As always my caveat from previous years still apply: Film Fight is a knock-out tournament and, as such, will only select my favourite film. It makes no guarantees about any other place.
First, good films that didn’t win their month:
- Up In The Air
- A Prophet
- Precious
- Shutter Island
- Kick-Ass
- Green Zone
- Predators
- Toy Story 3
- Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
- Cyrus
- The Other Guys
- Winter’s Bone
- The Social Network
And then the monthly finalists:
- January: The Road
- February: A Single Man
- March: Crazy Heart
- April: Crying With Laughter
- May: Four Lions
- June: Rec 2
- July: Inception
- August: The Expendables
- September: Dog Pound
- October: The Town
- November: Let Me In
- December: Megamind
Last year had a number of really strong contenders as finalists, with only one film sneaking through. Sadly, that’s not the case with Let Me In, The Expendables, and Rec 2 all getting through when they might not have in another month (possibly Megamind too, but it’s fun).
That said, there are still a number of very strong choices in there. I’d strongly recommend the rest, but need to pick out a few.
4th place goes to Crying With Laughter, for it’s dark comedy and bleak look at one man’s life.
3rd place goes to Dog Pound: it’s such a well-paced film, constantly raising the feeling of menace until the final act unleashes it all at once.
2nd place: I’ve debated back and forward on this and the first place a few times. I’ve even switched them around in various drafts of this post, it’s that close. I think, though, that the second place goes to Inception. While many will get stuck on the special effects, which are quite extraordinary, it’s the storytelling structure that is the real key to this film. Multiple stories, in multiple timeframes, all happening at the same time and interacting with each other; and rarely missing a beat. That’s an accomplishment on it’s own. The fact that multiple viewings reveal more, and there are many more stories left untold leave this as a real masterclass in structure.
1st Place: That means that The Road is the Film Fight winner for 2010. It’s bleak, agonising, and quite desolate, but such a strong vision of a world where a man is compelled to protect the only thing that matters to him, his son, and the consequences of being so single-minded. A classic.