Ranking the Columbia Noir Collection on Criterion Channel

The Columbia Noir collection was one of the most popular during the early days of the Criterion Channel – so much so, that for it is first anniversary they not only brought it back and expanded the selection. There are now 26 titles in the Columbia Noir collection. Last year, I watched or re-watched six of those titles – this year, I plan on watching the other 20. And below, is a ranking of all 26. Some of these I will do full reviews of – or already (have – others I won’t, simply as a matter of time). It is an excellent collection – with some legitimate masterworks, and some fun B movies as well – only a few aren’t really worth your time.

 

26. 5 Against the House (Phil Karlson, 1955) – Sometimes cheap B-movies remain so simply because they aren’t very good – and that’s the case with this heist film. Four friends, the old guys at college after returning from Korea, get mistaken for casino robbers in Reno, and hatch a plot to do it for real – and draw in the finance of one of one (Kim Novak). It’s a fairly cheap film, and feels like a programmer and nothing more. At one point, the young Novak breaks into song for some reason. The heist plot is overly complicated, and bizarrely it is all pinned on one guy (Brian Keith), and the rest apparently get off scot-free. Director Phil Karlson can be great – this very same year he directed The Phenix City Story, which is brilliant (as well as two other films in 1955 – including Tight Spot, also part of this collection). This feels like exactly what it was – something cheap tossed off for all involved without much care.

 

25. Blind Alley (Charles Vidor, 1939) – The earliest one in the collection is not one of the best. It’s fairly lightweight, and almost comical in its Freudian dissection of the criminal mind. The film is about a criminal (Morris) who escapes from jail, and takes a psychologist (Bellamy) and his family hostage – with Bellamy eventually figuring out all of Morris’ problems. The acting isn’t uniform either, with silent star Chester Morris, still mugging for the camera – and Ralph Bellamy having to speak in psycho-babble speeches. Yet, it’s a short movie – just under 70-minutes, and moves quickly. It’s an interesting little film – kind of combining the gangster genre of the 1930s, with what would come with noir, but not quite being either. A curiosity more than a satisfying film in its own right, it at least holds your attention.

 

24. Tight Spot (Phil Karlson, 1955) – Ginger Rogers stars as a tough female convict, who the cops – lead by Brian Keith, who falls for her, and Edward G. Robinson as the D.A., gets her out of jail in the hopes that she will testify against a mobster who will go free otherwise. It is hardly vintage Rogers or Robinson – both were kind of at the tail end of their movie careers as stars anyway, and they’re basically phoning it in. It’s also not really a noir either. For the most part it’s fun, but it really is a cheapie genre film, not made to last.

 

23.The Dark Past (Rudolph Mate, 1948) – This is a remake of Blind Alley – and it basically has the same issues with its screenplay as that film did – too many speeches, too much overt Freudian analysis, and adds another one – awkward bookends with the shrink, played by Lee J. Cobb. But it’s also slightly better overall than Blind Alley – mostly due to the fact that I think William Holden and Cobb more than Morris and Bellamy, and Mate’s direction basically apes better noir, which had become a thing by then is better than Vidor’s, who did more of a melodrama thing. Still, I’m not sure you really need to see either of these.

 

22. The Burglar (Paul Wendkos, 1957) – This film is about three films in one, all mushed together, in ways that don’t entirely satisfy. This sat on the shelf for two years, before Columbia bought it for release – and you can kind of see why. Dan Duryea, usually a great slimy character actor, here as the lead – as a burglar who steals jewels from a fake spiritualist, and then head to Atlantic City to hide out. The heist is a highlight of the movie – it’s not Rififi or anything, but it’s pretty good. Then the film kind of shifts into something else. Duryea is fine, a young Jayne Mansfield not so much. It’s all decent, and moves quickly from one thing to another, but it never quite comes together as a satisfying whole.

 

21. So Dark the Night (Joseph H. Lewis, 1946) – So Dark the Night is a weird film – a kind of Agatha Christie style mystery, wrapped in the trappings of noir, that both plays itself for laughs, and takes it seriously – and all in just 71 minutes. Does it work? Not entirely – the big twist here, with what happens when a genius level detective on vacation (played by Steven Geray) starts investigating one murder, and finds it spin out to more, is, well, odd to say the least – the type of twist a hack screenwriter thinks is clever. But it certainly is, well, weird.

 

20. Dead Reckoning (John Cromwell, 1947) – Any Noir with Humphrey Bogart in its lead cannot be all bad – and while that’s true of Dead Reckoning, it also certainly doesn’t rank among Bogart’s best noir. This film, where Bogart plays a paratrooper, returning to America with his buddy, who disappears, and turns up murdered, when he discovers he’s going to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor is classically structured noir all the way. Bogart starts playing detective – and it doesn’t take him long to get in over his head, and fall for a classic femme fatale (Lizbeth Scott). The movie kind of spins its wheels after a while though – repeating itself. And although 100 minutes is far from a long movie – it’s far too long for this one. Like I said, any noir with Bogart cannot be bad – and Scott helps a lot too – but there’s a reason it doesn’t rank with his more famous noirs.

 

19. The Crimson Kimono (Samuel Fuller, 1959) – Director Samuel Fuller examined the subject of racism throughout his career, and it kind of takes over the 1959 noir The Crimson Kimono. The plot is about two detectives – best friends, one white, one Japanese America (James Shigeta), investigating the murder of a stripper, and both falling for the same woman (Victoria Shaw). To be honest, the murder mystery kind of gets lost along the way – in favor of Shigeta’s questioning his place in America, and the racism he faces. If this were made today, it would be laughed at as far too simplistic – but for 1959, it really was kind of groundbreaking – so there is some importance to the film. It isn’t quite all that interesting to watch however – a film full of good intentions, and an interesting time capsule, but hardly the best of Fuller’s great career.

