海角大神

Was 2015 a good year for movies? Let鈥檚 put it this way: Of the 250-plus movies I saw this year, I would heartily recommend several dozen, and that鈥檚 plenty. After all, how many terrific new novels were there? How many great new restaurants did you discover?聽

Before I trumpet my annual Top 10 list, allow me a few musings, complete with quibbles and cavils. 聽

Whether by accident or design, some of the year鈥檚 best, or at least most touted, movies were stylistically old-fashioned, among them the marvelous 1950s romance 鈥淏rooklyn,鈥� the sporadically good cold-war thriller 鈥淏ridge of Spies,鈥� and the entertainingly conventional 鈥淎ll the President鈥檚 Men鈥�-style muckraker 鈥淪potlight.鈥� 聽 聽

We had the uninspiring 19th-century seafaring drama 鈥淚n the Heart of the Sea,鈥� complete with white whale, and 鈥淪outhpaw,鈥� a boxing bash that overdrew on 鈥淏ody and Soul鈥� and 鈥淐hampion.鈥� Even movies about potentially transgressive subjects, such as the chilly, overrated 1950s lesbian romance 鈥淐arol,鈥� and the vaporous 鈥淭he Danish Girl,鈥� about one of the first men to undergo a sex-change operation, were determinedly retro 鈥� stylishly out-of-style. 鈥淪uffragette鈥� could have been made a half century ago. So could 鈥淔ar From the Madding Crowd,鈥� also starring Carey Mulligan and one of the year鈥檚 better literary adaptations.聽

I don鈥檛 mind a movie that is not cutting-edge as long as it has an edge. That鈥檚 why I admire 鈥淏rooklyn,鈥� and the English marital drama 鈥�45 Years,鈥� featuring a world-class performance from Charlotte Rampling. But the stylistic (and thematic) conservatism of so many of this year鈥檚 鈥減restige鈥� movies seems to me, if not a step backward, then at least a standing in place. Virtuoso filmmaking, allowing for rare aberrations like George Miller鈥檚 assaultive 鈥淢ad Max: Fury Road,鈥� is not prized in the New Old Hollywood. There鈥檚 too much commercial downside in taking artistic risks. Even Ridley Scott, that great dystopian, has become a cozy auteur: 鈥淭he Martian鈥� is feel-good science fiction.

Franchises, which capitalize on lack of risk, still dot the landscape. 鈥淪tar Wars,鈥� as in the rousing 鈥淭he Force Awakens,鈥� is, of course, back with a vengeance. So is Rocky Balboa (in the surprisingly good 鈥淐reed鈥�). So is James Bond (in the lackluster 鈥淪pectre鈥�); 007 could use another reboot.

鈥淗unger Games鈥� diva Katniss Everdeen, however, has shot her last arrow. Judging from the brassy, blustery 鈥淛oy,鈥� maybe it鈥檚 time for Jennifer Lawrence to part ways with David O. Russell as well. She鈥檚 perfectly fine in it, but her range is richer than his palette of primary colors.聽

In some ways, audiences may be ahead of Hollywood these days. Case in point: 鈥淪teve Jobs,鈥� the Aaron Sorkin-scripted takedown of the Apple guru. Despite its fizzy Sorkinisms, the film is essentially old-school stuff. It鈥檚 like a cinematic dartboard, with Jobs the bull鈥檚-eye, but what the filmmakers don鈥檛 realize is that audiences don鈥檛 care if Jobs behaved atrociously. What they care about are their iPhones. The movie was a commercial disappointment.聽

The entertainingly glib 鈥淭he Big Short鈥� also seems tone-deaf to the times. We鈥檙e supposed to feel the love for the film鈥檚 cadre of money managers and investors who, foreseeing the home-loan crisis, gamed the system, screwed the banks, and cashed in. Heroes? Not in my book.聽

The violence quotient in movies like Quentin Tarantino鈥檚 splatterfest 鈥淭he Hateful Eight鈥� can鈥檛 compete with the violence in today鈥檚 headlines, making his movie seem all the more meretricious. 鈥淭he Revenant鈥� has Leonardo DiCaprio surviving a bear attack and later crawling into the carcass of a horse to stay warm. Don鈥檛 try this at home.

