Moments Caught in Celluloid
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In an era when movies are measured almost solely by which stars are to be found in the trailer and how much money’s raked in during the opening weekend, it’s easy to forget that there is still a story on the screen. And judging by that standard, 2007 was a year of great stories that challenged, delighted, surprised, and terrified us. Consider this an alternative to the year-end box-office roundup, or the red carpet ceremonies where the industry pats itself on the back. Here are my top four movie moments of the year:
1. BRACING FOR THE HOTEL SHOOTOUT
If any movie moment in 2007 ripped into the nerves of the audience, it was the image of Josh Brolin sitting on that hotel bed, shotgun in hand, straining to hear any noises that could foretell an approaching attacker. In “No Country for Old Men,” a movie overflowing with existential questions of fate and free will, it is here, in a late-night hotel on the quiet side of the street, that greedy, morally conflicted Llewelyn Moss (Mr. Brolin) finds himself for the first (and only) time on equal footing with the tale’s murderous bounty hunter (Javier Bardem).
Jumping out of bed, convinced that death is on its way, Moss rifles through the satchel filled with dollar bills and pulls out the blinking transponder. Hearing a faint noise downstairs, he grabs his sawed-off shotgun and slowly turns off the light. Cocking the trigger, he turns to the door and hears the faint tick-tick-tick of the homing locator — growing louder, faster, closer. And then he sees them: The shadows of two motionless cowboy boots, standing just outside the door.
In a movie in which violence is often swift and unexpected, this is the most breathtaking sequence of “No Country for Old Men,” playing out not in a gunfight but in our ears and our imaginations. Moss knows what’s coming, so do we, and in a flourish that would have made Alfred Hitchcock proud, the Coen brothers make us wait, and wait, until we feel crushed by the full weight of the terror outside the door.
2. AGONY/ECSTASY, DEATH /LIFE
Was Christopher McCandless an arrogant spoiled brat, or an inspiration who discovered a way to liberate his mind and spirit?
As described by Jon Krakauer in his 1996 book “Into the Wild,” and as envisioned by Sean Penn, this young college graduate — who, days after finishing school, donated his life savings, cut up his driver’s license, and disappeared on a cross-country road trip that culminated in the wilds of Alaska — is a mix of all these things: a flawed, but inspiring, idealist.
It is at the end of the movie that Mr. Penn takes these contradictions to a new plateau, as an ailing McCandless zips up his coat, lies down inside his “Magic Bus,” and stares up at the heavens, inhaling one last time.
In a breathtaking montage, which splices together the sound of his beating heart with the images of an imagined, euphoric family reunion, the glowing allure of the Alaskan wild, the agony of death, and McCandless’s final journal entry, we witness one of the most fascinating depictions of death ever captured. It is a moment of ecstasy and loss, pain and celebration, a death every bit as harrowing and haunting as the life that preceded it.
3. BAPTISM BY FIRE
Forget the misleading title, or the Upton Sinclair novel “Oil!” on which the movie is based, “There Will Be Blood” is foremost a story about two inscrutable, insufferable men, both vying for power by any means necessary.
Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is an oilman who seeks prestige through money. Across town, young Eli Sunday (Paul Dano) seeks his own power through his expanding church and congregation. When Eli demands money from Daniel, the latter responds with a brutal assault, grinding Eli’s face into a puddle of oil. Desperate to build his pipeline, Daniel is told by the last needed landowner that he can build on his property only if he joins Sunday’s congregation. Soon, at the altar, Eli takes his vengeance by attacking Daniel both physically and emotionally. He slaps him and makes him scream out, “I’ve abandoned my son!,” mocking him for sending away his boy after a devastating injury. Under a glowing cross, with a celebratory congregation thanking the heavens, Eli doesn’t just exert his dominance over the oilman; he humiliates him at his core. Something snaps deep within Plainview, and a demon in his heart is let loose, eager to destroy everything and everyone.
4. TWO MOTHERS
Those who didn’t care for Jason Reitman’s sarcastic family comedy “Juno” were taken aback by what they deemed to be its crass and condescending 16-year-old heroine. But “Juno” is less interested in celebrating teen angst than in witnessing its title character’s unexpected maturation. As scripted by first-timer Diablo Cody, we can pinpoint the precise moment when the wisecracking Juno (Ellen Page) first peers outside her own self-imposed womb of a universe. Already having chosen Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) as the adoptive mother for her unborn child, Juno bumps into her one day at a mall and invites her to feel her stomach, where the baby’s kicking.
When nothing happens, Juno encourages Vanessa to talk to the baby, and as the desperate 30-something whispers words of affection and excitement to her future child, something miraculous occurs. It’s only a silent glance, from hopeful mother to apathetic pregnant teen, but as the camera looks up at Juno through Vanessa’s eyes, the ambivalence is gone. Juno looks down in awe. As the baby kicks, and as Vanessa gasps in delight, something in Juno is roused, and one chapter of her life fades into the past.
ssnyder@nysun.com