TOP TWENTY BEST FILMS OF 2014
20. WINTER SLEEP
The art-house darling of 2014 and the winner of this
years Palm D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, “Winter Sleep” is
yet another fantastic achievement from Turkish director Nuri Bilge
Ceylan. With his latest film, Ceylan gives up on his usual visual
signatures of the gorgeous Turkish landscapes (although not
entirely), and instead helms a film that takes place mainly indoors
of a hotel that our main character, Aydin, runs in central Anatolia
with his much younger wife Nihal. Residing with the pair is Aydin's
sister Necla who is attempting to recover from her divorce, but with
everyone living in close proximity with one another, politeness
begins to break down and their true animosities towards each other
come to the surface. This is just the bare bones of the plot of this
amazing film as there is a lot more going on here which you would
expect from a film that runs well over three hours. This is not an
easy film to ingest, and certainly wont be for everyone, with the
majority of the drama being played out over long scenes of intense
and complex dialogue. The pace of the film is very deliberate, but
those unfamiliar with Ceylan's style my find it all too slow.
Performances are all stellar and as you would expect, and visually
“Winter Sleep” is a sight to behold. It is true that it is an
exhausting experience but one that rewards the viewers who give the
film a chance richly.
19. IT FOLLOWS
At the time that I saw “It Follows” at MIFF, I was
unaware that it had been little screened elsewhere in the world, and
it is only just now that real buzz for this film has begun in
earnest. This was a horror film that I knew nothing about going in
and it turned out to be such a creepy little gem. The film is about
a teenage girl named Jay, played by Maika Monroe (who is also in “The
Guest”), who after a sexual encounter with a boy, starts to be
followed by a mysterious and insidious force of some kind that's only
intent is to kill her. I'm not sure that description does the film
justice at how scary it is. While the force is an obvious metaphor
for a sexually transmitted disease, what makes the film so creepy is
that the thing that is following Jay could be any person at all. It
just walks in a straight line and continues following her. It may be
hard to explain in words, but visually it is terrifying. Imagine the
image of a nice elderly woman just going for a walk, and then morph
that image into thinking that that innocent walk the old lady is
taking is an attempt to kill Jay. Again, I do not think I am doing
this film justice, but believe me, this will be one of the most
talked about horror films of 2015. Its original and terrific.
18. THE ROVER
David Michod's previous film, “Animal Kingdom”, is
one of my all time favourites and was my number two film in its year
of release. To say that I had big expectations on “The Rover”
would be a massive understatement and while I do not think it was
quite as good as “Animal Kingdom”, I think that it was great
enough to confirm what was already thought; David Michod is going to
be a force in cinema for a very long time. “The Rover” is a much
different film to its predecessor; it is much more quiet and insular
and it is not until the film's final scene that we find out exactly
what the movie is all about. The actual reveal is unexpected and
actually turns the film on its head, because while the film is
contained in these massive outback landscapes, the point of the film
is something very small. Unlike “Animal Kingdom” this film is
presented at a very slow pace and is incredibly violent, however it
is never boring, nor does the violence come across as gratuitous.
Our “hero” has a single purpose, which is to retrieve his stolen
car, and nothing or no-one will stop him from achieving this goal.
Because of this myopic vision, “The Rover” is a very intense
experience and one that continues to build until its finale where all
of that intensity if finally allowed to be expelled. From a
cinematic point of view, “The Rover” is stellar in every
department with the Australian outback never looking more desolate
and beautiful than it does here, and the film is littered with
stunning acting performances with none better than the star of the
film, Guy Pearce. This is an intense role because his character
bottles everything up inside; he is like a ticking timebomb and he
lets his actions do the talking. Seriously I doubt Pearce has been
better than he is here, and he is amply assisted by Robert Pattinson
who plays the brother of the person who stole our hero's car. Due to
the fact that this is not the apocalyptic thriller everyone was
expecting from “The Rover”, the film is seriously undervalued,
but believe me it is well worth anyone's time to check out.
17. ALL CHEERLEADERS DIE
This is such a silly little film but man, I loved ever
second of it. I am a big fan of director, Lucky McKee and his work,
but I must admit that even I was unsure about this film when it was
announced as his latest project. McKee actually co-directs with
Chris Siverston and the film is a remake of a film the two of them
made together back in 2001 (shot on video). I have not seen the
original, so cannot comment on how they compare but what I can say is
that “All Cheerleaders Die” is just a rippingly fun horror film.
