Moon (2009)

Another top 10 pick for 2009. I feel increasingly drawn to subtler, personal films, rather than a film which has, say, a lot of characters whose dynamics might be explicitly presented. Moon obviously is a small movie, but what was most refreshing was how SIMPLE it was. After seeing the trailer, I anticipated a heady, Tarkovsky-esque experience, so I was taken aback when the movie ended. There was no twist. No ambiguity as to what happened to the main character. Everything was tied up in an incredibly neat little bow. That's not to say I wasn't guessing for the first 3/4s of this film; I was hooked. It dealt with heavy themes: mortality, grieving, homesickness, and it did so thoughtfully, yet still within the context of this straight-ahead hard sci-fi story. Duncan Jones' first-time direction is restrained, taut; Clint Mansell's eerily languid score was his best yet IMO, and Sam Rockwell's dual performance was a powerhouse. From a sci-fi standpoint, Moon is nothing new. We've seen elements of it countless times in Twilight Zone episodes, and movies like The Island and Silent Running. But it's just done so well here. I think Moon does to the genre what Half-Life did to the first-person shooter, taking all of these familiar elements and maximizing their potential.

Still Walking (2009)

Wow. I suck at blogging. Or do I? Who says how this should be done anyway?

Still Walking was amazing, and easily made my top 10 list for 2009. Meditative, melancholy, and at times unnerving, specifically the scene towards the middle of the film involving the family's dinner guest. I've read many great things about Koreeada's Afterlife, which I've netflixed, and after reading Ebert's review of Still Walking, in which he argues Koreeada's heirship to Yasujiro Ozu, I realize I must finally see Tokyo Story. I missed it at a Ozu marathon a few years back in Baltimore, and now, after hearing the stylistic comparisons to Koreeada's work, I must watch Ozu posthaste.