Best Films of 2005
There was a lot of sheer crap this year at the cinema. Yet one could also easily count 25 good films that came out here without breaking a sweat. Here’s the best of the best.
Kung Fu Hustle
Technically this came out December 22, 2004, but let’s not quibble. Steven Chow’s seventh film as a director was a manic, nonsensical, hilarious tour de force based in a slum called Pig Sty Alley. It proved Hong Kong filmmakers can make a great movie when they really want to. Wanna save the local industry? Have Chow give lessons.
Sideways
A 2004 release everywhere else maybe, but not here. This small Academy Award-winning film was a realistic story about middle-age shlubs (in breakthrough performances by leads Paul Giammatti and Thomas Haden Church), life, hope, love and a disdain for Pinot Noir. Set in California’s wine country, this is the kind of easygoing, lightweight film that takes on a new meaning with every viewing.
King Kong
Wicked T-rex battles aside, this is a sheer cinematic delight. Peter Jackson updates the 1933 gorilla-loves-girl classic with more emotional resonance and enough cliffhangers to fill a dozen lesser films.
Election
Hong Kong’s other notable flick of the year. Director Johnnie To does “PTU” one better by infusing even darker humor into a plot about competing triad heads. It should be the last – and definitive - film in the genre for a while, but unfortunately, it won’t be.