The Best Films of 2004
By Nareg Torosian

The 2004 Presidential election was so divisive that the phrase “red state, blue state” entered into the English lexicon, and that separation was just as apparent at the box office as it was at the ballot box. Though Americans collectively spent a record $9.4 billion at the movies, the source of those receipts can be divided into reds (“The Passion of the Christ,” “National Treasure,” “Christmas with the Kranks”) and blues (“Fahrenheit 9/11,” “Hero,” “Napoleon Dynamite”). As usual, the factor that united audiences was familiarity: a multiplex worth of sequels – some inventive (“Spider-man 2,” “The Bourne Supremacy”), some mediocre (“Shrek 2,” “Ocean’s Twelve”), most just plain awful (“Meet the Fockers,” “The Princess Diaries 2”) – all raked in grosses of eight figures or better.

With movie studios’ growing emphasis on box office performance, good films are getting harder to find – call it the law of diminishing (artistic) returns. But 2004 yielded a handful of excellent films that were not to be missed, and if there was no consensus among audiences when it came to cinema, there certainly was one among critics. Most, if not all, of the films on my top 10 list have appeared on other major critics’ lists – not as a form of flattery or imitation, but because these were the only great films released during an otherwise dismal year.

Before getting to my top 10, here’s a list of fine films that barely placed out but deserve recognition: “The Saddest Music in the World,” Guy Maddin’s stylish dark comedy that continues his fascination with silent-era techniques; “Collateral,” Michael Mann’s slick modern-day noir set during a single night in Los Angeles and featuring a terrific Jaime Foxx performance; “Hotel Rwanda,” a heartfelt retelling of the actions taken by Paul Rusesabagina (well played by Don Cheadle) during the Rwandan massacre of the mid-1990’s; “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” continuing director Wes Anderson’s superb string of whimsical deadpan comedies about emotional crises; “The Manchurian Candidate,” Jonathan Demme’s top-shelf remake of the 1962 classic, appropriately updated for the Dubya era; “Shaun of the Dead,” a sharp and hilarious horror/satire/comedy that – like George Romero’s “Dead” trilogy – brilliantly uses zombies as societal metaphors; “Before Sunset,” the intelligent, swooningly romantic, and more-than-deserving follow-up to 1995’s “Before Sunrise;” “Primer,” Shane Carruth’s low-budget mind bender that returns sci-fi to its roots – a genre of ideas rather than special effects; “Birth,” Jonathan Glazer’s impeccably orchestrated (and unjustly maligned) psychological thriller with a career-best performance by Nicole Kidman; and “Baadassss!,” Mario Van Peebles’s deeply personal account of how his father kicked off the blaxploitation genre and one of the best films about filmmaking ever made.

Now, here are the films that I believe were the best of 2004. Please note that I exclude foreign films and documentaries from these lists, as I reward them in separate categories in my yearly film awards list.

10. “Kinsey” – Director: Bill Condon
Liam Neeson’s commanding performance as infamous sex researcher Alfred Kinsey is the centerpiece of Condon’s outstanding and subversive biopic. Like “Far From Heaven,” “Kinsey” examined conservative America’s treatment of sexuality during the 1950’s to gauge not how far we’ve come but, sadly, how little has changed.

9. “Closer” – Director: Mike Nichols
The perfect companion piece to Nichols’s classic looks at failed relationships – “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “Carnal Knowledge” – boasts a dynamite ensemble cast (Jude Law and Julia Roberts, both playing strongly against type, and incredible breakout performances by Clive Owen and Natalie Portman) and serves as a return to form for the great director. With Patrick Marber’s superb dialogue and the ingenious editing techniques of John Bloom and Antonia Van Drimmelen, “Closer” can say more in a single cut than other relationship movies can during their entire running times.

8. “Spider-man 2” – Director: Sam Raimi
Easily the best comic book adaptation since the first two “Superman” movies, “Spider-man 2” not only surpasses the original but serves as a blueprint for all Hollywood action movies. It combines thrills and storyline in a way that emphasizes both while diminishing neither, and the revolutionary, seamless special effects enhance the film rather than distract from it.

