In retrospect, 2015 was a good year for film. I had been cynical last year reflecting on the year end as few films really “wow-ed” me: some of this, perhaps is my fault. Despite 2015 becoming a record year for consumption fueled by amongst more access including a healthy dose of the film festivals like Tribeca, Montclair and TIFF - and my very own - the Buffalo International Film Festival. (On a side note: programing a festival is an entirely different beast - I did however, exhausted and perhaps a little hung over, get to watch an hour of Rouzbeh Noori’s beautiful The Philosopher King on a Sunday morning at the North Park with a popcorn and soda - it was pure cinematic bliss).
Making this list is a difficult undertaking primarily because I admit I haven’t seen EVERYTHING. I closed out this year having recorded 306 films in theaters - including private screenings and a whole host of other screenings of course on VOD and via screener links. My system surely is flawed and has changed from my posting in the Film Stage’s top 50 calculus a bit (mainly because I caught up with Anomalisa, The Look of Silence and Heaven Knows What after the fact). Another admission is that the 306 count includes carryovers (on January 1st of last year I started with Force Majore and American Sniper - this year includes some repertory pictures in the mix)
There’s of course films I’m on the fence about - does Mommy, a film that opened in the US earlier this year after it opened elsewhere in the world count? Yes - although I had the chance to see it a few times in Toronto, the last during its theatrical run in November 2014 and I skipped it to see Map to the Stars, which was on my runners up last year. For this reason I’m withholding Cemetery of Splendor till next year, when Strand Releasing will open it in the US.
So many difficult decisions went into this list. Overall what kind of thesis should be read into 2015 - what have we learned from this years? I’m not sure what we can politically read into quite an epic year - bursting with great ideas. Perhaps in the spirit of Black Lives Matter, an overarching theme of holding institutional accountable can be read between Spotlight, In Jackson Heights, Killing Them Safely, The Big Short and Chi-Raq? Even that’s a stretch.
I’m not sure what historians will say - perhaps, like I tell my film students - it takes time to diagnose a movement. The cinema has, and always will be a place for filmmakers to take us on psychological and emotional journeys - last year it was Boyhood (a film I saw twice - and after suffering the loss of grandmother in the months between the film’s opening weekend in New York City and a screening at a second run movie theater in Buffalo - I found the picture to be all the more profound and moving - - Boyhood to me remains the great masterpiece of the 2010s). The films of this year’s Fink 50 - again not everything out - represent a personal bias. These are the films have struck me in the moment and in the case of the Hateful Eight upon a second viewing. The Hateful Eight is like a rich meal - full of deep flavors and nuance - I very much want to see it a third time, an absolute rarity for me.
Largely this list is top heavy with the masters - Haynes, Wiseman, Tarantino, and Lee - along with new masters, filmmakers who have made work that I’ve enjoyed but they’ve now arrived at that next level - in my book, 2015 was a breakout year for Lenny Abrahmason, Tom McCarthy, and Xavier Dolan.
Here’s the best of my journeys - including links to my full reviews, where available:
10.- Shaun the Sheep (Mark Burton and Richard Starzak) - It’s been a great year for stop motion animation - between Shaun The Sheep and the beautiful Anomalisa. Shaun The Sheep is simply the most delightful film you’ll find on this list, really the most delightful film of the year with a wonderful and simple story told largely with no dialogue (or shall I say no intelligible dialogue). For what it’s worth, it holds up next to any of the classics of the silent era: masterfully crafted and very funny - it offers a gentle societal critique as a flock of sheep rush to the city to save their caretaker from his role as a hipster hair stylist.
9.- What Happened Miss Simone? (Liz Garbus)
Constructing a moving portrait of Nina Simone, her triumphs, strengths, and weaknesses - filmmaker Liz Garbus constructs a frank, honest and soulful tribute with the participation of her estate. Employing archival materials with a few talking head interviews, the film is largely told though Simone’s own words highlighting interviews from her early performances to her more political period and eventually to her self-imposed exile in Liberia. Riveting and heartbreaking, What Happened Miss Simone is as informative and as comprehensive as its dense 100-minute running time can allow for.
8.- Carol (Todd Haynes)
Like his Far From Heaven, Todd Haynes’ latest harkens back to the work of Douglas Sirk. Set in the 1950s - Carol is a masterful work of subtly with flawless performances and truly beautiful cinematography by Edward Lachman (working on Super 16MM). A tender, sweet and heartbreaking romance as Carol (Cate Blanchett) struggles to keep her family together while Rooney Mara’s Terese struggles in a way to find her voice. Told in letters, subtle looks and not-so-subtle showdown with heterosexual lovers - Carol is a powerful melodrama.
7.- Room (Lenny Abrahmson)
Free from the manipulation that a Hollywood picture might offer, Room is a masterfully crafted and wrenching portrait of Ma (Brie Larson) and Jack (Jacob Tremblay), both giving affecting performances as a mother and son imprisoned in a small room. Carefully constructed by director Lenny Abrahamson, the room is the entire world for Ma and Jack until they are (spoilers!) liberated in a stunning escape. What follows is just as brilliant. Adapted by Emma Donohue from her novel, Room is a triumph and a tearjerker, confidently directed and masterfully acted.
