Blackthorn

2011 in Movies: foreign films

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It was another year in which foreign cinema was essential (although not as great as years past).  Three of the nominees for the 2010 Best Foreign Language Oscar were released in the US this year: Incendies , Dogtooth and the Oscar-winning In a Better World.   Incendies earned a very prominent spot on my Best Movies of 2011.  Joining Incendies on my Best Movies of 2011 are The Artist from France, Poetry from Korea, Carancho from Argentina and Potiche from France.  That’s five films – down from ten on my list for 2010 and the lowest number of foreign films on my list ever.

Still, the French had a fine historical drama in Sarah’s Key, the costume epic The Princess of Montpensier, the sexy comedy The Names of Love and the arty head scratcher Certified Copy.   Stylized violence characterized both the Japanese gangster film Outrage and the Samurai movie 13 Assassins.  There was a sly Mexican dark comedy, Norah’s Will.  Attenberg was a better Greek comedy than Dogtooth.

The Polish documentary War Games and the Man Who Stopped Them was excellent. Hungary delivered a small drama, Question in Details.  The Aussies gave us a very violent contemporary Western, Red Hill.  Germany and Austria produced a contemporary crime drama in The Robber.  Even the Bolivians gave us a pretty solid Western:  Blackthorn.

Here’s the trailer for Poetry.

Movies to See Right Now

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Jeremy Irons in MARGIN CALL

If you can still find it, don’t miss Take Shelter, Jeff Nichols’ brilliant tale of a psychotic breakdown with Oscar-worthy performances by Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain. One of the Best Movies of 2011 – So Far.

50/50 is an engaging cancer comedy with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen. Margin Call is a taut financial meltdown drama with superb performances by Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany and Stanley Tucci.  Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In is a beautiful and disturbing thriller – Out There as only Almodovar can do. The Ides of March is a fine political drama with Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti and George Clooney. Drive is a stylishly arty and ultraviolent action film with Ryan Gosling.

Blackthorn is a beautiful but flawed Western set in Bolivia. Dirty Girl is a fun but unexceptional romp with promising newcomers Juno Temple and Jeremy Dozier.

You can still find The Guard, the Irish dark comedy starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle, and Sarah’s Key, an excellent drama starring Kristin Scott Thomas as a journalist investigating very personal aspects of a French episode in the Holocaust. The Debt, with Helen Mirren, is a multigenerational thriller that addresses the costs of both truth and untruth.

I haven’t yet seen the raunchy comedy A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas or the  psychological thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene, which open this week. You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD of the Week is Crazy Stupid Love. Other recent DVD picks have been Incendies (the year’s best movie so far), the Jenna Fischer dramedy A Little Help , the heartwarming documentary Buck, the very original teen misfit movie Terri, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy (1979).

Blackthorn: Butch Cassidy rides again…through Bolivia

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What if Butch Cassidy had survived that 1908 shootout with the Bolivian army?  That’s the premise of this stylized Western starring Sam Shepherd as Butch.

I love Westerns, and I found this one to be satisfying but not exceptional.  It’s a beautifully shot film with sound acting.  Unfortunately, once we get past the inspired premise, the screenplay is pretty routine.

Sam Shepherd’s presence and features make him well suited to play an icon, whether Chuck Yeager (The Right Stuff) or Butch Cassidy.  Eduardo Noriega (so good as the drug smuggler in Transsiberian) reeks unreliability as the one person who has what Butch needs.  Stephen Rea (The Crying Game) has a gift for hangdog performances, and he gives another good one as the Wiley Coyote of Pinkerton agents.

This is the directorial debut of noted screenwriter Mateo Gil (Open Your Eyes/Vanilla Sky, The Sea Inside).  Gil has the directorial touch – he makes full use of the dramatic Bolivian landscape and engaging Bolivian cast.

All New: Movies to See Right Now

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Michael Shannon in TAKE SHELTER

The best of the current crop of films is Take Shelter , Jeff Nichols’ brilliant tale of a psychotic breakdown with Oscar-worthy performances by Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain.  One of the Best Movies of 2011 – So Far.

50/50 is an engaging cancer comedy with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen.  Margin Call is a taut financial meltdown drama with superb performances by Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany and Stanley Tucci.  The Ides of March is a fine political drama with Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti and George Clooney.  Drive is a stylishly arty and ultraviolent action film with Ryan Gosling.

Blackthorn is a beautiful but flawed Western set in Bolivia.   Dirty Girl is a fun but unexceptional romp with promising newcomers Juno Temple and Jeremy Dozier.

You can still find The Guard, the Irish dark comedy starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle, and Sarah’s Key, an excellent drama starring Kristin Scott Thomas as a journalist investigating very personal aspects of a French episode in the Holocaust. The Debt, with Helen Mirren, is a multigenerational thriller that addresses the costs of both truth and untruth. 

I haven’t yet seen Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In, which opens this week. You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD of the Week is the heartwarming documentary Buck. Other recent DVD picks have been Incendies (the year’s best movie so far),  the very original teen misfit movie Terri, the delightful indie comedy Turkey Bowl  and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy (1979).