 

18. The Mob (Robert Parrish, 1951) – This quick moving, not-really-noir, stars Broderick Crawford as a cop, who lets a murderer slip through his fingers, and then has to go undercover as a longshoreman from New Orleans to try and get to the bottom of corruption on the docks. The movie works best for its first hour – as Crawford gets deeper and deeper into the mob – also enjoyable to see him go toe-to-toe with Ernest Borgnine. The climax probably gets a little too complicated, and isn’t quite as much fun – but overall, this is pretty much exactly what Columbia Noir promises – fast-moving, entertaining B-level genre films.

 

17.Affair in Trinidad (Vincent Sherman, 1952) – Rita Hayworth’s “comeback” movie to Columbia after 5 years away, the film basically ends up being Gilda-light. Once again, Hayworth stars as a nightclub singer in a tropical locale, and Glenn Ford plays a man who both loves her and hates her, because of her relationship with an effeminate rich man. But this film isn’t as harsh as Gilda was – we know from the start that Hayworth is innocent, she acts the way she does because she’s trying to get information on her husband’s murder, and Ford acts the way he does but her husband was his brother, and he thinks his wife was cheating on him – and that everyone is trying to convince him his brother committed suicide. As a film itself, it’s fine – Hayworth is dances wonderfully, and does the rest of what she does well, as does Ford. It’s mainly interesting as an echo of Gilda though.

 

16. Nightfall (Jacques Tourneur, 1956) – Jacques Tourneur was one of the great journeymen directors of his era – moving from one genre to the next with ease – sometimes producing masterpieces like Out of the Past, one of the best noirs ever made, and sometimes producing a fleet, entering B-movie like Nightfall. It is a classic wrong man set-up, with Aldo Ray accused of bank robbery and murder, and pursued, and falling for a young Anne Bancroft along the way. The movie is fleet footed and entertaining – and even if it never rises to the level of Tourneur’s best work, it’s certainly an entertaining B-movie.

 

15. Johnny O’Clock (Robert Rossen, 1947) – Robert Rossen’s breezy noir stars Dick Powell in full movie star mode as the charming title character – a man who runs a casino, and kind of floats on the surface, liked by all. Then, his playboy ways catch up with him, and he’s drawn into a web of murder and revenge. Lighter than a lot of noir – with a hero who is a likable heel that you still root for. Quite a good debut for Rossen – and a movie star vehicle for Powell, with solid character work by Lee J. Cobb. Diminished (slightly) but some unconvincing supporting performances, and the strange name of the title character – making it slightly harder to take seriously – but still a crackerjack entertainment.

 

14. Pushover (Richard Quine, 1954) – The presence of Fred MacMurray in the film really does make one think of Billy Wilder’s masterpiece Double Indemnity (1944). Once again, MacMurray falls for a femme fatale (Kim Novak) he is supposed to be investigating, leading him down a path to murder, and then more murder to cover it up, and try and get a lot of money to run away with the girl. The movie is, of course, no Double Indemnity – Novak’s performance, and her character, have nothing on Barbara Stanwyck. And the whole movie has the feel of a quickie B-movie, which it what it is. But that works amazing well, is fun and movies at a breakneck pace to its inevitable conclusion. A wonderful B-movie.

 

13. The Harder They Fall (Mark Robson, 1956) – There is an added layer of interest in The Harder They Fall because it was Bogart’s last film – filmed right before his cancer diagnosis, when he was clearly in pain. It’s also one of those late 1950s films where you can watch different kinds of acting – Bogart’s old school movie star charisma vs. Rod Steiger’s method acting – and remarkably they both work well individually, and together. The story, with Steiger’s heavy hiring Bogart’s recently fired boxing reporter to promote his latest prospect – a worthless, but huge, South American boxer to stardom. The whole thing works, in an old school way – and really does kind of feel like an end of an era in many ways.

 

12. The Brothers Rico (Phil Karlson, 1957) – Richard Conte stars as a former mob accountant who has gone straight – but is dragged back in to track down his younger brother, who may or may not have reached out to the D.A. On the surface, the film doesn’t really feel like noir – but it really kind of is, with Conte as the dupe, sucked deeper and deeper into a world. The cross-country narrative works as well, and Karlson’s direction is top notch. I do think the end of the film is a big letdown – you know what has to happen, but it just doesn’t work as well as the terrific rest of the film.

 

11.Drive a Crooked Road (Richard Quine, 1954) – Out of all the dupes in film noir, I’m not sure I feel more outright sympathy for any of them more than I do for Mickey Rooney’s Eddie in Drive a Crooked Road. A mechanic, and race car driver at local racers, he’s got a scar on his head, and seems a little slow, but is basically happy in his life – until a criminal’s girlfriend (Dianne Foster) seduces him, and gradually convince him to get the getaway driver for a bank robbery. Eddie is such an innocent here, who gets in way over his head, but he really doesn’t want to – he isn’t motivated by greed or lust, but because he genuinely loves her. The movie itself isn’t as good as the character or Rooney’s performance – but they do a lot of heavy lifting to make this one genuinely moving – and exciting.

 

10. The Lineup (Don Siegel, 1958) – Shot on location in San Francisco, The Lineup is a terrific entertainment – featuring a memorable performance by Eli Wallach as the psychopath gangster Dancer, who travels around the city retrieving packages of heroin, by any means necessary, smuggled in my unsuspecting tourists returning home. The film shifts focus a few times – first looking perhaps it’s going to be a wrong man narrative, then a police procedural, before finally settling on Dancer as its main character. The film makes terrific use of the real locations, and like the best of Siegel’s doesn’t have an ounce of fat on it.

 

9. The Sniper (Edward Dmytryk, 1952) – Watching The Sniper in 2020 is a very odd experience. It’s main character, Eddie Miller played by Arthur Franz, is pretty much a prototypical “angry white man with a gun” – who has just become a larger and larger problem in the nearly 70 years since the film was made. He is basically an incel – who gets angry at women, particularly women with boyfriends, who he feels “rejects” him, when really, they haven’t done anything wrong. The only real difference here is that Eddie takes out the specific women he hates, one-by-one, with a sniper rifle, instead of one mass incident. The film tries to psychoanalyze him a little – and has far more sympathy for Eddie than normal – right down to the final shot. It’s a film to watch and wrestle with.

