Once again, Richard T. Jameson and Kathleen Murphy transform the year's movies into poetry -- and poetic criticism -- at MSN Movies: Moments Out of Time 2009. A few excerpted stanzas:
• Middle Atlantic States summer heat and humidity visible in the air, the color, the softness -- "Taking Woodstock"...
• "Public Enemies": the thrill of seeing a piece of "Manhattan Melodrama" big as a movie-palace wall, with the luster of the brand-new. Worth dying for...
• "The Hurt Locker": rust and scale popping off a derelict car when an IED explodes nearby...
• What spaces and places look like after people leave them: a man hikes up a snow-covered hill, then simply disappears from sight -- and the movie that is "Liverpool"...
• In "Limits of Control," Tilda Swinton's platinum-blonde-wigged femme fatale reminding us that "The Lady from Shanghai" made no sense either...
• "35 Shots of Rum": kids with Japanese lanterns among the dune grass at sunset...
• "A Serious Man": the traffic accident that doesn't happen. But does....
• The terrible uncertainty of what lies on the road behind her, as "The Headless Woman" drives on after having hit something...
• Old people disappearing up flights of stone steps in "Summer Hours" and "Still Walking"...
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Wonderful stuff, as usual. I love their inclusion of Alan Rickman's uncannily timed dialogue in The Half-Blood Prince. (For me, that moment was one of the best parts of the movie.) Rickman really knows how to push your buttons.
Speaking of timing, I would also included Johnny Depp's head turn as he stares down the barrel of the gun at the end of "Public Enemies." The music combined with the visual effect of (how shall I describe it?) "snake eyes" gives me chills.
"A Serious Man": the clumps of mown grass on Mr. Brant's lawn (and part of Larry's) ...
I finally saw this just last Tuesday and noticed those clumps as well. I love that attention to detail!
I look forward to this list every year, since it's possibly the most original and idiosyncratic way to do the end of the year round-up
I may have a few of them I could add (feel free to elide some of them if it's too long) :
The Hurt Locker : Buying the groceries, and the dull daily life.
In The Loop : In a movie filled with glorious profanity, the most cutting remark : "You're a useless piece of S-STAR-STAR-T"
Vincere : Ida, weary, takes a good long look, defying us to forget.
Coraline : In the "second" garden, a swift pan, showing the wonders on display. Even in 2D it feels more three dimensional than most movies.
Inglorious Basterds : Landa's smokepipe, a revealing trait of character.
The Informant : Scott Bakula's and Joel McHale pitch-perfect reaction shot at the restaurant.
Drag Me To Hell : That last confrontation between Alison Lohman and the old bohemian Sylvia Ganush : it's horror, as much for the gross-out special effects as for the akward situation.
Wild Grass : The first encouter between the not so good samaritan André Dussolier and a police officer, funny, revealing a boorish side of Mathieu Amalric's persona.
The White Ribbon : The horrific, brutal psychological assault of the doctor.
2012 : And if California slides into the ocean...
A l'Origine : A elaborate dance number involving a truck.
The Limits of Control : Alex Descas and Isaach de Bankolé know. Jean-François Stévenin "n'y comprends rien".
Face : A busted sink leads to some Buster Keaton-esque desperate action.
The Time That Remains : A grown-up man teases his mother.
And who's to say that there's no room for TV shows!
Mad Men : Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency : Joan and Don's small talk after the "horrific" event.
Seven Thirty-Three : In one of the three opening shots, an inert figure laying on the floor.
The Grown-Ups : Opening shot again: Pete, cold, on the couch. Something isn't quite right.
Breaking Bad : "Better Call Saul" : The opening jeu de dupe.
In Treatment : "Gina : Week Seven" : Her chilly sentence, closing the door on the season.
Lost : "The Incident" : Mankind's question since the beginning of time, "What about me?"
Loved reading through that last night. I've read these every year since this blog started.
I ended up making too many to post here, so here's a few of my own, more at the link below the moments:
(and because of the nature of this thing, there are some minor Spoilers)
Max pops his head up in the tiny, beautiful city made by a moody monster in Where The Wild Things Are
In La Belle Personne, a brief recap of the past. Two boys in a bathroom, one grabs the other, sneaking behind a car after gym class for a clandestine kiss. Secrets revealed that unintentionally and indirectly set a tragedy into motion
Colonel Hans Landa's eyes shift like an animal stalking its prey, noticing a figure move rapidly beneath the floor boards. "There!" Inglourious Basterds
On stage at the Paris Opera Ballet, Madea bathes herself in blood, two dead children lay. With the opportunity to get as close as anyone would want to, Frederick Wiseman's camera keeps its distance, respecting the raw emotion of the performer in La Danse
A cgi-enhanced part of the male body faces the camera and yells "Bruno!" in Bruno
Two soldiers play war in a parking lot in The Messenger
A woman tapes up an window with black tape, and we see every second of the process. 15 people walk out. from the screening I saw of Face (Visage)
"Let me do that again, I fucked up." Seth Rogen's accidentally brilliant narration in Observe and Report
http://tinsleyfilm.blogspot.com/2009/12/moments-not-in-time.html
Hunger - A snowflake landing on the guard's bruised knuckle.
