As with every past year, I procrastinate with this list since I want to make sure I can view all the films that I’ve been hearing through various channels are worthy of seeing. I was about 90% done 2 days ago but glad I got to sneak in one more film that had a huge effect on me. So without further ado, here we go.
1. The Illusionist
Maybe it was the fact that I watched it in a Parisian cinema, or that fact that the story was originally created by one of my favourite auteurs, Jacques Tati, but this charming, heartfelt and often sad story of a Monsieur Hulot-esque magician was one of the most touching films I’ve ever seen, animated or not.
2. Incendies
Best Canadian film I’ve seen in a long time. Flashbacks interwoven with a present day story lead to a devastating family truth and heartbreaking ending. A masterpiece.
3. Enter the Void
Probably the one film to polarize audience, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I was hooked from the seizure inducing opening credits. With its experimental shaky camera work and the omnipresent POV, this trip is beautifully intoxicating.
4. Black Swan
An unforgettable blend of many genres, everything from horror to a little genre I like to call; bitches going craaaazy (ie. Repulsion, Baise-Moi, Girl, Interrupted), who would have thought a movie about an emotionally stunted ballerina would end up like this. This movie haunted me for days. Natalie Portman delivered the most accomplished performance of her career. Just lay off the rom-coms Nat.
5. Carlos
Set to a mostly new wave soundtrack, this 5 ½ hour epic traces the life of the legendary Carlo the Jackal. Terrorism hasn’t looked this sexy or glamorous ever since.
6. My Joy
A tragic journey of an unlucky truck driver that takes several bad turns as he navigates through the Russian hinterlands. Bleak but sometimes filled with dark humour and with that impending sense of doom, I couldn’t peal my eyes from the screen. Or maybe it just hit too close to home.
7. White Material
Thought-provoking, perplexing and at time ominously beautiful, it’s about holding on to stubborn perseverance and last shreds of sanity around escalating chaos.
8. The Ghost Writer
An elegant looking smart political thriller with suspense, mystery and just the right touch of paranoia that has you guessing till the end. It’s also about watching Ewen McGregor hang out in a really cool house.
9. Dogtooth
Lets just say you will be glad your parents raised you they way they did. Disturbing and uncomfortably funny and very original, it’s also an allegory for what can happen to individuals in authoritarian societies any day.
10. Winter’s Bone
Redneck Noir. Gloomy, yet riveting mostly due to it’s lead star Jennifer Lawrence. Family ties bring out the best and worst in people.
Honourable Mentions: Animal Kingdom, I Am Love, How I ended this Summer, Exit through the Gift Shop, Buried
Haven’t seen so I can’t comment: Another Year, Barney’s Version, Four Lions
The Rest: I liked Inception but I thought it was a tad overrated. With the exception of Poetry, I wasn’t that impressed with the Asian films this year. But I have yet to see Japan’s Confessions. The gayest film I’ve seen this year and I obviously don’t mean that maliciously, was Restrepo, a documentary about soldiers stationed in one of the most dangerous regions of Afghanistan. There is a particular scene with an impromptu dance party where the boys jump around to a remix of Samantha Fox’ ‘Touche Me’ and you can just cut the sexual tension with a knife. The well-acted Blue Valentine was real and sad but nothing revolutionary. Cyrus and Please Give succeeded where Greenberg failed. I enjoyed Somewhere for all the wrong reasons but wish Coppola would go back to her Virgin Suicides roots.
Feel free to start a fight with me demanding why The Social Network or True Grit isn't on here.
Fin!
ps. Apologies for the misplaced or lack there of commas and semicolons.
