10. It Follows (David Robert Mitchell)
It has been a great couple of years of horror films
– Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook and Adam Wingard’s The Guest both made my top 10
list last year, and David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows is a heartbreaking
omission from my top 10 list this year. This movie has the best premise of any
horror film in recent memory – some supernatural force, passed on through sex,
haunts those who it infects until it can kill them – and the only way to get
rid of it, is to pass it on (and even then, your reprieve is only temporary.
The cinematography – long tracking shots – is brilliant, as is the score – both
elements add to the overall creepy atmosphere of the film, which is had
genuinely scary moment, but is really more deeply unsettling than anything
else. The man cast of teenagers (led by Maika Monroe – even better here than
she was in the aforementioned The Guest) are all in fine form as well. Admittedly,
the pool scene climax is a little silly - but the final shot is brilliant, and
redeems it. This is one of the best horror films in recent years – and one of
the best films of any kind this year. 
9. Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas)
Director Olivier Assayas’ Clouds of Sils Maria
pulls off something very tricky – it both feels like a throwback to an earlier
era of art house cinema, and yet is relevant to today’s movie climate. On one
level, the film very definitely resembles the work of one of Assasyas’ key
influences – Ingmar Bergman. Afterall, the film mainly centers on two women -
an actress (Juliette Binoche) and her assistant (Kristen Stewart) – on a remote
island, by themselves, who talk – a lot – about identity, among many other
things. If you know, and love, Bergman like I know – this setup feels familiar,
because indeed it is. But Assayas isn’t just making a throwback, because while
the setup is classic Bergman, there much in the film that is relevant to
today’s movie culture – conversations about superhero movies vs. art – in a far
less bombastic way than last year’s Birdman, hell the film even gives Stewart a
rather impassioned speech in defense
of those types of movies. At its heart, it is about these two women – the aging
actress, who is just now dealing – in middle age – that she is no longer the
ingénue, and her assistant, who is more complex than we realize. Throw in a
great performance by a third actress – Chloe Grace Mortez, as a “Hollywood bad
girl”, and you have even more insight into stardom, acting and art. Assayas has
been a hit or miss director for me over the years – but this is one of the best
films he has ever made (right alongside Carlos). 
8. Ex Machina (Alex Garland)
One location, four character. That is all there is
in Alex Garland’s directorial debut – but it’s still the best sci-fi film of
the year – and one of the most intelligent in recent years. It is a film that
only gradually reveals what it is really about. On its surface, its about the
genius, billionaire founder of a search engine company (Oscar Isaac –
brilliant) who invites one of his programmers (Domhall Gleason) to his remote
estate to give the Turing test to his latest creation – an A.I. named Ava (Alicia
Vikander – even better than Isaac) to figure out if she really think like a
human being. The characters played by Isaac and Vikander both have hidden
motives – and poor dumb Gleason cannot figure out what they are until far too
late, as they both toy with him. The below the line message of the film may
just be about misogyny – both active and passive, as Isaac is basically
building himself various sexual playthings, whereas Gleason cannot see Ava as
anything more than a damsel in distress, that he must save. Garland, a novelist
and screenwriter making his directorial debut, has written a great screenplay
(which shouldn’t be surprising) – but has also directed a visually great film –
the special effects are amazing, as is the chilly art direction and cinematography.
An intelligent sci fi film that has haunted me all year. 