 

8. My Name is Julia Ross (Joseph H. Lewis, 1945) – The title character here is played in a terrific performance by Nina Foch in a terrific performance. She plays a down-on-her-luck woman who takes a job from a mysterious stranger – and then wakes up in their house, being told my everyone that she is not who she thinks she is. Terrific supporting work by Dame May Whitty, as an overbearing mother who is willing to do anything to protect her son. Director Lewis keeps things moving at a crackerjack pace for the entire 65-minute runtime. Personally, I think I would have liked it more had we not known the truth from the outset – but this is a terrific film in the vein of Gaslight.

 

7. Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946) – The film that made Rita Hayworth an icon, with one of the most memorable entrances in all of cinema, had previously struck me as kind of lightweight, mainly because the happy ending of the film feels so false. And yet, without that happy ending, this film would actually be incredibly dark and disturbing. Hayworth’s Gilda isn’t really even a femme fatale, or the villain here. It is Glenn Ford who is the dangerous one here – and he is just about perfect in his role, playing perfectly against Hayworth. Personally, I would have preferred a darker ending – that may have marked this a masterpiece – but as it stands, it’s still pretty great.

 

6. Human Desire (Fritz Lang, 1954) – A year after they made an acknowledged masterpiece – The Big Heat – director Fritz Lang reteamed with stars Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame to make this remake of Jean Renoir’s La Bette Humaine (1938) based on the novel by Emile Zola. The film doesn’t have the reputation of The Big Heat – and admittedly, it isn’t quite as good – but honestly, I think this film is grossly underrated. In the film, Ford plays a train engineer just returned from the Korean war, who falls for Grahme – who is married to an angry co-worker – Broderick Crawford – who has already killed one man, and may kill more. Made during the period when Grahme was one of the best actresses in Hollywood (seriously, she won a much deserved Oscar for The Bad and the Beautiful in 1952 – yet I think she’s even better in The Big Heat and In a Lonely Place), she makes a wonderful would-be femme fatale – with Ford a slight twist on the regular dupe, and Crawford excellent as the human beast of the original title – this is an underrated film from one of the great directors of all time.

 

5. Experiment in Terror (Blake Edwards, 1962) – Blake Edwards is, of course, best known for his comedies (he is one of the great comedic directors of all time) – but here, he directs an excellent Hitchcock-ian thriller about an asthmatic man harassing a bank clerk (Lee Remnick) – forcing her to steal from her employer, with cop Glenn Ford trying to crack the case. My only doubt with this film is if it’ actually noir at all (it doesn’t really feel like it) – but whatever you call it, it is terrific. It’s also the latest film in the collection – and the longest, and yet Edwards never lets the tension flag, and it contains such terrific performances. Edwards isn’t who you’d expect to deliver something this terrific and taut – but he does.

 

4. The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1947) – Like many of Welles’ Hollywood films, he made this for money – and it shows, as the film has a tossed off feel to it, as if Welles couldn’t care less about the narrative. Recut without him, the film almost feels like it’s missing some scenes – and the infamous funhouse climax is as brilliant as anything you will ever, even in its truncated form. Welles seems to want to undermine the whole thing – from his over-the-top accent, to making a farce out of the courtroom climax, to making his then wife, and leading lady, Rita Hayworth chop off and dye her infamous hair. Seriously, the film probably shouldn’t work at all – and yet somehow it does work, and brilliantly so.

 

3. Murder by Contract (Irving Lerner, 1958) – This is probably the oddest title in the collection – the most one-of-a-kind hidden gem that we all look for, and so rarely find. Martin Scorsese is a big fan, and has raised the visibility of the film – and you can see the influence on others – like perhaps Jim Jarmusch. The story, of a young, callous hitman (Vince Edwards) who is able to operate without feeling – that is until his latest client, who for the first time is a woman, and he just doesn’t seem to be able to finish the job. It is an idiosyncratic portrait of this hitman in existential dread. If Jean-Pierre Melville had made a low budget American film in 1958 – it may well have looked like Murder by Contract – a masterwork from little-known Irving Lerner.

 

2. The Big Heat (Fritz Lang, 1953) – One of the best films of Fritz Lang’s career – certainly of his Hollywood career – in this film in which are hero is really an asshole, and responsible for almost all the horrible things that happens in the film, particularly the horrible things that befall all the women in the film. Glenn Ford – who, by the by the way, is terrific in a lot of films in this collection maybe gives the best performance of his career, as a cop whose wife and son are killed, and sets out for revenge. A young Lee Marvin is terrific here too as the heavy – and has the most famous scene. It is also one of the best performances of Gloria Grahame – which shows how great she is. Lang has this film fly by – in just 89-minutes - and undercuts the supposed happy ending. Overall, one of the great noirs of all time.

                                                                                

1.In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950) – This is one of the best noirs ever made – and as great as any number of other films in this collection – are the easy choice for best in the collection. The film stars Bogart – in one of his 2 or 3 best performances – a screenwriter who may or may not be a murderer, who is cleared by his beautiful neighbor (the great Gloria Grahame) who starts to doubt her own testimony, even as she falls in love with him. This is a deep, dark film – probably the best of the great Nicholas Ray’s career. This is an enigmatic noir – one that has to string the audience along, not telling them all the information they have, but still make it satisfying – and doing a character study. Just because Bogart may not be a murderer – it doesn’t mean he isn’t a violent asshole. An absolute masterpiece.

Ranking the Decade's Palme D'Or Winners

The Cannes film festival can have its own problems – but when you compare it to the Oscars, at the very least, they usually pick better winners. Yes, this decade all 10 Palme D’or winners were directed by men (although, in one case, the director shared it with his two female co-stars) – but they can come from all over the world – and at the very least, they’re interesting films that win. Not always great, but interesting. So here’s the ranking of the decade’s Palme D’or winners.

