10- The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King (2003)
Hollywood is still struggling to come up with one action-packed fantasy epic that would be as extraordinary, as ambitiously intelligent and entertaining as Peter Jackson’s massively monumental take on Tolkien’s immortal swampy fantasy tale. And while the first two films were equally (or, in some ways, even more distinguished) dynamic as the third massive and mesmerising film, one had to hand it to Jackson, his cast and crew for capping off a great saga in truly impressive style. Till date, ‘Return Of The King’ has a benchmark as that rare big-budget Hollywood production that fires on all cylinders with brain and brawn. Even the Oscar juries could not help but join in the celebration and give it a wholly deserving Best Picture trophy along with 10 more wins. Really precious.
9- Birdman: Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance (2014)
Apologies ‘Whiplash’ lovers; in my book, there was no film that year (though if ‘Inherent Vice’ was nominated, that would be a different story) as bold, devilishly inventive and armed with bruising comedy as Alejandro G. Inaritu’s ‘Birdman’- both a masterstroke of cutting-edge technique and fiery storytelling. The seemingly simple narrative- around washed-up actor Riggan Thomson (a superlative Michael Keaton comeback) and his fervent attempts to make his play work at Broadway- was transformed into a rich black satire on celebrity status and Hollywood fads. But there is also a gushing heart of warmth- as Inarritu, with master lens-man Emmanuel Lubezki, brought one-take poetry and humanity to the firecracker dialogue spoken by the great actors around- including a terrific Edward Norton as method-obsessed actor Mike Shiner.
8- Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
Sure, it is not really the most perfect biopic ever made; Robert Bolt's simplistic script does streamline a lot of the ambiguity that truly defined British war hero Thomas Edward Lawrence (though Peter O Toole more than compensates with his nuanced and heartfelt performance) and there ain't much politics to talk about. Still, David Lean's penultimate epic had all the qualities of truly grand epic cinema and it was heartening to see it receive love in the form of a slew of golden statuettes. This was also one of the rare times when the Oscars played it safe and ended up awarding a film that almost everyone could agree upon. Even today, many historical dramas are trying to match the victory of this sensuously shot and superbly acted Middle-Eastern yarn.
7- Annie Hall (1977)
The greatest rom-com of all time beat fair and square the greatest blockbuster of the era by a wide margin of valid debate. Was it right that Woody Allen's irresistibly charming anatomy of a breakup was more subversive than George Lucas genre-altering 'Star Wars'? The answer lies in the fact that so much of 'Annie Hall' endures in public memory. Long before we all made hilarious memes to caption our imaginary conversations, the write-director gave subtitles to nasty thoughts and suspicions as a couple exchange pointless talk in one of the many iconically comical scenes. The rest is equally cracking in its roaring mirth but above all, Alvy Singer (Allen himself) and Diane Keaton's stunning titular New Yorker made for a really everlasting screen couple. You can almost imagine the jury members with their eyes twinkling.
6- The French Connection (1971)
Hot on the heels of the fast and furious cop classic 'In The Heat Of The Night' and the censorship-subverting power of 'Midnight Cowboy', William Friedkin's masterful cops and criminals thriller was just the kind of new-age cinematic potboiler that needed to be celebrated. The film itself is still a marvel after all these years- a ruthlessly cut, frenetically shot and sleekly streamlined yarn in which a pair of downbeat New York cops (especially Gene Hackman's lovably raffish pork-pie-hatted Popeye Doyle) took on a sneaky drug cartel smuggling in drugs from France. Not only did it set the benchmark of thrills that none of the action films were unable to match; it was also one of the first moments when the awards circuits were warming up to the new-found parallel cinema.
