Movies of the year 2011
Esther McCarthy
From the Sunday World
www.twitter.com/esthermccarthy
Best Movies of 2011
1 Senna: Not just a great Formula One movie, but a great movie in its own right.
A documentary that manages to be more cinematic and gripping than a great many feature films, this charts the life and untimely death of the Brazilian driver, who died in a crash at Imola aged just 34. A wealth of footage, cleverly and painstakingly put together by director Asif Kapadia and his team, means that the film doesn’t feature one moment of the ‘talking heads’ other documentaries rely upon. It helps, of course, that the handsome and intense Senna is a revealing character. Not only does the camera love him – he is simply unable to hide his reactions to what he sees as the darker elements of the sport that he loves. Riveting, made with love and unmissable.
2 Black Swan: Flamboyant from start to finish and with hints of the supernatural and even horror, some audiences will likely find Black Swan’s melodramatic style grating. I loved every stunning and deranged minute. Director Darren Aronofsky tells the story of Nina (Natalie Portman) a fragile ballerina who battles personal demons as she prepares to dance the lead in Swan Lake. Twisted, dark, passionate and quite bonkers, the movie made for a memorable and exceptionally entertaining cinema experience.
3 Super 8: Remember when mainstream movies focused as much on emotion and characters and storytelling as they did on blowing up the budget of a small country? Thankfully, so does JJ Abrams. I cannot understand why this didn’t get more love in year-end reviews. Aside from the fact that Abrams is one of the few filmmakers this summer to bother delivering an original script that is not based on other source material or a comic book caper, here he’s created something very special indeed. After sneaking out to a train station to make their movie on a Super 8 camera, a group of young friends witness a dramatic train crash. But something sinister escapes from the cargo. Featuring a terrific young cast, and evocative of many past movies, this was an original in its own right and will, I hope, be regarded as a classic in years to come.
4 Drive: By day he’s a Hollywood stunt driver, by night a getaway man for criminals. But when ‘Driver’ (Ryan “swoon” Gosling) gets involved with the girl next door (Mulligan), he must take risks to protect her. A potent mix of arthouse and action, Drive makes for a stirring (and often violent) two hours at the movies and confirms Gosling as an actor with serious screen presence. Great support, too, from Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks.
5 The King’s Speech: Don’t dismiss The King’s Speech as an Oscar-baiter - it was a beautifully made and acted movie. Set in 1930s England, it stars a very good Colin Firth as Royal heir Bertie, forced to tackle his speech impediment just as his people need inspiring words. What emerged was an unashamed crowd pleaser which looked beautiful, gave us characters to care about and features a sharp and entertaining script.
Nods to: The Fighter, True Grit, Tangled, Hugo, Bridesmaids, X-Men, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, 127 Hours, The Ides of March, Submarine. It’s been a good year for cinema!
Irish Achievements/Performances
1 Michael Fassbender for X-Men and Jane Eyre: After finally achieving success with a committed, stunning performance in Hunger, followed by Inglorious Basterds, Fassbender continued to prove why he’s Hollywood’s hottest property. With two very strong showings in two very different (and underrated) movies, the Kerryman showed he has significant range as well as raw talent. I’m predicting an Oscar nomination for his next movie, Shame, and a massive year for Fassbender in 2012.
2 Brendan Gleeson for The Guard: It’s difficult to imagine The Guard being the success it was without Gleeson’s charismatic central performance. His protrayal of the politically incorrect garda dragged into an international drugs bust was one of the funniest of the year and the actor finally got to fully exploit his knack for comic timing.
3 Colin Morgan for Parked: Colm Meaney got good notices for his role in Darragh Byrne’s touching debut, but it was young Northern actor Morgan who stood out for me. Rocking the Dublin accent, he brought real humanity to what could have been a one-dimensional character of a junkie who befriends Meaney. A name to watch out for.
4 Domhnall Gleeson for Sensation and True Grit: Very funny and quite daring as a sex-obsessed farmer who sets up a brothel in Irish comedy Sensation. Gleeson also made the most of a small role in the Coen’s western and will build on this with three movie roles in the next year. His short film, Noreen, also showed his promise as a writer/director.
5 Juanita Wilson (director) for As If I Am Not There: Wilson won many plaudits for writing and directing her first feature, a harrowing drama centred around a group of women in war-torn Bosnia. It was powerful, and the performance she coaxed from newcomer Natasha Petrovic was remarkable.
Nods to: Colin Farrell, very funny and sexy in the underloved Fright Night; Amy Huberman, showing her range in the fine Irish thriller, Rewind.
ends
