THIS IS THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FILM
THE UNIVERSITY HURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2002
Critic chooses best movies of the year
Solaris is not a movie that the average FILM
movie critics all over the country are gearing up for the annual glory of listing the year's best movies. involved with a mind-bending
Steven Shupe
lchromister@kansan.com
Some will pick the best performance (for me, it's Samantha Morton in Minority Report), the best cinematography (nothing came close to the ravishing underworld of Road to Perdition) and the best visual effects (there's not a single stilted moment in
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, so eat your heart out, George Lucas).
For the good of humanity, though. I've decided to devote my list to the little guy. These are the movies that failed to get a run in Lawrence theaters (though a few late-comers might show up later this winter). These movies are still far superior to the extended trailers Hollywood likes to sell as feature films nowadays.
In terms of circulation, part of the problem in Lawrence is that South Wind 12,3433 Iowa St., plays only potential blockbusters, so even some mainstream movies, like the critically acclaimed One Hour Photo, won't play here because their subject matter doesn't guarantee box-office success.
Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St., has become a local Mecca for independent cinema, but it's relegated to just two screens. Because of that, any important films will either play for a short time or not at all. Just three weeks ago, Igby Goes Down, to my mind this year's best film, played at Liberty Hall for a mere six days.
As for the rest of the best, listed below in order of preference, most of them can be found at local video stores or at Kansas City theaters. Far From Heaven
What would 1950s melodramas have looked like had they explored homosexuality without blinking or treated African Americans as human beings? The answer, a suburban love story with the emotional resonance of American Beauty, should bring director Todd Haynes and stars Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid Oscar nominations.
Storytelling ★★★ (OUT OF
This bleak, caustically funny new film from Todd Solondz charts the corpse-heavy trails of creative people, and finds that success for one means self-destruction for another OK, this guy's not an optimist but he continues to smash cinematic barriers. The Grey Zone
David Arquette, Natasha Lyonne and Mira Sorvino star in Tim Blake Nelson's powerful morality tale, set in "Auschwitz II" where Jews helped murder other Jews for a few more months of life. In this version of the Holocaust, victims and Nazi police alike drink to keep the cold out and the horror dormant, as their eyes provide windows into the deepest, most disturbing intimation of the soul.
The Believer
Another shocking movie about anti-Semitism, with Ryan Gosling, even more explosive here than he was in Murder By Numbers, as a Jew who shaves his head like a neo-Nazi and terrorizes other Jews. This is a fine companion piece to the equally intense American History X. Moonlight Milo
Jake Gyllenhaal, the current embodi
in love. A few fantastic scenes between the
ment of movie teen angst, plays the fiancé of a girl killed in a break shooting at a local diner Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandone are exquisite as the dead girl's deceptively upbeat parents and the script packs enough edge to forgive the film's sentimental streak. The smashing '70s rock soundtrack provides an aural counterpoint to the emotional wreckage.
Metropolis
As in this year's even more renowned Spirited Away, anime moves mountains where live-action can move only boulders. Metropolis, not to be confused with Fritz Lang's sci-fi classic of the same name, creates a futuristic city of lights not bested visually since Akira and the coolest robots since Artificial Intelligence: AI.
ca
Francis Ford Coppola's son, Roman, directs the funniest swipe at the film biz in years. This film is a cheeky piece of eyecandy that zooms by in less than 90 minutes. This polyester-era satire features music by Mellow and stars Jason Schwartzman as a brash filmmaker who, in a comic highlight, takes a piggyback ride from a monk to get to the set on time.
Happy Holidays !