But
there was still plenty I did see that I quite enjoyed. Among the films that I
don’t have room for in the top 10 are 4 summer blockbusters (or would be
blockbusters) – X-Men: Days of Future
Past (Bryan Singer), Captain America: The Winter Solider (Anthony & Joe
Russo), Godzilla (Gareth Edwards) and Edge
of Tomorrow (Doug Liman) – all of which is summer entertainment done right.
Then there were the smaller movies like Ida
(Pawel Pawlikowski), Night Moves
(Kelly Reichardt), We Are the Best (Lukas Moodysson), Joe (David Gordon Green) and The Immigrant (James Gray) which
offered a respite from the larger movies hell-bent on destruction that I think
are quite deserving of attention. Then there are these 10, which are the best
of the best so far this year. The top film is guaranteed a spot on my year end
list – probably a very high one – and I think number 2 will make it as well.
The next two or three may or may not, depending on how strong the rest of the
year is.
10. Blue Ruin (Jeremy Saulnier)/The Rover
(David Michod)
Jeremy
Saulnier’s Blue Ruin and David Michod’s The Rover (the review of which will be
up later this week) are both expertly crafted, well written and extremely
well-acted genre films. I don’t really think that either has anything deeper to
say than their surfaces – but their surfaces are so good I don’t really care
that much. Blue Ruin is a revenge film that twists things slightly, as the man
on a mission (an excellent Macon Blair) cannot quite believe he’s able to do
everything that he does. Saulnier, working with almost no money, has crafted an
excellent, bloody little film. Michod is following up his excellent Animal
Kingdom, with a post-apocalyptic (at least economic apocalyptic) Western with
an excellent performance by Guy Pearce who desperately wants his car back – for
reasons that don’t become clear until its quietly moving finally shot. Robert
Pattinson is quite good as his somewhat dimwitted hostage/partner. Both films
are bloody, violent and disturbing. No, they are not deep films – but they are
excellent examples of their genres just the same.
9. Nymphomaniac (Lars von Trier)
Lars
von Trier’s two part, four and a half hour “sex epic” really is one long film,
and yet despite what Trier says, you have to assume he knew it was getting cut
in two as like Tarantino’s Kill Bill there is a definite distinction between
the two halves of the film. The first half is probably a little bit better – a
little lighter, more entertaining and funnier – and seems to set up a second
half where anything can happen. Reviewing just the first half, I wasn’t sure if
the entire project would turn out to be a horrible movie, a masterpiece or
something in between – the result is definitely “in between”. What this remains
a fascinating, challenging, provocative movie from beginning to end – with
great performances by Stacy Martin as “Young Joe” and Charlotte Gainsbourg as
“Joe” – our narrator – as well as Stellan Skarsgard, who listens to her entire
story without understanding a word of it, setting up the inevitable conclusion.
Trier has always liked to poke and prod his audience – and he does the same
thing this time around. It’s not his masterpiece, like I hoped it may be, but
it’s still certainly one of the most memorable films of the year.
8. Stranger by the Lake (Alain Guiraudie)
Alain
Guiraudie’s thriller is a meticulously plotted film about a gay cruising spot –
where one man (Pierre Deladonchamps)
is drawn to two very different men on the beach. The first is a little pudgy,
and sits off the side and claims to be straight – he just likes the view (Patrick
d'Assumçao) – and the pair bond as they talk. The other is the mustached muscle
man who he is immediately sexually attracted to (Christophe Paou) – so much so
that not even the fact that he witnesses him kill his previous lover is enough
to stop him. The film is sexually explicit – but never exploitive. It is a
finely crafted thriller in the Hitchcock mode about the dangers of lust and
desire. A brilliant little thriller.
7. The Lego Movie (Chris Miller & Phil
Lord)
The
gross of the rest of the films on this list combined doesn’t even approach half
of what this film made (which, at the time I’m writing this anyway, is still
the top grossing film of the year). But sometimes animated blockbusters get
everything right – and that’s certainly the case with The Lego Movie, an
endlessly inventive animated film that recalls the best work of Pixar. I loved
the animated look of the film – which comes up with all sorts of visually
inventive ways to create everything out of Lego. The movie is consistently
hilarious – poking fun at the conventions of blockbusters movies throughout.
The voice work by the entire cast is superb. Even if it’s a contradiction for
two huge corporations – the movie studio and the toy company – to make a movie
about the evils of business, I didn’t really care because the film really is
that entertaining. Everything is Awesome is right.
6. Locke (Steven Knight)
Writer-director
Steven Knight takes what should be little more than a gimmick – one man in a
car talking to various people by speakerphone as his life collapses – and
crafts an excellent drama out of it. It helps that Tom Hardy is brilliant in
the lead role. He plays a man who walks away from his construction job on the
eve of the most important day of his career, and has to deal with the fallout
from that, as well as the fallout from his family – who he finally has to admit
the truth to. He has to leave – to him, he has no choice. The film finds a few
brilliant ways to combat what could have been a hermetically sealed, stilted
movie visually. Hardy is great – as is the variety of people he talks on the
phone to. Is it a gimmick? Probably. Does that matter to me? Not in the
slightest – because it works.