 

 

10. I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach, 2016) – There are few things more predictable than the new Ken Loach film being in the Cannes competition lineup – he had four just this decade – unless it’s that for the most part, the film will be forgotten relatively soon after its release. I, Daniel Blake is perhaps the best film of this decade (Sorry We Missed You, which played last year, has opened here yet) – but it’s still a rather predictable Loach effort, about the effects on the poor in England of uncaring government bureaucracy. The one thing about the movie that is great is newcomer Hayley Squires performance. The rest is fine – quite good even – but hardly great. And in a year that was so strong, it’s disappointing the George Miller led jury felt the need to give Loach a second Palme (after 2008’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley).

Great Films in Competition: American Honey (Andrea Arnold) was for me, a major step forward for the great filmmaker, coming to what was about to be Trump’s America and seeing it clearly from an outsider’s perspective. Elle (Paul Verhoeven) was the Dutch maverick’s attempt to piss everyone off – he succeeded brilliantly, with a controversial, incendiary film, and a great performance by Isabelle Huppert. Graduation (Cristian Mungiu) was the Romanian version of the college admission scandal before there was one – and a darkly comic masterclass of one. The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook) is the most beautiful and ambitious film of Korean master Park Chan-wook’s career – and perhaps his best film. Paterson (Jim Jarmusch) is my favorite Jim Jarmusch film, a beautiful, subtle, perceptive film about poetry and normal life. Personal Shopper (Olivier Assayas) was Assayas building an entire film around text messages, and Kristen Stewart, and pulling it off brilliantly. Toni Erdman (Maren Ade) was the biggest, boldest, tragicomedy of the decade – a three-hour comedy about fathers and daughters, and globalization and so much more.

And the Winner Should Have Been: I don’t want to choose – it is a shame that Cannes mainstay Jarmusch has never won the Palme D’or (at least for features – he won one for one of the shorts in Coffee & Cigarettes in the shorts section) – and Paterson is my favorite of his films, and probably, my favorite of this festival. And yet, I think Toni Erdmann would have been the better choice – a massively ambitious film, one that goes for broke, features two amazing central performances, and is every bit as much of a masterpiece than anything that could have won. The fact that they both walked away with nothing for the jury should be embarrassing for all involved.

 

9. Dheepan (Jacques Audiard, 2015) – This seems like an example of the jury – headed by the Coen brothers – giving the Palme to a director who was considered “due” at the time, so they gave it to Audiard’s revenge film, with so real world importance layered onto it considering immigration in France. It isn’t Audiard’s best film – but I feel it has somehow gotten underrated over the years – probably because it didn’t really need to win the Palme, but it is an excellent, exciting film – expertly crafted by Audiard – with some great performances as well. He hasn’t done much since – just one American film, The Sisters Brothers, which was fine, but didn’t really hit either. This is a very good film – not Palme worthy – but very good.

Other Great Films in Competition: This really was a strong competition lineup this year. The Assassin (Hsiao-Hsein Hou) is a martial arts film as only he can make it – and one of the most stunningly beautiful films you will ever see. Carol (Todd Haynes) is one of Haynes best, most beautiful films – and one of the great romantic films of the decade. The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) is a masterclass is deadpan comedy and storytelling (honestly, I’m amazed the Coens didn’t go crazy for this one) – and one of the best acted films you will ever see, so completely in control of the film. Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke) is not quite the best of Jia Zhangke’s films this decade – but it is a stunning, beautiful multigenerational film about life in modern China – and into the future. Sicario (Denis Villeneuve) is just about as great of a mainstream, Hollywood genre film can be – exciting, amazingly well acted, and scripted, and amazing direction by Villeneuve. Son of Saul (Laszalo Nemes) is an emotional powerhouse – and perhaps the only recent film with a truly unique take on the Holocaust – focused solely on one character, blurring the reality behind him – brilliantly directed by Nemes, in his first film.

And the Winner Should Have Been: For me personally, I would take either Carol or The Lobster as the winner here – as both are among the very best films of the decade. We know they like to reward loyalty though – and it was only Haynes’ second film in competition, and Lanthimos’ first (probably why Son of Saul didn’t break through either). So on that level, why not give the top prize to The Assassin as Hsiao-Hsien as been a fixture of Cannes for decades.

 

8. Blue is the Warmest Color (Abdellatif Kechiche and Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux, 2013) – Blue is the Warmest Color has suffered a major downgrade in its critical reputation since it’s win – when director Kechiche’s abusive, exploitative behavior has come to light, and his subsequent films have not been well received. What I will say is that I understand the criticisms – and it’s certainly a male gaze film – and yet it is raw and emotional and beautiful in its own way – and the Steven Spielberg led jury was correct in awarding both Exarchopoulos and Seydoux in the win as well. Perhaps I don’t like it as much as I did then – but it’s a very good film.

Other Great Films in Competition: This really wasn’t the best year for Cannes – but the great films in competition really was great. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel & Ethan Coen) was my choice for best film of the decade, and it may just be the Coens best film ever, and deserved all the love it could get. Like Father, Like Son (Hirokazu Koreeda) isn’t the best film by Japanese master Hirokazu Koreeda, but it’s close, and a very emotional film to boot. Nebraska (Alexander Payne) is probably Payne’s best film next to Election – a wonderful father/son story, shot in beautiful black and white. Only Loves Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch) is one of Jarmusch’s best films – an old man’s film, about the passing of time – but one that doesn’t do well at festivals, because it needs time to grow. A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke) is my favorite Jia Zhangeke film – a number of stories about random violence in China – done in different styles by China’s best director.

And the Winner Should Have Been: Obviously, I think Inside Llewyn Davis should have won this one – it was the best of the decade – and the Coens have been around long enough that having two Palmes would not seem like too much (since their only other Palme was way back in 1991 with Barton Fink). I also wish that Jia Zhangke and Jim Jarmusch should have a Palme as well – and would have been fine with either of them winning.

