Top 20 films – this year’s best viewing (20-11)

Best of films

Out of all the films I watched in 2016, either released this year or whenever, here are my 20 favourites:

20. Miller’s Crossing (1990)

JOMEC Film Review

The first of three Coen brother’s movies on this list, Miller’s Crossing is a fine gangster film that struggles to break free from the long shadows thrown by such legendary mobster tales as The Godfather or The Departed. But the Coen’s third ever film is in the same league; a moody, fedora-heavy affair, we follow Tom (Gabriel Byrne) as he tries to survive getting caught up between two warring crime families, and hold onto his humanity in the meantime.

I wrote more on Miller’s Crossing over at the JOMEC Film Review.

19. Citizenfour (2014)

Participant Media

Laura Poitras’ close-up documentary on/about/with whistleblower Edward Snowden, filmed right at the time his initial revelations about government spying were breaking, is essential viewing in times such as these.

A large part of Citizenfour takes place in Snowden’s Hong-Kong hotel room whilst he’s holed up and on the run, and yet it manages to be thoroughly arresting and intense all the same. The proximity to the man, still a wanted fugitive to this day, is quite remarkable. Rarely does a documentary bring you so close to the story as it unfolds before your very eyes. Gives very, very long pause for thought once the credits roll.

18. Kill Bill (1 & 2, 2003-04)

flickr – luvi

Quentin Tarantino likes movies.

This homage turned reinvention of the martial arts genre is testament to not only to Quentin’s encyclopaedic knowledge of film, but also the passion that goes into its construction. Kill Bill, perhaps more than any of his other films, has the ‘look’. Granted it does have some of the most ridiculous violence I’ve ever seen on screen; there are close-your-eyes moments, and it’s a bloodbath of a spectacle to say the least – but the pure narrative drive of this neo-everything revenge story, most richly delivered in Vol. 2, is what delivers the real goods. That and a killer soundtrack. Tarantino is a creator of cool.

17. Midnight in Paris (2011)

BBR Festival

This is the best I’ve ever seen from Owen Wilson. You can’t help but root for him as a frustrated writer somehow transported back in time during the small hours of each night, whilst innocently holidaying in France with his ‘materialistic fiancée’ (Rachel McAdams).

In search of his muse, he runs into the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston) and Hemingway (Corey Stoll) in this quirky, warm literary adventure. Wilson is admirably hopeless in trying to explain what’s going on when back in the real, stale world of glitzy vacationing, where his entitled companions are having none of it. Woody Allen at his most charming.

16. Slow West (2015)

Vimeo – Soho Editors

As a directorial debut, they don’t get much more impressive than John Maclean’s beautiful Slow West.

Kodi Smit-McPhee plays the hugely underqualified but plucky Jay, searching for his lost love out in the Wild West of yesteryear, where he bumps into the hard bandit Silas (Michael Fassbender), amongst an eclectic variety of other outlaws, who carry him along on his quest. Ben Mendelsohn gives a quality turn as the villain; another proper standout performance from the man.

Slow West is visually wonderful: quirky, colourful and cleverly filmed, the film is a rich, vivid experience. As a piece of art it’s quite majestic, and as a tale/fable of lost love, emotionally nuanced and affecting. It’s also very enjoyable at a super-slick 84 minutes runtime.

15. Spotlight (2015)

Film Ireland

Spotlight manages to unearth and render, like the Boston Globe journalists themselves did but in a different manner, a truly horrible affair. Yet the abuse of children in the Boston area Catholic Church (and sadly beyond) is a story that has to be told, and Spotlight is the film to tell it.

With powerful performances from Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams, Spotlight does justice to the gruelling journalistic work that goes into uncovering terrible scandals in a no-nonsense, highly realistic portrayal of hard work, betrayal, and a shocking unwillingness to take any responsibility. (I’m also slightly biased towards films about journalism, as we’ll see later.)

14. The King of Comedy (1983)

Split Reel

This under-the-radar Scorsese film is also one of his greatest. It features one of Robert De Niro’s more incredible performances as Rupert Pupkin, a loser in life who desperately wants to become a household name through his stand-up comedy – so much so that he keeps a studio complete with cardboard cut-outs in his mother’s basement. He meets the legendary talk show host Jerry Lewis, and terrorises him until he gets his big break.

De Niro’s turn, as someone so hopelessly desperate and persistent that they’ll do anything for their five seconds of fame, is really remarkable. The King of Comedy tells of how weird and destructive mass media entertainment can be, and is a chilling tale of the horrors of celebrity, despite its upbeat name. The scene where Pupkin performs to a flat picture of a crowd on the wall is a stayer.

13. Control (2007)

IMP Awards

A quiet biopic of the tragic Ian Curtis, former lead singer of Joy Division, became a revelation to me this year. Going into it having no knowledge of the man or his story, Control had its full impact as an incredibly personal and sad story. Shot in a kind of silvery black and white, the music scene of the late 70’s is brought to life and yet also deadened, or numbed. For a film about musicians and the draining effect of the music business, Control is at its most moving in the silent scenes, which there are a lot of, where we see Ian Curtis as the man he really is. This monumental character is portrayed astoundingly by Sam Riley, who I’ve not seen in anything else since – shame, that.

It’s down to earth, charmingly funny in places, but ultimately a very tender film experience of depression and fame, whilst also being a celebration of an artist gone too soon.

12. Foxcatcher (2014)

The Guardian

Another biographical film, here the cold hard world of professional sport, and the brutal obsessions found within it, is explored in gory detail. Despite Steve Carell and Channing Tatum being involved, there are no laughs here. None. This is in fact the chilliest film on the list.

But Carell’s performance as tyrannical millionaire John du Pont, wanting to prove himself by becoming a top wrestling coach in retaliation to his life as a social outcast, is really where the horror of the film resonates. He is terrifying in Foxcatcher. Backed up by the power duo of Tatum and Ruffalo, this grim story finds it feet in these actor’s general departure from more comedic roles. This is, in my opinion, one of the most intense films about sport ever made, and a very disturbing meditation on why obsession in the pursuit of power can become so nasty and lethal – it’s a true story after all, and this gives it that extra kick. About as far from the Office as Steve Carell could ever go.

11. Spirited Away (2001)

Neon Tommy

Spirited Away is a joy.

This film takes you down the rabbit hole, and then some. The animation is dreamlike and transports you instantly, like a painting in motion, buoyed by Joe Hisaishi’s mesmerising, sprinkled music. This experience is not overwhelming as such, but convincing and believable, somehow, and therefore thoroughly magical. Chihiro’s adventure to the mystical bathhouse is full of larger-then-life characters and fantastic creatures whilst gauging real tenderness and human feeling; emotional connections run deep, in that way some animated features just manage to do. It’s an explosion that somehow comes back together.

The way this piece of Japanese artistry can translate into such a positive response from any audience anywhere just goes to illustrate how the stories we tell in our art reflect a kind of shared human language, or experience. Put on top of this the Japanese way of animating, that specific language, and the cultural resonance around the tale it tells, and you have yourselves a truly great film (Kill Bill, not the most obvious of comparison, benefits from this effect in a roughly similar way).

Above all, Spirited Away is simply one of the most stunning and enjoyable pieces of sheer creativity you could hope to experience. Fully aboard the Studio Ghibli bandwagon now.

 

Films 10-1 are being pieced together from the cutting floor as we speak.

 

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