The Ten Best Films of 2002
01. Talk to Her
Being subdued and repressive doesn't generally sound like a director's recipe for creating the best film of the year, but that's exactly what Spanish maverick Pedro Almodovar did in 2002, trumping what we thought was his masterpiece (1999's “All About My Mother”) with the even more striking “Talk to Her.” Gone are Almodovar's wild onslaughts of bold color and go-for-the-throat melodrama, replaced by true emotion and subtle performances in this tale of two men who attempt to communicate with the comatose women they love any way they can. Though they both find friends in each other, they each lose their loves one way or another, and that journey makes for the year's most compelling film experience.
02. Minority Report
In 2002, “Catch Me If You Can” proved that Steven Spielberg could still have fun at the movies, but “Minority Report” demonstrated his mastery of storytelling — the element that has always set him aside from his sci-fi contemporaries. With both, Spielberg enjoyed his best year since 1993. “Report” was also a triumph for star Tom Cruise, in the best film of his career. As a futuristic cop accused of a crime he has yet to commit, Cruise is featured in some of Spielberg's most suspenseful scenes ever. (Spiders, anyone?) “Minority Report” is among the screen's greatest visions of the future.
03. About a Boy
The best comedy since “Election.” Whoulda thunk that Paul & Chris Weitz, previously only known for such minor laffers as the “American Pie” films, could deliver such a smart, witty comedy about a coy and shallow British bachelor who unwittingly finds himself befriended by a depressed woman's son (Nicholas Hault). What elevates “About a Boy” to greatness is that it plays fair, earning both its laughs and its bittersweet moments the hard way.
04. Far From Heaven
Todd Haynes' “Far From Heaven” would easily qualify for this list based on technical achievements alone — a triumph of cinematography and set design, every golden-glowed leaf seems to float by on cue. But add to that a narrative that throws back to the best Douglas Sirk melodramas of the 1950s without the slightest hint of 21st century irony. As seemingly perfect housewife Cathy Whitaker, Julianne Moore reaches new heights in acting for this genre. A haunting, emotionally impressive work of art.
05. About Schmidt
At first look, Alexander Payne's “About Schmidt” seems like a professionally-rendered film that houses a great performance by Jack Nicholson. But this one stuck with me long after I saw it, and soon I realized that the entire film is a gem. As newly retired Warren Schmidt, Nicholson reminds us just what a great actor he is as this man realizes that his life has had very little impact on anyone. The cross-country trek he then sets out in in his motorhome sets forth for some truly funny and truly moving moments. And the “Dear Ndugu” scenes are among the year's best.
06. The Pianist
Roman Polanski returned to greatness in 2002 with the brutal yet curiously controlled portrait of Wladyislw Spzilman, a concert pianist caught in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. Rising star Adrien Brody is most effective as the title character. Unlike past Holocaust-themed films like the more formalistic “Schindler's List,” Polanski's film goes the realist route, getting positively cinema verité in a film that finds its most powerful moments when not a word is being spoken.
07. Chicago
Infectious and so much fun. The big screen adaptation of the classic Kander & Ebb musical plops Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Queen Latifah, and the excellent John C. Reilly down into one wild number after another, resulting in 12 seamless productions that build a bridge over the film's lack of anyone to root for. That's okay, though, as long as those numbers keep on coming. Feature film rookie Rob Marshall cemented what last year's “Moulin Rouge” started: the movie musical is back.
08. Punch-Drunk Love
The thought of an Adam Sandler film on my 10 best list is stunning, but here he is in one of 2002's biggest surprises. Paul Thomas Anderson, who scored big in 1997 with “Boogie Nights” but struck out (with me at least) in 1999 with “Magnolia,” accomplished a minor miracle with “Punch-Drunk Love,” which delved in to the Angry Idiot character so often played by Sandler in one clunker after another. What he finds is not only intriguing, but it also lays the groundwork for a bittersweet love story between Sandler and Emily Watson in a film that sounds nuts on paper, but ends up clicking onscreen, like so few movies before it. Unfortunately a flop at the box office, because Sandler audiences apparently aren't looking for introspection. 09. Adaptation
As clever of a movie as you'll probably ever find, Spike Jonze's “Adaptation” takes stars Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper and promptly upstages them all with another star — the script by Charlie Kaufman and his fictitious brother, Donald. Cage plays both brothers, the former who has been struggling with adapting Susan Orlean's novel “The Orchid Thief,” and the latter who has been having no trouble at all whipping out Hollywood numbskullery like “The 3.” Witty and wise about writers and the current state of Hollywood, “Adaptation” is exceedingly smart, if not art.
10. Y Tu Mama Tambien
What begins like a Porky's-esque horny road movie joltingly evolves into a mature meditation on life and death in “Y Tu Mama Tambien,” the fantastic Mexican film from “A Little Princess” director Alfonso Cuaron. Simultaneously taking a pointed look at the struggles of Mexico's working class, “Mama” follows two young men (Diego Luna & Gael Garcia Bernal) and their trek across the country with a beautiful young woman (Maribel Verdu) who tries to expose them to maturity while shielding a secret of her own. “Y Tu Mama Tambien” is risky, compelling moviemaking.
Copyright 2002 - Danny Linton
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