Rust and Bone (2012)

Rust and Bone

Directed by Jacques Audiard

Starring: Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Corinne Masiero

Grade: B [69] 

For a film about drawing strength from physical adversity, “Rust and Bone” isn’t half as uplifting a time as its slushy, aquatic trailer would have you believe. It’s rare that a romance comes along so eager to purge its characters of traditional forms of grace, and still express the rich, interdependent courage that exists between them. The imposing performances of Cotillard and Schoenaerts punctuate Audiard’s themes well, and the coarseness of their romance lends something uniquely powerful to the experience. It’s somewhat soured when some heavy-handed plotting sweeps in to enforce an epiphany in the final act, but the effect is more dispiriting than ruinous. When even Katy Perry’s “Firework” is utilised to profoundly moving effect, you have to figure that this is a somewhat successful exercise in spinning straw into gold.

Top Ten Films of 2011: #1

1

THE TREE OF LIFE 

Directed by Terrence Malick 

Starring: Hunter McCracken, Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, Sean Penn 

This year’s Palme D’Or winner, “The Tree of Life,” is simply what we live for, barely encased in one-hundred-and-forty minutes of ornate celluloid majesty, a religious, romantically sculpted feast of stanzas on faith, loss, and acceptance; a swirling vortex of memories churning up bursts of profound frailty and unspoken feeling. Its familial setup referenced sparingly, Malick’s film articulates the different stages of maturity we go through (infancy, adolescence, parenthood, the point at which one’s own mortality becomes a tangible, horrifying reality) with bracing symbolism, and an extent of visionary flair which only really he can bring to the screen. Reflecting upon 2011 as a strong year for cinema, I just couldn’t see past the scale, ambition, and resounding success of this modern masterpiece.