With the losers shamed, we end the year on a positive note, with the winners of 2010. Last year I plumped for sci-fi and actresses. This year my winners of 2010 are world cinema and indie comics.
Although still a mainstay, I have found American films less interesting in recent years, due perhaps to the aftermath of the Writers Guild of America strike and an apparent increasing focus on mega-budget thrill rides. Those non-American films that have been a revelation in 2010 haven’t been British or even European but from Latin America and East Asia, especially with Mother (Korea) The Maid (Chile), The Secret In Their Eyes (Argentina), Ponyo (Japan) and Leap Year (Mexico) but also with We Are What We Are (Mexico), Undertow (Peru), The Milk of Sorrow (Peru), Breathless (Korea) and Treeless Mountain (Korea).
By now, I can’t be the only one a tad sick of the glut of glossy superhero movies churned out in recent years. Kick-Ass and Scott Pilgrim were hugely welcome twists on the genre, poking fun whilst having fun with superhero formulae. Although not based on a comic, nor independent, Inception was another great example of risks taken with fantastical films paying off. More, please.
29th Dec 2010