7. 45 Years (Andrew Haigh)
Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years is a portrait of a British
couple approaching their 45 anniversary (when they’ll be having a party) – when
a letter arrives that throws their seemingly happy lives into chaos. Kate
(Charlotte Rampling) and Geoff (Tom Courtenay) seem perfectly happy – and they
may well have been for most of their marriage. But when the body of a woman
that Geoff was involved with before they met is discovered (this is no murder
mystery), and he Kate learns more about her husband’s past before they met, it
throws everything she thought she knew about her marriage, her husband – hell her
life – is no longer true. Haigh trusts his two leads immensely – allowing them
space to do much with very little – especially Rampling whose never vocalizes
the turmoil that is tearing her apart. Courtenay talks more – but he’s that
rare actor who is able to show you his character is thinking as he speaks –
making sure he says the right thing – and doesn’t say the wrong one. The film
is heavy on symbolism – the mirrors, the attic, the soundtrack – without beating
you over the head with it. I missed Haigh’s breakthrough film – Weekend (2011)
(now a must-see), but with 45 Years he has crafted a devastating portrait of a long-term
marriage – a film that stands alongside Michael Haneke’s Amour and Sarah Polley’s
Away From Her (two very different films) about longtime marriages. It also has
the single most devastating, ambiguous final shot of any film this year. A
brilliant film that is guaranteed to make any married couple who see its uncomfortable.
6. Brooklyn (John Crowley)
Brooklyn is many things – a touching immigrant
story, about how strange and frightening someplace new can be, until all of
sudden it feels like home. A romance, as the woman at the center Elis (Saorise
Ronan), a good Irish lass in Brooklyn falls in love with a kindhearted, sweet
Italian fellow (Emory Cohen). A story of the lures of home, as Ronan heads back
to Ireland in the last act of the movie, and how easy it would be to slip back
into her life there. It is a period piece – set in the 1950s – and with art
direction and costume design that come out of our ideas of what that decades
was like. It is a deceptively simple film – that ends up being incredibly
moving, because of how open and honest it is – and how extraordinary Ronan’s
performance in the film really is. She plays a woman who, for a while anyway,
makes herself into whatever those around her want her to be – it’s why she is able
to slip back into her role in Ireland so easily, because it’s what everyone
around her wants – and she gets confused. Is this what she wants as well,
until, all in an instant, it becomes clear just what it is she desires – and
assets herself. This all may look very simple on the surface – but it isn’t.
But the screenwriter, Nick Hornby, director, John Crowley, and Ronan pull it
off brilliantly.
5. The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino)
Quentin Tarantino delights in torturing his
characters, and the audience, in The Hateful Eight – a more troubling, and
troublesome film, than his last two films. Those movies – Inglorious Basterds
and Django Unchained – were as violent as The Hateful Eight was – but, for the
most part, let the audience cheer on that violence because it was mainly
directed at bad people, but characters who had been oppressed, and were
fighting back. Truly, does anyone really feel bad when Shosanna kills a theater
full of Nazis in Inglorious Basterds, or when Django slaughters everyone who works
at the plantation in Django Unchained? Of course not. But it’s all very
different in The Hateful Eight – as the oppressed and oppresors alike, are all
treated the same, and Tarantino delights in switching gears from one scene to
the next, and undermining your expectations. I won’t argue that with those who
thought the film was racist and/or misogynistic – I don’t see it that way, I
think it’s Tarantino wrestling with those two ideas in many ways – the racism,
overtly, as it’s talked about at length in the film, and misogyny, covertly, as
it isn’t (and perhaps that’s the point – that at least America was at a point
then when race was something to be discussed – where as men’s misogyny was
treated as a given – or perhaps that’s reading something into the film that
isn’t there). I do find the film uncomfortable at times – more uncomfortable
than anything Tarantino has made before. But I think there’s value in that
discomfort – that if we’re honest with yourselves, we need to deal with. And
aside from all that, The Hateful Eight is just a great movie, with an amazing
ensemble cast, ripping into Tarantino’s rich dialogue with glee – with Robert
Richardson’s glorious 70MM cinematography, from the snow covered vistas that
begin the film, to the more intimate conclusion, to Ennio Morricone’s score –
as great as anything he has ever done, a dark, foreboding, almost horror movie
like score. There are better films than The Hateful Eight this year – but I’m
not sure there’s one I’ll revisit more.
4. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller)
Mad Max: Fury Road is so good that it almost makes
me mad at director George Miller – who abandoned making Mad Max – and action
movies – 30 years ago to make a (admittedly impressive) variety of dramas and
children’s fare – seriously, aside from The Road Warrior and this, Babe: Pig in
the City is the best thing Miller has ever done). Mad Max: Fury Road is an
action masterpiece – a pure adrenaline rush from beginning to end – that is
basically one giant car chase, yet so masterfully shot, edited, choreographed,
scored and designed that you don’t really care that the story is basically
non-existant. Besides, miraculously, the movie does actually have some
brilliant performances in amongst the madness – Tom Hardy is in fine form,
taking over for Mel Gibson, as is Nicholas Hoult, who at first seems batshit
insane, and then almost sympathetic, and Hugh Keays-Byrne as the evil Immortan
Joe. Towering above them all is Charlize Theron, as Imperator Furiosa, a new
feminist hero, who is the most kickass film hero (male or female) of the year.
Mad Max: Fury Road is a film that never gets old – its pure cinema, and it’s
brilliant every time I watch it. Why the hell wasn’t Miller directing these for
the past 30 years? With this film, he proves himself better than just about any
other action director currently working. 
3. Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson)
Anomalisa is pure Charlie Kaufman. The screenwriter
behind Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless
Mind – and writer/director of Synecdoche, New York, returns for the first time
in 7 years with this movie about a man in Cincinnati on business who is completely
miserable. Everyone around him looks and sounds the same, and he takes no joy
in anything. Then, he meets Lisa (an amazing Jennifer Jason Leigh) – and for
one night, he feels renewed, until it comes crashing down again. Make no
mistake, the prison that Michael (voiced by David Thewlis) has made is entirely
self-made – the people around him are normal, he’s just lost the ability to see
them as individual people. He treats Lisa horribly after that first night – but
ironically, it is she, not he, who truly does change for the better after that
– he goes back to the same self-made prison of misery. And yet, while the main
character is, in short, an asshole – he remains a sympathetic one – one that if
we’re all honest, we’ll see a little of ourselves in, and will hopefully not
allow ourselves to became as jaded as he is. I cannot believe I’ve made it this
far and not mentioned the fact the film is animated – brilliantly, in stop
motion animation, with meticulous attention to detail, nor Kaufman’s co-director,
Duke Johnson, who helped bring the movie to life. Yes, you could have made
Anomalisa in live action if you wanted to – but it wouldn’t be the same film –
and it wouldn’t be nearly as good. This is a reminder of just how great Charlie
Kaufman is – let’s just hope we don’t have to wait until 2022 to see his next
film. 
2. Carol (Todd Haynes)
Todd Haynes’ Carol is one of the best cinematic
love stories in quite some time. It is an expertly crafted, gorgeous film about
two women, in 1950s New York, who, fall in love – neither quite sure what it
mean or the consequences of it. The title character is played by Cate Blanchett,
in a bold performance, that calls to mind actresses of the era of when the
movie is set, who were not afraid of bigger, more melodramatic moments. She is
the wife of a rich man, although they are divorcing. It’s Christmas, and while
shopping in a department store for her daughter, Carol sees Therese (Rooney
Mara), and the two talk, and casually flirt – their eyes lock, and Therese has
no idea what hits her. She is really the central character in the film, and
Mara carries it beautifully, while seemingly not doing all that much. There are
few movies I can recall that are so erotically charged – this isn’t about sex
(not completely, since its well into the movie before there is sex), but in the
way the two woman look at each, the sexual tension that is heavy. Haynes is one
of the great directors of our time – and this is the first film he did not also
write (the screenplay is by Phyllis Nagy) – although it feels like it could be
his. The cinematography by the great Edward Lachman is the best of the year
(and in this year, that’s saying something). The film is quietly groundbreaking
– how many gay love stories do not focus on pain and misery, and end in death,
but rather are allowed to end with at least the promise of happiness. That
final scene is a stunner. This is perhaps Haynes’ best film – a stunning
masterpiece on every level. 
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