Panopticon Blog

I’ll begin with the same disclaimer that I always do when publishing a Top Ten List: I have not seen all the films that have been appearing regularly on other critics’ Top Tens, including In The Loop, The White Ribbon, The Cove, The Young Victoria, etc. etc. But what I have seen in 2009, after the relative quality wasteland of 2008 (how many great films from last year can you think of off the top of your head?), has been encouraging in its quality. I actually had a pretty tough time narrowing things down to ten (though I could have easily fit everything I’ve liked thus far this year into fifteen). This has been a great year for tough dramas, science fiction and, above all, animation.

10. Two Lovers

Joaquin Phoenix gives a remarkable performance, full of Method ticks that recall Brando’s great blue-collar roles, as Leonard Kratidor in James Gray’s thoughtful tale of a bi-polar man caught between two women – the deeply unstable Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow) and the more reliable, family endorsed Sandra (Vinessa Shaw). This is mostly an actors’ showcase – Isabella Rosellini is also quite good as Leonard’s mother – as well as a charmingly miniature portrait of family, business, love and sex in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.

9. The Informant!

In the year’s most underrated movie, director Stephen Soderbergh deftly deconstructs populist legal dramas – like his own Erin Brockovich – with a deceivingly goofy tale of an inept whistle blower, brilliantly played by a rumpled Matt Damon. What starts as a comic satire of corporate intrigue, complete with inscrutable voice-over and a jaunty score by Marvin Hamlisch, turns into a grand inquisition on the nature of The Truth.

8. Up

Up is Pixar’s most emotionally mature film to date, and also one of its goofiest. That the film keeps up both tones throughout is a testament to the brilliant storytelling of the Pixar team. The much-loved opening – a fifteen-minute, nearly wordless montage of an entire married life – deserves the hype, but the film’s second half, with scenery worthy of Miyasaki and scenarios (talking dogs flying planes!) worthy of Looney Tunes, is amongst Pixar’s most purely entertaining work.

7. Up in the Air

For most of its running time, Up in the Air is a whip-smart, up-to-the-second topical character study of a professional corporate downsizer who, more than anything, values his traveler’s lifestyle, to the point of practically fetishizing his frequent flyer miles. George Clooney, smarmy yet vulnerable, continues his run of great roles, but it’s really the film’s ladies – Vera Farminga as his kindred traveling soul and Anna Kendrick as an up-and-coming corporate downsizer – that really steal the show. Co-writer/director Jason Reitman keeps things snappy, funny and surprisingly sentiment free, for the most part. Even though the film becomes shockingly moralistic and excessively judgmental of its characters in the final few minutes, it’s still one of the year’s most entertaining films.

6. A Serious Man

Every Coen Brothers’ movie is inscrutable in its own way – usually they work within a well-worn genre and then explode it from the inside. I suppose A Serious Man’s genre would be memoir/religious/suburban satire, but this does not begin to do the film justice. Ostensibly a tale of seemingly undeserving abuse of a decent, mild-mannered physics teacher (Michael Stuhlberg, wonderfully exasperated), A Serious Man also deals with questions of fate, faith and rock and roll in the 1960s Midwest. A Serious Man really only belongs to one genre: Coen.

5. A Single Man

Some have accused Tom Ford’s debut film of being an hour and a half long perfume commercial, a claim that I reject completely. Yes, Ford’s direction is maximally sumptuous, but lets not mistake style with lack of substance. Ford’s meticulously arranged, austerely photographed film binds its protagonist, a homosexual man struggling to survive in the wake of his long-time lover’s death, within the social structures of his particular time and place. Colin Firth, in a devastating, Oscar-deserving performance, reveals all the pain, and the little moments of beauty, of a man with nothing left to lose.

4. Fantastic Mr. Fox

The 2009 film most destined to become a cult classic has got to be Fantastic Mr. Fox. Directed by Wes Anderson, in his finest work since Rushmore, this stop-motion gem falls between several genre cracks – it’s too talky for kids, it’s too cute for the cynical, it’s too weird for casual filmgoers. And while it may take a while to find it’s audience, I think that in time there will be legions of fans cherishing this caper film where Mr. Fox (George Clooney, hilariously loquacious) spurns his job as a journalist (!) to lead a chicken stealing heist. Blessed with the year’s finest, most quotable screenplay, Fantastic Mr. Fox is a future classic.

3. The Hurt Locker

War movies often lose the personalities of their characters within broad historical plotlines, clumsy political commentary and empty explosions. The Hurt Locker avoids all these traps by sticking with a very small, elite squad of bomb diffusers in Iraq. Yes, there’s nerve-racking suspense and bone rattling explosions. But there are quiet moments of character, especially between the live-wire Sgt. James (Jeremy Renner, in a star-making performance) and the steadier Sgt. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie, quieter but also terrific). Director Katheryn Bigelow keenly observes the intra-group dynamics with the same pitiless scrutiny in which she stages the film’s transfixing action sequences.

