The two best movies of the year are both trips to other worlds. “Russian Ark’s” chief claim to fame is director Alexander Sokurov’s daring decision to film the entire 96-minute feature in one continuous take, with no editing or cutting. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of film can appreciate this feat in a dry, detached manner, but “Russian Ark’s” lasting appeal is almost completely right-brain. It’s an experience like a dream or a symphony, in which we glide through the stunning splendor of the Hermitage in Moscow alongside ghostly figures from Russia’s past, including tsars, courtiers, diplomats, and numerous servants. We are guided by two figures, one dressed in black and the other always invisible, and we come to realize they represent the love-hate relationship between Russia and Europe. Listen closely and you might get a history lesson—that is, if you can pull yourself from the movie’s dream-state. NR (should be G or PG)
The first film entirely in Inuit—and what a language—is half a documentary of a society without wood, metal, permanent homes, or much in the way of plant life, and half the primal tale of a man (Natar Ungalaaq) who wants too much and pays the price for it in a blood feud that crosses not only generations but the line between this world and the next. “The Fast Runner” is a long, mysterious journey, eerily captured in digital video, and is the kind of experience for which the best movies are made. NR (should be R)
Favorite Movies of 2002: No.3 thru No.13
Most Overrated Films of 2002
Dickens brought to the big screen amidst a cast of Britain’s finest, including Jim Broadbent and Christopher Plummer.
Nowhere in Africa
The Oscar-winner for best foreign film is about a family of German Jews who flee to an estate in Africa before World War II.
One-Hour Photo
The creepy tale of a lonely photo developer (Robin Williams) and the “perfect” family with whom he obsesses.
Personal Velocity
Three short stories by an award-winning author brought to the big screen.
The Quiet American
Michael Caine is the jaded cynic, Brendan Fraser is the dreamy idealist, and in Vietnam they both fall for the same woman in the years before the war.
Real Women Have Curves
A group of working-class Hispanic women learn to love, live, and accept that they’re a little chunky.
An allegorical Swedish film concerning a city that has lost all faith and order because of economic problems.
Spirited Away
The second-highest grossing film in Japan’s history is the animated tale of a little girl who wanders into a strange, magical world.
Sunshine State
A light-hearted romp through a small Florida community that’s mulling over turning into a tourist trap.
Talk to Her
Love is a one-sided matter of devotion in filmmaker Pedro Almodovar’s movie about men who love women in comas.
White Oleander
The melodramatic novel by Janet Fitch comes to the screen; the spineless daughter (Alison Lohman) of an overbearing poet (Michelle Pfeiffer) bounces from foster home to foster home after her mother is imprisoned.