 

7. The Square (Ruben Ostlund, 2017) – Ostlund’s epic art world satire is the kind of film that lashes out in all different directions for nearly three hours, with a brilliant performance by Claes Bang to hold it all together. Does it all work – probably not – but I love it anyway, as its so weird, so one-of-a-kind – and so much fun – which isn’t always something you associate with a Palme D’or winner. Still waiting for him to follow it up with something though. The Pedro Almodovar led jury had many choices, so I’m not sure why they went here, but it’s a decent choice.

Other Great Films in Competition: Really a strong year this year. The Beguiled (Sofia Coppola) was an entirely different take on the same story Don Siegel/Clint Eastwood told decades before. Good Time (Benny & Joshua Safdie) is the most energetic, propulsive thriller of the decade, with a great Robert Pattinson performance at its core. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos) isn’t quite as good as The Lobster – but is a disturbing allegory that only Lanthimos could make. Loveless (Andrey Zvyagintsev) is perhaps not quite as good as Leviathan – but is an emotional powerhouse about the inhumanity of modern Russia. The Meyerowtiz Stories (Noah Baumbach) is one of Baumbach’s best – a funny, emotional, family story with some great performances. Okja (Bong Joon-ho) is Bong lashing out in many different directions, most of them brilliantly. You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay) is a revenge thriller in the Taxi Driver mold, but completely stripped of all the excess plot stuff that isn’t needed – to produce something completely unique.

And the Winner Should Have Been: While this was a strong year this year, I am struck that I’m not sure any of the talented directors listed above made their best film this year. The best, for me, was Good Time – but that doesn’t strike me as a Palme winner for directors that young. My choice would have been one that the jury clearly loved – as they gave it two prize – You Were Never Really Here – which would have been a statement to be sure.

 

6. Uncle Boonme Who Can Reclass His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010) – Clearly the weakest year for the Official Competition of the decade – that was probably needed for the Tim Burton led jury to go with something this weird to win the top prize. Burton probably had a soft spot for the weirdness, for the low-budget special effects as the type of think he did great years ago, but has abandoned for years now. All that said, I think it’s wonderful that a filmmaker as idiosyncratic as Apichatpong Weerasetheakul winning the most prestigious prize in film.

Other Great Films in Competition: As I said, a pretty weak year, although there is a trio of great films in play. Another Year (Mike Leigh) is one of my absolute favorite Mike Leigh films – a film about a couple, and then friend group, over the span of a few years – with a heartbreaking performance by Lesley Manville. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami) may just be my favorite Abbas Kiarostami film – a one-of-a-kind throwback to art house cinema of yesteryear, with two great performances at its core. Poetry (Lee Chang-dong) isn’t the film that Secret Sunshine or Burning is – but is still a masterwork by Korean master Lee Chang-dong, a sensitive study of an elderly woman, slowly sinking into Alzheimer’s, and taking a poetry class to hold on – and ignore the horrible thing her grandson did.

And the Winner Should Have Been: Personally, I think Certified Copy was the best film here, and I think Lee Chang-dong should be a Palme winner – but considering Kiarostami is a Palme winner (as is Leigh) – I think they probably made the right choice going with Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall His Past Lives – if for no other reason, then because people will continue to marvel at its weirdness.

 

5. Shoplifters (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2018) – This is probably Hirokazu Koreeda’s best film to date – and it’s a great career – a beautiful portrait of an adopted family of thieves, who have their lives upturned when their ways are discovered. Hirokazu has always been great at delivering portraits of family, and the underclass in Japan, and he does so brilliantly here – in an understated way, that clearly the Cate Blanchett led jury responded to. It’s hard to argue that Koreeda deserves a Palme – he’s been a fixture at Cannes for 20 years, and hadn’t won yet, so it was his time.

Other Great Films in Competition: It was a very strong year at Cannes though. BlackKklansman (Spike Lee) was the incendiary directors best film in years – a look back at America’s racist past, and a fuck you to its racist present, all wrapped in an entertaining package. Burning (Lee Chang-dong) was the film that made North American people finally realize what a master filmmaker Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong is, a masterclass thriller, with an ambiguous ending. Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski) is a great looking, black and white love story, that builds its devastating portrait in under 90 minutes. Under the Silver Lake (David Robert Mitchell) is a difficult, neo noir set in L.A., which goes in many different directions, brilliantly, in its portrait of an asshole privileged “detective”. The Wild Pear Tree (Nuri Bilge Ceylon) is not Ceylon’s best film – but it’s still a wonderful one, a portrait of a young writer who thinks he’s a genius, and is brought low when it becomes clear he isn’t one (yet, anyway).

And the Winner Should Have Been: It’s hard to argue against Koreeda, a very deserving filmmaker, but for my money the clear winner should have been Burning – which was ignored by the jury, but was the best, most profound film in the running this year – and one of the very best of the decade.

 

4. Winter Sleep (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2014) – Turkish master Nuri Bilge Ceylon had been a fixture at Cannes for years before he finally won the Palme for his epic, three-hour-fourteen minute film about a man who believes he is beloved, and slowly realizes that he is asshole. For me, it’s not quite the masterpiece that Once Upon a Time in Anatolia was, but it’s close – an intimate epic where the main character sees himself as a magnanimous rich man, who over the course of the movie discovers what everyone else thinks of him. Ceylan was bound to win one of these eventually – and the Jane Campion led jury finally gave him one. It is a great film – and a fine choice for the win.

