Real to reel

Local observations from a movie, music buff

Rating the very best of 2006

By Dan Ochwat

The best in movies and music in 2006 boiled down to some of my favorite filmmakers and musicians doing exactly what they do best. Now, perhaps that’s a sign that no real significant work came to the forefront last year, but I’d like to think it was just what I needed. (Try not singing the Circuit City theme song after reading that.)

As it stands, there are some albums (not many though) that I have yet to hear and movies I have yet to see (Clint Eastwood’s heralded “Letters From Iwo Jima” missed my deadline), but this is a pretty complete list. Without further adieu, my annual best of...

 

Film

1. “The Departed”
Director Martin Scorsese returned to the streets, this time choosing Boston for a remake of the foreign film “Infernal Affairs.” The style, the plot twists, the acting — it’s just an intense, fun-as-hell movie experience. I was reminded of what I love about Marty and action movies. I missed them both.

2. “Babel”
Guillermo Arriaga is a name worth remembering. He is the most talented writer working today. This complex Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett vehicle is the third movie Arriaga has done with phenom director Alejandro González Iñárritu (“21 Grams,” “Amores Perros”), and this latest is a sprawling film about language and — at its heart — parenting. It mixes six families from all over the globe — the section set in Tokyo being the most effective, thanks to Rinko Kikuchi as an attention-starved daughter.

3. “World Trade Center”
The minute I saw Nicolas Cage in a mustache I thought this film would be hopeless, a Hallmark presentation of 9/11. Yes, the film pushes the emotional limit and enters some of that overly sappy territory, but mainly because the topic warrants the treatment. Maybe it caught me with my guard down, because even a scene with Jesus and a water bottle didn’t change how I honestly felt about this movie — that I loved it.

4. “United 93”
Technically, this is a better film than “World Trade Center.” A smarter, subtler take on the “too soon” event. It attempts to recreate from plane to confused control room the goings on of United flight 93. It’s another emotional roller coaster, ultimately leaving you in boiling anger and then heart-stabbing admiration of faceless heroes. The use of unknown actors and some actual people involved both benefit and hurt the movie.

5. “The Queen”
Attention! This is not a stuffy old period piece; it’s not even a boring, newfangled period piece (“Marie Antoinette”). This is a brilliant, steady, consistent little movie about Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair’s handling of the mob reaction to Princess Di’s tragic death. Michael Sheen’s toothy turn as Blair is noteworthy. Director Stephen Frears once again proves he can do any genre.

6. “Volver”
Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar — another old favorite — churns out another fun, perverse mystery with strong, spunky female characters stylized with a slight tip of the hat toward classic cinema. The gorgeous, Picasso-faced Penelope Cruz is a delight in this movie, and not just because her cleavage is practically a character of its own.

7. “Science of Sleep”
From the magical mind of Michel Gondry comes another ... filthy comedy. Well, really, it’s another one of his patented fantasyland romantic comedies with a main character who mixes dreams with reality. I was trying to trick you. Unlike his “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” Gondry adds to his mystical charm with hilariously dirty-mouthed and politically incorrect characters led by Gael Garcia Bernal and Frenchman Alain Chabat. It’s a stupid-smile-on-your-face movie from beginning to end.

8. “Half Nelson”
First off, the film is scored with Broken Social Scene songs, so already it’s brilliant. Next, you take an insanely preposterous story like a drug-addicted white teacher in a black ghetto, who somehow still makes it to work each morning, inspiring kids through the art of dialectics and girls basketball. What? I know from teachers — and hangovers — that’s impossible. Now, through all that, first-time filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden enrapt you in the story with sure-handedness and make profound social commentary about today’s classrooms, among other things. F’ing geniuses.

9. “Stranger Than Fiction”
Brilliantly inventive yet restrained, director Marc Forster steadied this higher-level comedy into the confines of a studio-style movie that only afterward do you ponder ideas of fate and other themes. Will Ferrell plays a taxman pestered by the narration of his life in bookform that only he can hear. Yet, the film is really carried by the characters’ relationships with one another and the light laughs and pretty dark humor.

10. “Friends With Money”
The queen of dialogue, Nicole Holofcener, really taps into a true-to-life feel in her movies. In this case, it’s the anti-“Sex in the City,” a slice-of-life movie of real friends, real middle-aged women and their husbands. Oh, and there’s hardly a plot.

Honorable mention: “Borat...” You know the rest of the title. As the trailers go, this truly was “the movie event of the year.” Pretty damn funny, too.

 

Music

Adding a bit more musicianship than past albums, but creating their solid rock and smart lyrics, The Hold Steady topped off my year in music. Close behind, The Decemberists delivered their first studio album with a more polished, more epic sound than their other albums. It was a fantastic year in music.

1. The Hold Steady, “Boys and Girl’s in America”

2. The Decemberists, “The Crane Wife”

3. Beirut, “Gulag Orkestar”

4. Band of Horses, “Everything all the Time”

5. Grizzly Bear, “Yellow House”

6. Tapes n Tapes, “The Loon”

7. The Thermals, “The Body, The Blood, The Machine”

8. Neko Case, “Fox Confessor Brings The Flood”

9. Joanna Newsom, “Ys”

10. Destroyer, “Destroyer’s Rubies”

Just missed: Asobi Seksu, Danielson, M. Ward, The Mountain Goats, The Raconteurs

 

Top five concerts:
1. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Vic Theatre

2. Animal Collective, Logan Square Auditorium

3. Beirut, The Empty Bottle

4. Asobi Seksu, Schuba’s Tavern

5. The Hold Steady, Metro

 

Live now

I may not be going in order here, but two things to announce. First, Holy New Year’s —three big-name shows are in town for the end-of-the-year holiday. The cheapest, around $25, is notable DJ Girl Talk at the Empty Bottle. He’s kind of a noisemaker to me, mashing all genres of popular music. At the House of Blues Chicago (Backporch Stage) is my band of ’06, The Hold Steady, for $45. Bigger than that, The Raconteurs play the Riviera Theatre for around $100. They will also play a regular show the night before for much less.

Secondly, Schuba’s again is having its Tomorrow Never Knows fest. The venue packs four days from 1/11-1/14 with up-and-coming indie acts. They are: 1/11 Margot & the Nuclear So & So’s, Dr. Dog, The Bees, Brooklyn Bridegrooms; 1/12 The Ponys, Benjy Ferree, Sano, The Early Tapes; 1/13 Mucca Pazza, Office, The God Damn Doo Wop Band, Tiger City; 1/14 Bound Stems, Dirty on Purpose, All Smiles, The A-Sides.

Other upcoming shows include two free ones on 12/18 with bluesy Catfish Haven and poppy The M’s at the Double Door and the wacky Bitter Tears at Empty Bottle. On 12/19, artsy, intellectual folksy singer Bonnie “Prince” Billie plays Empty Bottle. On 12/21, blogger faves Matt & Kim play the Abbey Pub.

Playing two shows, heavy metal rockers Pelican play Subterranean 12/22 and play Beat Kitchen on 12/23. On 1/13, prized whistler Andrew Bird plays an intimate show at The Hideout. On 1/26, the Abbey Pub supplies a fantastic double-bill with The Appleseed Cast and Asobi Seksu.

Keep sending me your music or anything else on your mind at danochwat@hotmail.com. I’ve also joined the MySpace army, so give The Real Chicago some love at http://www.myspace.com/danochwat

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