Top 10 films of 2002

1. THE PIANIST – Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, “The Pianist” is Roman Polanski’s best film in years, using the power of music to cut through to the truth of the Holocaust. That it does so without a trace of sentiment makes it a humbling experience. With Polanski drawing from his own experience as a Polish Jew who escaped the Krakow ghetto, “The Pianist” features an amazing performance from Adrien Brody as pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, who – just like Polanski – deserves a standing ovation and an Academy Award.

2. CHICAGO – By holding back nothing, Rob Marshall’s “Chicago” comes away a show-stopping winner, scoring a major success and offering some of the most surprising performances of 2002. How any of this came together as well as it did is anyone’s guess, but there’s Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rene Zellweger and Richard Gere – of all people – singing and dancing without inhibition. As exciting as it is energizing – and featuring a wicked supporting turn from Queen Latifah as Mama – “Chicago” is a high-kicking hoot, a funny, smart, brassy movie that razzle-dazzles while making shrewd comments on our culture’s fascination with celebrity, fame and the intoxicating lure of showbiz.

3. ADAPTATION – On the surface, Spike Jonze’s “Adaptation” may be about Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage), the real-life screenwriter who nearly cracked under the pressure of adapting Susan Orlean’s “The Orchid Thief” for the big screen, but the reason it connects on such a personal level is because of Kaufman’s struggle to avoid failure. To that end, the sweep of “Adaptation” is universal, blending elements of fact and fiction, comedy and drama – and offering some of the biggest laughs of the year.

4. THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE – Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein’s stylish plunge into the tumultuous life of Robert Evans – the infamous Hollywood producer whose success soared with “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Godfather,” “Love Story” and “Chinatown” before it all came crashing down around him – slyly uses Evans’ own ego and whiskey-voiced narration to reveal more about the producer than he probably ever intended. An important movie about what it takes to make a movie and have a career in the movies. Watch it snag an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary.

5. FAR FROM HEAVEN – An across-the-board homage to Douglas Sirk and his ripe melodramas of the 1950s (“Imitation of Life,” “All That Heaven Allows”). Directed by Todd Haynes, the film transcends mere emulation, worship and archetype to stand on its own as a movie whose characters are deeper and more complex than the stereotypes they initially appear to be – just as in Sirk’s films. With terrific performances from Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid and Dennis Hasbert, “Heaven” deals directly with themes of race, sexuality and gender roles in ways that Sirk was never allowed.

6. THIRTEEN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING – Based in part on director Jill Sprecher’s own experiences in the early 1990s, when she was mugged and left for dead in New York City, “Thirteen Conversations About One Thing” launches its characters into 13 telling, often heated conversations about one thing – love – while revealing all that’s right and wrong with the world through Sprecher’s knowing gaze.

7. THE HOURS – In “The Hours,” life is suffocating and unlivable for three characters – one of them novelist Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman), who, as the film begins, weighs herself down with rocks and drowns herself in a river. The film, which Stephen Daldry based on Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, darts and weaves through the decades, fragmenting time as Woolf did in her 1925 book, “Mrs. Dalloway,” yet twisting Woolf’s work to serve its own purpose. In this case, that means using the social conventions of 1941, 1951 and 2001 to make timeless statements on despair, loneliness, love and tragedy. Hardly uplifting, but complex and moving – and beautifully acted by Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and an unrecognizable Kidman.

8. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN/MINORITY REPORT – By using the formula that has defined so much of his work – and then pressing against it – Steven Spielberg delivered two vastly different films in 2002 – “Catch Me If You Can” and “Minority Report” – and proved his versatility in the process. The director is still a crowd pleaser, but unlike his friend George Lucas, who seems to have lost his way, his work isn’t forced or emotionally stunted. Instead, it’s evolving, punched with ideas and liberated by them.

9. ROAD TO PERDITION – A seductive, brooding examination of the sometimes tumultuous, often complex relationships between fathers and sons. Shot by the Academy Award-winning cinematographer Conrad L. Hall, who died on Jan. 4, the film generates a tight, claustrophobic atmosphere that reflects the oppression of its gangster characters. Framed to look like the comic book on which it’s based, “Perdition” is a smashing example of Hollywood showmanship, a movie that follows director Sam Mendes’ last film, “American Beauty,” in peeling away and exposing another layer of the American experience.

10. BARAN – Set in northern Iran, this offbeat import from director Majid Majidi focuses in part on the hardships suffered by the Afghan people pre-Sept. 11 and also on the bond between a lazy young Iranian construction worker and an Afghan boy who isn’t what he seems. As grim as it sometimes is, the movie isn’t without humor. Sometimes it’s funny, which will likely catch some off guard since months of news reports here in the States have suggested that a light moment in the Middle East is as rare as a lasting sense of peace.

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Tuesdays and Thursdays on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived on RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.