It hasn’t been a particularly good year for cinema, though
there are six genuinely great films (two or three even innovative) and at least
one very funny comedy. Infer pessimism or optimism for the state of cinema if
you wish, but it isn’t a particularly good sign if there are not enough films
great enough to make up a Top 10. Although, looking back over previous Top
10’s, it may simply be a case of a tightening of standards. Either way, most
Top 10’s look foolish after a few years anyway so why not this Top 6.
6. Only Lovers Left Alive. Good, fun, optimistic
cinema. Jarmusch pokes fun at the idea that living forever would be a
depressing and boring experience and fills his frame with everything he thinks
makes living an endlessly surprising, exciting and enjoyable experience.
5. Two Days, One Night is a moving and quiet drama
about a woman trying to overcome her depressive tendencies in order to fight to
keep her job. It is a slight film – probably too slight for many viewers – but
this kind of emotional journey into the everyday is becoming more and more
important. The ending is one of complex emotions – triumph, failure,
empowerment and the awareness of more struggles to come – and the film is
refreshingly direct and small, but never simplistic or meaningless.
4. Starred Up has been sold as a bruising, laddish
prison film full of vicious violence but it is so much better than that. The
performances are so uniformly excellent that it would feel only insulting to
single out Jack O’Connell, brilliant as he is. It is a film of explosive anger
in tiny rooms and it makes for riveting, disturbing viewing but it is the
vision of officialdom ignoring people who need the most help that packs a
valuable political punch.
3. It feels rather cynical to put such an outrageous and
overblown film in front of two films that are so important and realistic, but The Wolf of Wall Street is the ultimate outrage film. If you hate Di Caprio’s
Belfort after the first ten seconds, half the fun is watching him plumbing more
and more depths. Taking such delight in such hatred may seem unhelpful, but
Scorsese has attempted to show the mentality that threw us all into economical
turmoil and he doesn’t pull any punches – particularly with a triumphant,
emotional concluding speech that dares you to be roused. Cynical, nasty but
daring, angry and, yes, important.
2. By contrast, Nymphomaniac has nothing
particularly of value to say about politics or the world, but it was one of the
most enjoyably cinematic films of the year, and probably the one that will
diminish the most in the cold light of television. It is provocative and risky
as you would expect, and no matter who you are, there will be something in it
that stumps you and forces you to think – even if it is something about an
emperor and his new wardrobe (for me it was the use of Rammstein in the first
five minutes). It is thoroughly entertaining and challenging, bursting with
ideas and invention and not giving a damn if you and your prejudices get left
behind. As confident as unsparing as Godard at his best.
1. Equally innovative though much more likable and
emotionally resonant was Richard Linklater’s immensely likable and incredibly
(considering the production) laidback Boyhood. Made with so much
assurance, nothing seems to happen in the film and yet the film is so full of
recognizable and relatable moments of drama that it seems packed. Watching it
it can be difficult to think of another film that has so much of life in it and
yet feels so simple and effortless. Powerful, emotional and brilliant.
Other films that I liked this year include Fruitvale Station, In Bloom, ’71, the actually very funny 22 Jump Street and The Homesman. There were a lot of films that were less
successful but remain worth mentioning, so I will – The Past, Camille Claudel 1915, Keeping Rosy, Here Be Dragons, Stranger By The Lake, Norte, The End of History, Dallas Buyer’s Club, Oxi: An Act of Resistance and, yes, Rob The Mob.
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