FILM COLUMN: TOP 5 MOVIES 2011 - DRAMA

From 'Melancholia' to 'Beginners,' a Dramatic Year in Cinema

By: Team Buzzine

December 30, 2011

This past year’s box office receipts were down 4% from 2010. One of the theories is lack of choice -- that there just aren’t any decent intriguing must-see films, and if there were, they weren’t showing at the theaters anywhere near the masses. The one sleeper hit of 2011 that permeated most suburban multiplexes was The Help. Our other four choices may have flown under the proverbial radar a bit more, but they deserve attention and accolades for their truthful storytelling, brave acting, and cinematic execution.

The Help

Based on the best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett, The Help centers around Civil War-era Mississippi and the relationships between wealthy white families and their black maids. The endlessly appealing Emma Stone charms as Skeeter, the budding journalist eager to tell the help’s story. Viola Davis is a powerhouse as Aibileen, Skeeter’s main interviewee. Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Allison Janney, and newcomer Jessica Chastain all give impeccable performances as the women deeply affected by racism. Entertaining and moving, The Help will no doubt be a huge presence at the Oscars this year.

Check out Buzzine's exclusive Interview with the cast of The Help.

Melancholia

Lars Von Trier creates films that, love them or hate them, haunt you long after they’ve ended. With Melancholia, Von Trier has taken a harrowing look at the impossibility of depression...in a pre-apocalyptic world. As the overwhelmingly huge planet Melancholia looms over Earth, sisters Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) cope with their own neuroses. Von Trier’s doomed imagery and the score, Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, create a devastatingly beautiful work of art. The film belongs to Dunst, though, as she varies between forced contentment to sheer despair. The end of the world is evocative ecstasy, at least in Melancholia.

Check out Buzzine's Film Review.

Like Crazy

Like Crazy is a quiet film. It’s intimate -- a slow burn. Young stars Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin expose the raw vulnerability of young love. The sweet sting of their stolen moments could have easily rang false, but the in-depth style of director Drake Doremus kept Like Crazy grounded. With a bare-bones script, the dialogue was mostly improvised between Jones and Yelchin. Like Crazy is devastatingly honest about what happens when love just isn’t enough.

Check out Buzzine's Film Review.

A Dangerous Method

A David Cronenberg film playing with themes of sex, pain, and the human psyche doesn’t sound like much of a stretch. But when the film is a grounded period piece that deftly handles the historically documented strained friendship and mentor/protégé relationship of Freud and Jung, it deserves consideration for one of the best films of 2011. Michael Fassbender could be competing against himself (Shame) come Oscar time.

Check out Buzzine's Film Review.

Beginners

The term “must see” is one of the most overused in film critique and promotion, but Beginners is actually one you must see. Ewan McGregor and Melanie Laurent have some of the best chemistry in years, but McGregor's with Christopher Plummer is even more palpable. Director Mike Mills wrote the film five months after his father passed, and the immediacy of that experience resonates on screen. The film went largely unnoticed for months, despite a phenomenal script and performances. Thankfully, Christopher Plummer’s magnetic portrayal of Hal is getting recognition. Let’s hope, with this newfound attention, Beginners will hit a second stride.

Check out Buzzine's exclusive Ewan McGregor Interview and Film Review.