the list of 9 for december 21, 2009:
NINE OF THE DECADE'S MOST UNDERRATED FILMS
Lately a number of movie reviewers have been releasing lists of what they have deemed to be thebest films of 2000-2009. There's a lot of overlap with the 100 films I have chosen over the lastten years in my "great movies" lists, which you can access via the "Reviews" section of this site;sometimes a movie comes out that most everybody can agree on. However, whereas I often postyear-end lists of what I consider to be the more overrated films (and I could do that again easilyfor this decade; for instance, any movie with Kate Winslet in it), in this case I wish to shedlight on what to me are the most underrated films to come out after 1999. There is a special joyin liking a movie that most everybody else dismisses or even loathes. It does not happen oftenenough for me. But the following nine titles are interesting, challenging, often beautiful filmsthat will hopefully find their audiences as the years go by.

  1. BLINDNESS (Fernando Meirelles, 2008). That critics andcineastes would go bananas for Meirelles' gritty but poorly-plotted The Constant Gardenerand then write off his tense follow-up about a virus that strikes everybody in the world blindexcept for one woman (Julianne Moore) just goes to show you that movie reviewers can be just asfickle and faddish as Hollywood studios and audiences.

  2. THE FALL (Tarsem Singh, 2006). Though Tarsem's wildfantasia appears to be collecting a cult following - its current IMDb rating is an impressive 8.0- most serious critics ignored it at the time. But it is a wondrous combination of eye-poppinglocation photography, stunning costumes by Eiko Ishioka, and incredibly affecting performances byLee Pace and the amazing 5-year old Romanian amateur Catinca Untaru. Tarsem is known for stealinghis visuals from other, lesser-known filmmakers, but The Fall is one of a kind.

  3. THE GOOD THIEF (Neil Jordan, 2002). Jordan is one of themost underappreciated directors around. Not all of his films achieve the acclaim of his MonaLisa or The Crying Game, but they are always interesting projects, and The GoodThief, a clever, self-referential remake of the old French classic Bob le Flambeur isas good as any. It may not be a film for the ages, but it's got many layers and a fascinating castled by Nick Nolte (whom I usually do not like).

  4. SUNSHINE (Istvan Szabo, 2000). I'm cheating a little here,as Szabo's film is technically a 1999 release - in that it premiered in Toronto in September ofthat year and was reportedly released in Canada in December. But the rest of the world, includingthe United States, didn't see it until deep into 2000. Not to be confused with Danny Boyle'sdisappointing sci fi pic of the same name, Sunshine is an epic about Hungary's wartimetrials throughout the twentieth century, as seen through the eyes of one Jewish family. RalphFiennes is excellent in three different roles. Some found it pretentious, but I think it is wellworth seeing.

  5. HERO (Zhang Yimou, 2002). Another film that has slowlygarnered an 8.0 rating on the IMDb, Zhang's color-coded Chinese epic never flew with Americanaudiences the same way that the inferior Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon did, and criticsshrugged it off unlike Zhang's earlier films. Too bad. Its visuals are spectacular. Otheronce-cherished Asian directors whose later work was unfairly ignored this decade include Wong KarWai with 2046 and Tran Anh Hung with The Vertical Ray of the Sun.

  6. THE QUIET AMERICAN (Phillip Noyce, 2002). Well-liked bythe handful of people who actually went to see it, Noyce's adaptation of the Graham Greene novelabout a bitter love triangle in pre-war Vietnam suffered the same fate as Blindness in thatits studio just didn't get behind it, so it was dumped into a few theaters with little fanfare andpulled before word of mouth could spread. But Michael Caine is at his very best, and BrendanFraser delivers what is arguably his one truly great performance. Richly shot, like Hero,by the legendary Christopher Doyle.

  7. A SCANNER DARKLY (Richard Linklater, 2006). Although thisfilm displayed a much stronger use of the rotoscope animation that was heralded inLinklater's earlier, overrated Waking Life - not to mention it being the most faithfulscreen adaptation ever made from a Philip K. Dick novel - even hipster reviewers couldn't bebothered. But it's a very interesting picture about drug abuse in a future police state. And dareI say it? It even features decent performances by Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder.

  8. BREACH (Billy Ray, 2007). There are probably a dozen filmslike Breach that, if I thought long enough, I could add to this list, but Breach iswhat you get. A truth-is-stranger-than-fiction account of the takedown of American spy/weirdoRobert Hansson, the film is a fine detective story along the lines of Ray's equally goodShattered Glass, with a fantastic performance by Chris Cooper as Hansson and strongsupporting work by Laura Linney. Cooper was unjustly overlooked for what is among his best work.

  9. INLAND EMPIRE (David Lynch, 2006). Much as Bjork alienatedher growing cult audience with a somewhat unlistenable a capella album, so too did Lynch turn offmany of the people who loved him since Blue Velvet and especially the new fans he picked upwith Mulholland Drive. This film is three hours long. It's shot mostly on grainy,low-quality video. Its story is so murky that it makes Mulholland Drive look simple. Inshort, Lynch has not made it easy to like Inland Empire. But if you have the patience, youmay just appreciate this for the work of art that it is, a nebulous account of a Polish womanseeking an abortion, and a parallel, possibly imaginary story about Laura Dern in two differentroles.

Copyright © Mark Tapio Kines 2011