Sure, it is gory at times, but overall this is a film that does not
take itself too seriously at all. Coming from the directors of such
dark films as “May”, “The Woman” and “The Lost”, it is
nice to see that they have an ability to make a film that is just fun
and to make it just as entertaining as their other films. The
premise of this film is so dumb but McKee and Siverston treat it
seriously which is the key to the film's success; if they played the
film for laughs it wouldn't have worked but because they do the
opposite the situations the girls find themselves in is hilarious.
“All Cheerleaders Die” is about a group of cheerleaders (duh!)
who die in an automobile accident caused by the jocks of the
highschool. Brought back to life by some mysterious gemstones and
the local wicca girl, the girls head out for revenge against the guys
that killed them. Where a lot of the comedy comes from is that each
girl feels everything the other girls do via the gemstones implanted
in them, be it pain, sorrow or ecstasy. Anyway, like I said, the
film sounds dumb but it was one of the most fun times I have had
watching a film all year.
16. SNOWPIERCER
This
was originally one of my most anticipated films for 2013 but thanks
to the Weinstein Brothers idiocy, this film was not released outside
of Asia until well into 2014, thankfully though in the directors
desired version (which did not look like it was going to be the case
at one time). Being as the film was directed by one of the geniuses
of South Korean cinema, Bong Joon-Ho, it came as no surprise that
“Snowpiercer” was an absolutely brilliant film. This man has yet
to come close to making a bad film. It is everything you would
expect from the director of such hits as “Memories Of Murder”,
“The Host”, and “Mother”; it is smart, original, visual
stunning and entertaining as all heck. While the film is filled with
subtext about class warfare, abuse of the environment, and
dictatorships, (particularly about the danger of when a single
message is constantly drummed into a human being, how those said
humans will end up ultimately believing and conforming to said idea)
Bong Joon-Ho is smart enough to never let these ideas bog the film
down. Rather he has also created one of the finest action films of
the year. Click here to read my original review.
15. LABOR DAY
Having
just written about this exact film in my “Most Underrated” film
of 2014 section, I am not sure there is much more I can add. This is
an emotionally rich film about a single mother suffering from
debilitating depression and an escaped convict looking for a place to
hide, who come together over the course of a Labor Day Weekend. To
say that the time they spend together changes their lives forever
would be a massive understatement. Each has what the other needs and
together they open their eyes once more and believe in life and love
again and by the end of the film, they both are ready to face the
world head-on. The film is about many things, not least the fact
that before you can make plans for the future you must come to terms
with your past, and it also looks at just how much influence one
person can have on another's life in such a short period of time. It's
such a beautiful film.
14. COLD IN JULY
Next to Jeff Nichols, it is my opinion that Jim Mickle
is the most important new director to come out of the United States
in the past ten years. With each film he continues to get better and
better, and “Cold In July” is his best film yet. Sadly though it
is the kind of film that you really cannot talk about because the
enjoyment you receive from it is in discovering all of its twists.
What little I can say about it is that it is a crime thriller, and a
superior one at that. The film begins when Richard (Michael C. Hall)
accidentally kills an intruder in his home during an attempted
robbery. Shaken and disturbed by the incident, it isn't long before
Richard learns that the person he killed was the son of a dangerous
criminal, and worse he has just gotten out of jail on parole. The
first thing the man does once out of jail is look for Richard to take
revenge for his son's death, but things are not what they first seem.
To give away any more about this film would be itself criminal but
what I will say is that from where the film begins, you would never
guess where it ends. The film does not have a bad performance in it
with Michael C. Hall exceptional as Richard (making you completely
forget about his “Dexter” character), Sam Shepard intimidating as
the ex-con, and a scene-stealing flamboyant performance from Don
Johnson who plays a suave aging bounty hunter. Cinematically, Mickle
continues to be at the top of his game following on from where he
left off with “We Are What We Are”. The film is gorgeously shot
with classic compositions and I was also very impressed by the
detailed period design of the film (it is set in the 1980's). I love
“Cold In July” and all its surprises and look forward to whatever
Jim Mickle commits himself to next.
13. ENEMY
The
first of two doppelganger thrillers that are on this list, Denis
Villeneuve's “Enemy” is a glorious mind-fuck of a film. It is a
film that has smartly been left up to the interpretation of each
individual viewer. Nothing is over explained, but little clues are
left throughout the film to help work out exactly what is going on.