7. “The Incredibles” – Director: Brad Bird
Pixar’s sixth feature film is also their most adult film to date. Like Bird’s underrated 1999 gem “The Iron Giant,” “The Incredibles” works both as entertainment and as metaphor for the importance of outsiders in American society. In a woeful year for animation, this film delivered with flying colors.

6. “The Aviator” – Director: Martin Scorsese
Scorsese’s masterful biopic of infamous producer/entrepreneur Howard Hughes wisely focuses on the period from his glory years in Hollywood and in the aviation industry during the 1920’s and 1930’s to the beginning of his fall from grace during the late 1940’s, only hinting at the well known eccentricities that have since overshadowed the rest of his life. Leonardo DiCaprio gives an atypically strong performance as Hughes, and Cate Blanchett nearly steals the movie as Katherine Hepburn.

5. “Vera Drake” – Director: Mike Leigh
Imelda Staunton delivers an astonishing, emotionally naked performance as a cheery blue-collar housewife who performs abortions to “help girls out” in 1950’s London. Leigh – giving us his best film since “Secrets & Lies” – puts a human face on a controversial issue without patronizing or glorifying either side, and leaves you with an ending so resonant that it will promote discussion regardless of your political views.

4. “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” – Director: Quentin Tarantino
“Volume 1” was a gonzo confection of pure wall-to-wall action that, while executed perfectly, lacked depth. “Volume 2” amends that, slowing down the action, adding complexity to the storyline, fleshing out its characters, and supplying them with motivation – all with Tarantino’s precision timing and writing. It features a terrific comeback performance by David Carradine, at least half a dozen brilliantly sustained sequences, and a finale of surprising emotional heft. The result can only be described as pure cinema – an achievement on par with the works of Sergio Leone.

3. “Million Dollar Baby” – Director: Clint Eastwood
At 74 years of age, Eastwood has reached his peak as an actor and director. A sentimental story told unsentimentally, “Baby” centers on an unlikely father-daughter relationship forged between Eastwood’s grizzled, guilt-ridden boxing trainer and Hilary Swank’s plucky but naïve pugilist wannabe. But don’t think that you know where this is going – the film dodges sports and melodramatic clichés and supplies the most emotionally devastating finale of the year. Bolstered by an outstanding cast, Thomas Stern’s noir-influenced cinematography, and an economy of storytelling that is increasingly rare to find, this one stands alongside “Unforgiven” and “Mystic River” on Eastwood’s mantle.

2. “Sideways” – Director: Alexander Payne
Two guys take a weeklong road trip in California before a wedding and get involved with a couple of girls. It sounds like the stuff of a 1980’s buddy movie you’ve seen dozens of times over, but in the more-than-capable hands of Payne and co-writer Jim Taylor, the movie sidesteps all convention and is transformed into a poignant and heartfelt tale of love, loss, loyalty, and regret. The year’s best ensemble cast is led by Paul Giamatti, in yet another career-defining performance, a hilarious Thomas Haden Church, and a sublime Virginia Madsen. Following the enormous promise of “Election” and “About Schmidt,” Payne has made his best film yet and has proven to be one of the great humanists in cinema today.

1. “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” – Director: Michel Gondry
Is there a greater mind at work in filmmaking today than Charlie Kaufman? The “Being John Malkovich” and “Adaptation” scribe continued his string of brilliant screenplays with this film – a dizzying, dazzling examination of human relationships that is somehow markedly unsentimental and unabashedly romantic at the same time. Gondry’s mastery of the tricky material and of the cinematic medium is nothing less than awesome, displaying visual pyrotechnics that are so ingrained with and intrinsic to the story that they never call attention to themselves. Kate Winslet gives an infectiously free-spirited performance, but Jim Carrey is a revelation, as he delivers his most inward and personal portrayal to date. Though 2004 wasn’t a good year for movies, we can follow this film’s advice by salvaging the best of a bad relationship and try for a better tomorrow.