FEATURE COLUMN

The Films of 2003 Recap

And the Small Shall Lead...

Hobbits and Clownfish Dominate 2003

By Sara Michelle Fetters

I’ve never been a huge fan of top ten lists. In the end they’re very arbitrary. What ends up on one today isn’t necessarily the same as what would be there tomorrow. Film, any artistic medium for the matter, is a fluid thing. Levels of enjoyment waver from one moment to the next, and trying to narrow it down to ten is a brutal exercise.

Of course, some years are easier than others. In fact, it was just two years a go that I fretted how few movies that really deserved to be on a top ten list, the majority of those on the list unlikely to achieve remembrance in the decades to come.

Well, it’s the opposite problem this year. While it started off rather anemically, 2003 slowly morphed into one of the finest for film in some time. What’s truly odd is that two years in a row now that we’ve had the good fortune to witness some of the best there is in moviemaking. More surprising, much of it is coming out of the Hollywood studios, and in this day and age of corporate bottom lines and consumer focus groups, that’s an amazing trend.

Of the more fascinating things to happen in 2003, women continued to make gains all across the board. Talented actresses like Nicole Kidman (“The Human Stain,” “Cold Mountain”), Diane Lane (“Under the Tuscan Sun”), Kate Beckinsale (“Underworld”), Uma Thurman (“Kill Bill”), Cate Blanchett (“Veronica Guerin,” “The Missing”), Julia Roberts (“Mona Lisa Smile”), Diane Keaton (“Something’s Gotta Give”), Halle Berry (“Gothika”) and Jamie Lee Curtis (“Freaky Friday”) all headlined movies of varying genres. It is as if Hollywood woke up all at once and realized women can carry a picture every bit as well as a man.

But this year of the woman didn’t just apply to the major studios. Independents got into the act in a big way, many of them rewarded with a hearty supply of box office dollars. Movies like “Whale Rider,” “Bend it Like Beckham,” “Thirteen,” “Lost in Translation,” “Monster,” “The Girl with the Pearl Earring,” “Pieces of April,” “In America,” “Calendar Girls” and “American Splendor” all showcased strong roles for women, many featuring breakout performances from youngsters ranking amongst the year’s best.

Another happy trend was the apparent willingness on the part of the studios to actually give talented filmmakers some money and then get out of their way. While this was met with varying degrees of success, for the most part many of these directors not only delivered, they delivered in spades. And, even in disappointment, directors like Ed Zwick (“The Last Samurai”), Ang Lee (“The Hulk”) and Peyton Reed (“Down with Love”) have nothing to hang their heads about. They – and the studios that backed them – at least took a chance, which is far more than can be said in so many other cases.

Then there was a little clown fish named Nemo. Pixar and Disney hit the jackpot with their fine family fish tale “Finding Nemo.” Not only was it the most successful movie of the year, it also became the highest grossing animated movie of all time, displacing “The Lion King” from the top slot and maybe putting the final nail in the coffin of traditional hand drawn animation. Hopefully not, but with grosses over 330-million dollars it’s a given studios took notice.

In the end, though, 2003 is going to be most remembered for Peter Jackson and his monumental “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. If there was an award for audacity and chutzpah, this is the man who’d get it. Taken by themselves, each film is quite wonderful (even if I was a little bit more taken with parts one and two) and an awe-inspiring spectacle. Taken as a whole, this is, quite frankly, the greatest trio of films ever produced by a Hollywood studio. “The Godfather” and initial “Star Wars” series aside, each entry in the Tolkien saga is so good, so consistent in tone and quality, that Jackson’s triumph is astounding. It’s good versus evil on an ambitious, spectacular scale; a visionary experience that is ultimately more memorable for the human drama than it is for its special effects and epic scale.

With so much to pick from, here are the ten films I feel (at least for the moment) are the best 2003 had to offer.

Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World (Peter Weir)

A seafaring spectacle of camaraderie and passion, Weir’s epic refashioning of two of Patrick O’Brian’s acclaimed series of novels is a timeless tale of honor and humanity out on the high seas. Beyond beautiful, it is one of the most picturesque movies to hit the screen in ages. But not lost amongst the battles and daring-do is the story of a close-knit crew, their nationalistic captain Jack Aubrey (a superb Russell Crowe) and his naturalist best friend Dr. Stephen Maturin (an equally good Paul Bettany). It is the give and take between these two men that ultimately fuels the movie, a crooked smile between disagreeing friends more powerful than any enemy canon ball.

American Splendor (Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini)

Hands down, this is the year’s most innovative motion picture. Part documentary, part docudrama, part fictional meandering, documentarians Berman and Pulcini achieve a breathtaking narrative debut, melding real-life people with the actors playing them. Featuring the great character actors Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis in the performances of their careers, this is definitely a comedic drama of the absurd that simply should not be missed. Read the full-length review.

Mystic River (Clint Eastwood)

Eastwood and writer Brian Helgeland’s adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s bestseller is a masterpiece. The director’s best movie since the Oscar-winning “Unforgiven,” I can’t imagine a movie in touch with the inner turmoil of its characters more than this. It’s a mournful precession of pain. It’s hard to watch yet I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. Featuring the year’s best cast giving some of their very best performances, Eastwood has courage to touch the face of sorrow and then leave his hand there, refusing to soften the blow for either his characters or the audience. Pain, in all its agony, has never been more affecting. Read the full-length review.

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