Visual motifs such as spiders, keys, high heels are constantly
highlighted in the film but it is up to the viewer to work out what
each means or represents. This is the kind of cinema I love, because
it makes the film forever rewatchable as each time you look at it,
you seem to notice another piece of the puzzle. For now I will say
that I have my own theory as to what is going on that involves a past
infidelity, and a current temptation which is causing our main
character to have a mental breakdown of sorts. However, I must
stress, this could be totally wrong and the doppelgangers of Adam and
Anthony may indeed be two totally different people. The plot, as per
my original review of the film, is “about
a
university teacher, Adam, who one day by chance, happens to notice
his exact double in a movie he is watching on dvd. This revelation
seems to shake Adam up, and he becomes obsessed with meeting the
actor, Anthony, at first on just a curiosity level. When the two
boys finally meet and realise that they are indeed exact doubles of
one another (with matching scars to boot), it sets into motion a
series of events that sees Adam and Anthony start to infiltrate the
lives of the other, with their unsuspecting wife/girlfriend being
pawns in their games of duplicity”. Jake Gyllenhaal plays both
Adam and Anthony and he does a fantastic job of differentiating the
two so you always know who is who, mainly through the use of body
language. While this is the second collaboration between Gyllenhaal
and director Villeneuve to be released, it was actually shot before
the earlier released “Prisoners”. It is obvious that these two
have fantastic chemistry together and I sincerely hope they work
together again in the near future.
12. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
We finally make it to the prerequisite Coen Brother's
title on this list. While I always love whatever the Coen Brothers
dish up, lately I have found myself gravitating more towards their
“smaller” films (like “A Serious Man”) as opposed to their
bigger budget stuff (“True Grit”). Their latest film, “Inside
Llewyn Davis” is what I would consider another of their small films
and it is simply fantastic. The film is about the folk singing scene
in the early sixties and as you would expect from these
perfectionists, the period detail within the film is spot on. What
makes this film so delightful is its melancholic tone, and yet
despite this tone, the film is quite uplifting and funny at times,
with Llewyn Davis very endearing despite his view and outlook on the
world. Oscar Isaac is superb as the title character truly getting
across his love of music and his constant tiredness of being
rejected. As much as he loves his art, the constant failure is
wearing him down and as such he is the kind of person that is hard to
be around due to his glass half empty mentality. He is a character
that also lacks any sort of adult responsibility and makes no
apologies for who he is. One amusing character trait is the fact
that Davis is always carrying his neighbours cat who he was in charge
of looking after before locking himself out of the apartment. Within
moments of deep sadness, there are these almost slapstick scenes
involving the cat which work beautifully in the film. Other
supporting actors in the film are Carey Mulligan, John Goodman,
Justin Timberlake and Garrett Hedlund who are all pitch perfect. The
songs are great, the look of the film is stunning (the Coen's regular
DP Roger Deakins was unavailable to shoot this film, so Bruno
Delbonnel ably filled his shoes creating a different looking Coen
Brothers film that is no less beautiful); “Inside Llewyn Davis”
is just a great film.
11. GRAND PIANO
Out
of all of the plots of all of the films on this list, “Grand Piano”
probably has the most ridiculous (with “All Cheerleaders Die” a
close second), but the reason this film makes the list and so high on
the list, all has to do with technique. Eugenio Mira's direction on
“Grand Piano”is a tour de force, as he makes a potentially silly
film into one of the best thrillers of the year. As per the IMDB
synopsis, the film goes something like this: “ During
his comeback performance, a pianist who suffers from stage fright
finds a note "play one note wrong, and you die". The notes
continue on his sheet music and he is instructed to play the most
perfect performance of his life or his wife will be murdered in
retaliation.
He
is about to find out the true definition of stage fright.
The greatest compliment I can give both Mira and “Grand Piano”
is that the film actually felt like a Brian De Palma film. What I
loved about Mira's direction is that he used every cinematic trick in
the book to build suspense including a couple of terrific set pieces.
The way his is able to make a seemingly boring act like playing the
piano, so interestingly cinematic is testament to his talents, as is
his ability to create such a tense atmosphere around a guy sitting in
front of a piano for the majority of the film. Where the film gets
really hokey is when we learn why the sniper wants the pianist to
play the perfect performance of his life; it is just plain dumb, but
again Mira makes it work when there is no way in hell it should of.
Elijah Wood once again comes across as believable as the pianist but
also as someone in well over his head. While John Cusack is fine in
his role, he is relatively underused here. I know I may get some
raised eyebrows for this decision, but I absolutely love “Grand
Piano” and am not at all ashamed to add it to this list. Click here to read my original review.
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