehow, watching them spar is nothing less than thrilling.
