A great film quote for me is one that contains within it the
entire meaning of a film. It is a tremendous feat for a writer, director,
actor, or producer to come up with a line that sums up the disparate thematic
elements of a complex work of art. In fact, it is nearly impossible. That is
what makes the following 10 lines from some of the year’s best films so
remarkable. Almost effortlessly, they tell us everything we need to know about
the characters, their circumstances, and the meaning of all they are
experiencing.
10. “Don’t get emotional about real estate” from 99 Homes, written by Ramin Bahrani
99 Homes is a
Faustian story about a good man, Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield), who makes a
deal with the devil, Rick Carver (Michael Shannon). Nash makes this deal – he will
help Carver remove people who are delinquent on their mortgages from their
homes – to save his own family’s home. His actions are not necessarily noble or
heroic, but he does what he thinks he needs to do to keep a roof over his son
and his mother’s heads.
Throughout the film, in his more private, unguarded moments,
Carver tells Nash not to get emotional about real estate. It sounds like good
advice, but the devil of course is a smooth talker. Nash’s downfall certainly
is precipitated by his getting emotional about real estate, but he is rightly
emotional. Those emotions are what make him human, what make him flawed, and
they allow him to hold on to the little part of his soul the devil has not
gotten his hands on yet.
9. “That’s not a reason” from Everest, written by William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy
Early in the expedition, Jon Krakauer (Michael Kelly), who
went on to write Into Thin Air about
his experiences on Mount Everest, asks the group of climbers he has joined the
obvious question: Why do this? The climbers look at each other, smile, and
blithely reply in unison, “Because it’s there!” It is an oft-repeated line about
the mountain that daredevils use to defend the indefensible, and as I pointed
out in my review of the film, the man who originally spoke those words died on
Everest.
So, Krakauer pushes further, saying, “That’s not a reason,”
and he is absolutely right. “Because it’s there” is meant to project bravado
and confidence. Krakauer’s line cuts right through that. No one needs to climb
this mountain, and everyone on this journey will learn that along the way, but
Krakauer saw it from the beginning.
8. “We make up half the human race. You can’t stop us all”
from Suffragette, written by Abi
Morgan
Director Sarah Gavron’s tremendous rallying cry for equality
Suffragette has been unfairly
forgotten as the year has worn on. It created little positive buzz upon its
release, died a quick death at the box office, and has been passed over pretty
much universally throughout awards season. It deserved a much better fate. The
story of the British suffragette movement of the early 20th century is tragic
and sadly still relevant. This is the kind of history that should be taught in
schools, but it will not be because it is too dark, too messy, and too real.
Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan) is new to the movement at the
start of the film, but it does not take her long to become convinced of its
inherent rightness. There is no justice in a world where women cannot vote, and
there is no democracy either. Any government in which women have no say is
fraudulent, and the movement recognizes this. Watts says this line to the
police inspector (Brendan Gleeson) tasked with destroying the movement, and
while he may be able to arrest her and silence her comrades, she is right. He
cannot stop half the world from taking what it has earned.
7. “It’s getting harder to walk up that hill. What does that
mean?” from Creed, written by Ryan
Coogler and Aaron Covington
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| Sylvester Stallone in Creed. |
Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is a childhood hero to generations
of movie fans. Think of it this way: Children when the first Rocky movie came out in 1976 are
reasonably old enough now to have grandchildren to share the series with, but
those kids will likely look up to Adonis Johnson, née Creed (Michael B.
Jordan). He represents new blood and new life for the series, which is why this
film is named for him and not Rocky.
Rocky remains, though. Each day, he trudges up the hill at
the cemetery to visit Adrian and Paulie, and each day, it gets a little harder.
This is life. He is getting older. So are we. It can be a shock to see our
heroes age this way onscreen because it usually does not happen like this. More
often, they come back one time too many, trying to recapture a spirit that
never left in the first place and doing more harm than good to the legacy. But
in Creed, Coogler, Covington, and
Stallone have created a graceful portrait of a legend who is long past his
prime but can still make it up that hill.
6. “Life teaches you really how to live it if you can live
long enough” from Amy, directed by
Asif Kapadia
Kapadia’s powerful Amy Winehouse documentary is a tale of
manipulation, media hysteria, and self-destruction. It is not an easy watch,
but it is an important film, depicting the downfall of a talented performer and
entertainer who was devoured by an industry that took what it could from her
and left no more than a shell. While it is not traditionally “written,” Kapadia
and editor Chris King create the narrative by assembling the right footage and
the right interviews and deploying them at the exact right time.
No moment is better chosen than that of Tony Bennet, one of
Winehouse’s heroes, reflecting on the singer’s death. Bennett is obviously an
old pro at this game. He has been around a long time and seen many triumphs and
tragedies. He has grown both older and wiser in that time. His quote, which
comes near the end of the film, is a mournful observation about youth and the
irony of a life that often does not make sense until you can look back and make
sense of it.