5. The Double (Richard Ayoade)
Richard
Ayoade’s film is a vision of the future sent from the past – a film that takes
place in a world very much like the future ones dreamed up by Kafka or Orwell –
even if it’s based on an 1846 novella by Dostoyevsky. In it, Jessie Eisenberg
plays the meek Simon James – overlooked at his data processing company and all
but ignored by the object of his affection (Mia Wasikowska). Then the company
hires James Simon – and even though he looks exactly like Simon, no one else
seems to notice. He is the opposite of Simon in every way, and although he
pretends to help him, he’s actually out to destroy him. The film resembles the
world created by Terry Gilliam in Brazil, which gives the film a familiar feel.
Yet despite all of the films obvious influences, it feels both original and
familiar at the same time. It’s a tricky feat to pull off – but Ayoade does it,
with a brilliant performance(s) by Eiseneberg to help.4. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch)
Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive really is the most original vampire movie in years. It’s largely plotless – as a married couple (Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleson) come together in Detroit and quite simply hang out for the most of the movie. It isn’t until Mia Wasikowska, as Swinton’s sister, arrives an hour into the movie that some semblance of a plot begins. But Jarmusch’s visuals are so good, the performances excellent, his sense of time and place perfect, that you hardly care that “nothing happens”. It’s barely a vampire movie at all, as Jarmusch isn’t interested in what people who make vampire movies are normally interested in – he concentrates on the fact that they have been alive for so long, have gathered more knowledge than anyone, and are frustrated by how stupid humanity has become – although sometimes art (as in the last musical performance in the movie) can make things worthwhile. A film that only an older artist could make – Only Lovers Left Alive is one of Jarmusch’s best (and I watched them all leading up to this, so I know).
3. Enemy (Denis Villenueve)
The
second movie on the list about a man who discovers his doppelganger, Enemy came
out before The Double, and I thought was the better, deeper film – and is
probably the most underrated film of the year so far. Jake Gyllenhaal is
excellent as a history professor, who catches a glimpse of someone who looks
exactly like in the background of a movie – and becomes obsessed with tracking
him down. The film is dark – both visually and thematically. Toronto has never
looked this gloomy – never mind Mississauga – not even in a Cronenberg film -
which is an obvious inspiration for director Villeneuve – making his second
excellent film, following Prisoners, in less than a year. This is a smaller
film than Prisoners, and less audience friendly, but an even deeper one.
Gyllenhaal is great in both roles, and Sarah Gadon (who seems to be the current
muse of Cronenberg) richly deserved the Canadian Screen Award she won for best
supporting actress. The film gets deeper and more complex right up until its
brilliant, shocking finale. It’s already out on video – so if you missed in
theaters (which the $1 million gross suggests most did) be sure to check it
out.
2. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
Jonathan
Glazer has only made three films in his career – but with each film he gets
more daring and original. Sexy Beast (2001) was an expertly crafted (and
well-acted) crime film that wasn’t deep, but was fun. Birth (2003) was not
popular when it was released – but I loved it then, and love it more now – and
many have come on board since. Under the Skin is his best yet – a visually
stunning sci-fi film, about an alien (Scarlett Johansson) cruising the roads of
Scotland, luring men to their death. Glazer strips the story down to its bare
essentials – the first 2/3 of the film barely has any plot at all, and when in
the last act it becomes more explicit about its action, it’s also a little less
interesting. The film is a fascinating examination of what it means to be
human, with some of the most memorable images of the year (the scene on the
beach, with the toddler, will haunt me until the day I die). Many, perhaps
most, will hate the movie (the film had quite a few walkouts when I saw at TIFF
last year) – but for those who like their films daring and ambiguous, Under the
Skin is one of the best of the year. A visually stunning masterwork.
1. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
Is The
Grand Budapest Hotel Wes Anderson’s best film? I re-watched all of his films in
the weeks leading up to the film’s release, and have to say that if it isn’t
his best, it’s damn close. The film takes place across multiple time periods,
one layered inside the other, and each with a different aspect ratio. The main
action takes place in an fictional European country during the outbreak of
WWII, and takes place at a fancy hotel, where M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) runs
with class and civility – in a world that has stopped valuing either. On the
surface, The Grand Budapest Hotel is the most Wes Anderson film Wes Anderson
has ever made – with meticulous attention to detail in production design and
costume design, as well as music, where the entire cast dives in to Anderson’s
very specific demands on acting style. Yet I also think The Grand Budapest
Hotel is the deepest of Anderson’s films – and certainly his most ambitious – a
film that looks back in time (as many of his films have done) – with a mixture
of nostalgia and sadness. It’s a gorgeous and hilarious film – and Fiennes
deserves Oscar consideration for his expert performance (the best ever in an
Anderson movie? Maybe). But it’s also a harder film – with a violent centre
about the passing of time in the 20th Century, and how it all
happened. A masterpiece – and easily the best film of the year so far – and one
that should be in the running for best of the year in 6 months. 
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