Year in Review

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The Ten Best Films of 2001 Another Opinion

CINESCAPE columnist Mark A. Altman provides one more top ten list

By MARK A. ALTMAN January 12, 2002

Jean-Pierre Jeunet's AMELIE (LE FABULEUX DESTIN D'AMELIE POULAIN)
© 2001 Miramax

Although it was a terrible year for film, there are still a few delights to be mined among the disasters that littered the 2001 film scene. Here are the highlights:

1) AMELIE - Jean-Pierre Jeunet's stunningly beautiful fable of Paris and true love. Forget Alien: Resurrection, Jeunet has resurrected his career with this charming and delightful masterpiece.

2) INNOCENCE - Paul

INNOCENCE

Cox's moving story of two septuagenarians who re-discover an old love in their waning years.

3) MEMENTO - Chris Nolan's intricately woven film noir homage is as entertaining as it is inspired.

4) THE ROYAL TENNENBAUMS - Wes Anderson is one of the most original and oddball voices in cinema and "Royal Tennenbaums" is another strikingly unique and satisfying story of an eclectic family and their trials and tribulations.

5) THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING - Peter Jackson's adaptation of Tolkien's classic fantasy saga is as good as this fantasy saga could have been and has probably led to many sleepless nights for George Lucas whose new Star Wars series is an also-ran now to LOTR.

6) MULHOLLAND DRIVE -

A ghostly child in THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE

David Lynch's nasty Nancy Drew mystery is an enigmatic and thoroughly original vision. Marked by brilliant casting, a stunning sound design and a thoroughly mystifying story, Mulholland Drive is Lynch's best film since Blue Velvet, improving on every viewing.

7) THE TAILOR OF PANAMA - One of this year's most overlooked gems in which Pierce Brosnan plays the anti-Bond in this intelligent and well-directed adaptation of the John LeCarre novel by the ever-reliable John Boorman.

8) THE DEVIL'S

Laura Elena Harring plays Rita, an actress suffering from amnesia in MULHOLLAND DRIVE
© 2001 Universal Pictures

BACKBONE - Guillermo del Toro's spooky and satisfying story of a ghost haunting an orphanage during the Spanish American War.

9) MOULIN ROUGE - Baz Luhrmann's audacious and, at times, completely warped musical drama about love and loss at the Moulin Rouge. Although it can be trying at times, it's a brilliantly realized vision by a true auteur.

10) THE WIDOW OF ST. PIERRE - Patrice Laconte's dramatic and stunningly photographed period piece of an impending execution in which the accused awaits the arrival of a guillotine from France.