Sexy Beast: Best Heist Film

tions perfectly, but still inspire some sort of romantic hope in the audience; another important factor, of course, is that the film has to be funny. Bridget Jones’s Diary accomplishes all of these things and blows all other romantic comedies from last year out of the water, including two mediocre efforts starring John Cusack (America’s Sweethearts and Serendipity)—an actor who typically chooses to be in solid films. Let’s hope there will be fewer cookie-cutter romantic comedies, and more fun and different romantic comedies like Bridget Jones's Diary.

Best Foreign Film: Amelie ‘

The opening sequence of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie is one of the most energetic and hilarious film prologues since Magnolia. If the entire film had been that good, Amelie would have been one of the best films in years— based purely on its ability to entertain. As it is, Amelie is a delight to watch, even though it sags under the weight of the main plot. Audrey Tautou is mesmerising as the title character who tries to ignore her own problems by doing good for others: she is one of those actors who can speak volumes with a mere look. Even more wonder- ful are the visual tricks that represent Amelie’s overactive imagination. Amazing special effects, which might be the centrepiece to lesser Hollywood films, get only a few seconds’ screen time. Alas, one deterrent for potential viewers will be that it is a French film

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and is subtitled. To those people who don’t like to read their films, I can only say that they are missing out on a great experience. To those people who don’t mind the language barrier, I say catch it while you still can.

Best Film with Wizards: The Lord of

the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

From start to finish, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone feels like a film that is not nearly as great as it wants to be. The. big mistake that the Studio Gods made was giving the project to Chris Columbus, whose best work in film was his first: the screen- play for Gremlins. As a director, Columbus does not have the standards or the attention to detail that is required for a movie as large in scope as an adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter book. The resulting film is cinematographically stiff, has shoddy digital effects (despite what most people claimed, the Quidditch match looks unconvincing) and has the most distracting and overbearing scores that | can remember. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, on the other hand visualises J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth beauti- fully. Every frame of the film immers- es the viewer into a beautiful new world full of humans, elves, goblins, dwarves, cave trolls and, of course, hobbits. Peter Jackson, who has never done a film of any grandness before, directs the film perfectly with a cast of actors that is both predictable and sur- prising. Ian McKellan as Gandalf the

Best

Grey is a no-brainer, but who would have thought that Sean Astin (whose first film was The Goonies, scripted by Columbus) would have made the perfect Sam Gamgee? Although the film is effects-intensive, Jackson never lets the effects run away from his fine cast and uses many close-up shots to keep the attention focussed on the characters. No film of The Lord of the Rings could ever do Tolkien’s encyclopaedic novel justice, but Jackson’s film is nevertheless a delight to watch.

Film with a Non-Linear Narrative: Memento

Quentin Tarantino wasn’t the first per- son to make a non-linear film, but he certainly got a lot of praise for Pulp Fiction—which is great, not because of its narrative structure, but because of its characters and dialogue. With Memento, Christopher Nolan has actu- ally employed a non-linear narrative for a better reason than “Wouldn’t it be cool if we shuffled the chronology around?” Memento is about a man who suffers short-term memory loss (Guy Pearce), and in order to make the audience understand how disorienting such a condition must be, every sequence is placed in a reverse

chronological order. The effect is.

close to that of reading a children’s book, beginning at the last page and ending at the first. The audience already knows how the plot turns out, but there are plenty of surprises to learn about along the way, which makes Memento one of the best plot- driven films to come out in many years. It doesn’t hurt to have Guy Pearce as the star—an Australian actor who hasn’t been in nearly enough films since his outstanding perform- ance as the straight-arrow cop in L.A. Confidental.

Best Canadian Film: The Left Side of the Fridge

There is a special place in my heart for the mockumentary and I’m glad that Quebec’s Philippe Falardeau has added another film to this small genre. The Left Side of the Fridge is about a an actor-turned-documentary film- maker who follows around his unem-

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ployed roommate who is looking for a job that he is not overqualified for (he is, after all, a qualified engineer). It is in part a film about unemployment woes and corporate morality, but just as importantly it is about how the media can interfere with people’s lives. Even though the filmmaker is merely an independent filmmaker, he is just like any other member of the mainstream media because he manip- ulates the unemployed man’s life while still pretending to be an objec- tive observer; he will do anything to make an interesting film. Anybody who appreciates good satire will cer- tainly appreciate The Left Side of the Fridge.

Best Heist Film: Sexy Beast

In a year with so many great heist films to choose from—Snatch, The Score, Heist, Sexy Beast and Ocean’ 11—Sexy Beast stands out because it is not so much about the thrill of the heist as it is about avoiding the thrill of the heist. The main character Gary “Gal” Dove is a retired London gang- ster living with his wife in a beautiful house in Spain; he’s fat, tanned and content. His contentment changes, however when Don Logan (Ben Kingsley) shows up and tries to con- vince him to take part in the robbery of a high security vault in London. Dove does not want to come out of

The Man Who Wasn't There: Best Coen Brothers Film

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