Top 10 Films of 2002

1. "Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers" (Peter Jackson, New Zealand)

2. ''Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind'' (George Clooney, USA)

3. ''Adaptation'' (Spike Jonze, USA)

4. ''Frida'' (Julie Taymor, USA)

5. ''Varuh Meje'' (Maja Weiss, Slovenia)

6. ''Irréversible'' (Gaspar Noé, France)

7. "Kuutamolla" (Aku Louhimies, Finland)

8. "Chicago" (Rob Marshall, USA)

9. "Catch Me If You Can" (Steven Spielberg, USA)

10. "Bloody Sunday" (Paul Greengrass, UK)

Other great films:

11'09''01 - September 11
8 femmes (France)

8 Mile

About A Boy (UK)

About Schmidt

Une Affaire privée (France)

All Or Nothing (UK)

Ararat (Canada)

August - A Moment Before The Explosion (Israel)
The Best Of Times (Taiwan)

Blissfully Yours (Thailand)

Bowling For Columbine

Cama de Gato (Brazil)
The Cat Came Back (Japan)
The Coast Guard (South Korea)
Les Dangereux (Canada)

Edi (Poland)

Embrassez qui vous voudrez (France)

Far From Heaven

The Fashionistas

The Gangs Of New York

Golasy (Poland)

The Good Girl

Hable con ella (Spain)

Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
Hero (China)
Hollywood Ending
The Hours
Ice Age

Impressionen unter Wasser (Germany)
Infernal Affairs (Hong Kong)

Insomnia

Japon (Mexico)

Ken Park

Lilja 4-ever (Sweden)

Lilo And Stitch

The Magdalene Sisters (Ireland)

Mago (South Korea)

Mango Yellow (Brazil)

The Man Without A Past (Finland)
Minority Report

Morvern Callar (UK)
Le Nèg' (Canada)

Oasis (South Korea)

Panic Room
The Pianist

Pleasant Days (Hungary)

Prisoner Of Paradise
Québec-Montréal (Canada)

Respiro (Italy)

The River (Russia)

The Road To Perdition

The Rules Of Attraction

The Salton Sea

Savage Messiah (Canada)

The Sea (Iceland)

Secretary

Secret de banlieu (Canada)

Shallow Hal
Signs

Sin destino (Mexico)

Sophiiie! (Germany)

Spirited Away (Japan)
Star Wars II: Attack Of The Clones

Suddenly Naked (Canada)

Summer (Canada)
Sweet Sixteen (UK)

The Tracker (Australia)

Treasure Planet

La Turbulence des fluides (Canada)

Turning Paige (Canada)

La Vie nouvelle (France)

Voina (Russia)

Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself (UK)

Yellowknife (Canada)

Short Top 3:

1. "Liberté et patrie" (Jean-Luc Godard, Switzerland)

2. "Von der Hingabe" (Maike Hohne, Germany)

3. "Fait d'hiver" (Dirk Belien, Belgium)

Other great shorts:

The City Without Windows (Canada)

Déformation personnelle (Canada)
J'attendrais le suivant (France)

Johnny Flynton

Marie And Jack – A Hardcore Love Story

Roxanna

Top 3 Music Videos:

1. "Without Me" (Joseph Kahn, Eminem)

2. "Come Into My World" (Michel Gondry, Kylie Minogue)

3. "Star Guitar" (Michel Gondry, The Chemical Brothers)

Other great music videos:

Do You Realize

Top Commercial:

"The Sculptor" (Giovanni Porro, Peugeot)

TV Top 3:

1. "The Wire: Season 1" (HBO)

2. "Six Feet Under: Season 2" (HBO)

3. "24: Season 2" (Fox)

Other great TV shows:

Un gars une fille: La Mort de la belle-mère (Canada)

Cartoon Top 3:

1. "Katedra" (Tomasz Baginski, Poland)

2. "The ChubbChubbs" (Eric Armstrong, USA)

3. "Mike's New Car" (Pete Docter, Roger Gould, Pixar)

Weak films of 2002:

