© Copyright 2003 by Charles Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.

The best film to come
out of Mexco since Like Water for Chocolate, and the best coming of age
tale to hit the silver screen since Beautiful Thing. Y Tu Mama Tambien seeks to explore the
tumultuous friendship between two teenage boys while pondering the question: do
homoerotic feelings often lie beneath the sometimes competitive nature of male
friends? Having that question stir
within two adolescents boys road trip with a female companion through the
Mexican countryside is like a journey into the heart of darkness of burgeoning
sexuality. The movie acknowledges the
political, and social upheaval of Mexico, without ever allowing them to
overpower the film. Like the journey
itself, the relationships in the motion picture begin smoothly, then turn off
on to some dead ends before eventually reaching their final destination, where
sweat on bronze skin smoulders against the backdrop of an ocean vista.

2) City of God *****
Based on a
true story. This intricately and
meticulously woven tale of poor youth growing up in a crime-ridden favela in
3) Spirited
Away *****
This
4) The Pianist ****1/2
2002’s equivalent to Life
is Beautiful. Director Roman Polanski methodically illustrates how Jews in
Poland didn’t stand up to the Nazis before World War II, because Jewish rights
were stolen at such a slow pace that one wouldn’t believe that things could
possibly get any worse. Adrien Brody’s
physical body slowly deteriorates throughout the film, and is a metaphor for
his will to survive. Brody’s performance
is quiet, yet speaks volumes, and is well deserving of his 2003 Oscar for best
actor.

5) The
Believer ****1/2
Originally screened in 2001 at the Sundance Film Festival this highly controversial
motion picture captured the Grand Jury Prize.
The Believer is a fascinating take on man versus himself. The protagonist, Danny is a neo-Nazi skinhead
who beats up anyone who dons a yarmulke and sounds the rallying cry for the
eradication of Jews. However, there is
only one problem -- he is Jewish himself.
Danny friends and family treat him like a mixed-up teen going through
growing pains and his skinhead associates see him as a mentor. Nineteen year-old Ryan Gosling gives an
affecting and tormented performance, that makes you believe his anger toward
Judaism, and his love of it, all at the same time.
6) Far from Heaven ****1/2
You will
never look at June Cleaver the same again.
This film re-examines the notion that the 50’s were a time of
innocence. After all, low crime and family values existed side by side
with racism and segregation, and even darker secrets. Julianne Moore owns
this movie as she does in The Hours. She conveys well, the plight of a woman who
tries to keep up appearances of the perfect family while she and her
husband both struggle for those they cannot have. Heaven is actually not that far away, just an
arms reach, but unfortunately those arms belong to someone society says is
forbidden.
7) Spider ****1/2
The only picture in 2002
with the word spider in the title that was worth seeing. Ralph Fiennes effectively depicts a deranged
man trapped and tormented by his childhood, where his mother (played
brilliantly by Miranda Richardson) was killed by his father, or so it
seems. His mind spins cobwebs like the threads of yarn he weaves
throughout the house as a child. Director
David Cronenberg, as nutty as ever, inundates
this feature with metaphorical webs. The part where the broken glass
forms a spider web is dazzling. Slow paced but a film that creeps up on
you – almost like a spider.
8) Talk
to Her **** 
Along with Adaptation,
Talk to Her holds the title of “critics darling” of the year. The movie is rather slow moving, and less
quirky than what we have come to expect from a Pedro Almodovar effort. Two men bond and form an enduring friendship when
the women they love both end up in comas.
There are two plot twists near end that seem contrived, but perhaps
Almodovar is still being quirky after all.
2003
9) Bowling for Columbine ****
Michael Moore
continues his bashing of the “white man” (see the book Stupid White Men). This time around he tries to find out why the
good-ole
10) Ararat
****
Ararat is a film
within a film that examines the Armenian genocide through the making of a
motion picture on the subject. Characters and dialogue juxtapose and
transition seamlessly with the real life movie, and the pseudo movie.
There are six degrees of separation in the relationships among characters, in
typical Atom Egoyan (the director) style, and are slowly unveiled through the
eyes of one character, Raffi (David Alpay). Ultimately what they learn about the genocide
affects the decisions they make in the here and now.
11) Adaptation
****
Director Spike Jonze is
still best known for his brilliant music videos (Fatboy Slim, Bjork, Beastie
Boys) but apparently he has no problem making the transition into motion
picture. Adaptation is a wacky, wild and unexpected trip into the mind
of a screenwriter, an author, a botanist, and their eventual descent into
debauchery.
12) Trembling Before God
****
A
poignant documentary that shows how gay Hasidic and Orthodox Jews must go to
great lengths to hide their homosexuality while they practice their faith.
13) Nowhere
in Africa ****
A Jewish-German couple settles in
14) Punch-Drunk
Love ****
Adam Sandler
plays a salesman who is too young for a mid-life crisis, and too old for
youthful self-loathing. He’s like the
socially inept kid from high school who hid his rage and got beat up instead,
but hasn’t blossomed into a gorgeous model that comes back to take revenge by
appearing on a daytime talk show. Instead he’s still socially inept, and still
searching for love, or perhaps simply company, in all the wrong places, until
he meets the right girl played by the brilliant Emily Watson.
15) The
Hours ****
Julianne
Moore, Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep all give wonderful performances as women
coming to terms with troubled relationships and their existential angst.
16) Igby Goes Down ****
Kieran Culkin plays
a rebellious rich kid who goes through one private school after another, and
then runs away to
17) Monsoon
Wedding ***1/2
When
18) Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) ***1/2
Canada’s
first full-length feature film made with only Inuit actors is long and at times
confusing, but still a visual wonder with a plot that effortlessly mingles a
modern love affair with traditional aboriginal mysticism.
19) Catch Me If
You Can ***1/2
Leonardo DiCaprio
portrays a real life con artist who dropped out of high school and impersonated
a doctor, airline pilot and lawyer, all before age 21.
20) Lord of the Rings II: The
Two Towers ***1/2
A very well crafted
story that stays true to the book and gives us astonishing special effects,
which unlike other current films, don’t seem as fake as a Saturday morning
cartoon.
Honorable mention
Chicago ***1/2
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