The Best of 2011 - Part 2 [The Favorites]

Now that those crazy Oscar nominations are out of the way, I've decided that it's time to dole out my favorites from 2011. As such, this is where I get to put out what would have been my Oscar ballot, including my #1's from the year. It hasn't exactly been easy, but here are my picks for the major categories, along with a few fun "special" categories:

The Best of 2011

Best Picture

A Separation

Beginners

Certified Copy

Drive

Shame

Take Shelter

The Artist

The Tree of Life

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Weekend

It says something great about last year when Jeff Nichols' psychological thriller stands among the more "normal" of my favorites. It may not have The Tree of Life's epic, sprawling nature, or Drive's existential-art-house action flair, but at the end of the day, Nichols' sophomore effort took my breath away with its slow-burning narrative, first rate performances, and an ending that still makes me apprehensive when I see dark clouds.

Best Director

Tomas Alfredson, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Steve McQueen, Shame

Jeff Nichols, Take Shelter

Nicholas Winding-Refn, Drive

Best Actor

Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Michael Fassbender, Shame

Ewan McGregor, Beginners

Peyman Moadi, A Separation

Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Michael Shannon, Take Shelter

If making a Top 10 was tough for 2011, narrowing down favorite performances was even more painstaking. As such, I've expanded acting categories to 6, to accommodate one more worthy performance. A shame, then, that I still feel like I'm neglecting so many performances. At the end of the day, however, I'd be hard-pressed to give this to someone other than Michael Shannon. The actor's depiction of confusion, despair, and even full-blown madness is a force to be reckoned with, and is a big part of why Nichols' film hits as hard as it does.

Best Actress

Juliette Binoche, Certified Copy

Olivia Colman, Tyrannosaur

Viola Davis, The Help

Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene

Charlize Theron, Young Adult

Jeong-Hie Yun, Poetry

That I'm neglecting Charlize Theron and the ladies of Melancholia should be a clear enough indicator as to how incredibly strong this year was for leading roles for women. And while all of these performances are excellent, it's Olivia Colman's work in Tyrannosaur that has stuck with me the most (you were close, Juliette). The way Colman captures her character's fragility, making it all look so lived in, is haunting, and damn near unforgettable. The film around her may be somewhat ordinary, but Colman's performance is hard to shake.

Best Supporting Actor

Colin Firth, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Hunter McCracken, The Tree of Life

Brad Pitt, The Tree of Life

Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Mark Strong, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

While the boys from The Tree of Life and Tinker Tailor may have plenty of company here, it's Christopher Plummer who ultimately won me over. The actor's lovely, tender portrait of a senior who comes out of the closet has stayed with me for quite a while, and there's a good reason for that: Plummer knocks it out of the park from beginning to end.

Best Supporting Actress

Berenice Bejo, The Artist

Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter

Jessica Chastain, The Help

Leila Hatami, A Separation

Carey Mulligan, Shame

As much as it pains me to ignore the Year of Chastain, at the end of the day Hatami's fiercely articulate portrayal of a woman fighting for her right to leave Iran got to me. Combining Chastain's three big turns from 2011 would have seen her steamroller the competition, but leaving them separated, it's Hatami who comes in first at the finish line, albeit only by a hair's breadth.

Best Original Screenplay

A Separation

Beginners

Certified Copy

Take Shelter

Weekend

It took me a second viewing to fully appreciate, but Abbass Kiarostami's deceptively simple screenplay emerges as an understated work of genius. Playing out like a middle-aged, melancholy Before Sunrise, this story of a man and a woman who may or may not even know each other is dense, layered, and filled with mystifying exchanges. It's a puzzle worth visiting multiple times, just so you can get caught up in the characters' game (or is it?) all over again.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Drive

I Saw the Devil

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Skin I Live In

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

While I can't help but admire Drive's bare-bones approach or Dragon Tattoo's smooth take on a clumsy novel, Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan's dense condensation of John Le Carre's novel stands as the most impressive adaptation of the lot. Never caving in to the temptation to explain everything, O'Connor and Straughan distill the novel to the essentials and create a mystery that demands your attention every second, lest you suddenly fall 20 steps behind. It really makes your brain work, which is quite the achievement when you look at some of the junk studios are churning out nowadays.

Best Cinematography

Drive

Hanna

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Tree of Life

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Without a doubt the easiest decision I had to make, which is saying a lot considering the competition. All of Malick's films are beautifully shot, but none have covered as much as Tree does while making every frame look like a work of art. Film making, or at least cinematography, is sometimes described as painting with light, and the expression couldn't be more appropriate for how Emmanuel Lubezki captures Malick's massive vision.

Best Art Direction

Drive

The Artist

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Skin I Live In

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Fittingly, the production design of Alfredson's film is as dark and dense as its screenplay. From the dingy apartment rooms to the lifeless office rooms and filing cabinets, the dreariness of Cold War-Era London comes to life thanks to Maria Djurkovic's rich and meticulous work.

