Top Ten Films of 2003 Andrew Theiss
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2 Top Ten Films of 2003 Andrew Theiss 5 The Trees in Georgia Nick Sementelli 6 Top Ten Films of 2003 Brian Huselton 8 Two Texan Sonnets Matt Reznicek 9 All Gone Daniel Worth 9 Just a Friend Bill Stevenson 11 Games of Chance Francis Gradijan Publisher Student Council Artistic Editor Andrew Theiss Layout Editors Kirk Smith Jonathan Wheless Design Editor Ryan Menefee Moderator Mr. Degen Cover art by Hagan Barber, `04 www.jesuitcp.org/campuslife/studentcouncil Top Ten Films of 2003 Andrew Theiss, `04 Some people seem to think that 2003 was an inferior year, mother sends a letter claiming that she no longer wants to especially considering it is coming off of one of the most be responsible for her, and Lilya, who had known that she critically popular years in quite some time. Last year did would never come back anyway, is left to live in a small have its fair share of solid movies, but 2003 fit my tastes dirty apartment, tricked and sold into prostitution in order like a glove, and there were far more distinguishably great to survive. Director Lukas Moodysson tells the story of films that I loved. It was an interesting year in that it was just one of many Lilyas, children abandoned, their dreams full of idiosyncratic directors who shunned convention and forgotten, and their story is given a powerful realism that found their own voice. That happens every year, of few films can ever touch. Lilya 4-ever is not an easy course, but 2003 seems to stand out as an "artsy" year, movie to watch since we observe, helplessly, as Lilya falls per se, a great year for moody films and visual poetry; less deeper into despair and prostitution. But for opening up bang-boom and more silence. My top six films fit that our eyes to a world we hardly ever hear about, one category perfectly, but other films that just missed this list without sugarcoating or happy endings, Lilya 4-ever such as Man Without a Past or Man on the Train continue makes for a memorable and moving experience. the trend and concentrate heavily on pacing, music, or cinematography. 9. The Triplettes of Belleville That's not to say that 2003 didn't have its share of epics The Triplettes of either; Master and Commander and Lord of the Rings are Belleville (nominated for two major epics that put a lot of money into "grandiosity," Best Animated Feature sweeping cinematography, booming musical scores, and and Best Original Song) breathtaking visuals while at the same time investing a lot is the most wildly into an intelligent story and well developed characters. entertaining, hilarious, Grandiose film making doesn't necessarily mean a good and unique film of the film though, and most of Hollywood's other big movies did year. For the most part well to prove that today's shell-shocked audiences can wordless, The Triplettes of Belleville is about a boy whose hardly handle anything but dumbed down stories with lots grandmother gives him a bicycle, and soon he is one of of explosions. For example, The Last Samurai, a dummies the finest riders in France, his calves grossly out of guide to Japanese culture, had the looks of a great movie proportion with the rest of his body. The boy is soon but the story failed to be anything less than a mesh of kidnapped by a group of thugs, and the grandmother goes cliches. Its sad when epics with a big heart and some off in rescue with her too-fat-to-walk dog, and their brains such as The Hulk and even Master and adventure takes us into a world, teeming with imagination Commander lose out to films like the last two Matrix and wonder, full of oddball characters, deformed buildings movies and The Last Samurai, but in light of the recent (one in particular is of an obese Statue of Liberty, holding Super Bowl halftime show, it would seem that intelligence a hamburger instead of her book and torch), and a wide isn't what people are looking for in their entertainment. assortment of quirks for you to find. It is amazing how so much creativity could be crammed into every single The good news though is that at least some people in the second. I find it hard to imagine anyone leaving the film world are eschewing what's hot, to make what's not: theater with anything less than a big grin across their face. good smart movies. Hopefully there will be more Master and Commanders, Hulks, or Lord of the Rings, but for now, we can at least be happy that there are enough 8. In America independent minded directors to whet our cinematic In America is a semi- appetites, directors who aren't afraid to be quiet and low- autobiographical film by key. From them, I give you the ten best films of 2003: director Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father) 10. Lilya 4-ever about an Irish family that immigrates to New York Oksana Akinshina gives City to begin all over one of the finest female again and forget a past that haunts them. This classic performances of the year American Dream story may not be new, but Sheridan puts as Lilya, a teenager left a personal spin on it, which gives the film an emotional tug hopeless "somewhere in that only the most hard-hearted will miss. It is sometimes the former Soviet Union" easy to guess what will happen in several intentionally by her mother, who runs suspenseful scenes, but Sheridan's delicate touch never off to America with a man she meets, promising that she'll lets the film fall into sappy tripe, but instead forces us to come back to pick up Lilya. After a couple weeks, her cheer for the characters, to constantly await the inevitable Page 2 March 2004 Jesuit Journal moment when all will turn out well. The acting is all hundred. If ever you enjoyed simply watching a child at around solid, but the two young girls of the family steal the play, To Be and To Have has an abundance of show, giving the finest child performances in years. In treasurable moments to adore. But this deceptively simple America succeeds because its unsentimental story, no documentary does more than merely observe, it opens us matter how predictable, is told honestly and will move up to the lives of these students and their teacher so many to tears. much, that at the end, as the students leave school for break, we are as sad to leave the film as their teacher 7. 21 Grams Georges Lopez, staring off into nothing, his students, his life, walking away until the next school year. 21 Grams is an overwhelming experience 5. Lost in Translation that, even if you don't like it, will leave you exhausted Except for Bill Murray and by the times the credits the remarkable start rolling. Much of the screenplay, there is no film's strength lies in its singularly spectacular narrative structure, a non-linear format similar to director element within Lost in Inárritu's first and slightly better film, Amores Perros, or Translation; instead, every even the more recent hit, Memento. Scenes from the element fits together beginning, middle, and end of the story are interspersed, perfectly, creating a sum greater than its equally fine and the film's power comes as a result of the audience's parts. The combination of a moody and emotive comprehension of the plot as it progresses. The narrative soundtrack, dreamy cinematography, Tokyo's elegant structure parallels the confused and troubled lives of the atmosphere, perfect pacing, and a moving performance by characters involved. Even though we know how the film Scarlett Johnasson turn Lost in Translation, a simple story ends from the very beginning, it is a true testament to the of an aging man and a young woman's encounter, into a ability of the editors to keep the entire film tense and poetical reverie on life, relationships, and personal suspenseful, since, while we always understand what is discovery. Bill Murray, who plays a movie star advertising going on, the characters' intentions are never truly for a whiskey in Japan, finds himself lost and bored in revealed until the end of the film. Each character rings Tokyo, struggling to connect with the Japanese culture true, and the actors do an incredible job of portraying the while at the same time failing to connect with his wife back intense feelings welling up inside each character without home. Similarly, Scarlett Johansson has joined her ever overacting. 21 Grams is a gritty and tough film, for husband, a busy photographer working too hard to notice sure, but it is also a great and exciting story. her, and she is left alone to find her footing in a culture that she too hardly understands. But during their brief 6. To Be and To Have stays in Tokyo, Murray and Johnasson meet and help each other along, giving each other something of which To Be and To Have is a neither of their spouses gave them: understanding, surprisingly simple French attention, and care. Together they no longer worry about documentary about a one- being "lost in translation," but instead develop a close room schoolhouse in Saint- relationship that grows until each must return home, a Etienne-sur-Usson, a small relationship that they will likely remember forever. It is a village in the region of moody film that, by the end, will make you wish it could Aubergne.