“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (Fox Searchlight Pictures) is worth seeing for the cast alone. It stars Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Maggie Smith, Dev Patel and Bill Nighy who are all in top form. India itself is a strong character with scenery richly displayed by the film’s high production value. Based on the book, “These Foolish Things” by Deborah Moggach, “Marigold Hotel” centers around a group of British retirees manipulated by a Photoshopped brochure of the “newly restored” Marigold Hotel. Upon arrival the guests are shocked and dismayed by the dilapidated state of the hotel. Some handle it with grace, while others with everything but. Charming and original with tender moments. You may need a hanky but you’ll leave feeling good.
“The Hunter” is a haunted, eerie, voyage into a dangerous world that will make you hold your breath. Willem Dafoe plays Martin, a ruthless and skilled mercenary hired by an anonymous company to travel to Tasmania where there have been rumored sightings of the believed-to-be-extinct Tasmanian tiger. Martin’s mission is to catch the tiger and bring back its genetic material. Australian director Daniel Nettheim was intrigued by the book. He felt the story “had a strong emotional core, themes of isolation, loneliness, grief, survival and compassion.” The movie, filmed in Tasmania, provides a mesmerizing landscape and close-up views of Australia’s rare animals. Actual 1930s footage of the last Tasmanian tiger was made available, but due to its poor quality, Nettheim created a high-def enhanced digitized version. The terrain and volatile weather added their own set of problems. Dafoe said, “The weather was brutal. It had all the problems of a real expedition so it mirrored the hunt for the tiger.” This taut, psychological drama of man vs. nature is a must-see.
“Snowman’s Land” is a dark German comedy about Walter (Jürgen Riβmann), a professional hitman who has bungled a job so badly he has to leave town. Walter drinks too much and things never go smoothly for him. One can’t help but wonder if it ever dawned on him that working a 9 to 5 job would’ve been a whole lot easier than his current vocation of killing for hire. Walter lands a gig with former underworld boss, Berger (Reiner Schöne). Berger lives in a huge home in snowy and very remote mountains. On his way, Walter runs into Micky (Thomas Wodianka), his partner on the job. This German film with English subtitles was created in 2010 but made it onto this list because it was not released in the USA until this past September.
“Hysteria” This movie is an official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival 2012 and, according to the opening, “This story is based on true events. Really.” The movie is set in London in 1880 and stars Hugh Dancy as Dr. Mortimer Granville who has lost a series of hospital jobs due to his “preposterous” theory that germ avoidance can promote good health. Granville needs to find a job post haste. Enter Dr. Robert Dalrymple brilliantly played by Jonathan Pryce. Dalrymple, a wealthy doc whose private practice treating women with the condition called hysteria is thriving; so much so that the doc needs another set of hands, literally. Maggie Gyllenhaal shines as a headstrong suffragette. She’s the older daughter of Dalrymple and repels Granville from the moment they meet. Plenty of foreshadowing clues you in that these two, with a fiery dislike for one another, will fall madly in love. Thank goodness because it’s the other sister, played by Felicity Jones, who first catches Granville’s eye and she is proper, demure, and a total bore. In the end, Granville and his wealthy eccentric friend, played with charming flamboyance by Rupert Everett, accidentally invent the vibrator. It’s just in the knick of time, too. Poor Granville has developed carpal tunnel from providing a plethora of patients with paroxysms. It’s a light, fun romp for pure entertainment’s sake.
“Happy New Year” is a small, low-budget film written by K. Lorrel Manning. It tells the story of Sgt. Cole Lewis (Michael Cuomo), a brave soldier who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan for four tours. He comes home wheelchair bound and badly broken with many scars, on his face and in his psyche. Placed in a bare bones Veterans hospital with insufficient care, the only free bed available is in the PTSD unit. With heavy shades of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Lewis rallies the mentally ill patients to rise above their dire circumstances. It is a sad film but an important one. There are many welcome moments of humor and hope, and shockingly good acting. Michael Cuomo won Best Actor at the Rhode Island International Film Festival and he deserves it.
“Heleno” is a tragic story based on the life of an incredibly gifted athlete, who was his own worst enemy. Brazilian-born Heleno de Freitas (Rodrigo Santoro) conquered the soccer world in the 1940s but as his fame and monetary success grew, hedonistic passions spun him into an ever-worsening chaos. Santoro — so handsome he’ll make your heart pop — won Best Actor in both the Lima Latin American Film Festival and the Havana Film Festival. Often zoomed in on Santoro’s expressive face, the movie tells the tale of a tormented man losing the battle fighting his demons. The movie was nominated as Best Film in the Cartegena Film Festival. Directed brilliantly by José Henrique Fonseca, this is a sad story of a gifted soul devoured by rage and grandiosity. The high-caliber acting and original subject matter make this a movie that stays with you.
Click here to read Part I: The best movies of 2012
Click here to read Part II: The best movies of 2012
