You can’t summarize a year of movies in a single list of fewer than a dozen titles. That’s why so many critics cheat, adding their also-rans to their obligatory Top Ten lists. Here are my thoughts, following up on my Top Ten list in Friday’s Washington Examiner, of what else there was to celebrate in the past year of film. Perhaps that’s the biggest surprise — that there was so much to commend. After all, Box Office Mojo announced last January, in previewing 2011, that the year would include more sequels than any before: 27. In 2010, there were only (only!) 19 sequels. That suggests a dearth of creativity in Hollywood. In fact, the films this past year seemed more original than any group released in the last half-decade, at least.
Perhaps Hollywood has gotten stale — but filmmakers are finding inspiration elsewhere. It used to be that a movement came out of a time and place. But 2011 proved — to those who had forgotten — that European and American artists have been influencing each other for years.
“Point Blank” is a case in point. Here was an all-American action film — in French. Like many of the genre, “Point Blank” features an ordinary man forced to become extraordinary to save those he loves, as a nurse’s aide. The French flair director Fred Cavaye brought to the table made this guilty pleasure feel a little less guilty.
“Drive” is another example. The film’s elements are very American: a stunt driver, the mob, and a beautiful and dangerous girl next door. In its quiet, menacing tone and haunting soundtrack, the film feels a lot like a recent classic made in America (by a Brit): “Blade Runner.”
Speaking of “Drive,” 2011 offered viewers some of the greatest acting we’ve witnessed in years. Ryan Gosling stunned us in that movie, and charmed us in two others: “Crazy, Stupid, Love” and “The Ides of March.” The only other actor to cover so much ground last year was Michael Fassbender, who was shocking in “Shame,” earthily intellectual in “A Dangerous Method,” and classy in “X-Men: First Class.”
Jessica Chastain was angelic in “The Tree of Life,” vulnerable but hard-as-nails in “The Debt,” and had sauce and sadness both in “The Help.” Most filmgoers had never even heard of her before. Michelle Williams was familiar, but 2011 was the year she really came into her own. She brought Marilyn Monroe back to life in “My Week with Marilyn,” a total triumph, and honored a quieter, but just as determined, type of woman in “Meek’s Cutoff.” That film showed that the Western can still be fresh.
As we look back on 2011, and look forward to 2012, let’s not forget, though: Some of the best experiences of art involve forgotten gems. It would be a sad moviegoer who only watched new films each year, ignoring the decades to be discovered.
On Christmas Day, I was introduced to a 1980 family flick strangely unavailable on DVD. “Little Lord Fauntleroy” starred a young Ricky Schroder and an aging Alec Guinness in a warm adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel. “Fawlty Towers” co-creator and co-star Connie Booth got a chance to shine here. That’s the wonder of movies: You never know where you’ll find yourself next.
Kelly Jane Torrance is The Washington Examiner movie critic. Her reviews appear weekly and she can be reached at [email protected].
