Well,
2014 was definitely something. It was a great year for movies and a
pretty terrible one for human rights, social issues, and American
decency. So I come to the annual ritual of putting a year end film
summation together, and I find that it's more fun and liberating to
do this thing the way I want to.
I've
already voted in Indiewire's 2014 poll and for SEFCA, my Critics'
Guild. I'm thinking of making my ballots for those public, just so
you can see how mercurial my sense of things are in how things have
changed from one list to the next.
My
dream in life is to have my own awards show for film. I am just as
legitimate (if not moreso) than the Golden Globes people, and I'll
challenge any of them on their theory and genre background just to
prove a point. But my awards show would be awesome. Winners would
receive a classy statuette of a film reel and a hard drive in a
tasteful yet provocative embrace, as well as a vintage bottle of
Shawhan family bourbon (see above photo). I would call these awards the Andys, after my
deceased paternal grandfather, whose tendency to have a couple of
Manhattans and go to bed early when I would stay with him in Ohio
during Junior High summers led me, through HBO and Cinemax, to
discover a whole new world of film and a means by which to understand
aesthetics. They could just as easily be named after my maternal
grandparents, whose home my mother and I lived in for awhile, and who
had a satellite dish. Once again, there was a reach that let me
explore the world of film in all sorts of varieties.
I
never talked about film, really, with any of those grandparents. I
went to movies with them, but we never really discussed them as an
art form (something that I am continuously grateful my parents and I
can and do). But it is thanks to them that the cinema I take joy in
spans impenetrable art trudges, trashy horror knock-offs, psychedelic
freakouts, and hard-hitting melodrama. My love for them and my love
for film are of a piece- an unreasonable, inexhaustible fact that
defines how I aim to shape discourse with the world.
After
I got long-quoted by moviecitynews.com regarding my process for
assembling a Top Ten list, I had a dark moment where I reread what I
wrote and thought I sounded like a crazy person. Some readers may
agree. But I stand by my processes, because maybe that strikes a
strong reaction (whether positive or negative) in you. What makes a
critic useful is insight first and foremost, but also an ongoing act
of aesthetic calibration. Growing up, the premier voice in film
criticism for me was Joe Bob Briggs. But the things I like are not
exactly or necessarily his. I swear by Carol Clover and Vera Dika,
but their aesthetics are not absolute when it comes to mine. As you
read more critics, you figure out where your interests line up and
where they scatter, and the best course of action is to read more
critics. Spend some time with b. ruby rich and Chas. Balun, with J.
Hoberman and David Schmader, with Glenn Kenny and Nicole Brenez, with
Robin Wood and Chuck Stephens. And you know what, maybe I can help
with that process too. It's why I do what I do.
So
let's talk about 2014 in Film. And then we'll get to the nominations
for this year's Andys.
MY
'TOP TEN':
1
INHERENT VICE (Paul Thomas ANDERSON)/YOU AND THE NIGHT (Yann
GONZALEZ)
A
libertine hero of strong character drifts through a mysterious
underworld of conspiracies, half-truths, and fantasies while
attempting to set right a fissure between devoted lovers. A deeply
moving pair, with Anderson's '70s Los Angeles and Gonzalez's
out-of-time French netherworld both casting a haunting spell that
ends not with pat resolution but a vital call to withstand moral
crisis. Hazy, druggy epics about the labyrinth of the Internal with
exquisite musical choices and a tactile sense- a scent, a touch on
the neck- that reaches beyond the screen.
2
ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE (Jim JARMUSCH)
Possibly
a requiem for humanity, but a soothing and beautiful one. Care and
curate both derive from the same Latin word, and it's not hard to
imagine that long after the majority of humanity is gone, that Eve
and Adam will remember us much more kindly than we deserved. Would
that the two could have a spin-off film with Benicio Del Toro's
Guardians of the Galaxy Collector- the very thrill of it.
3
THE GUEST (Adam WINGARD)
After
four viewings, I more and more am thinking this lean bruiser of a
flick could be the best film about post-9/11 America to come along in
the past decade. 'David' wants us to be happy and safe, and valued.
But corporate concerns and national security have rendered him
incapable of pursuing his more altruistic and genial interests past a
certain point, so it all ends in orange and green and so much red.
Also, one of the best and most nuanced portraits of a High School kid
who's just a bit different but not capable of giving it a name just
yet. “Because you're my friend, aren't you?”
4
GONE GIRL (David FINCHER)
A
glorious, Verhoevian rollercoaster for misanthropes. Watching this
movie in a drive in was the kind of surreally comic madness that
makes life worth living, and I treasure each of its fucked up turns.
