This was written for the Skuriels, an alternative exercise in canon-making run by the folks behind the Muriel and Skandie awards. This was conceived as an alternative to the recently released Sight and Sound poll, about which I have nothing to say. My ballot of twenty movies contained only one film that made the cut for the top 15. This is the film in question.
Singin' In the Rain (1952, directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly) is likely my favorite movie. I say "likely" because I don't know that I have a favorite movie, but if I did, this would be it. I've had a hard year, beset by self-doubt and depression, and I've watched the film twice during that period, both times as a panacea to what ails me. Like no other movie ever made, it makes me happy. The thing is, I can't quantify that, really. I can't point to this element or that and say "this makes me happy," when the exact same element in another movie does not make me happy. I mean, I can say that Gene Kelly's smile in this movie makes me giddy (because it totally does, hubba hubba), but why doesn't his smile in, say, Cover Girl or Inherit the Wind have the same effect? I don't know. There's some kind of weird alchemy at work in this film, and I don't know how to write about it, really. But I'll try. I'll try.
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