What a Difference a Year Makes

Last year by this time, I don't think I'd seen any new movies worth sitting through, let alone remembering. And, except for the occasional barely distributed foreign production, this state of affairs went on pretty much from January through May.
Encouragingly, though, by mid-February of 2007, I've seen at least four thoughtful, artistically accomplished and thoroughly grown-up American productions that are all scheduled to hit theaters by the first week of April. "Breach," which opened today, contains best-ever acting work from Chris Cooper (and that's saying something) and Ryan Phillippe (which isn't saying as much; but still, it's his best) in the true story of traitorous FBI agent Robert Hanssen.
March 3 will see the release of "Zodiac," David Fincher's surprisingly down-to-earth procedural about the hunt for San Francisco's Zodiac Killer, and "Black Snake Moan," an astoundingly provocative take on backwoods Southern blues, sex and redemption, starring a no-limits Christina Ricci and Samuel L. Jackson and written and directed by "Hustle & Flow's" Craig Brewer.
And in early April look for "The Hoax." Richard Gere, an incredibly smart man who's had a tough time getting that quality across onscreen, finally does it playing Clifford Irving, who infamously wrote a fraudulent autobiography of Howard Hughes in the 1970s. Perhaps even more impressive than Gere finally stepping up to the plate with everything he's got is that this penetrating, psychologically knotty take on ambition and deception is directed by Lasse Hallstrom, who's usually guilty of leeching complexity out of adult topics and characters ("Cider House Rules," "Chocolat") rather than illuminating it.
While they vary in quality and success at achieving their ambitious goals, all four of these films outshine the bulk of the self-serious awards hopefuls that came out in the latter months of 2006. Perhaps the fact that most of those titles didn't get very far has convinced distributors that the fall isn't the only season for quality work - like they sure seemed to have felt was the case for I don't know how many years now.
I just hope the new films get some kind of traction. It sure makes my job easier when I see a couple of worthwhile movies each month, instead of going for seven or eight with hardly anything decent, and then too much crammed into autumn to really have the time to savor their finely wrought pleasures.