The Best Films of 2002

April is a strange time to be compiling a year-end report, and yet I must admit, with the naïve flush of pride that attends a baby’s first steps, that I am less displeased with my tardiness here and now than I am delighted by my progress overall. Last year’s list, a piddling five films long, didn’t become a cyber-reality until June 2002; this year’s list — a true top-10 — marks an improvement not only by five films but by five months. At this rate, my 2003 top-15 list should be available by mid-December.

There is something extraordinarily freeing, and more than a little depressing, about being able to write without deadlines. On one hand, the strictures that a publication schedule imposes on one’s time, creativity and nerves are no different from the limitations that, as Orson Welles famously insisted, are necessary to create art — and if you don’t believe that criticism can be art, you have no business being on this site. (Whether it’s good art or bad art is another question altogether.)

But speaking of good art, here’s the list. No commentary this year (perhaps I’m not making progress after all), but it’s a full 10, and the Oscars wish-fulfillment section seems, to my mind, fairer than ever.

1. “Y Tu Mamá También” (Alfonso Cuarón)
2. “The Pianist” (Roman Polanski)
3. “Talk to Her” (Pedro Almodóvar)
4. “Far From Heaven” (Todd Haynes)
5. “Punch-Drunk Love” (Paul Thomas Anderson)
6. “Femme Fatale” (Brian De Palma)
7. “About a Boy” (Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz)
8. “Adaptation” (Spike Jonze)*
9. “Late Marriage” (Dover Koshashvili)
10. “25th Hour” (Spike Lee)

Sight unseen: “All or Nothing,” “Auto Focus,” “Bloody Sunday,” “Bowling for Columbine,” “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” “The Fast Runner,” “Frida,” “Igby Goes Down,” “In Praise of Love,” “Morvern Callar,” “Personal Velocity,” “The Piano Teacher,” “Roger Dodger,” “The Quiet American,” “Time Out,” “The Triumph of Love,” etc.

*This really should’ve been a B+.

If I, Justonius, Ran the Oscars ...

BEST PICTURE

• ““Far From Heaven”
• “The Pianist”
• “Punch-Drunk Love”
• “Talk to Her”
• “Y Tu Mamá También”

BEST DIRECTOR

• Roman Polanski, “The Pianist”
• Paul Thomas Anderson, “Punch-Drunk Love”
• Pedro Almodóvar, “Talk to Her”
• Spike Lee, “25th Hour”
• Alfonso Cuarón, “Y Tu Mamá También”

BEST ACTOR

• Adrien Brody, “The Pianist”
• Nicolas Cage, “Adaptation”
• Hugh Grant, “About a Boy”
• Adam Sandler, “Punch-Drunk Love”
• James Spader, “Secretary”

BEST ACTRESS

• Maggie Gyllenhaal, “Secretary”
• Diane Lane, “Unfaithful”
• Julianne Moore, “Far From Heaven”
• Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, “Femme Fatale”
• Maribel Verdú, “Y Tu Mamá También”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Darío Grandinetti, “Talk to Her”
• Thomas Kretschmann, “The Pianist”
• Dennis Quaid, “Far From Heaven”
• Andy Serkis, “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”
• Christopher Walken, “Catch Me If You Can”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Patricia Clarkson, “Far From Heaven”
• Nicole Kidman, “The Hours”
• Lili Koshashvili, “Late Marriage”
• Meryl Streep, “Adaptation”
• Emily Watson, “Punch-Drunk Love”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Brian De Palma, “Femme Fatale”
• Dover Koshashvili, “Late Marriage”
• Paul Thomas Anderson, “Punch-Drunk Love”
• Pedro Almodóvar, “Talk to Her”
• Alfonso Cuarón and Carlos Cuarón, “Y Tu Mamá También”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Peter Hedges, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, “About a Boy”
• Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman, “Adaptation”
• Ron Harwood, “The Pianist”
• David Benioff, “25th Hour”
• (Space for rent.)

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