These movies are not in any ranked order. I would just recomend that you see them.
Walk on Water. This is an Israeli film in hebrew, german and english. It is about an Israeli Mosad agent ordered to "befriend" a german (adult) brother and sister in order to find their grandfather who is a Nazi war criminal. This movie deals with all of the complexities of the living with the legacy of genocide, prejudice as well as many other subtexts. I watched this three times to get it all.
Heights. This a Merchant-Ivory film set in New York. The plot concerns a New York photographer who is about to be married. Her mother is a hotshit movie star (Glenn Close). The plot wraps around the relationship of her and her soon to be husband. But their is a bomb about to go off. This is one of those plots that follows seemingly random characters in their everyday life who suddenly converge and then you have to rewatch the movie to see that the phone conversations they were having were actually with other characters that you had alrady seen in the movie. Glenn Close is great. The cinematography is sharp and unique. I watched this one several times as well...becuase that's what you can do when you are unemployed.
Crash. This movie also follows random characters who eventually converge and it all makes sense. This movie deals with prejudice from every nationality. I do mean every nationality. It deals powerfully with all of the stereotypes that society has created for different backgrounds and how they effect us in our judgements, beliefs and actions. It also has one of the best quotes from a movie that I saw this year. Don Cheadle delivers it: "It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something." You also get to witness the first occurence of real acting that Sandra Bullock actually performs.
Mysterious Skin. This was a powerful movie that follows two young men and how they deal with the fact that they were sexually abused by their little league coach. It is sometimes difficult to watch but the acting is stellar.
Kinsey. I didn't really know what to expect when we watched this movie. But Liam Neeson really redeemed himself from the Star Wars misstep. The relationship between he and Laura Linney was believable (Geek Love) and complex. But just so you know, it's about Dr. Alfred Kinsey, so it's all about sex.
Angels in America. I know it wasn't released last year, but we finally watched it. The acting was phenominal. Meryl Streep surprised me when I saw the characters she played. I can't say enough.
The Motorcycle Diaries. Acting, Cinematogrophy, scenery. Almost makes you want to wear a Che t-shirt.
Syriana. In spite of all of the people in my extended family who didn't like it...This movie had one of those plots that followed random people and different events until they somewhat converged in the end. (I should come up with a name for plots like that. The somthing or other plot effect.) It definately delves into the complexities of the middle east and corruption of oil, capitalism and American Imperialism. It's one of those movies that you leave and want to kill someone. But then you can't figure out who because there isn't a "good side" anymore.
Chicken Little. I thought this was one of the best animated movies I have ever seen. It had a great twist on the Chicken Little story and even though they killed the mother off (like they do in all of the Disney animated movies) the relationship between father and son is very good.
