YEAR IN REVIEW: THE BEST OF 2008

At Film Monitor, we all have very different taste in movies. Happy-Go-Lucky was one of the few that impressed all of us in 2008. Mike Leigh’s film about an idealistic and cheerful teacher confronted by the contrasting views around her has a very conventional but effective narrative. Free of any creative gimmicks, it draws the audience in with the phenomenal performance of the cast, including the magnificent Sally Hawkins and the brooding Eddie Marsan. Happy-Go-Lucky is back-to-the-basics at its best.

Call it direct cinema or whatever fancy term you like, documentary-style filmmaking continues to be popular in all sectors, including one of our favorites from 2007, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days. Filmmakers creatively push the boundaries of the form by blurring the line between fact and fiction. Guy Maddin convolutes his hometown documentary My Winnipeg with his wacky stories and surrealist aesthetics. Ari Foleman traces the lost memories of his traumatic military experience through his animated documentary Waltz With Bashir. Even established director Jonathan Demme joins in the action by shooting Rachel Getting Married like a home video. Realism never gets out of style.

For Houstonians, since the closing of Landmark Greenway Theatre at the end of 2007, the choices of independent and foreign films are mostly down to the Angelika Film Center and Landmark River Oaks Theatre. Fortunately, alternative venues like Rice Cinema, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH), Aurora Picture Show and others continues to provide us with a healthy dose of cinematic diversity. Among them, the Jean Eustache retrospective at the MFAH was my personal favorite. It was a rare chance to discover the entire catalogue of the filmmaker who made his mark as the watershed of the French New Wave. The retrospective, including the four-plus-hour long The Mother and the Whore and the whimsical Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes, is only one of many exciting events for film lovers in Houston.

Top 10 of 2008/ Francisco Lo (editor):

1. Happy-Go-Lucky

2. My Winnipeg

3. Waltz With Bashir

4. Chop Shop

5. Still Life

6. The Band's Visit

7. Che

8. Slumdog Millionaire

9. Silent Light

10. August Evening

Top 10 of 2008/ R.M. Crossin (editor)

1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. Man on Wire
3. Dark Knight
4. Milk
5. Let the Right One In
6. Che Part I (The Argentine)
7. WALL-E
8. Happy-Go-Lucky
9. Revolutionary Road
10. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Top 10 of 2008/ Joseph Ross (editor)

1. Waltz With Bashir

2. The Band's Visit
3. Happy-Go-Lucky
4. Milk
5. Rachel Getting Married
6. The Wrestler
7. Standard Operating Procedure
8. Persepolis
9. Mister Lonely
10. The Year My Parents Went On Vacation