Best Costume Design

Hanna

Mysteries of Lisbon

The Artist

The Tree of Life

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

All of the above-mentioned films did excellent jobs of capturing their respective time periods (even modern-day Hanna gave its characters identities through their wardrobe choices), but it's tough to top Mark Bridges' work. The end of the Silent Era may have been decades ago, but it all feels fresh and vibrant, as if the styles presented were about to make a comeback on Madison Avenue.

Best Editing

Drive

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Shame

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I gave Best Editing to Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall last year, and wouldn't you know, they had to go and blow me away again. The film itself may not be as strong as The Social Network, but David Fincher's more fluid story-telling gets its kick from this duo's work. One of the story's biggest problems is that it keeps Mikael and Lisbeth apart for so long, but thanks to Baxter and Wall, the pieces of the labyrinthine plot flow together with confidence and energy.

Best Ensemble Cast

A Separation

Bridesmaids

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Help

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

As much as I hate to snub the ladies of Bridesmaids, Tomas Alfredson's impeccable (and impeccably dressed) array of British talent hit every nail on the head to perfection. It's hard to forget any of the film's faces, because they all have their moments, big or small.

Best Acting Duo

Juliette Binoche and William Shimmell, Certified Copy

Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg, Melancholia

Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Olivia Colman and Peter Mullan, Tyrannosaur

Tom Cullen and Chris New, Weekend

One of the most important components of Weekend, possibly the ONLY component, is the relationship between its two main characters. There's little time for build up, yet Cullen and New have a palpable chemistry right from the get-go, and it only gets better from there.

Best Original Score

Hanna

Take Shelter

The Artist

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Skin I Live In

It's a shame that the Academy chose to honor John Williams' sickeningly sweet score for War Horse over some less conventional choices, but hey, that's what posts like these are for, right? And despite any number of great scores from 2011, The Chemical Brothers' work on Joe Wright's delightfully strange Hanna is still stuck in my head, pulsating beats, strange sound effects, and all. It was a bold move, but it paid off in spades.

Best Animated Film

Rango

I only made it to one animated film this year, and thankfully it was a wonderful one. Gore Verbinski's stunningly beautiful film is hilariously eccentric, quirky, and unapologetically reference-heavy. It also features one of the best action sequences in years, one that makes the chaotic bombast of Michael Bay look amateurish.

Best Foreign Language Film

A Separation [Iran]

Certified Copy [Belgium/France/Italy]

I Saw the Devil [South Korea]

The Double Hour [Italy]

The Skin I Live In [Spain]

It was an uncommonly spectacular year for foreign films reaching American theaters (screw AMPAS' system, by the way), and as lovely as Certified Copy is, I have to throw my vote to Asghar Farhadi's riveting, albeit sometimes frustrating, family/legal drama. It can feel a bit academic at times, but this exploration of modern-day Iran is filled with riveting exchanges that tear the veil off of a society that couldn't be any further from our own.

Best Visual Effects

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The Tree of Life

The creation scenes. End of discussion.

Best Make Up

Drive

I Saw the Devil

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Sound

Drive

Hanna

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2

Super 8

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Performer of the Year

Jessica Chastain, The Help & The Tree of Life & Take Shelter & The Debt

Michael Fassbender and Ryan Gosling weren't far behind, but at the end of the day, it's damn near impossible to ignore what has to be one of the best career kick-offs in cinema history. Chastain was everywhere this year, and yet her on-screen presence never grew repetitive thanks to the variety of her roles, and the different presence she brought to each one.

Best Cameo Performance

Kathy Baker, Take Shelter

It all comes down to one scene for Kathy Baker, yet you won't forget her, even with all of the madness that comes afterwards. Her finely tuned portrait of a formerly (possibly still) paranoid mother achieves in minutes what many performances don't in 2 hours.

Breakthrough Writer/Director

Paddy Considine, Tyrannosaur

His exploration of anger and pain may hit some familiar notes, but the story moves with a surprising swiftness without shortchanging the narrative. Let's hope this is just the start of a promising career behind the camera.

Breakthrough Performer - Female

Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy Mary Marlene

She grabs your attention from the film's opening frames and doesn't let go for long after the credits roll. At last, something worthwhile has come out of the Olsen family.

Breakthrough Performer - Male

Hunter McCracken, The Tree of Life

He conveys a strange mix of introspection, confusion, and wisdom without coming off as phony. A beautiful, honest portrait of childhood and its first brushes with darkness.

Best Poster

Best Trailer

And there you have it! And not one mention of Albert Nobbs or War Horse; isn't that refreshing? With that out of the way, I'm realizing how much I'm going to hate bidding 2011 goodbye. The variety and strength of films was pretty remarkable, and 2012 is going to have its work cut out for it.