It’s 2014 now (hello, new year!) and thus, time to reflect on the year in film. Below I present what I considered to be best films of 2013 from my perspective, presented my way, and that way is by genre. As I am an independent film advocate, expect to see a lot of them on this list which may go beyond what is mainstream. However, I feel you won’t be disappointed in any of these films if you choose to take this as film recommendations. Here we go:
–> Best of Film 2013 in pictures
Best Film of the Year (which dared you to make it through without breaking down crying): 12 Years a Salve
No one can deny that this movie was probably the most emotionally affecting one this year. It was also one of the best triumphs in filmmaking. Director Steven McQueen was back in true form after directing the equally brilliant Hunger and Shame to craft an unflinching journey of a man driven to the brink of being broken & despaired even after he vowed to remain hopeful. In that darkness he connects with people around him whose plight were never unknown to him but went unfelt. The film triumphs in its uncanny grasp of all the psychological underpinnings of slavery and how the past touched all our lives. Also, it is with this movie that we get to see what an acting talent Chiwetel Ejiofor is and welcome actress Lupita Nyong'o to Hollywood.
Best Drama (which could move you to be a foster parent one day): Short Term 12
This film focused on troubled youth in a foster care facility and the lives of those who work there to give them some semblance of stability. All have some internal brokenness, which often clashes and draws them together at the same time. This give and take creates an affecting dramatic cinematic experience, headed by a moving performance by Brie Larson, a promising young actress.
Best Comedy (which reminded you that comb-overs are methodical and (still) intrinsically funny): American Hustle
I would like to mention that This is the End was very close to being named here (it’s more smartly funny than critics would admit), but I got to go with American Hustle as it worked on some many levels beyond traditional comedy. The movie doesn’t really work as the crime drama it sets you up for, but really is an over-the-top, screwball, 70s-flaired film the exploits the vast dimensions of lunacy… and it cleverly excels at it. In addition, you get to see Hollywood’s finest hamming it up. You have a badly permed, bug-eyed, drunk-on-power Bradley Cooper, a cocky, comb-overed Christian Bale, and an unpredictable, manic Jennifer Lawrence. This is all while Amy Adams (in the film’s best performance) is there to provide the dramatic (and sanity) balance.
Best Dramedy (which both mocked and made tender the delusions of a socialite): Blue Jasmine
Woody Allen, making one of his best contemporary films to day, creates a character study of a woman who falls from the privilege life that she lucked into into the working class from which she came. Cate Blanchett is both the draw and the standout here, giving life to a character who could have easily been a total joke but is instead a more complex person with glimpses of mental illness to check her delusions of entitlement, moments of tragedy to check her lack of sympathy for others, including her own family.
Best Sci-fi Film (which made us evaluate the vastness of our connected existence): Upstream Color
I was really going to have the often lauded Gravity here but then I wanted to highlight a film that I felt captured the true essence of science-fiction while being brilliant while doing it. For me, that was Shane Carruth's Upstream Color which is mysteriously, erratically, and romantically fascinating. A woman is drugged in an attack and starts a relationship with a man who surprisingly understands her in a way no one seems to. So begins the audience being drawn into a world that reinvents connections between people and nature while giving commentary on how these connections truly exist in reality. Carruth has the reputation of being enigmatic and abstract, and this film is these things, but not enough to be incomprehensible in its themes, narratives, and messages. It’s one of the best kinds of movies - one that breathes and changes, and makes your work to piece together an intiguing picture made from poetic ideas and intelligent thought.
Best Action/Adventure Film (which made you thankful you aren’t constantly fighting for your life): Hunger Games: Catching Fire
This film, which far exceedes the original in both direction, the fearless by the ensemble cast (I’m looking at you, Jena Malone and Sam Claflin), and design, further proves that action/adventures movies can be darkly engaging while being thoughtful existential.
Best Psychological Thriller (which questioned what makes a monster): Prisoners
What is great about this film is that every character is presented beautifully with the capacity of darkness and light, forgiveness and vengeance as they live on their respective side of the puzzle; the puzzle being what happened to two little girls who disappeared the afternoon of Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania. One of sides stands the two families who are desperate for answers which drives them to perpetrate or turn a blind eye to unspeakable acts in the name of their children. The movie brims with unbearable tension, cringing suspense, and plenty of gasp-out-loud moments to carry along the unraveling mystery. Couple that with the many heavy emotional moments, the film is paced with intense beats that often throws you off guard in the best way possible.
Best Adaptation (which proved that Shakespeare’s writings are timeless… and alcohol-ladened): Much Ado About Nothing
If you really read Shakespeare, the man was hilariously funny, really perverse, and has a pretty great grasp on melodrama. Because of it, filmmakers have been fascinated with and have revisited Shakespeare’s text into updated versions using Shakespearean dialogue. Not everyone can weave in modern material into Shakespeare but Joss Whedon has found a way to blend in contemporary physical comedy with Shakespeare’s written follies in such a great way. Alcohol consumption is brilliantly used prominently throughout the movie to give plausibility to all the misunderstandings and mayhem that ensue. [Bonus: Joss Whedon & I @ TIFF]
Best Social Commentary Film (which used the recent death of a man to show America’s continued humanity deficits): Fruitvale Station
Some people may know the story of Oscar Grant - a young black 22 year old man from the Bay Area who was shot by a policeman on the subway platform of the Fruitvale stop only a hour of so after the start of 2009. It was a big story in the media, one that was used to bring to light the ugliness of racial profiling and police brutality in the US. It fueled Bay area riots and the call for the examination of police practices in the last couple of years. This film gives us dramatic look into the last day of his life and his interactions with all the people of loved, depended on, and befriended him. And through all these people who learned just what a beautiful, complicated, struggling soul Oscar Grant was, heightened by the subtle but very nuanced performance by Michael B. Jordan as Oscar. He was a flawed man that was trying to move forward after all of his set backs. Whether it was through his relationship with his mother (an incredible moving and Oscar-worthy performance by Octavia Spencer) which was threatened by his hot temper and drug dealing that landed him in jail in the past, his young daughter who he never wanted to ever feel abandoned, his girlfriend who he was building a life with, or his many friends who stood up for him no matter what.
–> I only buy a few movies a year, those from my Best List that I loved and would enjoy again on many future rematches. From this list, Upstream Color, Short Term 12, and Much Ado About Nothing are those films.