5- The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
Lean's massive Panavision epic 'Lawrence Of Arabia' might have won a lot of fanfare but nearly everyone forgets how special his earlier Oscar triumph is. A war drama that is more of a battle of wits and ideologies than actual explosives, 'Kwai' is the kind of intelligent POW entertainer that directors have forgotten to make. The film's attention to period detail is commendable as always (how can you fault Lean?) but it was its focus on characterisation that gives it the edge. The central conflict- between the inexorable Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) and the equally belligerent Nicholson (a superb Alec Guinness)- plays out in a tense clash of cultures as the latter insists on building the eponymous bridge in well-aimed defiance. For all the subtext, Lean also demonstrates incredible fireworks in the climax; no wonder everyone was impressed.
4- Casablanca (1942)
I pray for Vishal Bhardwaj's 'Rangoon' to be at least half as good as Michael Curtiz' evergreen WW2 romance that explored not only the turbulence of the ongoing war but also the beating hearts in midst of it. To begin with, it was packed to the brim with unforgettable moments, all servicing a quick-paced and rattling script about twisted love and loyalties and that cast of fine actors- including Humphrey Bogart's spectacularly cynical Rick Blaine- do complete justice to the drama that it requires. Secondly, the romance throbs with purpose and passion and culminates compellingly in one of the best reveals ever. Lastly, in face of such perfection all around, the question is: can Oscar juries ever resist a film so wonderfully romantic and so endlessly enthralling from start to finish?
3- The Departed (2006)
We were all waiting for one moment when a Scorsese film would find its rightful place in the hall of fame and when it did happen, some of us were criminally skeptical. On the surface, 'The Departed' looked a tad conventional in face of the extraordinary work done in the past and even after that. But give it another watch and discover the layers of detail, devilish wit and delirious emotion that Marty packed to pad an ingenious formula of identity. Bolstered with a stunning cast of performances and all the trademark fireworks (blistering profanity, bloody deaths and ballsy rock-and-roll), 'The Departed' was also proof that true masters can remake good films into great ones (as my review further describes it). The master of urban drama had reclaimed the genre for once and for all.
2- The Godfather Part 2 (1974)
It was the tallest order of all time- to make a sequel that would match every bit of the exceptionally high yardstick achieved by that first seminal film. And even the Oscar juries could be initially skeptical when they were considering if they should repeat the same decision that they took a couple of years ago. But even if you are not an awards jury member, the sheer craft and storytelling brilliance on display is all too evident. For not even once does Coppola let the standards dip; in fact, he even raises the bar higher by presenting us a haunting and mesmerising tale of intertwined future and past of the Corleones, played here by two fascinating young actors at the top of their game. In the process was born the greatest sequel of all time.
1- Schindler's List (1993)
We look back every year at the respective winner of the big Oscar prize and we feel either awe or doubt; we are either elated or skeptical whether the said film really did deserve it or whether there will be always some other film which deserved it more. Over the years, the Academy's own decisions have ranged to being spot-on, safe play and even simply outrageous and they have all left cinephiles wondering whether it was right or wrong. But if there is one film that everyone- from the critics to the audiences to the jury to the film-lovers- could agree upon, it had to be 'Schindler's List'.
It is, first and foremost, a story that deserved to be told and that too by a director as monumental and larger-than-life as Steven Spielberg no less. Sure, equally worthy films had been made about the sorry state of the Jews in the Holocaust horrors before as well but perhaps all we needed was a mainstream director bellowing the same message with truly persuasive force. What came as a pleasantly enlightening surprise was how deft, intelligent and majestic did the final film feel.
Spielberg has done amazing work all around in almost every genre but he will always have this triumph right up there to be most proud of. A tale of survival against the brutal reality of torture and ostracisation, it is also a film which explores its horrors with unfurnished realism and its heroism with objective accuracy. It is also a film bursting with compelling storytelling, stellar performances (Liam Neeson's flawed Schindler matched by Ralph Fiennes' psychotic Amon Goeth) and such a mastery of narrative that you could forget that it was the man who was only making entertainers a decade ago. Since then, Steve has never failed to surprise us all.
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