"I Am Love" - Best of 2010, The One to Beat

Now that 2010 is well into the fourth quarter, during which the presumptive crop of every year's Best Of contenders are finally unveiled, it has to be said: "I Am Love" is the one to beat.  It stands alone, unrivaled on so many levels, my easy pick for the best film of 2010. 

I would be genuinely shocked to encounter anything better from movies this year. It's just that good.

If any moviegoing experience still to come in 2010 does manage to top the rapturous escapism of Tilda Swinton's stunning Italian melodrama, I will be genuinely floored. From top to bottom, beginning to end, inside and out, "I Am Love" is a monumental achievement.  From the very first frame -- when the title card suddenly fills the frame in a brazen announcement of ostentatious luxury, overtaking the initial image of breathtaking Milanese architecture entirely with gigantic, swooping script -- to the breathless, stupefying climax, Luca Guadagnino's masterpiece transports you completely.  And yes, Tilda Swinton speaks Italian perfectly, never doubting her ability to become a Milanese matriarch.

The best soup you've never had

Like a revisionist Rumpelstiltskin, Guadagnino & his ravishing producer/star Swinton take a boilerplate sexual awakening plotline and work wonders, spinning a golden spectacle from the most ordinary of raw materials.  The pair spent nearly a decade developing the project together, and I can't even imagine how proud they must be of their finished product.  "I Am Love" exists in a world of its own making, sumptuously explored by its characters and the filmmakers alike.

The production values are beyond impeccable, so opulently mounted as to evoke the senses in even the tiniest details, from the cold, ancient texture of a cathedral's exterior walls, to the unique warmth of frayed sunlight as it casts down through olive trees.  To describe the plot or try to explain what makes "I Am Love" so definitively cinematic would scarcely do it justice; it really must be experienced to be fathomed. 



Though I'd really like to insist "I Am Love" be seen in a theater so as to be fully swept away by the film's sensory overload, if you make sure to turn up the surround sound and watch it on the best television you can find, I'm sure the DVD will be more than acceptable. It's out October 12, one week from today, and really should be regarded as an Event if you appreciate the cinematic experience in any legitimate way.  And if you don't...here's your chance.