Films of 2011

I don’t get paid to review films. I get free DVDs, free festival passes and other occasional bonuses, but generally if i want to go to the cinema i have to pay. For this reason i don’t get chance to see everything and occasionally just can’t afford to get to the flicks. For this reason, my top ten films of the year can be selected only from those i’ve seen – meaning the likes of Hugo and Drive miss out. I’ll catch up on them asap and i’m sure i’ll review them in full then. As it is, here’s my favourite films to have received a UK release in 2011 (click the film’s title for my full review)...

Tyrannosaur
A stunning directorial debut from Paddy Considine. Tyrannosaur tackles difficult subject matter (alcoholism, domestic violence, religion) sensitively and powerfully and features astounding acting performances from stalwarts of British cinema Peter Mullan and Eddie Marsan. The real star, however, is Olivia Colman. She’s absolutely heartbreaking in the lead and deserves to win award after award. My film of the year without doubt.

Benda Bilili
A wonderful feel-good documentary about paraplegic Congolese musicians making records and touring Europe. Their journey is both touching and hilarious - and the star of the show is a Jimi Hendrix wannabe who entrances everyone he meets with he virtuouso displays on a self-made one-stringed guitar/biscuit tin!

Meek's Cutoff
I’m a sucker for a Western, but Kelly Reinhardt’s movie is quiet, calm and poetic – not traditional Wild West fare. The pictures really tell the story - the cinematography is amazing and many scenes are allowed to play out quietly and contemplatively. The ending is controversial - but i couldn't think of a better way to leave things.

The King’s Speech
Is there anything left to say? At its heart The King’s Speech is a bromance between two disparate characters which really ought not to work. It does thanks to the generous performance of Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth’s steadfast refusal to go OTT in his portrayal of the stammering monarch-in-waiting.

127 Hours
Essentailly a one-man show where the audience already knows how it will end. Thankfully, Danny Boyle’s adrenaline pumped direction and James Franco’s mesmerising intensity ensure that 127 Hours flies by in what feels like 12.7 minutes.

La Quatro Volte
It’s virtually a silent movie about goat farming and making charcoal. I couldn’t care less. It’s amazing. One of the most beautiful films i’ve ever seen and a powerful reminder that the medium of cinema is not reliant on big budgets, clever scripts are star names. Stunning.

Kill List
A thoroughly uncomfortable film with echoes of The Wicker Man. It’s not without its flaws but it’s brave, uncompromising and brilliantly acted from all involved. A great character study studded with moments of graphic violence – and some moral dilemmas for the audience to puzzle over.

True Grit
It’s been a good year for the Western genre. Jeff Bridges is magnificent in the role initially played by John Wayne, the cinematography is wonderful and the supporting cast are uniformly excellent. The Coen brothers really are good at this kind of thing and anyone who enjoyed O Brother Where Art Thou? ought to enjoy this too.

The Guard
Like an 80s buddy/cop movie with the cheese removed and replaced with Brendan Gleeson’s politically incorrect, soft-hearted bastard of a policeman. No film made me laugh as loud or as often in 2011 and i refused to to write a full review as i’d rather just bask in its glory rather than try to analyse it. Brilliant, hilarious and strangely moving.

The Skin I Live In
Predictable and silly, but beautifully made and visually stunning. Antonio Banderas attempts to create the perfect woman to atone for his past failings – but things are not as they seem. Director Pedro Almodivar is in his element here and that sense of fun transmits itself easily to the audience.

Tyrannosaur & Paddy Considine Q&A

With every seat filled, the audience was forced into every corner of a hot and cramped Hyde Park Picture House. It proved to be an entirely fitting environment for a film which was gripping, claustrophobic and occasionally unsettling.

The sell-out crowd were not only there to see Paddy Considine’s much-anticipated directorial debut, but also to listen to the man himself in a post-movie Q&A session. That the film is also set in Leeds added further interest. And nobody would leave the cinema disappointed after a truly fantastic night.

The film follows the violent drunk Joseph (Peter Mullan) as he struggles to curb his destructive outbursts. After a chance encounter with devoutly religious charity shop worker Hannah (Olivia Colman) he manages to tame his temper a little.

Despite her outwardly sunny disposition, Hannah is embroiled in a deeply abusive relationship with husband James (Eddie Marsan), a man who’s initially introduced to the audience whilst urinating on his sleeping wife. It’s arguably the least cruel act he commits.

Joseph and Hannah form an unlikely bond born out of mutual respect and recognition, friendship, love and the desire to atone for past sins.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, both Mullan and Marsan deliver powerful performances. The latter is given little screen time but still manages to invest his character with malevolent intent. He’s a disgusting man: a pretentious veneer hiding a streak of misogyny which manifests itself in the most vile, visceral ways imaginable.

Mullan’s Joseph is also a man of violence. But he’s a more interesting character: a collection of contradictions struggling to make sense of himself. It’s the kind of role which Mullan has revelled in before, but here he’s better than ever. There’s a stillness and a calm about Joseph which belies the sharp bursts of brutality he commits and a clear development in the character as he opens his heart to Hannah.

But it’s Olivia Colman who steals the film from under the noses of Considine, Mullan and Marsan. They’re three true heavyweights of British cinema and she’s merely the girl from Peep Show. Or at least, she was. Not any longer.

When interviewed after the film, Considine revealed the influence which Gary Oldman’s Nil By Mouth had on Tyrannosaur. And there’s a clear parallel to be drawn between Colman’s performance and that of Kathy Burke in Oldman’s movie: Considine himself expressed his surprise that a ‘comedy’ actress like Burke had delivered such a tour de force having previously been known for hanging about with Harry Enfield in a babygrow. His faith in Colman has paid off in spades, however. Like Burke she’s transcended her comedic origins to great effect. Having met her on the set of Hot Fuzz, Considine immediately recognised her potential and wrote the part with her in mind.

She’s a truly captivating presence. Initially she’s a friendly charity shop manager dispensing God’s wisdom to Joseph as he visits her shop, but her stoic facade crumbles when she returns to her semi-detached home and her monstrous husband.

The film’s greatest scene is a double header between Colman and Marsan. As his contrite James sobs unconvincing apologies into his wife’s lap the camera moves up to focus squarely on Colman. In a camera shot lasting around a minute her face is transformed: a mask of first hatred, then revulsion, self-loathing and pity which is truly heartbreaking. Her pain and inner turmoil are written all over her huge, beautiful eyes. It’s truly stunning.

When pressed on how he managed to draw such performances from his cast, Considine was self-effacing. He praised them for being able to act on cue (he has no time for method acting and believes it can destroy the sense of community on set) and revealed that he did little to elicit the stunning displays other than utter a few off camera instructions and give Colman one direct order: “Smash the fucking vase”.

Considine has made a truly brave movie here. He’s taken a kitchen sink drama, ramped it up to eleven and then removed the clichés and obvious plot developments that would have made Tyrannosaur predictable and hackneyed. He’s been disparaging of religion, included visceral explosions of sexual violence, taken a huge chance on his lead actress and insisted that his limited budget was stretched far enough to negate the need to use handheld cameras. Every one of those decisions has been vindicated in a triumphant debut.