25th Hour
Acosada en Lunes de Carnaval (Venezuela)
Aime ton pere (France)
Amen
Astérix et Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre (France)
L'Auberge espagnole (Canada)
Austin Powers In Goldmember
Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise (France)
The Banger Sisters
The Baroness And The Pig (Canada)
Bollywood/Hollywood (Canada)
Les Boys III (Canada)
Britney, Baby, One More Time
Choses secretes (France)
Le Collectionneur (Canada)
Décalage horaire
Die Another Day
Dzien swira (Poland)
Une Employée modèle (France)
Femme fatale
Fubar (Canada)
Histoire de Pen (Canada)
Le Marais (Canada)
Marie-Jo et ses deux amours (France)
Men in Black II
Men With Brooms (Canada)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
La Mysterieuse Mademoiselle C. (Canada)
L'Odyssée d'Alice Tremblay (Canada)
Punch-Drunk Love
The Quiet American
Rabbit-Proof Fence (Australia)
Return To Never Land
Le Ring intérieur (Canada)
Séraphin (Canada)
Se souvenir des belles choses (France)
Spider-Man
Station Nord (Canada)
Tam i z powrotem (Poland)

Weak shorts:

An Erotic Tale (Germany)
Hit And Run (Canada)
Reptil (France)
Undercover (France)

Weak cartoons:

Atama-yama (Japan)
Elbow Room: Distances (Canada)
Das Rad (Germany)

Top Musical of 2002

"Chicago" (Rob Marshall, Miramax)

Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (2002) *****

Almost as good as the first movie and even more spectacular. Gollum steals every scene he's in.

8 femmes (2002) ****

Directed by Francois Ozon.

Bloody Sunday (2002) ****

Tense reconstruction of the tragic massacre of Irish Catholic protesters in Londonderry.

Catch Me If You Can (2002) ****

Entertaining drama starring Leonardo di Caprio and Tom Hanks.

Golasy (2002) ****

Chicago (2002) ****

Excellent musical set in a prison for women.

Hero (2002) ****

A superb and ambitious historical drama from China.

Varuh Meje (2002) ****

"Varuh Meje" is a Slovenian film directed by Maja Weiss. It tells the story of three young girls on a canoe trip down the river Kolpa, which separates Slovenia from Croatia. It soon becomes a journey of discovery for the girls, while the film turns into a dark allegory about fascism and tolerance. Needless to say, the girls get rid of their bras early on, and the images of them paddling their canoes while completely topless are quite refreshing and arousing. Their breasts, liberated from the constraints of their clothes, are a metaphor, we can guess, of Slovenia liberated from its totalitarian past (or something like that). Anyway, this is probably the best lesbian film ever to come from Eastern Europe. 

Frida (2002) ****

Directed by Julie Taymor, ''Frida'' (2002) is a gorgeous film about a fascinating Mexican artist. Artistically, it's a masterpiece, brilliantly mixing art, sexuality, lesbianism and feminism in an explosive and unique fashion. Politically, however, the film avoids any complexities or contradictions. The crimes committed during the Soviet Revolution are never mentioned. The film never deals with Siqueiros's attempted assassination of Trotsky. And we never learn that Kahlo betrayed Trotsky after his death, and became a hard-line Stalinist. But the non-political aspects of the film are handled magnificently. As Catharine Tunnacliffe points out in her film review, Kahlo was a dramatic, often sensual painter whose paintings reflect her preoccupations with fertility, barrenness, androgyny and death. Her life was a riot of dramatic events, beginning with a horrific bus crash in 1925 when she was 18. Salma Hayek (nominated for an Oscar) plays Kahlo fearlessly, pulling off the neat trick of disappearing completely into her character, and being helped along by her extraordinary physical resemblance to the artist. Most remarkable in the film are the superb montage sequences detailing Kahlo and Rivera's visit to America, or "Gringolandia" as she called it in a letter. Using vintage documentary footage, Taymor creates a moving collage that has a flavour of Russian constructivist poster art.

Adaptation (2002) ****

Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind (2002) ****

Prisoner Of Paradise (2002) ****

Fascinating documentary about Kurt Gerron.

