Todd's Top And Bottom of 2009, Plus Directors To Watch For!

With 2009 at an end the time has come to look back over things with my personal picks for my favorite films of the year, the biggest disappointments, and a list of promising young directors to watch out for going forward.  Please bear in mind that my bottom list is not necessarily what I consider to be bad films (though most of them certainly are) but the films that I was most disappointed by. It's an important distinction. As always it's worth noting that there are both good films (ie Mother) and bad films (ie Giallo) that don't appear because I haven't seen them yet and this is, of course, all purely subjective ...


TODD'S FAVORITE FILMS OF 2009:

Antichrist
The latest from Lars von Trier is provocative and transgressive in all the right ways.  I've been a fan of von Trier from his student days and his return to conventional style film making is one of the absolute strongest films of his career.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Werner Herzog owns the distinction of being the only director to appear on both top and bottom lists this year, and his Bad Lieutenant very much deserves its position in the top.  An outrageously entertaining deconstruction of the American action film, it features an absolutely perfect meeting of daft actor (Nicolas Cage) and even more daft director (Herzog).  Let's hope this is the first of many collaborations.

Breathless
The debut offering from writer-director-star Yang Ik-June is simply a powerhouse portrayal of masculinity in crisis.  Raw and brutal and unrelenting and pretty much flawless.

District 9
I said when I saw it that Neil Blomkamp is the next Spielberg so I can't very well leave him off the list, now can I?  The most invigorating multiplex experience of the year.

Deliver Us From Evil
The latest from Ole Bornedal is a brutally realistic descent into madness, a portrayal of rural violence and xenophobia made all the more shocking by how incredibly plausible it all is.

House of the Devil
More than a period throwback - though it is definitely that as well - Ti West's third feature is simply the best American horror film of the year, a flawless manipulation of mood and tone.

In The Loop
Brilliantly written and performed, Armando Iannucci's In The Loop is both the smartest and funniest piece of satire I've seen in years.  Proof that intelligence can be entertaining, too.

Inglourious Basterds
With Death Proof ranking in my book as the first true misfire of his career and years spent talking about projects that will never actually be made, this was time for Tarantino to step up and prove that he still had it.  He does.

Symbol
Hitoshi Matsumoto's latest is absurd, hysterical and strangely profound.  Every bit as intelligent a comedy as In The Loop despite being populated heavily by dick and fart jokes.

Up
Yes, really. There were a number of animated films right on the cut line for this list (A Town Called Panic, Secret of Kells, Summer Wars) but the latest from Pixar is just an astounding piece of heartfelt, honestly emotional story telling.  Who else could take a story about an eighty year old man dealing with grief and make it a monster hit with the very young?


TODD'S BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2009

Enter the Void
Is Gaspar Noe a talented director?  Yes, enormously.  Unfortunately his latest is also wildly self-indulgent and - ultimately - a massive bore.

La Horde
An incredible misfire on every level.  Poorly written, poorly acted, poorly executed, with logic holes as big as a truck.  Proof that stellar promo materials do not always translate into a stellar - or even good - film.  I want this time back.

Musashi: The Dream Of The Last Samurai
Take what I said about Gaspar Noe above and apply it to Mamoru Oshii - who scripted this animated doc - here.  Ick.

My Son, My Son, What Have You Done?
Could be subtitled Werner, David, What Have You Done?  Were the expectations too high for this Herzog / Lynch collaboration?  Probably, yes, and if made by a less talented duo this would have simply faded into obscurity rather than making this list, but I simply expect better from talent of that caliber.

Ninja Assassin
Too serious to be so bad it's good, this is just so bad it's baaaaaaaad.

Survival of the Dead
Please, George, stop mailing them in.  Poorly written, poorly acted, poorly shot ... a few good kills, yes, but this is clearly the weakest of Romero's zombie pictures.

Tetsuo The Bullet Man
A misfire of epic proportions on all levels from a director I absolutely love.  Watching this unfold on screen was truly tragic.

Thirst
Easily the best film on this list - remember, this is about level of disappointment, not level of quality - the latest from Park Chan-Wook is just overlong, over convoluted, and strangely lacking in narrative drive.

The Unborn
Poor Gary Oldman.  Poor Idris Elba.  You both deserve better than this.

Vengeance
Johnnie To is on good form for this, too bad about Johnny Hallyday.  Ouch.


DIRECTORS TO WATCH

J Blakeson
Brit writer-director Blakeson appeared on the scene this year with The Disappearance of Alice Creed.  I said at the time that Blakeson may very well be the next Danny Boyle and I stand wholeheartedly behind that statement.

Paweł Borowski

The director of Poland's Zero occupies an odd space between arthouse and mainstream sensibility that may make it difficult for him to find the audience he deserves but the talent is undeniable. 

Gareth Huw Evans
Yes, I'm biased here having been involved in the international cut of Evans' Merantau, but with that film the transplanted Welshman produced what is arguably the fight film of the year.  Plus, I know what he's brewing next and it's going to be goooooooood ....

Bruno Forzani and Helene Cattet
The young directorial duo turned so many heads with their debut feature Amer that it's a miracle that there wasn't a mass outbreak of whiplash when it debuted in Sitges this year. 

Paween Purijitpanya

The director of Thai horror Body #19 seemed destined to go down as a self destructive talent, his obvious visual skill undone by his devotion to wildly manic editing but then came this year's Phobia 2, an anthology that includes his astounding Novice.  Now I'm thinking he's got a shot at being one of the very best in all of south-east Asia.

Scott Sanders
More Black Dynamite, please.  Or anything else you'd care to cook up.  I'm easily pleased.

Tom Six
His Human Centipede is one of the most talked about cult titles of the year, and for very good reason.  Equal parts Cronenberg and Miike, fear whatever Six may do next.