Il Divo - Giulio Andreotti's odd confrontation with a cat.
The Messenger - The 10 minute scene (done in one take) between Ben Foster and Samantha Morton in her kitchen.
Thirst - The shoes in the final shot of the film.
Tokyo Sonata - Clair de Lune played by the son in the final scene.
Tetro - The light coming from the mountain reflecting off Tetro's sunglsses.
Moon - GERTY helps Sam, proving it's more compassionate than the corporation that created it.
Goodbye Solo
- He thought he was being sarcastic.
- The silent awkwardness of being left alone in a strange place, helpless in the absence of someone you barely know.
Up
- A single balloon hovers toward a bed. The final moments of a shared life.
- "Thanks for the adventure. Now go have another one."
- "I was hiding under your porch because I love you."
Humpday
- You can't really guilt trip your wife when she's letting you have sex with another man.
- Breaking the spell: The more you reflect on the problem, the worse it becomes.
The Hurt Locker
- Wait, he just died. Didn't he? Or did he?
Sita Sings the Blues
- In the beginning, there was music, and it was sung by Annette Hanshaw.
- Gleefully singing about love, while thousands of demons and monkey-people are killed on your behalf. "What about animal rights?"
- Children sing in praise of their abusive father.
- If her love made sense, then it wouldn't be unconditional.
The Cove
- The hue of blood in the water reminds me of Japanese cinema.
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- Farewell to a fallen friend. We could only fit a single coin over his small head. Hopefully Charon will accept it all the same.
The Princess & the Frog
- A new star to wish on.
- Seriously, is it now required that all animated films kill off a main character?
Ponyo
- Apparently not.
I'd like to add to this:
A HAL-esque robot (Kevin Spacey) who expresses his feelings through emoticons on board a lunar base in "Moon"
The McLaughlin Group discussing the Cold War actions of the Soviets, discussing "Watchmen"'s ominous Doomsday Clock motif
"Your cousin's a wet sandwich": the bullying beaver (Jeremy Dawson) in "Fantastic Mr. Fox", blissfully unaware of the karate beating he'll get for this later
Sam (Sam Rockwell) and Sam (Sam Rockwell) playing a game of table tennis. Sam's losing the game--and his cool--on the "Moon"
We slowly ascend through the ear canal of Danny Gopnick (Aaron Wolff) while the members of the Airplane (Grace Slick. Marty Balin. Paul Kanta. Jorma... Somethin') play through an earbud in "A Serious Man"
JE: "Jorma... Somethin'" was another moment when I thought my head would explode with joy. Just when you thought they'd wrung everything they could out of the elderly rabbi's few Words of Wisdom... he forgets the (Finnish) last name of the Jewish guitarist! Genius.
Why, both over here and at Ebert's blog, whenever I post anything with any html (for style, indicated as acceptable right above this box) my comments never get approved?
JE: Sounds to me like the Sun-Times' Moveable Type setup may be objecting to the HTML for some unfathomable reason. I'll check the spam filter just in case the comments are coming through, but getting diverted into the trash.
Off the top of my head, some of the more memorable movie moments of 2009 for me, if not necessarily from my favorite movies (and may contain minor spoilers):
Still Walking - A tall man standing in his parents' house, the top of his head constantly obscured by the doorframes, having outgrown the house of his youth...
Headless Woman - A child's ghostly handprint on a driver's side window...
Observe and Report - A delusional man severely beaten by the police force he dreamed to join, as a distorted version of the Band's "When I Paint My Masterpiece" wobbles out of focus...
Tulpan - Those huts in the great, flat desert, like the tiny planets occupied by the Little Prince...
Hunger- A pause to reflect on the elegant reflections found in a puddle of piss...
Duplicity - Two CEOs grapple in the rain in comical slow motion, like rams butting heads for alpha status in the herd...
Antichrist - The slightly warped fringes of an encroaching forest...
Where The Wild Things Are - A twig fort swirling up to the heavens...
Ponyo - A ballet of jellyfish, rising to the water's surface...
The Informant! - "Quart....quart..."
I obviously can't be positive but I think my response to this piece got lost in the Internet ether, too.
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