Irréversible (2002) ****

This film became notorious because of the torrid rape of Monica Bellucci, but the truly disturbing thing about "Irréversible" is that this rape scene is probably the least violent and the least explicit scene in the film. The entire beginning of the film (chronologically, it's the conclusion - the whole movie is backwards, like "Memento") is unbelievably violent. Not only are characters totally out of control, crashing each other's skulls, but the camera itself is totally nuts, moving in all possible directions, upside down, sideways and backwards. So when the rape comes and the camera is actually still (for once), it feels strangely peaceful and calm. We feel sorry for Monica (though unlike in "Baise-moi", we are spared the explicit penetration shots), but we are also grateful that the sickening visual rollercoaster ride is over. But then, after the rape, we are treated to several really explicit sex scenes, with Monica and her real-life husband Vincent Cassel. Unlike during the rape, we can then see all of Monica, for a very long time, fucking Vinz in all positions imaginable. What a body! And what courage for such a successful actress to appear in such an explicit scene, with her ass and her bush frequently visible on the screen. The pic was directed by Gaspar Noé, l'enfant terrible of the French cinema, who also directed an unbelievably violent (though less explicit) masterpiece, "Seul contre tous" (the lead actor from that film - what a face! - appears briefly in "Irréversible").

Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (2002) ****

Excellent and very entertaining Harry Potter movie, with fearsome snakes and memorable ghosts.

Kuutamolla (2002) ****

The Salton Sea (2002) ****

Excellent and exciting noir thriller about revenge being a dish that is best served cold.

About A Boy (2002) ***

British drama starring Hugh Grant.

The Cat Came Back (2002) ***

Animated film from Japan.

11'09''01 - September 11 (2002) ***

11 short films about 9/11, ranging from masterpieces ("Mexico", "Iran" and "Burkina Faso") to embarrassments ("United Kingdom", "USA" and "Japan"). Only two episodes, "Egypt" by Youssef Chahine and "United Kingdom" by Ken Loach, could be described as anti-American.

"Iran" (Samira Makhmalbaf) ****
"France" (Claude Lelouch) ***
"Egypt" (Youssef Chahine) **
"Bosnia-Herzegovina" (Danis Tanovic) **
"Burkina Faso" (Idrissa Oudraogo) ****
"United Kingdom" (Ken Loach) *
"Mexico" (Alejandro Gonzalez inarritu) *****
"Israel" (Amos Gitaï) ***
"India" (Mira Nair) ***
"USA" (Sean Penn) *
"Japan" (Shohei Imamura) *

The Coast Guard (2002) ***

South Korean drama directed by Kim Ki-Duk.

Les Dangereux (2002) ***

A black comedy from Quebec.

Far From Heaven (2002) ***

A pastiche of Douglas Sirk's melodramas.

Hollywood Ending (2002) ***

A comedy by Woody Allen.

The Hours (2002) ***

Complex drama.

Ice Age (2002) ***

Terrific animated pic set during the Ice Age.

The Pianist (2002) ***

Roman Polanski's most serious film. Based on a true story of a Holocaust survivor.

The Gangs Of New York (2002) ***

About Schmidt (2002) ***

8 Mile (2002) ***

The Good Girl (2002) ***

Insomnia (2002) ***

Ken Park (2002) ***

Lilo And Stitch (2002) ***

Terrific Disney movie set in Hawaii.

The Man Without A Past (2002) ***

Superlative film from Finland.

Minority Report (2002) ***

Spielberg's craftsmanship at its best.

Le Nèg' (2002) ***

A powerful film denouncing racism.

Panic Room (2002) ***

Tense and exciting thriller about a home invasion.

The Rules Of Attraction (2002) ***

Secretary (2002) ***

Sweet Sixteen (2002) ***

British drama directed by Ken Loach that won a Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Québec-Montréal (2002) ***

Excellent Canadian comedy about relationships between men and women, set on a single day in several cars travelling from Quebec City to Montreal.

The Road To Perdition (2002) ***

A gangster pic set during the Great Depression.

Secret de banlieu (2002) ***

Curious film set in the suburbs.

Shallow Hal (2002) ***

Very funny comedy about a skirt chaser who has been brainwashed to only see a woman's "inner beauty".

Signs (2002) ***

Basically like "E.T." or "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind", except that the aliens are nasty.

Spirited Away (2002) ***

Memorable animated film from Japan.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones (2002) ***

The weakest of all "Star Wars" films, but still memorable for its exciting action scenes.

Treasure Planet (2002) ***

Disney animated feature based on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel.

Turning Paige (2002) ***

Interesting little film from Canada.

August - A Moment Before The Eruption (2002) ***

Biting political satire from Avi Mograbi.

The Best Of Times (2002) ***

Summer (2002) ***

Infernal Affairs (2002) ***

Bowling For Columbine (2002) ***

Michael Moore is taking on the NRA.

Une Employée modèle (2002) **

Choses secretes (2002) **