2. Coraline

In what was probably the finest year for animation ever, Henry Selick’s beguiling adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel Coraline was the cream of the crop. Lovingly crafted stop-motion puppetry and captured in sumptuous 3D (though the film is still brilliant in two measly dimensions), Coraline is an endlessly rewarding visual feast. The story, a Freudian dreamscape where our plucky heroine finds an ideal, identical (in most ways) world through a tiny door in her new home, may be a bit scary for a children’s film, but like many classics it evokes – Alice in Wonderland, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure – the film taps into the essential terror and wonder of late childhood.

1. Inglourious Basterds

It seemed as if Quentin Tarantino had painted himself into a retro-sploitation corner over the last few years – how did the once groundbreaking filmmaker end up a career rehasher of D-grade genre flicks? Not that this digression hasn’t yielded some fruit (I especially liked Kill Bill Volume 2) but the prospect of a grindhouse World War II film from QT hardly seemed like reason to sit up and take notice. And yet, Inglourious Basterds confounds expectations, both intra- and extra-textual. Full of impossible to predict plot-twists, white-knuckle suspense, soot-black humor and acid-tongued dialogue, Basterds is without a doubt QT’s best film since Pulp Fiction. Equal measures classically constructed and deeply offbeat, this two pronged revenge tale – one anchored by Brad Pitt’s hilariously hammy Lt. Aldo Raine and his “Natzee” killing basterds, the other by the wonderful Marie Laurent’s cinema owning, heritage hiding Shoshanna – dovetails in an explosive finale that above all celebrates the God-like power of cinema. Holding the two strands between his teeth is Christoph Waltz, whose performance as Hans Landa, the “Jew Hunter,” will go down as one of the great villains of the 2000s.

As much as I’d like to think there’s great variety in my musical taste, it’s inevitable that this annual list of Best Albums will only cover a small cross-section of what 2009 had to offer. Unintentionally or not, this list mostly neglects Hip-Hop, R&B, Pop, World Music, Country, Classical, Techno and many, many more genres. That being said, it’s amazing how, since the advent of file-sharing and ITunes, “genre” has become more and more fluid — many musicians on this list have borrowed tools from wildly different sources in the never-ending quest to find something indelible. Here are albums that have succeeded in 2009:

Honorable Mention: (alphabetical by artist)

The Antlers — Hospice

Do Make Say Think — Other Truths

Fever Ray – Fever Ray

Maxwell — BLACKsummer’s Night

Mos Def – The Ecstatic

THE TOP TEN

10. The Twilight Sad – Forget the Night Ahead

The best of the Glaswegian neo-shoegaze movement, The Twilight Sad anchors dread soaked lyrics to soaring, My Bloody Valentine symphonies of noise.

9. Isis – Wavering Radiant

If Isis is the Radiohead of their admittedly small genre of post-metal, and Oceanic and Panopticon are their OK Computer and Kid A, respectively, then Wavering Radiant is Isis’ In Rainbows. The record touches on the heaviness of The Red Sea and the post-rock psychadelia of Panopticon and with its stunning climax, “Threshold of Transformation,” reaches new heights all it’s own.

8. Arbouretum – Song of the Pearl

Like their last album, this one’s a grower – initially a bit too mellow for my taste, it’s become one of very few records this year I’m willing to sit down and enjoy at any time of the day or night. Dave Heumann remains one of indie-rock’s least appreciated guitar talents.

Down by the Fall Line by Arbouretum from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

7. Converge – Axe to Fall

Quite possibly the best hardcore punk band of the 00s. Axe To Fall is the most immediately gratifying, punch-a-hole-in-a-brick-wall metal album of the year. Jake Bannon and company have never sounded tighter than opening track “Dark Horse,” with it’s crazed polyrhythmic drumming and stuttering guitar solos, and draw inspiration from both Tom Waits and Neurosis in the album closing pair “Cruel Bloom” and “Wicked World.”

6. Bat For Lashes – Two Suns

Delivers on the potential of first album, Fur & Gold, in a big way. From the opening strains of “Glass,” where Natasha Khan whips up an afternoon’s worth of D&D’s worth of fantasy imagery with her soaring vocals and grandiose production, to the left-right stereo rolling thunder of “Siren Song” to the perfectly crafted goth disco-pop of “Daniel,” Two Suns proves itself one of the year’s most rich headphone albums. Two Suns is the kind of sonically immersive pop that Bjork put out through the 90s, with a hint of Tori Amos’ gothic femininity.

