Top Ten Films of 2011

There were a lot of top-notch films this year; choosing a shortlist was tricky, picking the ten best of those was difficult and deciding the final order was challenging to say the least. Except for number one, this was an immediate gut instinct. As for the rest, let’s not worry about rank too much – they are all outstanding.

10. Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn)
Refn’s tribute to Michael Mann boasted sumptuous photography, an ice-cool performance from man-of-the-moment Ryan Gosling and an unbeatable soundtrack.

9. Rango (Gore Verbinski)
This wonderfully animated and marvellously skewed Gonzo-western proved that a team up between Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski doesn’t have to be totally crap.

8. Bridesmaids (Paul Feig)
Bridesmaids was the funniest film of 2011 by some distance, was performed by an excellent cast and written by Kristen Wiig, who is evidently some kind of genius.

7. The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodóvar)
The Skin I Live In was an exquisitely assembled visual treat; a perfect mix of brains, beauty and brawn.

6. Red White & Blue (Simon Rumley)
A powerful, gripping, horrifying and emotionally exhausting dissection of the lives of three very messed up people, which has been criminally underrated.

5. Trust (David Schwimmer)
A remarkably mature and sensitive study of an incredibly tough subject, which was brought to you by the bloke that used to play Ross in Friends.

4. 127 Hours (Danny Boyle)
I told you it would have made number two in last year’s list; evidently it faced stronger competition this year. Nevertheless, a combination of excellent direction, performance and writing meant 127 Hours held its own.

3. Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine)
Completing my trilogy of ‘tough watches’ (see entries five and six), Tyrannosaur re-established three things: that Paddy Considine is amazingly talented, that Peter Mullan is amazingly talented and that Olivia Colman is amazingly talented.

2. Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky)
One of the most mental, insane, off the hook, thrill-ride, psycho-sexual horror show you’re ever like to see.

1. Source Code (Duncan Jones)
Duncan Jones went two for two, following on from the excellent Moon, with this bigger, bolder and better effort. Simply impeccable filmmaking.

Honourable Mentions

In no particular order: Never Let Me Go, True Grit, Patagonia, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Water for Elephants, Attack the Block, Senna, Super 8, and Melancholia. Finally, a couple of films that most people seemed to love but I thought were total rubbish: Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Kill List.

If you want to see just what films I’ve seen in 2011, then check out my Film 2011 spreadsheet below (*denotes a film I particularly liked).

Red White and Blue Review

Red White & Blue is probably the most interestingly structured film I have seen in a long time. Perhaps that’s not the most inspiring and exciting opening gambit a review has ever begun with, but after recovering from the initial shock and awe felt at the film’s conclusion, I was left with a feeling of fascination at how well the film was put together and how well its story is told. It is also slightly difficult to describe how good it is without spoiling major plot details, but I have made the attempt.

The film tells the story of three characters, Erica (Amanda Fuller), Nate (Noah Taylor) and Franki (Marc Senter). We are introduced firstly to Erica, a young woman with a predilection for frequently having sex with strangers. When Erica finds herself out of work, Nate, a strange but somewhat generous man who lives in the same building finds her a job at the DIY store where he is employed. Despite a rocky start, the pair form a fragile and tender friendship. Suddenly our attention is shifted to Franki, a young man in a rock band, who was one of several people Erica slept with at the beginning of the film. Despite his often petulant and aggressive attitude, Franki is providing care for his beloved mother, who has been diagnosed with cancer. Franki, Erica and Nate are drawn together after a second-act revelation changes the courses of all their lives and the third and final part of the film focuses on Nate.

I was impressed with the film on a number of levels. As I mentioned earlier, I thought the three-part structure worked very well in telling the plot and made my sympathies shift in unexpected ways contradictory to how they might be if the film was told with stricter chronology. The film does have its beginning, middle and end in the correct order, but there are overlaps between the character arcs and much smaller jumps too between individual scenes, causing a dreamlike effect.

I also enjoyed how the film evolved from a sort of lo-fi character drama in its dialogue-sparse opening scenes (which reminded me strongly of Año Bisiesto) to something altogether more horrific by its conclusion. The trio of leading actors all excel in their roles with Amanda Fuller impressing in particular in her utterly tragic portrayal of Erica. The film verges dangerously close to histrionic excess at one point, but writer-director Simon Rumley manages to retain the tautness of the film’s strong opening throughout the more action packed conclusion. Be warned – you may need a stronger stomach than mine to watch the shocking finale without the fast forward button to hand.

Red White & Blue is a very compelling film that is not easily pigeonholed into any one genre. In some instances, that may mean viewers could lose patience with it, but to do so would be to ignore one of the most intricate character dramas of recent memory. The various (im)moral decisions of all three characters are likely to provoke debate among those who see it as to who exactly – if anyone – is in the right. Overall however, the film leaves you with a quietening sadness and is likely to stay with you. An extraordinary exercise in storytelling.