Magicians: 2012's Best in Crafts

In my review of the year's best in acting I mentioned how difficult it was to narrow the performances down to a list of 20. In a foolish attempt to put myself through even more struggle, I've decided to limit my choices in the crafts categories to just ten. Most people seem to think that the below-the-line elements are apples and oranges. How can one compare the work of the sound engineer who mixed the final tape of Les Misérables with the costume designer who designed the hats in Moonrise Kingdom? Where is the common ground between the artistry of Alexandre Desplat and the wizardry of the team who worked tirelessly to create Richard Parker?

The reality is that the work they do shares little but their purpose is the same. They all want the film to succeed. For me, the quality of crafts work in a film comes down to the answer to one question: how does it serve the whole picture? The below-the-line elements have to be at the film's service. They should all gel. They should enhance each other and the performances. And often times, it's a sign of their strength if they don't call attention to themselves individually. With that in mind, I decided to group them all together here and try to judge them on that basis. Naturally, a list this short doesn't allow me to include everything I like. The sound design and music in Tabu, the cinematography in Amour, the sound design and cinematography in Killing Them Softly, the editing in Zero Dark Thirty, the sound work in Looper, and the musical score in Beasts of the Southern Wild were the biggest among the exclusions. In the end, here are the ten I simply could not do without:

10. Production Design and Costume Design in Moonrise Kingdom

Filled to the brim with memorable individual frames, but also coherent as a fully realized universe of its own and a visualization of the youthful energy of the film's leads, the design team bring to the screen Wes Anderson's unique vision with remarkable artistry and colorful pizzazz.

9. Production Design in Beasts of the Southern Wild

The bayou-set world of Beasts is so integral to the narrative that it becomes difficult to distinguish the design as a separate entity a few minutes into the film, but that's the greatest triumph of the designers. The low-key, knots-and-bolts quality of the production enhances the authenticity of The Bathtub.

8. Production Design and Costume Design in Anna Karenina

The costumes and settings in Joe Wright's visionary adaptation not only evoke mood and emotions, but very often they become the storyteller. That Wright manages to conceal the financial limitations of his film with such creative energy is in large part thanks to the contributions of his design team.

7. Cinematography in Skyfall

Roger Deakins relishes the opportunity to flex his muscles in several showy sequences - the neon-lit tower in Shanghai, the lantern-clad casino - but his true mastery of lighting and his painterly instincts are also evident in Skyfall's more understated moments.

6. Musical Score in The Master

Building on the same platform that shaped his indelible score for There Will Be Blood, Jonny Greenwood's string arrangements are appropriately dissonant. The compositions are fragile and haunting, like a window into Freddie's soul.

Recent Screening Update

I don't know if you've ever noticed the Recent Screenings icon sidebar to the right, but that's where you can keep track of everything I've watched recently and see my ratings and tweet-length (or slightly longer) reviews. 

Here's a little taste of the updates in the past couple of weeks. 'Tis the season of Oscar films and updates are made frequently, so check back often!

Queen of Versailles (dir. Greenfield)
Sharply edited to maximize the bitter comedy, Queen of Versailles is a treatise on everything that is wrong with our society today, shot through the lens of reality television. (A-)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (dir. Chbosky)
Dodging many high-school drama clichés, but not all; heartfelt at its best moments and a bit cheesy at its worst; Benefits greatly from the director’s familiarity with his own source material and Logan Lerman’s star-making turn. (B)

Brave (dir. Chapman & Andrews)
Pixar lite, sure, but it’s still Pixar lite, which is to say a gorgeously rendered, arresting tale from start to finish. It’s a princess story like you’ve never seen before, as fiery as Merida’s locks. (B)

Smashed (dir. Ponsoldt)
It leaves the supporting characters underexplored but in the process, becomes a showcase for one of the year’s best performances in Winstead’s intimate and vulnerable portrayal of alcoholism. (B+)

Life of Pi (dir. Lee)
Absolutely resplendent painting of the ocean, with all its grace and horror, but otherwise muddled with blatant spirituality and intercut with a distractingly mushy framing device. (C+)

Skyfall (dir. Mendes) (thoughts)
One of the best in the long-standing franchise. Craig charms, Bardem repulses and Dench breaks the heart; the action is tense and the girls are fine but the true star of the show is Roger Deakins’s visionary cinematography. (B+)

Thoughts on Skyfall

*Potential SPOILERS ahead*

Things I liked about Skyfall

- Silva. Sure, it's not new to get the hottest foreign actor of the moment to play the villain in a blockbuster - how long before Matthias Schoenaarts is chasing down the hero in an action film? - but obvious as it is, Bardem is an inspired choice. He was Anton Chigurh for god's sake! His slimey, slithering, bleached blond Silva is more a damaged man holding a bitter grudge than a caricature of a monster like so many previous Bond villains. And Bardem, while maintaining the camp factor, gives Silva depth and personality.

- That scene where Silva shows his deformed face.

- Séverine. I mean, wow that woman is attractive.

- Roger Deakins's cinematography. The master of lighting does one of his best works yet, and anyone who's familiar with his filmography knows just what a standard he's set for himself, so that's quite high praise. He gets to show off in sequences light the neon-lit Shanghai tower or the Macau casino surrounded with dragon lanterns, but it's the subtler moments where his true genius is on display; just look at the colour palette when Bond and M get out of the Aston Martin in the Scottish highlands.

- The character driven screenplay: In theory, world domination sounds like a mightier order than getting revenge from your old boss. In practice, personal revenge keeps Skyfall grounded and makes the characters more relateable. The story feels so fresh that the usual clichés can be forgiven.

Things I didn't like about Skyfall

- Eve. She definitely won't go down in history books as one of Bond's most memorable girls. That's not to take anything away from Naomie Harris who actually shines whenever she's on the screen but it's the script that undermines her character. There's really just not enough to her, even though there's obviously potential. I guess a Bond film can't have two female characters pulling the focus and this one chose to put M front and centre.

- The title sequence, which is one of the most exciting trademarks of the franchise, was too fake (in the computer animated sense of the word) and aimless to live up to the song that was attuned to it.

Bardoomed.

The new international trailer for Skyfall, Sam Mendes's take on 007, has been making the rounds. While it absolutely kicks ass in every way, it did make me wonder about Javier Bardem's questionable hairstyle. Is the man doomed or what? It's as if the only way to make him look menacing is to mess with his hair. Not that I'm complaining, you see. It's not like the "Dorothy Hamill wedge cut" didn't work wonders in No Country for Old Men. Just saying, it's a little distracting. Take a look at the trailer and see for yourself.