5. Future of the Left – Travels with Myself and Another

Future of the Left are a leaner, meaner, catchier monster than Andy Falkous’ previous band, Mclusky. As in the past, Falkous’ lyrics are both brilliantly idiotic (“You need Satan/more than he needs you”), and idiotically brilliant (“slight/bowel movements/preceded/the bloodless coup”). But it’s the musical chops on display here that really thrill. From the soaring intensity of opener “Arming Eritrea” to the throat-shredding roar and muscular punk rock of “Chin Music,” to the synths-from-Hell boogie “You Need Satan More Than He Needs You,” Future of the Left work with such confidence that, after your first listen, you’ll wonder why they’re not much bigger rock stars. The first seven songs on the album are absolutely flawless, and the rest ain’t too bad either.

4. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion and Fall Be Kind

Let it be known, I had not formerly been a supporter of Animal Collective – their earlier work struck me as intentionally difficult. But this year, they’ve turned me around pretty much completely. Maybe I just finally “get it,” or maybe Animal Collective have just buckled down and steered their considerable artistic talent in a more accessible direction. With its sunny, druggy harmonies, Merriweather is their Pet Sounds – domestic bliss seen through the liquid of a lava lamp – and “My Girls” is their “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” Fall Be Kind, their EP released just before year’s end, might actually be even better – five perfect songs, with the good vibes of “What Would I Want? Sky” practically oozing out of your stereo and “On a Highway” exploring the darker side of being a traveling band.

3. Lightning Bolt – Earthly Delights

In Lightning Bolt, two guys named Brian make music that sounds like it’s being played by nine guys named Brian. Almost universally acclaimed for their crazed, down and dirty live performances, Lightning Bolt’s albums have sometimes felt like afterthoughts. Not so with Earthly Delights, an album whose songs flow forth from, rather than serve as an excuse for, the Brians’ technical virtuosity. “Colossus,” with its locked-in groove, is practically a stoner rock song. “Funny Farm,” on the other hand, is like a bi-polar hoedown that’s neglected its schizophrenia medication. And the album’s final track, the marathon, 13-minute “Transmissionary,” is the closest the band’s ever gotten to capturing its live fire on a record – it also goes to prove to whomever is still unconvinced that Brian Chippendale is the best drummer in the business.

2. Grizzly Bear — Veckatimest

Veckatimest is a record so perfectly crafted that it already felt like a classic when it was first released. What sets Grizzly Bear apart from countless other Beach Boys worshiping, oh-so-polite indie rock bands is the musical muscle of each of its four members. Just listen to singer Ed Droste’s cooing baritone on the blissful “Two Weeks” and the elegiac “Foreground”; and guitarist/singer Daniel Rossen’s off-kilter strums on the jaunty “Southern Point” and the thunderous “Fine For Now”; and bassist/multi-instrumentalist Chris Taylor’s inventive production on the swirling “Ready, Able” and his smooth backing vocals on “All We Ask”; and how drummer Chris Bear expertly goes between spacious syncopation on “Cheerleader” to thunderous rolls on “I Live With You.” Each member sings in beautiful close harmony, and when each member of the band brings his strength to album highlight “While You Wait For the Others,” the results are nothing short of astonishing. This was my album of the 2009 by a country mile for most of the year, at least until…

1. The Flaming Lips — Embryonic

The Flaming Lips came back from the dead. After the spectacularly uneven At War With the Mystics and some lackluster singles, the Oklahoma veterans roared back with their most ambitious, craziest album to date. Embryonic blissfully floats like early Pink Floyd and stings like the drug-soaked psychadelic epics of Can – sometimes all in the same song, like “Silver Trembling Hands” – but with lyrical motifs and rock-solid songwriting that’s strictly Flaming Lips. Swaggering out of the gate with the paranoid “Convinced of the Hex,” it’s instantly clear that these aren’t the Flaming Lips of the sugar coated classics The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Songs like “Worm Mountain” and “See The Leaves” almost approach metal in the stuttering drum bursts of Kilph Scurlock, and “Scorpio Swords” and “Aquarius Sabotage” are pure free-jazz madness. Even when Wayne Coyne warbles his way through the album’s most accessible song, “I Can Be a Frog,” there’s a madness bleeding around the edges that makes it one of the most uncomfortable lullabies in recent memory. In the age of the single, Embryonic is a cohesive album experience – musical figures and lyrical motifs concerning insanity, death and transcendence fade in and out throughout the album’s 18 tracks. The journey concludes with the tectonic “Watching the Planets,” one of the most propulsive tracks in the band’s impressive catalogue. It’s time to start mentioning The Flaming Lips in the same sentence as Radiohead – what other band can you think of that has four of the greatest albums – Transmissions of the Satellite Heart, The Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and now Embryonic – of the last 20 years?