Mario's Pick: Best Film of 2011

Okay, I'll be straight with you readers at GTBP, my favorite movie of 2011 is a tie between two magnum opus stories told by meticulous and thoughtful filmmakers.  Maybe they don't appeal to your sensibilities or your interests; it would be boring if we all agreed on the same thing, wouldn't it?  Luckily my pick is for Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life and Lars von Trier's Melancholia.  Both are complementary to the other and that is why they tie as my pick for best film of 2011.

The Tree of Life; starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain, is about the beginning of life on earth through beautiful cosmic and planetary explorations.  From the dinosaur age to the contemporary human experience of growing up or watching those around you grow and change, signifies the importance of life above all else.

Melancholia; starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kiefer Sutherland, concerns itself with the the ever possible planet "Melancholia" crashing into Earth, while two sisters fail to bridge their differences as death and depression strikes unnerving chords of symptomatic suffering.  A nihilist view of ever worsening and impending death.

Both directors have created, excuse the simplistic idiom, opposite sides of a coin.  As I stated in my reviews for both film (review of Melancholia; review of The Tree of Life), von Trier directs in a way that "presents the characters under the light of "Melancholia" is fascinating in its criticism of trust and beliefs through scientific or personal means" by exploring issues of family and the choices we make of them.  Where as Malick directs the film with an importance on "the journey of experience and acceptance of what life, and subsequently death, can provide you.... [and] represents an undertaking whose magnitude is almost encompassing of life itself."

I would and should list all the movies that I haven't seen (and there are several notable "Oscar-buzzworthy" film).  This would also include the honorable (and dishonorable) films that deserve mentioning, but it's a long list and would be boring just to list them.  Therefore, I offer on to you GTBP readers to name me your favorite film of 2011 and short comment as to why.  Let's toast to 2011 and for a hopeful 2012 for more wonderful films to captivate and move us throughout this coming year.