Refugees from the Top Ten

I spent much of December watching movies. My habits had been lacking, at best, and I wanted to make sure that I had a full picture of the year come awards season. This didn't work, as most of the films I enjoyed, or even had a casual interest in, were passed over by most of the governing bodies. But as my list grew, I found that I had genuinely loved many of the films I had seen, and that a simple top-ten countdown would not suffice. There were many which had been overlooked which I wanted to bring to the attention of the moviegoing audience, those who appeared to want to see only the new Pirates film and The Departed. While I saw and somewhat enjoyed both of those films, there had to be others worthy of attention. This is what I bring to you now: some of those movies which didn't quite make my overall top ten, but which I felt were worthy of discussion all the same. We begin with...

Slither

You didn’t see Slither in theaters. It’s okay; not many people did. You’re going to rent it now, though, and you’re going to invite over some of your buddies, because it’s all sorts of insane goodness. James Gunn, writer and director, is forgiven the two scripts he wrote for Scooby-Doo movies. An apprentice of Troma Pictures, Gunn should know from gross-out horror on a budget, and he proves here that he may be second to none in this regard. Eschewing the morbid and depressing mechanics of recent horror blockbusters such as Saw and The Ring, Gunn and his team realize that the instinctual human reaction to the scary and the unknown is to let out a terrified laugh, and then beat the hell out of the terror with a shovel. Or a two-by-four. Or a chainsaw. You know, just whatever’s handy. Killers don’t stand around pontificating about your past sins! Killers kill, preferably in the most ridiculous way possible! And heroes kill back, because that’s what heroes do! Everyone in the business has to take a step back and watch this film post haste. Slither is funny without being obnoxious, terrifying without being off-putting, and insane without even trying. The cast is game for anything, led by Nathan Fillion in yet another star-making performance in a film that was ignored by both its distributor and the general public. Well, shame on Universal, and shame on you. I’m not saying that Slither could make you rich, or make you pretty, or cure any diseases you may have (although it just might). What I am saying, though, is that Slither is a film that you have fun watching, and then have just as much fun quoting and remembering and reviewing for years.

A Scanner Darkly

When the work of author Philip K. Dick is mentioned, the word “untranslatable” often makes its way into conversation. After all, how could the stream-of-consciousness delusions of a drug addict ever make their way into a logical and codified medium like film? Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep only succeeded because it was completely reinterpreted when it became Blade Runner, and Minority Report was written in one of the author’s few lucid periods. Aside from these two, Dick adaptations had failed over and over, in projects as varied as Screamers, Total Recall, and Imposter. Richard Linklater finally connects faithfully with a personal and deranged Dick novel, turning his own crazy auteur sensibilities on A Scanner Darkly. Dick wrote this novel as a parable on his own struggles with drug addiction, exploring the gradual deterioration of a DEA officer who has succumbed to drug-induced psychosis. Linklater finds a perfect outlet for this story with his rotoscope techniques, which were completely useless in the Philosophy 101 class that was Waking Life. Presented with the complexities of Dick’s novel, the animation suddenly becomes vivid, blurring the line between the real and imagined just as the author intended. There are still deficiencies, as the film leaves in the book’s open-ended cheat of a climax and occasional trips into irrelevancy. The film proves, though, that the work of this complex and occasionally insane author can be brought faithfully to the screen. Now, we can only hope that Ubik and Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said get the same respectful treatment.

Awesome! I Fuckin’ Shot That!

Carrying possibly the best title of any film ever, Awesome! is a daring venture. The bulk of the footage was shot by patrons of a Beastie Boys’ concert at Madison Square Garden. Fifty digital cameras were given to fifty random fans, and they were told to shoot whatever they pleased during the event. What resulted are glimpses of the vagaries which will never appear in any other film: idle chatter in between songs, celebrities singing along in the balcony, and even a bathroom break for one of the cameramen. The result is sloppy and occasionally amateurish, but it is unlike any other film ever made. Awesome! is a complete reinvention of the documentary format, so expect it to be completely ignored by every award show, critic, and film historian. However, if ever a film deserved to be picked apart in film schools across the nation for decades to come, it is this one. It may not be perfect, but it is completely revolutionary. Whether a film can improve or innovate from this moment remains to be seen.

* * *

Coming up: Jet Li says goodbye, Knoxville gets punched around, and the correct director gets another shot at his franchise.