Far more difficult to achieve is the successful rendering of the consequences of emotional violence, such as in 鈥淕ett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem,鈥� about the ravages of an Israeli woman trying to procure a divorce from her unyielding husband, and 鈥淩oom,鈥� about a captive sex slave and her young boy, as experienced through his eyes.聽

In the end, what I think I craved most this year was good old-fashioned inspirationalism. This dawned on me after I saw Ethan Hawke鈥檚 marvelous documentary 鈥淪eymour: An Introduction,鈥� about Seymour Bernstein, an octogenarian piano teacher. There is no better movie for lifting the spirit.

Now, let鈥檚 dive into the good stuff (ranked roughly in descending order):

Brooklyn 鈥� This transcendently lovely romance, directed by John Crowley and adapted by screenwriter Nick Hornby from Colm T贸ib铆n鈥檚 novel, is about an Irish immigrant, matchlessly played by Saoirse Ronan, who battles homesickness and finds her place in the world. It鈥檚 one of the most convincing coming-of-age movies ever made.

Seymour: An Introduction 鈥� No other movie comes as close to expressing the soul-enriching glories of musicmaking.

In Jackson Heights 鈥� Frederick Wiseman remains our premier documentarian, and this movie about the fabled multiethnic Queens neighborhood of New York City is a meditative mosaic of the first order.

Room 鈥� Brie Larson is extraordinarily good and so is Jacob Tremblay as her young boy, both held captive for years before they flee into a frightening new world. With great delicacy, director Lenny Abrahamson brings us very deep inside the boy鈥檚 wide-eyed bafflements.

Listen to Me Marlon 鈥� Marlon Brando recorded his inner ramblings for years, and these audiotapes form the basis for Stevan Riley鈥檚 one-of-a-kind documentary about our greatest actor. It鈥檚 a wide window into his muse.

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem 鈥� The great Israeli actress Ronit Elkabetz, who also codirected, gives the strongest performance I saw all year as a woman harrowed by endless divorce proceedings.聽聽 聽

When Marnie Was There 鈥� This hauntingly beautiful piece of animation, a young girl鈥檚 fantasia about a possibly imaginary playmate, is perhaps the last movie to come out of Japan鈥檚 famed Studio Ghibli. Hiromasa Yonebayashi directed.

Ex Machina 鈥� Alicia Vikander is the robot who makes artificial intelligence seem anything but artificial in Alex Garland鈥檚 creepy sci-fi mini-classic. It鈥檚 like a super-duper 鈥淭wilight Zone鈥� episode.聽 聽 聽

The Lady in the Van 鈥� This movie proves that Maggie Smith as a bag lady is every bit as believable as Maggie Smith as the 鈥淒ownton Abbey鈥� dowager. Alan Bennett鈥檚 screenplay, adapted from his 1999 play (which Smith starred in on the London stage), is resoundingly literate without sacrificing an ounce of empathy.

Anomalisa 鈥� The curlicues of Charlie Kaufman鈥檚 perfervid imagination are on display in this, his first, animated feature, codirected by Duke Johnson. A motivational speaker checks into a hotel. If this sounds like the setup for a joke, it is, but the joke is stranger than you could ever have imagined.

In addition to the films mentioned favorably in the preamble, here are some others, for every taste, worth checking out: 鈥淭imbuktu,鈥� 鈥淏oy & the World,鈥� 鈥淏reathe,鈥� 鈥淔rame by Frame,鈥� 鈥淢ustang,鈥� 鈥淗eart of a Dog,鈥� 鈥淢r. Holmes,鈥� 鈥淛ames White,鈥� 鈥淭angerine,鈥� 鈥淲e Come as Friends,鈥� 鈥淭he Salt of the Earth,鈥� "Sembene," and 鈥淏est of Enemies.鈥