I've been a Fincher supporter since Alien3, even when the studio cut
of that film was the only extant version. He's doing his thing, and
the mirror is the method.
5
THE BOOK OF LIFE (Jorge GUTIEREZ)/THE STRANGE COLOR OF YOUR BODY'S
TEARS (Helene CATTET/Bruno FORZANI)
Meticulous
design taken to opposite extremes. The Book of Life's overwhelming
character design is reflective of how much effort went into creating
these characters on the page as well, with remarkable awareness of
gender issues and the interplay of friendships and families. So much
color, so much joy, and provocative and joyful cosmology! Cattet and
Forzani continue to explore the serrate edge of stylized hommage,
with their psilocybin love letter to the baroque insanities of
Italian gialli eschewing nuance and character, instead diving into
near-complete abstraction of psychosexual terror. I would love to
introduce the two Belgians to Gutierez- I think if they blended their
strengths they could make something that no one has ever seen before.
6
ABUSE OF WEAKNESS (Catherine BREILLAT)/CHEAP THRILLS (E.L. KATZ)/VIC
+ FLO SAW A BEAR (Denis COTE)
To
call these films inspirational dramas could be considered misleading,
but each involves the circumstances of overcoming very specific
adversities. It is that specificity that keeps these achievements
from being seen on the level of sports stories and traditional
biopics, and it's a damned shame. Each is completely honest, and
defiantly true to its characters. No allegiance to form or
expectation. No coddling of alpha male fantasies or shoring up tired
old white legacies.
7
WE ARE THE BEST! (Lukas MOODYSSON)
I
have a tradition of giving a copy of Ul de Rico's The Rainbow Goblins
as a gift when friends have children. I shall add this film to that
tradition, to be given on the twelfth birthday.
8
THE BABADOOK (Jennifer KENT)/THE DANCE OF REALITY (Alejandro
JODOROWSKY)/NOAH (Darren ARONOFSKY)/OCULUS (Mike FLANAGAN)
There
were no better portraits of family in crisis than these. Brutal and
uncompromising, with the slightest bits of hope serving as hard-won
victories.
9
THE IMMIGRANT (James GRAY)/THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAGUYA (TAKAHATA
Isao)/UNDER THE SKIN (Jonathan GLAZER)
The
Other enters a previously closed system, with a driving curiosity and
her own goals for finding a place in the throng of humanity. But the
graciousness and cruelties of others render this impossible, as plans
collapse and chaos rises. The system remains closed. Memory fades.
And darkness eventually falls on the face of the Earth.
10
THE HOMESMAN (Tommy Lee JONES)/A MOST VIOLENT YEAR (J.C. CHANDOR)
What
makes a person noble? Or a crook? It's always some form of inexorable
exterior force that gets into the soul and clarifies who someone
really is. But here, in these films, it's all about the process. Some
would call this pair cold and distant, but that's merely because they
aren't interested in engaging the viewer's usual signifiers for
personal evolution. Jones' hallucinatory Western and Chandor's
deliberate and measured crime drama are interested in the way that
women define the spaces around them, and how they are in turn
defined. There is a pragmatism that flourishes under immense stress,
yielding unconventional strength, and an unwillingness to put up with
traditional forms of bullshit.
A
few others I deem worthy of love, in alphabetical order:
THE
AMAZING CATFISH
DAWN
OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
DEAR
WHITE PEOPLE
THE
LEGO MOVIE
LUCY
MALEFICENT
NYMPH()MANIAC
STRANGER
BY THE LAKE
WHY
DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL?
So
here are the nominees for the 2015 Andys. I will announce the winners
at some point between the Golden Globes and the Oscars. But
seriously, look at these nominees and tell me my awards show wouldn't
be more interesting?
