The Best of 2011...

From beginning to end, 2011 was a year filled of incredible filmmaking from every genre and many countries. With some highly anticipated and others coming out of nowhere, here is the varied list of the year’s best films.

The Tree of Life

Visionary director Terrence Malick takes on his most challenging subject yet: why we are here. The Tree of Life literally explores what the title infers, the paths of life in every way possible. The slowness and gorgeous shots, done by Douglas Drumbell (2001: A Space Odyssey) gives you a much-needed patience that you didn’t know you had within you, becoming a silent bystander to the seemingly simple but deeply complicated 1950s O’Brien family. Brad Pitt gives by far, his best performance yet as the abusive but needy father, while Jessica Chastain is heartbreaking as the helpless and loving mother and Hunter McCracken carries the film laudably as the conflicted young son.

A Separation

The most thought-provoking film of the year is delivered by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, in his mystery, A Separation, which raises more than typical questions to the audience’s minds. The film, set against a backdrop of a couple’s divorce , delves into political, cultural, family and religious issues, some universally relatable while others are specific to Iran, opening up our Western eyes. With a talented cast and an introspective script, A Separation will intrigue and stir, ultimately leaving you breathless at the end credits. 

Hugo

Scorsese gives his most imaginative film yet in a heartfelt homage of the beginnings of cinema, in Hugo. Starring two brilliant young actors, Asa Butterfield and Chloe Moretz, the film tells the story of a young boy living alone in a Paris train station and in search of a key that will fix his late father’s creative machine. The 3D is some of the best that you will ever see while the constructed 1920s train station serves as a gorgeous backdrop to this heartfelt and inspiring movie that will have all cinafiles in upmost happiness.

50/50

Will Reiser writes one of the most emotionally dynamic scripts of all time with 50/50, based on his own personal experiences with cancer. Joseph Gordon Levitt is fantastic in carrying the funny, sweet, moving story as the likable but bewildered Adam. Though you will cry as equally hard as you laugh, 50/50 is not a depressing film or a black comedy. Instead it defines a film genre that has yet to be mastered: real life.

Shame

This is a film that shines uncontrollably in two major talents, filmmaking and acing. Irish filmmaker Steve McQueen’s unbearably authentic and lingering shots make your disturbance of the film’s raw subject matter as real as it can get. Michael Fassbender is astonishing in his portrayal of the dark sex addicted Brandon, while Mulligan is better than she was two years ago in An Education, as Brandon’s emotionally needy and immature sister. The combination of the two talents ends up being overwhelming for the emotionally drained audience.

The Artist

Bold and courageous French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius takes us back to the golden age of Hollywood, literally in his silent tour de force, The Artist. As the most refreshing and enjoyable film of recent times, this film gives you the most unique movie experience you will be able to remember. The handsome and multitalented Jean Dujardin carries the funny but also heavy film as the lead character, film star George Valentin. With the talent of Dujardin and his co-star Berenice Bejo, we are easily carried back to what Hazanivicius clearly sees as the best era of cinema.

Take Shelter

Jeff Nichols gave us the second independent masterpiece of the year, Take Shelter. Spearheaded by the unbelievable talent of the film’s lead actor Michael Shannon, the film takes you on a slow but shock inflicting journey of a man’s sad slip into madness and the compromises he puts on his loving simple family because of it. Nicholls’ subtle and slow camerawork bring out the original and absorbing script performed by the best duo of the year, Shannon accompanied by 2011’s breakout star Jessica Chastain.

The Muppets

We can thank the Muppets-devoted and multitalented Jason Segel for bringing Kermit and Miss Piggy back onto the big screen, in arguably the best Muppets film ever. Filled with old classics, like The Rainbow Connection and new melodies like Man or Muppet by Bret McKenzie, and with a cleverly nostalgic script by Segel and Nicholas Stoller, The Muppets proves to be not only the funniest film of the year, but also the most gleeful film I can remember.

The Descendants

Alexander Payne delivers another off-the-wall character-driven success with The Descendants. George Clooney gives his best and most diverse performance yet as the baffled father of two troubled young girls, who must tell them that their mother’s coma looks to be permanent. Payne’s script shines with a deep and relatable family who deal with grief and parenting in an authentic disoriented way. Shailenne Woodley, Judy Greer, and Beau Bridges also give exceptional performances in the supporting cast of this truly unique and refreshingly sincere film.

Monsieur Lazhar

The producers of last year’s best Canadian film Incendies give us a vastly different but equally affecting film, Monsieur Lazhar. With a moving performance by Mohammed Fellag, it tells the story of an Algerian immigrant teacher coming in to replace an elementary school teacher that has hung herself in the classroom, in Montreal. Writer/director Phillipe Faladreau weaves a delicate story with subtle looks at the adapting sweet teacher and the distressed young students, who are played to perfection by Émilien Néron and Sophie Nélisse.

Midnight In Paris

The brilliant, constantly working legend Woody Allen gives his most creative and ingenious film yet with Midnight In Paris. Like other films on this list like The Artist and Hugo, this film takes you back to the idealistic cultural age of the 1920s. However, Midnight in Paris uniquely does so with a contemporary relatable character Gil Pender. Played superbly by Owen Wilson, the Allen-esque Gil drives the audience’s longing to live in the era that is brought out so beautifully through incomparable production design and the cleverly written artistic icons of Ernest Hemingway, Salvador Dali, Zelda Fitzgerald, etc…

A Dangerous Method

Canadian director David Cronenberg again tackles a difficult subject matter of the exciting infancy of psychotherapy with Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud and the young woman between the two of them. Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of his play manages to remain historically accurate while coming up with incredibly clever and intriguing dialogue, while Cronenberg visually captures the distinctive time period and beautiful setting. However, it is the young and forever growing Keira Knightley that steals the film in her role as the captivating tortured patient turned psychotherapist Sabina Speilrien and embellishes your admiration of the film.