Other Great Films in Competition: It was a fairly good year for Cannes in 2014. Among the other fine films were: Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas) my personal favorite of his films, a portrait of an actress and her assistant in the remote house going over their lines, whose identities begin to merge. Foxcatcher (Bennett Miller) is a slow motion horror film, where you see tragedy coming, and are powerless to stop it – with three great performances by Steve Carrel Mark Ruffalo and especially Channing Tatum at its core. Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev) is a terrific film about the inhumane bureaucracy in Putin’s Russia – a brave film, and the best one by Zvyagintsev to date. Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh) is perhaps Leigh’s most beautiful film – a film that looks like its subject’s art work, with a wonderful performance by Timothy Spall. Two Days, One Night (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) is one of the Dardenne brothers best films – a portrait of a woman who has to convince her co-workers to let her keep her job, and doesn’t have much time to do so, with a brilliant performance by Marion Cottilard.

And the Winner Should Have Been: I could probably be convinced that Clouds of Sils Maria, Leviathan or Two Days, One Night were all better than Winter Sleep – but it’s so close, and I’m such a fan of Ceylan, that I think Winter Sleep is probably the right choice.

 

3. Parasite (Bong Joon-ho, 2019) – Bong Joon-ho’s masterpiece became the first film since 1955’s Marty to win both the Best Picture Oscar, and the Palme D’or, and its very worthy winner of both. Bong had been to Cannes several times over the year, and didn’t ever get the big win – but his masterpiece of class warfare was undeniable for the Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu led jury to ignore. It became the film of the year, and they were ahead of the curve.

Other Great Films in Competition: It was a pretty good year – and there are still a few left to hit theaters over here. Atlantics (Mati Diop) was a haunting film about colonialism and sexism, with a strange ghost story. A Hidden Life (Terrence Malick) was Malik’s best film since his Palme winning A Hidden Life – a beautiful film about standing up for you believe, consequences be damned. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino) is Tarantino’s masterwork – a tribute to old school Hollywood, and a film that gives justice to victims of horrific violence in what was Tarantino’s most moving film. Pain & Glory (Pedro Almodovar) was Almodovar’s thinly veiled self-portrait, and his best film in years. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Celine Sciamma) is an incredibly romantic, sexy, love story about love, lust, desire and art.

And the Winner Should Have Been: While I can think it’s a shame that Pedro Almodovar has never won the Palme, or would have loved to see Celine Sciamma win for her incredible film, or even think that Tarantino’s film was my favorite in competition – I find it impossible to really think something other than Parasite should have won.

 

2. Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012) – For a long time, Michael Haneke was one of those filmmakers who was always in the conversation for the Palme – but could never win. And then, in the span of four years, he won twice – first for The White Ribbon, and then for Amour – both are masterworks, but Amour is one of his very best films (second next only to Cache for me). Haneke’s film about growing old, and the ravages it inflicts on the body, is merciless and cruel – and hugely emotionally, acted to perfection and directed with Haneke’s typical cold brilliance. This was really the end of Haneke as a great filmmaker (so far anyway) as he’s only made one film since, and its not one of his best (although it’s not as bad as its reputation suggests it is). You know they don’t like to give two Palmes so close together to the same director, but the Tim Roth led jury could not resist.

Other Great Films in Competition: This was a fairly solid year for Cannes as well. Beyond the Hills (Cristian Mungiu) is a haunting film, which like is Palme winning 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, is about two women in a difficult situation., Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg) is Cronenberg’s last great film – and I love it no matter what some people say. Holy Motors (Leos Carax) is Carax’s best film, a film that lashes out in many different directions, all brilliantly. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson) is very close to top tier Anderson – a wonderful adolescent fantasy that quietly moves you. Mud (Jeff Nichols) was the real start of the McConaughsance, and is one of Jeff Nichols best films – a kind of Southern Gothic fairy tale. Post Tenebras Lux (Carlos Reygadas) is the very strange film from Carlos Reygadas, who for better or for worse, makes films only he can make.

And the Winner Should Have Been: I loved many of those other films, and yet Amour still stands heads and shoulders above the rest of the them, and was the right choice.

 

1. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011) – It has been rumored that the head of the Cannes Festival told Robert DeNiro, the head of the jury, that it would be embarrassing for them if Malik’s The Tree of Life didn’t win (he meant the jury, not Cannes itself). Whether or true or not, it is correct – it would have been embarrassing to see something as ambitious, from a filmmaker as celebrated as Malick, had something else won. It may never be a popular audience film, but who cares – it is a masterful film by Malick, a combination of the epic and the intimate as only he could do it – the pinnacle of his masterful career – and one of the great winners of the Palme ever.

Other Great Films in Competition: This really was a very strong year for Cannes. Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn) is the film he was born to make – a violent fairy tale, done to perfection. Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (Takashi Miike) may be the last time I truly loved a Miike film – a great remake of a masterpiece. Le Havre (Aki Kaurismaki) is an emotional film, and one that seems to have seen the immigration crisis coming earlier than most, and treated it with humanity. The Kid with a Bike (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) is one of those oh-hum, another masterpiece by the Dardennes, that at the time we all took for granted. Melancholia (Lars von Trier) is half a masterpiece – as the first half is as good as anything I saw this decade, but whose second half doesn’t quite live up to it. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylon) is Ceylon’s best film – a brilliant procedural about no matter how close you look, you can never quite see the truth. We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay) is a film that only gradually has become seen as the great film it is – a masterclass of visual storytelling by Ramsay, showing everything, why remaining mysterious.

And the Winner Should Have Been: Hey, I loved several of these films, but it really is no contest – The Tree of Life – was the winner and should have been.

Ranking the Decade's Best Supporting Actress Oscar Winners

A fairly solid list – not a great one, but up and down, it’s pretty good – even the two winners I was not a fan of went to deserving actresses, with wonderful resumes, even if they weren’t for my favorite roles of theirs.

 

10. Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl (2015) – I really do love Alicia Vikander, and in 2015 had she won an Oscar for her amazing performance in Ex Machina, then she would be MUCH higher on this list. But her role in The Danish Girl doesn’t give her much to do other than cry – which she does well, and she is the best thing in the movie. But it shouldn’t be her story – and the whole movie feels off kilter because of it. She is as good as she could be – it’s just not a role that should have won.

