In a year when politics overshadowed films – the high drama of the American presidential election compensating for the lack thereof on the screen – going to the movies in 2008 has been a bit of a slog for me, truth be told. The perpetual closing of big studio ‘independent’ departments, with greater focus towards higher-ratio profits does not bode well for the near future; the American independent bubble that Tarantino helped kick start looks like it’s about to burst, if it hasn’t already. As the rally-cry in the political sphere is for hope and change, film in 2008 for the most part lags behind any such ambition. We still got a few years to wait before the impact of the Obama sensation and The Dark Knight sensation possibly inspire Hollywood to capitalize on the notion that boldly independent visions can bode profit just as well or even better than pre-packaged ones.
In one noticeable regard, however, the state of cinema in 2008 could be characterized as progressive. Here I speak of the emergence of unusually strong female characters in stories that do more than tokenize their presence. Curiously, this occurred shortly after the internet rumour leaked that Warner Brothers was no longer going to finance films headlined by women due to their lack of profitability. While the Sex and the City film is not something I would celebrate as part of the spirit of this post, it does exist as an affront to that kind of backwards thinking. Clearly there is a market, but more importantly, there are stories to tell in which women are dimensional entities affecting the cinematic worlds they inhabit. Gender has also made a splash in politics this year with Sarah Palin and Hilary Clinton vying for positions of hitherto unattained political stature; a coincidence, I’m sure, but it does add to this impression of the year being a change in the right direction.
One may argue that strong female characters in film are not unique to this year particularly, and while I suppose if I were to look at films from a feminist perspective maybe there is a modest trajectory where 2008 may not seem to be much more significant then years past. To be honest, the feminist agenda has never interested me much, and so I feign indifference on this point. More important to me, and why indeed I do see a trend, is because my list of best film experiences for this year is populated with stories possessing fully dimensional female leads, the ratios may be more or less the same as far as quantity of these types of stories from years past, but never have they been so consistently stellar that they warrant such attention. From conversations on Row Three, its clear to me that this is not just a personal fixation, that something tangible is in the air. As Hollywood panders to both sexes, giving them Bond and Twilight simultaneously, the real story beyond the box office successes is that women in 2008 own the year critically, not because they fit some Oscar friendly category as yet another commodity, but because they out character anybody with a penis.
NOTE: I have not seen Wendy and Lucy but suspect Wendy would fit nicely on my list.
I give you a short list of the highlights below, these are the characters that own 2008:
Kimberly Rivers Roberts (Trouble the Water): A documentary subject cannot be classified as a character, you say? Well after meeting Kimberly, the ninth ward rapper and Hurricane Katrina survivor, I think you may soon reconsider: here is a character if ever there was one. Not to suggest some kind of disingenuous quality to her oncamera antics, just the opposite, her character is one of natural charisma, falling forward through the nightmare landscapes of the ninth ward with a swagger and a smile that defies gravity. Her wherewithal reaches a fevered pitch in the impromptu oncamera performance of her rap song ‘Amazing’; which besides being the inspiration for this post title, and providing the single greatest moment I have had in a movie theater this year, evokes in mere minutes Kimberly’s lurid back story and her ressurection in the same breath, as the chorus single-handedly denies any and all attempts to victimize her: “I don’t need you to tell me I am amazing, I know that I am amazing”. The audience erupts, a star is born.
Hannah Bailey (American Teen): On the other end of the documentary spectrum, in a film I didn’t particularly like, comes a charcter that is trying real hard to be something for the camera, something like an American Teen, but who needs to express herself through her quirks and everything so dead-on teenage in their enormity. While serving as the Ally Sheedy type of this Breakfast Club-infused rumination of high school life in America, Hannah nonetheless is young enough and naive enough to overcome the occasional artifice so as to remain visibly vulnerable that one cannot help falling for her as the one pure thing in this sharp angled world of other people’s agendas. While I did not feel any particular connection to the other subjects of the documentary, I was left wondering if Hannah was able to successfully follow her dreams after the credits rolled, and as to what kind of person she would grow up to be. Hers is a character that lasts beyond the frame, both as a person and as this portrait of a teenager feeling her way through life’s awkward novelty.
Poppy (Happy-Go-Lucky): The ebullience that goes into one day of Poppy’s brimming happiness is something most of us scarcely feel in a month, yet Poppy exists as a kind of challenge of our untapped potential, a unique portrait of someone who has managed to embody the Epicurean philosophy of reducing your needs and living in a constant state of being quenched. Typically, this sort of character exists on the sidelines as a comic foil, but in this film she is front and center without a punchline, an affront to the unfulfilled. Added to this perplexing grace, Poppy possesses no significant financial or professional success, nor for most of the film has she any romantic love to justify her happiness, and while there is a tendency to write off her mood as some kind of mental deficiency, its clear by the end of the film she more than most is sound and sensible.
