Reeling in the year

We rank the best things we saw in 2007.

It was the year of the directors, with exciting work from many of the most artistically ambitious filmmakers around (Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher, the Coen brothers, Todd Haynes). Of course, not all of their works were masterpieces (Julie Taymor and Wes Anderson both disappointed), but overall, it’s been one of the best years for serious film lovers in recent memory. After much agonizing, we compiled our lists of the ten best films of the year. We’ve chosen to include films eligible for awards consideration in 2007. Yes, that means that The Lives of Others is out (it’s an ’06 film), even though it opened in Chicago in February. And There Will Be Blood is in, though it opens here on January 4.


Ben Kenigsberg, Film writer:

1. Zodiac David Fincher’s masterpiece may have turned its fans into Zodiac buffs, but the movie’s broader subject is the elusiveness of truth—and the obsession the search for truth provokes. The screenplay’s marshaling of detail is remarkable, and a uniformly riveting cast makes every scene crackle.
2. There Will Be Blood Imbuing Upton Sinclair’s Oil! with the operatic emotions of Magnolia, Paul Thomas Anderson crafts a sui generis epic that almost seems set on sci-fi terrain. Daniel Day-Lewis gives the performance of the year; the line “I drink your milk shake” should be appropriated for everyday use.
3. Black Book From Paul Verhoeven, this red-meat war film subverts conventional war-movie heroics, with characters who prove to be maximally self-interested at every turn.
4. No Country for Old Men It’s so perfectly controlled that I’m beginning to get bored with it.
5. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days Nicknamed “the Romanian abortion movie,” Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner featured the year’s most astute observation of the passing of time. Opens in February.
6. Superbad Knocked Up beat it to the party, but repeat viewings suggest this is the most durably funny of the year’s 16,000 Judd Apatow productions.
7. Southland Tales Richard Kelly’s maligned pop-culture fantasia is at least as coherent as I’m Not There—and Justin Timberlake’s lip-synch scene makes for a hilarious corrective to the ridiculous National Guard video shown in theaters this fall.
8. Lake of Fire The director of American History X takes on the abortion debate, and his documentary is as uncompromising and troubling as you’d expect.
9. Eastern Promises David Cronenberg’s Midas touch turns a cheesy Russian mob thriller into a cerebral sequel to A History of Violence.
10. It Is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. The jury’s still out on self-styled auteur Crispin Glover, but the actor’s second directorial effort shows unexpected signs of an artist at work.


Hank Sartin, Film editor:

1. There Will Be Blood In this sprawling yet intense epic, Paul Thomas Anderson takes on the American ruthless go-getter spirit, with an Oscar-lock performance from Daniel Day-Lewis.
2. Zodiac The nature of obsession is David Fincher’s real topic in this account of the people who tried to hunt down the Zodiac killer.
3. No Country for Old Men The Coens demonstrate the merits of good old-fashioned suspense, with the tightest control of material they’ve had in a decade.
4. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford With gorgeous cinematographyby Roger Deakins and a great performance from Casey Affleck as Robert Ford, director Andrew Dominik creates a Western that’s a mournful meditation on celebrity and idol worship.
5. Once John Carney’s delicate non–love story had more romance in its soul than any of this year’s films in which the couples do get together.
6. Knocked Up Comedy overlord Judd Apatow packs the laughs in, but he also sneaks in an emotional connection with believable, complex characters.
7. I’m Not There Todd Haynes’s elegy on Bob Dylan is enigmatic and beautiful. It demands a second (or fifth) viewing, but it’s good enough to merit that return visit.
8. Into the Wild Almost a corrective to There Will Be Blood, Sean Penn’s tale of a kid with wandering feet and a poet’s soul makes you want to hit the open road to find America.
9. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days It’s grim stuff, but Cristian Mungiu’s haunting chronicle of a woman’s efforts to get an abortion balances a political statement with painful human drama.
10. My Kid Could Paint That Lake of Fire is clearly a more important documentary, but the interrogation of both art and the role of a documentarian made My Kid stay with me longer.

For a list of our worst films of 2007, see “A season in hell” at timeoutchicago.com/film. And for special shout-outs to the best things to happen in Chicago film culture in the last year, see timeoutchicago.com/blog.

---