5. “No one explains it. You’re born knowing what you can and
cannot do” from The Second Mother,
written by Anna Muylaert
We all feel the generation gap. It is that moment when you
realize you no longer have much in common with people younger than you – or that
general feeling that you have nothing in common with people older. In The Second Mother, Val (Regina Casé) is
brought to this realization by the arrival of her estranged teenage daughter, Jéssica
(Camila Márdila). Val is a live-in housekeeper and nanny for a wealthy
Brazilian family. Her life is governed by rules of conduct and propriety, which
she believes are essential for keeping everything in its right place. Jéssica
blows all of this up.
Jéssica did not grow up this way. If she is invited to swim
in the pool or eat some ice cream, propriety be damned, she is going to do as
she pleases. To Val, her daughter is taking liberties to which she is not
entitled. Jéssica asks who invented all these rules, who taught them, and Val
tells her no one should have to teach her. She should just know. It is a
crushing reminder there are people in this life who believe they are lesser
than others and believe they deserve less. The truth is these things are
taught, and Jéssica was simply lucky enough not to grow up around the mother
who would have taught her.
4. “If it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes a
village to abuse one” from Spotlight,
written by Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer
Everyone knew, and no one did anything. That is the core of
McCarthy and Singer’s exploration of the journalistic investigation that uncovered
the decades of abuse perpetrated by pedophile priests in the Catholic Church.
Silence was the rule, not the exception, and no one wanted to believe the
organization in which so many had invested their faith – and in a very real
way, their souls – could be so irreparably corrupt. But, it was, and the
evidence was always there. Someone just needed to look.
The beauty of Spotlight
is in the way the reporters slowly come around to the idea that this problem is
not just one or two bad priests, but it is systemic. The church itself is
rotten, and it has defiled everything it has touched. Every single person
involved is culpable in some way, either by direct action or inaction. The more
details that come out, the more sickening it all becomes, and the more you just
want to take a torch and burn this whole village to the ground.
3. “I want to help you. I’m just trying to figure out how”
from Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter,
written by David Zellner and Nathan Zellner
Kumiko, the Treasure
Hunter is a tragedy that plays like farce. It is black comedy borne of
depression and alienation. Kumiko (Rinko Kikuchi) is a stranger in a strange
land on a quixotic quest to find a mythical treasure she believes is implied by
the Coen Brothers’ Fargo. In her
journey, she meets friendly people who simply want what is best for her, but
there is a language barrier and a reality barrier that no one can break
through.
She is not solely in search of buried treasure but of
something she can use to justify her whole existence. Her life in Japan has
been one degradation after another, so she comes to America to seek something
outside herself to define who she is and who she could be. The policeman (David
Zellner) who says this to her genuinely wants to help, but there is nothing he
can offer that will change the reality of this woman’s life. His kindness may
be the most she has ever known, but in the end, it means nothing.
2. “This is the story you get” from Room, written by Emma Donoghue
Joy (Brie Larson) has invented the entire world for her son,
Jack (Jacob Tremblay). Their captor and abuser has kept them locked in a shed
for seven years of Joy’s life and all of Jack’s, but within that shed, Joy has
given Jack the universe. It is not the real universe, though, but a fabrication
intended to help him cope with their circumstances. When those circumstances
finally become unbearable, she must tell him the truth so they can break out
together.
Everything up to this point has been a story to help Jack
understand his life, and the truth, in all its horror, is a story he rejects.
He says he does not want to hear this story, but Joy tells him this is the
story he gets. This is true for him, but it may be even truer for her. No one
would have chosen the life she has had, but she did not get to choose. Joy gets
this one story of her life, and Room
is about choosing not to focus on what has already happened but on the chapters
still to come.
1. “It’s so beautiful but horribly sad, too” from A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, written by Roy Andersson
 |
| Nils Westblom and Holger Andersson in A Pigeon Sat on a Branch. |
Jonathan (Holger Andersson) and Sam (Nils Westblom) drift
through their lives. There is nothing particularly remarkable about these
traveling novelty salesmen, except that they are alive, as are all the other
characters in this film, as are we. No one fully appreciates this in the
moment, and it would be impossible to do so, but for every added second we find
value in, life becomes increasingly precious.
Exemplified by Jonathan and Sam, there is even value in
drifting. In A Pigeon Sat on a Branch
Reflecting on Existence, their drifting becomes our window into the worlds
of countless people whose lives are just as precious to them as ours are to us.
It is a reminder that every individual on this planet matters, even if our
stories will go on without them and theirs without us. Jonathan comes to this
conclusion while listening to a song that reminds him of his childhood, and
though he says this line about that song, he could just as well be speaking
about the whole of the human experience, so beautiful but horribly sad, too.
Check back tomorrow as
Last Cinema Standing takes a look at the Top 10 Performances of 2015, and check
back each day this week for continued Year in Review coverage.
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