April Wheeler (Revolutionary Road): We have seen this sort of character before in Far From Heaven and Little Children, the bored housewife at odds with the social mores she is told to accept, but never has it been so violently depicted. April exists in the perfect fifties universe of big cars and bigger houses and as her husband goes to work at a job he loathes, she waits at home trembling at the thought of her mid-life mediocrity. There was always the notion that they were special, and that somehow they would get out of the social trap of resigning their hopes and dreams into a life of empty comfort, but April more so than her husband, sees the inevitable truth of just how ordinary they truly are. April smokes and paces and shouts and trembles; although a failed actress she flickers through any number of masks to suit the occasion, all the while we the audience anticipate her inevitable implosion.
Kym (Rachel Getting Married): Kym is the black sheep of a family rich in dysfunction, yet she is able to transcend the familiar cliches of the recovering drug addict role to become a genuinely sympathetic albeit troubled individual. Self-proclaimed Sheba the Destroyer, Kym longs to be close to her family but is incapable of fully connecting, her painful attempts at reconciliation with her family feel lived-in and unrehearsed. In rehab she sheds genuine tears over her plight but denies herself the kind of conventional goodness one comes to expect from this kind of character. A petulant and sometimes all around unpleasant person, Kym nonetheless, to borrow from Walt Whitman, contains multitudes.
I’d add Meryl Streep and Viola Davis in Doubt, Hiam Abbass in The Visitor.
“While serving as the Molly Ringwold type of this Breakfast Club-infused rumination of high school life in America..”
Hannah Bailey is supposed to be both Ally Sheedy and Judd Nelson rolled into one.
I’ve seen American Teen twice, because even though its certainly not fantastic, I think its something that needs to be seen, a good documentary to talk along with watching with friends, sort of like Jesus Camp (but obviously in way different ways). I liked Hannah more the first time than the second, because I can relate to the desperate need she has to run away and never come back… The second time though she does seem way more whiny and stupid.
If you have a chance to sit through the DVD extras there’s a lot of her video blogs (more like deleted scenes) for the movie of her rambling on and on about boys and her future, and in those she shows her immaturity better than anything in the film does. That said, yes it’s pretty much agreed that she’s the one everyone wants the best for.
As for the others, the follow ups with Jake show him past that awful hair but still a very very sad person, and the jock guy has the biggest fucking head I’ve ever seen, its humongous and gross, he looks like a freak.
Huh, I never watched Breakfast Club so that explains my mistake. I didn’t hate American Teen, clearly it has some things going for it, but I couldn’t get over how manipulative it was, which fine, if it was a different subject it may bother me less, but with this film it takes real teenagers and forms them to fit archtypes of a John Hughes film… seems like a waste of energy… like I said Hannah just being herself was fascinating enough.
I almost did a blurb about Streep’s nun, but just ran out of steam. She was awesome in Doubt. I know a lot of people have been hyping Viola Davis in the film and maybe I had higher expectations but I just didn’t see it, she was serviceable for what the story required.
Doesn’t putting real women on the list make you look like you didn’t know real women could be as interesting as men? And that 2008 was the year you realized it?
I don’t see a need for a post like this, I hate all this affirmative action shit, why not just make something called “The Amazing Characters of 2008″? Oh right, doesn’t stand out as much, gotta shill for attention.
Henrik, stop being a jackass. Please look up “affirmative action” in an encyclopedia.
Second of all, what’s wrong with showcasing some amazing female characters on the year? I’m pretty sure just about EVERY major awards ceremony distinguishes between men and women.
Rot just felt like showcasing interesting women characters with this particular post. You’re the one trying to find politically correct bullshit within the article.
I wish I’d gotten on top of this when Rot requested help (just been too busy). This is a great list and Kym definitely would’ve topped my list as well. Though had I had time, I would’ve added Consuela Castillo (Penelope Cruz) from Elegy in here as well.
“Please look up “affirmative action” in an encyclopedia.”
I know it’s black or something but I’m foreign and don’t the equivalent in english. Equal rights didn’t seem right.
“Rot just felt like showcasing interesting women characters with this particular post. You’re the one trying to find politically correct bullshit within the article.”
Maybe. I just always hated shit like this.
Green Cine has a nice companion piece to go along with this article. The best films of 2008 that are about women.
I’m sure Henrik would call it feminist crap (“why can’t it just be ten good movies?”), but it’s an interesting list – even if “Sex and the City” makes an appearance.
