It was a dark and stormy night.
Aug 07 '01
The Bottom Line I am truly awful at giving "the bottom line"... there is a decent range of variety in this list, and what I say is, they're all durn good movies.
Suddenly, a shot rang out!
I feel redundant in the extreme writing a list of ten best dramas... I've already read so many good epinions on the subject, I have a lot of video renting to do myself. But since I got worn out writing an actual review, this is my cop-out solution for the time being. A couple caveats before we get down to business: I am not repeating films that are already on my "10 best films" list, and I have made a few amendments for the sake of variety. Narrowing it down to ten films has been a nightmare - I've grown quite attached to all these movies, and I don't want any of them to feel jilted... but I'm just silly that way.
10 - DANCER IN THE DARK - Lars Von Trier
Starting off on a rather controversial note, I will freely admit that this film is not everyone's cup of tea, and if you're still trying to get over what happened to Emily Watson in _Breaking the Waves_, it is perfectly legitimate to chicken out on this one. Selma (Bjork, earthbound goddess and queen among women) is compensating for the fact that she is going steadily blind by imagining her increasingly rough life into a musical, complete with tap numbers and handsome men. I've made it sound kind of sappy, but the narration is so intimately subjective as to have an almost visceral quality, and as an audience member, one becomes completely wrapped up in Selma's life for two beautiful, painful hours.
9 - HAMLET - Franco Zeffirelli
Zeffirelli, to my mind, does an admirable job of capturing the aura which surrounds the play, of heightening the tensions, judging the pacing, and of hooking his audience. Stellar performances all around (Glenn Close, Ian Holm, Paul Scofield), Mel Gibson turns in quite a respectable embodiment of the Prince of Denmark. Helena Bonham Carter steals the show as the most believable and disturbing Ophelia i've ever seen. Nice adaptational choices, solid direction...all in all, a good story well told.
8 - THE PEOPLE VERSUS LARRY FLINT - Milos Forman
Picking out just one Milos Forman biopic has been tough (this entry was _Amadeus_ until a few seconds ago); I find _Larry Flint_ to be the sharpest example of Forman's directorial prowess. I found that my stance in regard to the social controversy surrounding the main character really didn't matter in the slightest - I really really cared what happened to the little boy selling moonshine and peddling smut. I didn't like him, but could not ignore the fascination and the compassion with which he was presented.
That's Forman's special knack - he gets you caught up in the protagonists' lives, their passions, their talents and their ugliness alike, and you end up feeling more alive for having known and cared about them.
7 - A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS - Fred Zinnemann
Another tough call, this time in competition with _The Mission_, which was also written by Robert Bolt. A quiet film in its own way, more cerebral than gut-oriented, it is one of those overlooked-in-retrospect oscar-winning gems; Paul Scofield's performance alone merits the two hours' attention, and there is a purity, a quality of restraint about the writing and the direction both. Neither integrity nor British history is exactly a "hot topic", but that is no excuse for such a skillfully crafted piece to be overlooked.
6 - THE VIRGIN SUICIDES - Sofia Coppola
"Teenage suiciiiide - don't do it!"... An adaptation quite worthy of Jeffrey Eugenides haunting novel. (I'm sorry for using the word "haunting", I really am) The atmosphere in the film is overpowering, charged with the magic and mystery of the five adolescent girls. Fascinating, gorgeous, flawlessly directed, and with the lingering haze of that odd world which one only gets from really great fiction... Francis Ford must've raised her right.
5 - L.A. CONFIDENTIAL - Curtis Hanson
Film Noir done right; what's not to like about ths movie? Terrific plot, beautifully paced, ideal casting (those sparks between Pearce and Crowe!!! That scene between Spacey and Cromwell!!!), it has just the right look, just the right dialog, just the right execution... Good to the last drop. Not much else to say, really...
4 - SLEEPING BEAUTY - Walt Disney
This definitely counts as drama, and extremely well done drama, at that. Beautiful story, beautiful drawings with the arching, lissom grace of a cathedral, good overcoming evil and l'amour courtois... From the magnificent scenery to the Tchaikovsky-inspired score, _Sleeping Beauty_ has a poise and grace rarely found in "kids' cartoons". Nothing is sappy, or preachy, or watered down; it truly does justice to the fairy tale, without distractions or pretensions of any kind to get in the way.
3 - NORTH BY NORTHWEST - Alfred Hitchcock
I almost feel guilty counting this movie as "drama", to me it is a sheer delight. It sums up everything you've ever loved about the entire spy/suspense genre, orchestrated with Hitchcock's effortless expertise. One of those "nobody does it better" classics, a pleasure every time, a happy vacation in an exciting world, complete with enigmatic blondes, pursuits and plotting, espionage, counter-espionage, and, of course, Cary Grant, still easily the most desirable man ever to have walked the planet.
2 - FARGO - Joel & Ethan Coen
The wonder that is this film is showing up the inadequacy of my reviewing abilities... I can think of nothing to say which comes close to doing it justice. Oh well - guess you'll just have to go see it for yourself. When you do so, bear in mind that it'll be a while before you next see such razor-sharp direction, tantalizing writing, or believable and memorable characters... just trying to spare you post-Fargo cinematic depression.
1 - WEST SIDE STORY - Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins
Just as _Singing In the Rain_ is the most delightful musical ever made, this one is the most intense. Jerome Robbins' choreography is as breathtaking after the tenth viewing as after the first; far from being disruptive or artificial breaks in the action, the musical numbers breathe glorious, passionate life into what would otherwise be just another Romeo and Juliet adaptation. Stunning, winsome, with the goosebump-inducing music of Leonard Bernstein, I defy anyone reading this to be bored during this movie.
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Ooooh, but it was hard to cut these from the list!!! If you have any respect for my judgement, you should see these as well:
THE MISSION - Roland Joffe
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE - John Frankenheimer
DONNIE BRASCO - Mike Newell
FIGHT CLUB - David Fincher
THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE - Nicholas Hytner
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM - Darren Aronofsky
ONE FLEW OVER A CUCKOO'S NEST - Milos Forman
AMADEUS - Milos Forman
DIE VERLORENE EHRE DER KATHARINA BLUM - Margarethe Von Trotta & Volker Shcloendorff
KIRIKOU ET LA SORCIERE - Michel Ocelot
COOKIE'S FORTUNE - Robert Altman
MAGNOLIA - Paul Thomas Anderson
Eeeee-uhbadeeuhbadee, That's all Folks!
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Epinions.com ID:
pazzie
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Member: pazzie
Location: Vienna, Austria
Reviews written: 15
Trusted by: 5 members
About Me:
"Happiness is my default position."
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