1. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick): This slice of gorgeous sensory overload is the most deeply affecting movie I have seen since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind provided me with the realization that I truly loved film. Some will find it maddening, most will find it challenging, but there is no denying that all will find it otherworldly. It’s impressionistic, dreamlike feel comes to fruition in waves of contemplative beauty and retrospection. It transcends the framework of traditional cinema by encompassing all of existence, thus expressing its incomprehensibility through the experience of a few infinitesimal lives. It’s the culminating work of the most striking aesthete currently working in modern American cinema, and is a film that begs to be seen. It has stayed with me since my initial viewing, and I feel strongly that it will affect you in very much the same way.
2. Meek’s Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt): This introspective drama about the pioneers of the American West is a meditative, suspenseful take on the modern Western. Director Kelly Reichardt’s neo-realist tendencies stay true to form in her third feature film, the story of two families lost within the vast and volatile emptiness of the17th century American frontier. The film is deliberately slow—an attribute that may be off-putting to some—but there’s no denying that its gradual, building suspense is engrossing and subtly moving. Michelle Williams, Paul Dano and Bruce Greenwood give very strong performances.
3. Bridesmaids (Paul Feig): This movie—the highest grossing production to date from Bro-mance guru Judd Apatow—is the funniest comedy of the year so far. Co-writer and star Kristen Wigg plays Annie, the down-and-out woman who, after the foreclosure of her business and subsequent loss of her boyfriend, discovers that her best friend, Lillian, will be getting married. Filled with witty, hilarious quip and raunchy-good physical comedy from Wiig, Bridesmaids is the culmination of an entertaining plot and genuine, refreshing, laugh-out-loud comedy. It has mass appeal and, believe it or not, panders most effectively to both male and female sensibilities.
4. Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen): Albeit it far from able to keep pace with his great films of the 1970’s (in particular Manhattan and Annie Hall), Woody Allen’s latest film is his strongest effort in years. Owen Wilson assumes the role of Gil, the quick-witted, neurotic author who has vacationed to Paris with his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams). Sensing the growing discord between his artistic sensibilities and the relationship with his bride-to-be, Gil begins to indulge in the nostalgic time travel that he mistakenly stumbles upon while resting beside a downtown roadway. As the film progresses, he’s forced to choose between his desires and Inez, leading to an unmistakably Allen-like resolution. Owen Wilson gives the performance of his career.
5. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami): Actress Juliette Binoche gives one of the best performances I’ve seen by a French actress since Isabelle Huppert in Claire Denis’ White Material. This moving film about the detailed interplay between two lovers keeps an acute eye trained on detail. We’re never quite sure if the couple is married, are merely acquaintances or are acting as strangers. It’s a strong examination of attraction the games two people play with one another when something beyond friendship is at stake