Jesus Henrik I thought I made it clear in the post, which I suspect you didn’t read, I am looking at a significant pattern to the films that affected me the most, and its impossible to ignore that not only are there great female characters in them but the stories revolve around them as leads. If my top ten films were populated with all science fiction themes I would acknowledge the same pattern. I am sure there has been a gradual increase in strong female characters over the years but I only acknowledge them when they genuinely affect me, and this year its inescapable, its significant. It would be sexist to acknowledge them arbitrarily, when the characters were not really of much interest but I felt obligated to single them out.
I did not need to leave it at five, I could have included Sister Beauvoir in Doubt, Otilia in 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 days, Wendy from Wendy and Lucy, the Doctor’s wife in Blindness, probably more I am forgetting.
wow just two overlaps with the Green Cine article. I am quite surprised they didn’t include Rachel Getting Married at least. Or maybe it was about empowered women, in which case Kym is not that.
Once again, Henrik finds a way to take offense where no offense should be found.
This is how you end up as an adjective on threads where you are’nt, and how what should be a very good thread off a very good post gets derailed. Shilling for attention? Well, you’re drilling for attention.
Back to Streep, its getting harder and harder for me to tell her and Glenn Close apart, I don’t know if its just me but I mix them up the way most people do ala Bill Paxton/Bill Pullman
(I guess the difference is that Meryl Streep actually still makes GOOD movies)
I was kinda bashing Streep on another thread, saying it will always be Streep as Streep playing some character, and its still sorta true but damn if its not enjoyable to watch. I didn’t find Doubt particularly great as a film but worth the price of admission to see Hoffman and Streep go head to head in those lengthy dialogue scenes.
I liked Doubt enough that it would probably be just outside my top ten, but I can also see me liking it more on re-watches, because there really are so many scenes to look forward to, and the ACTING WAR and catty attacks on each other reminded me of Dangerous Liaisons. All the things that happen that are supposed to make you think of Streep as a hateable bitch are going to be hilarous the second go round. Instead of just waiting for her comeuppance all the things she does to everyone will take on a more comical element, I’m sure of it. So obviously I look forward to seeing it again.
That ending is pretty cheese, so much more “It’s a Movie!” than anything else in the film.
and ha, the only other movie that guy directed is “Joe vs. the Volcano” – i guess 18 years and Roger Deakins makes one hell of a difference.
Meh, I don’t know I must have had some sand in my vagina. The post is fine, even if it does scream PC, it’s a taste thing. It still reminds me of patting the retard on the back and going “You did really well this year, nobody expected you to be this good!”.
I am not rating performances so much as characters, you will notice no mention of an actresses name in the post, deliberately. Do characters take offense?
I mean I can understand the argument why not best characters of 2008, but I essentially did that and came to the realization that the majority are women, and whether it is PC or not, it is unusual for strong female leads to make it to the screen, there is a bias in Hollywood. There is a history to consider, imposed limitations by a patriarchal business… but I would never even bother highlighting these characters if they didn’t genuinely strike me as significant in their own right. I am no feminist I assure you.
My top two films of this year are dominated by strong female lead characters.
it’s not that there isn’t a lot of lead roles for women, just few of them are ‘prestige’ pictures. It’s kind of the reason why so many female Oscar nominated roles are for secondary leads in biopics, because that’s the meatiest role a woman can get in so many years. Its unfortunate but thats the way it is.
@rot: I am glad to see you thought Julianne Moore would have made your top 10 for her role in Blindness. I can only imagine how depressing it would be to be working on that movie day to day.
I found that Synecdoche NY was filled to the brim not only with great female characters, but performances as well. I know the point of the post is not so much the performances (all 7 of the main actresses were stellar – which alone tells me Kaufman can be a great director), but I think the characters were strong as well. Adele, Claire and Hazel all got sucked up into Caden’s own life, but they brought a great deal of their own personalities into the mix.
I also mention this as it affords me another opportunity to state how incredibly stunning Hope Davis was in the film…B-)
My focus was on lead characters and with Synecdoche I felt that it really was Caden’s story. I guess Hannah wasn’t the lead of American Teen as it was an ensemble but she stood out as the most important character at least for me.
Had I continued past five, Streep’s nun and Moore’s doctor’s wife would have been the next two. Its also a relief to have strong female lead characters that are not elevated because they are royalty or some kind of bio-pic significance… they are original, thoughtful characters. They are not tokens either, its not like the whole point is that it is a women doing something traditionally a man would do… the female james bond, or the female dirty harry… they stand out on their own merit.
I was just thinking, wouldn’t it be better if Oscars chose best characters rather than performances, it would be more honest at least. Performance is only as good as the character allows, and that means part of it is the writing. Instead of validating imitations why not validate dimensionality, inspire more films to create characters that come alive on the screen.
ah, dreaming I know.