Who Should Have Won (of the Nominees): Even though she should have been nominated for Lead Actress, easily the best performance nominated this year was Rooney Mara in Carol – who is absolutely brilliant in that role, and should have walked away with this easy.

 

9. Octavia Spencer, The Help (2011) – I love Octavia Spencer as an actress, and I love the fact that she went from working actress to Oscar winner in one swoop, and she hasn’t let go of it since – delivering one great performance after another, and picking up a few other nominations (even if her best performance, in Luce, didn’t get nominated). This is a broad performance to be sure – but also has moments of emotional power. I don’t really like the film – but it’s hard to bash her performance in it – it’s just not an Oscar caliber role.

Who Should Have Won (of the Nominees): This wasn’t my favorite year for nominees – so out of what they picked, I’d go with Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids – which is the kind of performance that is legendary, but never wins.

 

8. Melissa Leo, The Fighter (2010) – Leo is one of those great character actresses – so good on TV shows like Homicide: Life on the Streets – who didn’t get a movie break until late. Here, playing the profane mother of the central pair of brothers in a boxing movie, Leo goes fully over the top – for the most part brilliantly. Personally, I liked the also nominated Amy Adams in the same film, but Leo is great.

Who Should Have Won (of the Nominees): Although she was the lead, I absolutely loved Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit – who really makes that film. If they wanted to go with a mother, there was Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom – who is even better.

 

7. Laura Dern, Marriage Story (2019) – Dern has been one of my favorite actresses for a long time, and while I would have loved to see her win an Oscar for one of performances in David Lynch films (her work in Inland Empire in particular is brilliant) – her performance in Marriage Story is excellent as a divorce lawyer, who can be both compassionate and ruthless. Is it a little bit of a lifetime achievement award for an actress on a hot streak? Yes, but a deserving one.

Who Should Have Won (of the Nominees): My opinion on what should have been nominated this year was very far away from the Academy’s, so Dern was probably the right choice – but I did love Florence Pugh in Little Women as well.

 

6. Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables (2012) – I kind of think that Hathaway’s win, which was preordained at the time, has been come to seen as not as not earned – this really does seem to be where people turned on her. The film itself is a missed bag, strangely directed by Tom Hooper – but Hathaway nails her scenes that she needs to, and then gets out of there before things get weird. It is a great performance – and has somehow become underrated over the years.

Who Should Have Won (of the Nominees): I know a lot of people (who didn’t love the film) didn’t understand how Amy Adams got nominated for The Master – but it’s such a controlled, subtle performance where she absolutely commands and controls the entire action of her husband. It is a brilliant performance by Adams – and deserved to win.

 

5. Allison Janney, I, Tonya (2017) – Allison Janney is one of those actresses who is clearly beloved by her peers – just look at all those Emmys she’s won over the years. And that love is warranted – Janney is always terrific, and is often a scene stealer. The movies haven’t been as good to her as TV – but in I, Tonya she has a role that allows her to pull out all the stops, chew the scenery, and be brilliant – and she doesn’t let the opportunity pass her by. She is wonderful.

Who Should Have Won (of the Nominees): Many people wanted another TV veteran – Laurie Metcalf – win for Lady Bird, and that would have been a better choice. But my favorite was Lesley Manville in Phantom Thread – who is so brilliant, so quiet, so subtle, and devastatingly hilarious.

 

4. Viola Davis, Fences (2016) – Denzel Washington is smart enough as a performer – and director – that he knew full well he needed someone as good as he is to hold her own in Fences – because he was going to be all sorts of great. Davis, as his long suffering wife, is every bit as good as Washington – even better – and she goes toe-to-toe with Washington, and more than holds her own. This is a devastating, intense performance by one of the best.

Who Should Have Won (of the Nominees): There is basically one scene that Michelle Williams has in Manchester by the Sea which is among the best pieces of acting I have ever seen – and reminds you why she is one of the very best actresses in the world, and should have an Oscar by now – and for this.

 

3. Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)- Regina King is one of those actresses who is terrific in everything – from TV to movies, and everything in between, King is never less than a compelling screen presence, and often the best things about her projects. In Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk, she delivers a beautiful, emotional subtle, sensitive performance as a dedicated mother, who will do anything for her kids. She is a portrait of motherly love, second to none, and a wonderful performance.

Who Should Have Won (of the Nominees): King really was the best of the nominees – and by quite a bit – as much as I liked the duo from The Favourite and Marina de Tavira from Roma.

 

2. Patricia Arquette, Boyhood (2014) – This is the performance that really kicked off a renaissance for Arquette, and deservedly so, as she really is great in this film – the mother, who has to pull herself together for the kids, and then is left alone when they get their own lives. It is an honest, down-to-earth performance by Arquette – and she nails it. The fact that she finds this consistency over the course of the decade is even more remarkable.

Who Should Have Won (of the Nominees): Arquette was really the best one nominated this year – and by quite a margin.

 

1. Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave (2013) – Once in a while, an actress comes out of seemingly nowhere to deliver one of the best performances you can imagine – and Nyong’o in 12 Years a Slave is an example of that. As the “favorite” slave of an abusive – sexually, physically, emotionally – slave owner, Nyong’o performance is devastating and emotional, and a remarkable physical performance to boot. This made her a star – and deserved to – and she’s become one of the best actresses working.

Who Should Have Won (of the Nominees): Nyong’o really was the best of the nominees this year – even if I love Sally Hawkins in Blue Jasmine or June Squibb in Nebraska.

Ranking the Decade's Best Supporting Actor Oscar Winners

A pretty solid list all told – the top 3 were actually my choices in those years – easily the highest of any category.

 

10. Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club (2013) – I’m not much of a Jared Leto fan, and so even if I do think this is his best performance, it’s still not one that I think really deserved the Oscar. I will say that it deserves some credit as really was the last time a Cis actor could get away with playing a trans character, without major pushback (there was some during his awards run, but the chorus has grown). It is a cliché riddled role, that verges on tragedy porn, and Leto is fine in it – but my opinion has been downgraded over the years, and I didn’t think he should have won at the time.

