Top 11 Films of 2001

Remember when the phrase “coming soon to a theater near you” meant something? With few exceptions, the best films of 2001 had only fleeting, spotty appearances in Maine – if they appeared at all. There was no shortage of the year’s worst films, however. Each of those gems – from “Freddy Got Fingered,” “Josie and the Pussycats” and “American Outlaws” to “Original Sin,” “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and “See Spot Run” – opened virtually everywhere in Maine, suggesting that those who decide what we see would rather toss the dice at Hollywood’s biggest bombs than they would at the best films of the year.

1. “In the Bedroom”: For a moment, let’s forget that Todd Field’s riveting examination of a Maine couple facing unimaginable grief and the potential loss of their marriage was shot in Camden, Rockland and Belfast; that’s just the dessert. The meat of this beautifully realized story – and the reason it’s the best film of the year – rests with Field’s superb direction, his pitch-perfect characters and the unforgettable performances he mines from Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson, who deserve the Academy Award nominations they’ll receive and, particularly where Spacek is concerned, quite likely win. In theaters.

2. “Amores Perros”: Loosely translated, the title of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s harrowing movie means “Love’s a Bitch,” which is fitting, since the film finds its emotional core in its characters’ close relationships with their dogs. Set in Mexico City, the film never comments on the ongoing build-up of horror it throws at the screen; instead, it just observes. That coolness chills the film, for sure, but what makes it linger is the ongoing sense of fragility and sadness underscoring everything. Inarritu’s world is a place that’s just barely being held together, but the catch here is that nobody can keep it from falling apart. On video and DVD.

3. “Moulin Rouge”: Baz Luhrmann’s decadent, outrageous musical is about a lot of things, but mostly it’s about the love of movies, kitsch and pop culture – which is probably why people either love it or hate it. With Nicole Kidman capping her best professional year to date, one that also saw her delivering a knockout performance in “The Others,” “Moulin Rouge” is a crazed visual feast that took the timidity out of summer movies with a spectacular, memorable feat of showmanship. On video and DVD.

4. “Memento”: The year’s first thriller to tackle the collision of dreams and reality, Christopher Nolan’s “Memento” went a step further by telling its story backwards. Working from a short story by his brother, Jonathan, Nolan created a film whose success depends on our ongoing state of confusion, a tricky bit of filmmaking that – thanks to his tight script and a gripping performance from Guy Pearce – never overwhelms the movie. On video and DVD.

5. “Waking Life”: Richard Linklater’s animated “Waking Life” is alive with so many dizzying ideas and theories about life, living, death and the meaning of dreams, it can’t be viewed with a trace of passivity. The film is one of last year’s freshest, most bracing movies, a near-seamless marriage between the medium of animation and the content of a story that reinforces the idea that “the ongoing wow is happening now.”

6. “Shrek”/”Monsters, Inc.” (tie): The rivalry between Dreamworks’ “Shrek” and Disney’s “Monsters, Inc.” made for heady headlines last year, but with each studio trying to outdo the other, it was audiences who won. Both films are superbly crafted, entertaining wonders, a gathering of pixels that simply astounds. Look for each to join “Waking Life” in winning Academy nominations for Best Animated Feature. “Shrek”: On video and DVD. “Monsters, Inc.”: In theaters.

7. “Amelie”: How this quirky crowd-pleaser came from Jean-Pierre Jeunet (“Delicatessen,” “City of Lost Children,” “Alien Resurrection”) is anyone’s guess, but it’s the best foreign film of the year. Working from a screenplay by Guillaume Laurant, Jeunet’s film is a fairy tale, but unlike Frank Darabont’s miserable “The Majestic,” none of it seems like a lie. With a star-making performance from Audrey Tautou, “Amelie” will be the foreign film to beat at this year’s Broadcast Film Critic’s Awards (Jan. 14 on E!), the Golden Globe Awards (Jan. 20 on NBC) and the Academy Awards (March 24 on ABC).

8. “Mulholland Drive”: The year’s most controversial movie was also David Lynch’s greatest triumph, a surreal take on Hollywood Lynch adapted from the television series he created for ABC-but which they refused to air. Peppered with Lynchian twists and turns – a mobster’s girlfriend struck with amnesia, a bubbly blonde seeking superstardom, the lesbian affair that sends shockwaves through them and beyond Mulholland Drive – Lynch’s labyrinthine state of mind proves as elusive and as necessary as ever.

9. “Ghost World”: Based on the comic book by Daniel Clowe’s, Terry Zwigoff’s biting, eccentric tale about two teen-age girls moving reluctantly into adulthood couldn’t be grounded in a firmer understanding of reality – or a deeper knowledge of teen angst. With Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson and Steve Buscemi losing themselves in characters the world doesn’t want to see, “Ghost World” shimmers, emerging as one of the saddest, funniest, truest films of the year.

10. “The Deep End”: Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s thriller about the measures one mother takes to protect her son from a murder rap recalls the best of Chandler and Hitchcock. Seductive and atmospheric, the film pushes Scottish actress Tilda Swinton fully – and rightfully – into the American spotlight.

11. “Vanilla Sky”: Imagine the freedom of not warming the masses with sentiment, the thrill of asking viewers to open their eyes and think. Cameron Crowe does just that in “Vanilla Sky.” The film, which is more than a mere reworking of Alejandro Amenabar’s “Open Your Eyes,” finds the director and his superstar cast successfully broadening the limitations – and thus the expectations – of the blockbuster movie. In theaters.

Other films of note: “Gosford Park,” “The Widow of St. Pierre,” “Place Vendome,” “The Taste of Others,” “Legally Blonde,” “Sexy Beast,” “The Others,” “Apocalypse Now Redux,” “With a Friend Like Harry,” “The Tailor of Panama,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Heist,” “No Man’s Land,” “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” “Innocence,” “Lantana,” “Monster’s Ball,” “Divided We Fall,” “Bread and Roses,” “Startup.com” and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Tuesdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5” and Thursdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5:30” on WLBZ-2 and WCSH-6. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

THE VIDEO-DVD CORNER

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores.

Jeepers Creepers ? D

The Fast and the Furious ? B

The Glass House ? C

Greenfingers ? B-

What’s the Worse that Could

Happen ? D

The Center of the World ? C

Evolution ? D-

Two Can Play That

Game ? C+

Moulin Rouge ? A-

The Princess Diaries ? C+

Scary Movie 2 ? D

Hedwig and the

Angry Inch ? A

Jurassic Park III ? B-

Lost & Delirious ? C-

Rush Hour 2 ? D

The Score ? B

American Outlaws ? F

Ghost of Mars ? C-

Pearl Harbor ? D

Summer Catch ? C-

Bread and Roses ? A-

Divided We Fall ? A

Made ? B

Pootie Tang ? D+

Osmosis Jones ? C-

Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch

Stole Christmas ? D+

Planet of the Apes ? C-

America’s Sweethearts ? D+

crazy/beautiful ? B

Tomb Raider ? D+

Doctor Zhivago

(DVD debut) ? A-

The Golden Bowl ? C+

Legally Blonde ? B+

Shrek ? A-

Aimee & Jaguar ? A

The Animal ? B

Swordfish ? C

With a Friend Like Harry ? A-

Dr. Dolittle 2 ? C-

Dumbo (DVD debut) ? A

Final Fantasy: The Spirits

Within ? C+

Freddy Got Fingered ? BOMB

Monty Python and the

Holy Grail ? B+

Angel Eyes ? C+

Cats & Dogs ? B+

Star Wars: The Phantom

Menace (DVD debut) ? B

Town & Country ? C+