The best indies & foreign films of 2005

by Jim Piper

Now, at last-what you've all been waiting for: Jim Piper's picks of the pix-the best films of 2005. There were a lot of good off-Hollywood films out there last year, so many, in fact, that I couldn't keep my list down to the customary 10. Here then are 20. Unranked, presented alphabetically. Yes, a few films officially opened in 2004, but let's not get picky.

Broken Flowers (dir. Jim Jarmusch). This is classic Jarmusch, back to droll and cinematically funny as in his Stranger Than Paradise. Bill Murray deserves an Oscar.

Capote (dir. Bennet Miller). Miller could have splashed blood from one corner of the screen to the other. He didn't. And what can I say about the man with three names, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Capote? He deserves an Oscar, is what I can say.

Crash (dir. Paul Haggis). This important film about the psychology of race relations has, for me, the best music of 2005. Just when you expect the usual hyped-up action-drama music, you get contemplative, meditative. You are lifted out of the action and forced to think about it. Bold.

Downfall (dir. Oliver Herschbiegel). Bruno Ganz as a crazed Hitler in the bunker. Another Oscar-worthy performance. From Germany.

Good Night and Good Luck (dir. George Clooney). The question for me is, why is this film so claustrophobic? The times? McCarthy? Journalism then?

Head-On (dir. Faith Akin). A truly great love story that goes deep into loneliness and pain. And what is love without loneliness and pain? A German-Turkish production.

A History of Violence (dir. David Cronenberg). What's a mere thriller doing on this list? I didn't see many thrillers this year, but I sure have in the past. This one surprised me and gripped me for over half of its running time, and that's saying a lot in this age of predictable movies.

Hustle and Flow (dir. Craig Brewer). Ambition in the ghetto played against scant opportunities. Unusually poignant. Terrance Howard will rip your heart out.

Life and Death of Peter Sellers (dir. Stephen Hopkins). Lots of things about Peter Sellers you probably didn't know. Geoffrey Rush channels Sellers the way Hoffman channels Capote. Engaging visual style for a biopic. From Australia.

Look at Me (dir. Agnes Jaoui). This is among the best of a small genre of films about fathers and daughters. Another gem from France. Filmworks showed this film.

Lord of War (dir. Andrew Niccol). About arms trading. Some film critics are saying that because of Iraq, a new (and welcome) cynicism runs deep in contemporary cinema. This film may have technically been made in Hollywood or financed by Hollywood, but it doesn't feel very Hollywood.

Mad Hot Ballroom (dir. Marilyn Agrelo). Like the other documentary on this list, Murderball, this film is subject plus-the plus being the effects of competition on kids. Don't worry: the effect is sweet.

Me and You and Everyone We Know (dir. Miranda July). A quiet, quirky love story which played U.A. Villa. We need this kind of film. We need U.A. Villa. Filmworks can't do it all.

Millions (dir. Danny Boyle). A delightful story of kids for whom a big bag of money falls from a passing train and into their laps. Danny Boyle shows again that he is one of the very best contemporary directors.

Murderball (dirs. Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro). The subject, plus here is how paraplegics who play wheel-chair rugby are just like you and me, so let's not feel sorry for them.

My Summer of Love (dir. Pawel Pawlikowski) A charming, low-key story of two girls' love for each other. Of course, in the end, adolescent fickleness trumps all.

Proof (dir. John Madden). The film version of the play. It's what you like most about theatre: subtle characterization, good language, deep themes.

The Squid and the Whale (dir. Noah Baumbach). Domestic strife at its best-or worse. Too bad you didn't see it with us at the Tower.

Syriana (dir. Stephen Gaghan). An art film with a story so complex and so defiantly anti - developmental that you have to see it twice. At least I did. The complexity of the story is an analog to the film's density-oil, power, suicide bombers, the CIA.

Turtles Can Fly (dir. Bahman Ghobadi). A remarkable film about Kurdish children caught up in the Iraq war. Nobody does children in war better than Ghobadi.

Jan 2006