The Year In Review - 2001

This has been a pretty good year for fans of mystery books and mystery movies. Lots of big wheels in fiction and film had new stuff out, and very little of it was disappointing. So, without further ado, let's swing into our Year in Review.

Books

This year seems evenly divided between late 90s neo-realism and gonzo freakazoid fiction. In the former camp are books like Dennis Lehane's Mystic River and George P. Pelecanos' Right As Rain, books deeply rooted in the concerns of the working-class communities in which they're set. Both authors have long tried to show the lingering effects of violence as well, and in these books the protagonists have to confront the violence inside themselves. On the other hand, books like James Crumley's The Final Country and Joe R. Lansdale's Captains Outrageous zip along like a possessed Pinto racing down a long, straight Texas highway with the radio turned up to the max. These books, along with Joe Gores' slightly less tipsy Cons, Scams, And Grifts, are full of larger than life characters, world-spanning adventures in Mexico, Hong Kong, and even Montana, and situations that define "over the top." For those with short attention spans, there were some good single-author anthologies out this year, notably John Lutz's The Nudger Dilemmas and Delvecchio's Brooklyn by Robert J. Randisi.
Other Books We Really Liked: Tell No One, Hostage, Fury, and The Mammoth Book Of Pulp Action.

Movies

Movies got style in 2001. The best films of the year were highly individual visions, set in sort-of alternate universes where the normal rules simply don't apply. The best film I've seen in the past couple of years was Memento, which tells the story of a man who can't remember what's true from one moment to the next. Can he find the identity of his wife's killer even as he's losing touch with his own? The film's last-things-first structure perfectly reverses the normal expectations of viewers, building to a satisfying "conclusion". Director Guy Ritchie followed up his hilarious Lock, Stock, And Two Smoking Barrels with the equally sidesplitting Snatch. Who knew Brad Pitt could play an marble-mouthed Irish gypsy? The venerable Coen brothers take us back to the glossy black and white world of the 1940s in The Man Who Wasn't There. Billy Bob Thornton is a barber ignored by everyone; when he finally tries to stick up for himself he sets off a slow-motion explosion worthy of the Coens' idol, James M. Cain. Finally, busy director Steven Soderbergh (5 films in 4 years) goes slumming the ain't-it-cool epic Ocean's Eleven, admittedly nothing more than fluff. Armani suits are mostly fluff, too, but they look great. The direction, cast, and a very sharp script raise this above what it should have been: a by-the-numbers heist film best described as "star-studded" or "action-packed".
Some More Good Films: Panic, The Deep End, Heist, and Sexy Beast.