6.- In Jackson Heights (Frederick Wiseman)
Mapping citizen engagement on film is - shall we say - not quite a sexy issue. In Jackson Heights, the latest from master documentarian Fredrick Wiseman is a sweeping, engaging three hour picture: chronicling macro details of a largely immigrant community from the local councilman’s call center to the struggle of independent business owners in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood (as they stand up to the BID), to other civic engagements. A study of time and place (I’m a sucker for these movies, obviously) - In Jackson Heights is a beautifully optimistic and privileged look, masterfully crafted by Wiseman - it’s more a meditation than hard a call to action.
5.- The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino)
Having seen the 70MM roadshow version twice - I can’t wait to go again: QT has crafted a dense chess game, using Ultra Pannavision (a format that’s going to look awful truth be told, on those new unmasked screens AMC and Regal are installing in their new locations). Still, I’m guessing (and shutter to think) that The Hateful Eight will hold up on pan-and-scan VHS. Samuel L. Jackson is worth the price of admission alone. QT fans won’t be let down by the mix of violence and irony - coupled with an unprecedented craftsmanship, The Hateful Eight is one of the entertaining nights at the movies you’ll have this year.
4.- Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes)
Just when you think there’s little else to say about the Holocaust comes a film that approaches the material from a new direction: Son of Saul allows us to walk in the shoes of a prisoner, living the horror, drama, camaraderie, and moral ambiguity first hand. A stunning debut feature (currently screening in 35MM), Nemes resurrects the academy ratio - shooting at a single focal length, providing the kind of tunnel vision used to go about one’s day in this terror.
3.- Spotlight (Tom McCarthy)
Moving with the precision of a swiss timepiece, rarely do we see a film that’s so effective. Spotlight is a journalism thriller that plays it straight, avoiding self-righteous speeches and subplots - it’s about solid boots on the ground, investigative journalism from the Spotlight team (played by Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Brian d’Arcy and led by Michael Keaton) and their fearless editors (John Slattery and Live Schreiber). A brilliant picture that works almost flawlessly on every single level, Spotlight is an engaging investigation celebrating the difficult work that must be done when our institutions fail us.
2.- Mommy (Xavier Dolan)
Xavier Dolan’s Mommy is a curious picture, one arriving in the U.S. in the typically dead zone of early winter, yet no other film has stayed with me in the same way. An emotional gut punch, Mommy continually breaks all of the cinematic rules, challenging its audience with a square frame similar to that of an iPhone held vertically while shooting. Dolan employs frequent collaborator Anne Dorval as Diana, a mother who breaks her son (Antoine-Oliver Pilon) free after he’s committed in light of the passage of a fictional Canadian law. The road ahead is painful, bittersweet, and powerful as the mother dreams of a future for her son, only to have those dreams crushed. Dolan is simultaneously in and out of control of his narrative, a frantic call to action mashing up pop culture, desire, youth obnoxiousness, and mental illness. With a constantly moving camera by André Turpin, Mommy is unforgettable experience
1.- Chi-Raq (Spike Lee)
Spike Lee’s best picture in years, Chi-Raq is a timely call to action. Opening to a Chicago embroiled in controversy, Lee’s stated objective is to save lives on Chicago’s Southside, a fiery cry against gun violence and a system that protects gang members while women and children are caught in the cross fire. A modern-day adaption of Lysistrata, Chi-Raq is lively and often hilarious; it has the spunk of some of his best and most political work, such as Do the Right Thing. With a cast that includes Nick Cannon, Wesley Snipes, Angela Bassett, Samuel L. Jackson, John Cusack, Jennifer Hudson, and Teyonah Parris in a break-out role as the story’s heroine, its lively performances are as transcendent as the film is ambitious. Rarely does a work achieve so much, and its stakes couldn’t be higher.
The Fink 50:
11.- The Look of Silence
12.- Anomalisa
13.- The Big Short
16.- Tangerine
17.- Black Panthers: Vangaurd of a Revolution
18.- Brooklyn
19.- The End of the Tour
20.- Clouds of Sils Maria
21.- Transfatty Lives
22 - Sicario
23.- Miss You Already
24.- The Martian
25.- Listen to Me Marlon
27.- Diary of a Teenage Girl
28.- Trumbo
29.-This Changes Everything
30.-Welcome to Leith
31.- Steve Jobs
32.- The Best of Enemies
33.- Goodnight Mommy
34.- Inside Out
35.-Call Me Lucky
36.-The Connection
38.-Mad Max: Fury Road
39.-Da Sweet Blood of Jesus
40.-Trainwreck
41.-99 Homes
42.-Youth
43.-Democrats
44.-Irrational Man
45.-3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets
46.-The Gift
48.-Ex Machina
49.-Paddington
50.-Girlhood
Runners up (in alphabetical order): All Things Must Pass, Amy, Bridge of Spies, Broken Horses, A Courtship, Cartel Land, Casa Grande, Creed, Dope, The Duke of Burgundy, Far From The Maddening Crowd, Gett: The Trail of Vivian Anslem, Hitchcock/Truffaut, How to Dance in Ohio, The Hunting Ground, In My Father’s House, I’ll See You In My Dreams, Infinity Polar Bear, Iris, It Follows, Jafar Panahi’s Taxi, La Ultima Pelicula, Love & Mercy, Love 3D, Man From Reno, Merchants of Doubt, Mistress America, Mustang, Peace Officer, She’s Lost Control, Southpaw, Spy, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Tu Dors Nichole, The Walk, The Wolfpack, Wild Tales
No comments:
Post a Comment