Now that 5770 has come to a close on the lunar calendar, it is time to look back at the year that was. We have already considered the year in comics and music; let’s see what was happening in film.
It is somewhat telling of the quality of 2010’s films that our pick for 5770 comes from late 2009. By all accounts, Joel and Ethan Coen’s A Serious Man is leaps and bounds above the competition. The duo made a film with no protagonist, with exception of a meowing physics paradox, about a beleaguered minority in bumpkinville USA, and they actually got asses in the seats. It is a heartbreaking film that keeps your mind reeling for hours after you leave the theater. The Brothers Coen are getting faster, smarter and bolder with every outing. That’s not to say that all of their output is great, but it was a joy to watch them tinker (finally!) in an overtly Jewish sandbox using all of the tricks they have garnered throughout their careers.
1. A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen (Focus Features)
2. Life During Wartime, Todd Solondz (IFC Films)
3. Tiny Furniture, Lena Dunham (IFC Films)
4. Greenberg, Noah Baumbach (Focus Features)
5. The Ghost Writer, Roman Polanski (Summit Entertainment)
6. Marwencol, Jeff Malberg (The Cinema Guild)
7. Cold Weather, Aaron Katz (IFC Films)
8. Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson (Twentieth Century Fox)
9. Shutter Island, Martin Scorsese (Paramount Pictures)
10. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg (IFC Films)
Coen brothers are geniuses. O Brother, Where Art Thou? is still my favorite.
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