Who Should Have Won (Of the Nominees): For my money, the best performance nominated was Michael Fassbender in 12 Years a Slave, who is able to make his slave owner a complex character, while maintaining that he is a terrible human being at the same time. This was his first Oscar nomination – and appeared like it was going to beginning of him becoming a perennial nominee – which hasn’t quite happened (too many blockbusters since then) – but he should have won here.

 

9. Mahershala Ali, Green Book (2016) – Ali’s second Oscar is one that he led all season for. Ali is the best thing about Green Book – it is a fine performance, in a problematic movie, but he is witty and charming, and has his big Oscar moments, and is essentially a lead in the supporting category. The Academy clearly loved the film – it won Best Picture of course – but this kind of felt like the Academy pushing back on the criticisms of the film by saying – look, we’re not racist, we gave the black guy an Oscar. I didn’t envy Ali going through the season – and he I wish he hadn’t won this one.

Who Should Have Won (of the Nominees): I thought that Adam Driver in BlackKklansman made what could have been a one dimensional cop character into a complex character, discovering his own identity, through his interactions with the Klan. One of Driver’s best performances.

 

8. Christopher Plummer, Beginners (2011) – You’d have to be a monster to not love the well-over 80 Plummer winning for his charming performance in Beginners – playing a man who finally comes out as gay when his wife dies. The film is perhaps a little too quirky for my liking – by Plummer, a great actor, delivers a great performance – the best thing about the movie, but it’s in a movie that isn’t among my favorites.

Who Should Have Won (of the Nominees): Seriously, maybe Plummer? It wasn’t exactly a banner year for this category in terms of their nominations – they had so many great performances they could have nominated (Brooks in Drive, Pitt in The Tree of Life and many more) and they ignored them all.

 

 

7. Christian Bale, The Fighter (2010) – This performance hits pretty much all the Oscar winning clichés – a major movie star, stripping down for a raw performance, losing weight, playing an addict, and yet still in an inspirational sports movie. And yet, even with all of those clichés, Bale nails the role – he really is terrific in the film, and makes those clichés work so much better than they probably should.

Who Should Have Won (of the Nominees): Bale was a fine choice out of the nominees (again, I kind of think they overlooked a few great performances) – but part of me now wishes that John Hawkes won for Winter’s Bone – a great character actor, and the kind that doesn’t win as much anymore.

 

6. Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained (2012) – I really do love Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained – a funny, charming performance – and yet I think you can argue that he’s using some of the same tricks he used in Inglorious Basterds, which won him his first Oscar, and that both DiCaprio and Jackson are better in this very same movie. Still, a performance I love – but context matters.

What Should Have Won (Of the Nominees): This was one of those strange years where all five nominees had won an Oscar before – so no one was overdue. Still, I think one of the very best performances of the decade was Phillip Seymour Hoffman in The Master – which would end up being their last chance to give a second Oscar to one of the best actors of his generation.

 

5. Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) – Sam Rockwell has been a talented actor for a long time, and yet he didn’t always get the roles that would lead to Oscars. Here, he plays the racist, violent cop, but with a sensitive side, which is what drove critics of the movie insane, but is what made the performance complex – a horrible person, that Rockwell still makes you like. Personally, I still like Harrelson in the same film more – but I get this one, and Rockwell is terrific.

What Should Have Won (Of the Nominees): I already mentioned Harrelson – and it’s a shame he hasn’t won an Oscar yet – but in particular, I would say Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project – who gives perhaps his most sensitive performance of his great career, and yet again, why has he won an Oscar already?

 

4. Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies (2015) – I think a lot of people dismissed Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies as an old fashioned film, without realizing that what Spielberg does in this film, old fashioned or not, is something very few directors could do. And Rylance, as a Soviet spy being held by the Americans, is fantastic in the film – funny and wry, somewhat tragic, and emotional – he shows why he is considered a great actor, to movie audiences who may not be familiar with him.

Who Should Have Won (Of the Nominees): Rylance was my choice over the emotional favorite, Sylvester Stallone in Creed, who is great, but come on, he’s been playing that role for 40 years. Rylance was the right one.

 

3. Mahershala Ali, Moonlight (2016) – Ali’s first supporting actor Oscar win for the decade, and by far the more deserving, was in Barry Jenkins’ masterful Moonlight. Ali is only in the first of three segments – a drug dealer, but also a mentor to the main character, whose absence in the later chapters is felt by that character – he leaves a deep impression on the film, and the audience. A great performance, by a great actor, which propelled him to larger stardom.

Who Should Have Won (Of the Nominees): Ali dominated the category for the entire season, and there was a reason – it was a great performance, and nothing else really came close this year.

 

2. J.K. Simmons, Whiplash (2014) – J.K. Simmons performance in Whiplash has already become legendary and iconic – and with good reason. Simmons has always been a great character actor – in all sorts of projects (HBO’s Oz was probably my favorite pre-Whiplash role). This is a great performance as a teacher, who pushes his student to greatness, no matter what the cost- going all the way into abuse, and well beyond. Simmons commands the screen from beginning to end – and dominates. I love the film itself, and Simmons is even better than the film.

Who Should Have Won (of the Nominees): Simmons was head and shoulders above the rest of the nominees – even though it was a very strong field (both Ethan Hawke in Boyhood and Mark Ruffalo in Foxcatcher are excellent) – but Simmons was clearly the right choice.

 

1. Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) – Pitt has been a movie star for over two decades now, and one of the most versatile ones out there – fully capable of delivering the type of movie star performances that few can, and also a character actor in other roles. His performance in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a combination of those two aspects of his talent. He carries half the film (he probably should have – and could have – been considered a lead). It is a truly great performance, by one of the best actors around.

Who Should Have Won (of the Nominees): This was one of the hardest decisions I ever made – because as great as Pitt is, Joe Pesci in The Irishman is just as good – either winner would have been my favorite of the decade.