Top ten lists are one of the most obligatory things in film journalism. Every critic
is expected to have one, but often the idea is the more (best/worst, actors,
comedies etc...) the better. I will offer you my personal top ten list, and a few
smaller categories including ‘best film made in 2002 but seen in 2003’. There
will also be a breakdown of sorts... read on if you are a lists-freak!
The year I indicate after every film (in reviews and in the archive) is the year it
was first commercially distributed in its country of production. This 2003 list is
mainly based on the ‘2003’ of American distributors, as I am located in Europe
and as much as 80% of the films shown in cinemas are of American produce.
They often come out in Europe much later than they do in The States; hence
this is being written now. There are still a few films that I would have liked to see
before compiling my list, including Patty Jenkins’ ‘Monster’ and a slew of foreign
films (‘Osama’ from Afghanistan, ‘Kitchen Stories’ from Norway, ‘I am not afraid’
from Italy), but they have simply not come out yet in this part of the world.
A note on the use of the ‘four star’ system. People have asked me why there
are so few ‘four stars out of four’ reviews; there are only two (thus far) in 2003;
the numbers one and two on my list. Let me say this; for me a ‘four star’ rating
means it would be an ‘instant classic’ or a film that will likely be (in my opinion)
regarded as a classic say ten years from now. This type of film is not made by
the dozen; there should (logically) be very few per year. It could be said that
the rating of two-and-a-half out of four is my threshold for recommending a
viewing at the cinema. Many films could fill this category and it becomes
increasingly difficult to obtain more stars and conversely, less stars. Thus only
utter trash receives zero or half a star, and only real classics or future-classics
will get four stars. My top ten is thus largely made up of three-and-a-half stars,
films that were among the best of this particular year.
There are not many reviews with less than two-and-a-half stars. There is a very
simple reason for this; since I am not a paid film journalist but an enthusiastic
film-goer that writes reviews also, I only go the cinema to see things that have
somehow sparked my interest. The fewer reviews there are of less than two-
and-a-half stars, the more accurate the judgement of the films I went to see
becomes. This year was quite good, with only two films that I thought I could
have caught on DVD or not watch them at all. My rating system is explained
further here.
Just a note on ‘Lord of the Rings’; I have started reviewing in 2003, and thus
have no reviews of the parts I and II of the trilogy; however I have seen all three
one-after-the-other on the infamous ‘Trilogy Tuesday’ and have decided to
review the trilogy as a whole. Each film by itself would make little sense in terms
of story and structure, and thus it seemed logical to write a review of ‘one long
film’ divided in three parts. I did not see ‘Kill Bill Volume One’ for the same
reason; there is really no point in seeing only a beginning and something of the
middle of the story; I want it all!
And now, for the list:
1/ Lost in translation (Sofia Coppola)
2/ The Company (Robert Altman)
3/ Pieces of April (Peter Hedges)
4/ Goodbye Lenin (Wolfgang Becker)
5/ Cold Mountain (Anthony Minghella)
6/ Les invasions barbares - the barbarian invasions (Denys Arcand)
7/ Lord of the rings trilogy (Peter Jackson)
8/ Girl with a pearl earring (Peter Webber)
9/ Master and commander: the far side of the world (Peter Weir)
10/ Freaky Friday (Mark S. Waters)
The breakdown is as follows; 6 American productions (Lord of the Rings not
counted), 2 European productions (one English, one German) and one each
from Canada and New Zealand. There is room for improvement on behalf of the
foreign (i.e. non-US) films! There are 4 studio productions and 6 independently
produced films which is a nice division, whilst there are two rookie directors on
the list (Webber and Hedges). Only Hedges’ Pieces of April was shot on video;
all other productions where shot on film; I expect more films to be shot on video
for my 2004 list!
There are 5 book adaptations (# 5 and 7-10) and 5 original screenplays, one
remake (Freaky Friday), one sequel (Les invasions barbares) and one entire
trilogy (Lord of the Rings; see note above). In terms of a comedy/drama
breakdown, this is a difficult list; Les invasions barbares is a bit of both, as are
Pieces of April and Goodbye Lenin. Lost in translation contains elements of
both too, and Lord of the Rings has too much humour and gags for a ‘pure’
drama. That leaves us with ‘The Company’, which is almost a documentary in
terms of style and plot, and thus more observing and recording rather than
conveying a story-arc from A to B. Thus that leaves us with three 'straight'
dramas (Master and Commander, Cold Mountain and Girl with a Pearl Earring)
against a lonely single comedy; Freaky Friday, all by itself both the 'purest'
comedy and the funniest movie of 2003.
There were four films that also earned three-and-a-half stars, but did not make
it into the top ten, they are: House of sand and fog, Love actually, Hulk and
Finding Nemo. And to round it all off, there were three films ‘made in 2002’ that
found their way to a cinema near me only in 2003 and are worthy of a top ten
place; they are Ying Xiong (‘Hero’), El Crimen del Padre Amaro (‘The crime of
Father Amaro’) and Hable con Ella (Talk to her). If all these had the right to be
inserted somewhere, the top ten would have looked like this: 1/Talk to her
(Pedro Almodovar), 2/ Lost in translation (Sofia Coppola), 3/ The Company
(Robert Altman), 4/ El crimen del Padre Amaro - The crime of Father Amaro
(Carlos Carrera), 5/ Pieces of April (Peter Hedges), 6/ Goodbye Lenin
(Wolfgang Becker), 7/ Ying Xiong – Hero (Yang Zhimou), 8/Cold Mountain
(Anthony Minghella), 9/ Les invasions barbares - the barbarian invasions
(Denys Arcand). and 10/Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson).