BEST
ACTOR:
Vicenç
Altaió (Story of my Death)
Jesse
Eisenberg (Night Moves)
Ralph
Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Joaquin
Phoenix (The Immigrant, Inherent Vice)
Andy
Serkis (Dawn of the Planet of The Apes)
Dan
Stevens (The Guest)
BEST
ACTRESS:
Essie
Davis (The Babadook)
Scarlett
Johansson (Under the Skin)
Carla
Juri (Wetlands)
Rosamund
Pike (Gone Girl)
Pierette
Robitaille (Vic + Flo Saw a Bear)
Hilary
Swank (The Homesman)
Robin
Wright (The Congress)
BEST
SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Riz
Ahmed (Nightcrawler)
Albert
Brooks (A Most Violent Year)
Gene
Jones (The Sacrament)
Nicolas
Maury (You and The Night)
Brendan
Meyer (The Guest)
Edward
Norton (Birdman)
BEST
SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Patricia
Arquette (Boyhood)
Jessica
Chastain (A Most Violent Year)
Hong
Chau (Inherent Vice)
Carrie
Coon (Gone Girl)
Rosario
Dawson (Top Five)
Uma
Thurman (Nymphomaniac)
BEST
DOCUMENTARY:
Citizenfour
The
Go-Go Boys
Happy
Valley
Harmontown
Silvered
Water, Syria Self-Portrait
Tim's
Vermeer
BEST
CINEMATOGRAPHY:
The
Amazing Catfish
The
Guest
The
Immigrant
Inherent
Vice
The
Strange Color of Your Body's Tears
Under
The Skin
TOP
13 DIRECTORS (in Alphabetical order):
Darren
Aronofsky (Noah)
Catherine
Breillat (Abuse of Weakness)
Denis
Cote (Vic + Flo saw a Bear)
David
Fincher (Gone Girl)
Jonathan
Glazer (Under The Skin)
Alain
Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake)
James
Gray (The Immigrant)
James
Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy)
Jim
Jarmusch (Only Lovers Left Alive)
Alejandro
Jodorowsky (The Dance of Reality)
Takahata
Isao (The Tale of The Princess Kaguya)
Lars
von Trier (Nymphomaniac)
Ramon
Zenker (The Strange Little Cat)
I
tried and tried and tried to get hierarchical about this category,
but I can't. In a just world, I could give each of them a tasteful
statuette and a vintage bottle of the family bourbon. So let's just
say that if I am ever tried in cinematic court, I hope these fine
filmmakers are the jury (and alternate) who decide my fate.
BEST
EDITING:
Bird
People
Edge
of Tomorrow
The
Guest
Night
Moves
Oculus
The
Strange Little Cat
BEST
ORIGINAL SCORE:
Jeff
Grace (Cold in July)
Mica
Levi (Under the Skin)
m83
(You and The Night)
Trent
Reznor and Atticus Ross (Gone Girl)
Hans
Zimmer (Interstellar)
BEST
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Cheap
Thrills
Coherence
Dear
White People
Test
Why
Don't You Play In Hell?
You
and The Night
BEST
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Cold
in July
Guardians
of the Galaxy
Inherent
Vice
Muppets
Most Wanted
Oculus
We
Are The Best!
BEST
COSTUME DESIGN:
The
Grand Budapest Hotel
Incompresa
Inherent
Vice
Lucy
Nymphomaniac
You
and The Night
BEST
PRODUCTION DESIGN:
As
Above So Below
The
Babadook
The
Dance of Reality
The
Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians
of The Galaxy
The
Strange Color of Your Body's Tears
BEST
VISUAL EFFECTS:
Devil's
Due
Godzilla
Guardians
of The Galaxy
The
Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies
Interstellar
Noah
BEST
ANIMATED FILM:
Big
Hero 6
The
Book of Life
The
Congress
How
To Train Your Dragon 2
The
Lego Movie
The
Tale of The Princess Kaguya
BEST
3D:
Dawn
of The Planet of The Apes
Deepsea
Challenge
Exodus:
Gods and Kings
The
Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies
Nurse
Step
Up All In
WORST
FILMS OF 2014
1)
Sabotage
2)
7500
3)
The Adventures of Hercules
4)
Ouija
5)
Need for Speed
6)
Annabelle
7)
Congratulations!
8)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
9)
Almost Human
10)
Jauja
A
few other haterations...
Dracula
Untold wasn't very good, but it was definitely better than I expected
(namely an excellent CG disintegration and unfiltered Sarah Gadon).
Birdman and Whiplash both had some great performances and definite
amped-up macho energy, but I didn't much enjoy either of them.
Whiplash is the kind of movie that will let sociopathic assholes
think they're helping people by being horrible, and Birdman is the
most incoherent film I've seen since The Dark Knight Rises. What
exactly is Birdman about, really? It deals with masculine crisis,
sure, and it's about trying to make a stand for art, sort of, and it
may all be the timelooped ramblings of an action star who has lost
his mind. But there's no there there, barring a great Edward Norton
turn that riffs off his poison reputation. Also, The Imitation Game
is pretty insidious- designed to impress contemporary viewers with
Alan Turing's achievements while completely underplaying the fact
that he was persecuted and hounded to suicide by the government he
helped save from the Nazis because of his homosexuality. As with
Whiplash and Birdman, the acting is great, the films are handsomely
made, and you feel empty and icky when they're over.
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