I don’t want to label 2014 as a good, bad, or average year. I want to call it inventive, original, and delightfully dark. Whether it’s doppelgänger paradoxes leading to murderous rage, the bleak carnage of war, prison violence, or psychologically debilitating struggles to be great, my favorite films had an edge that cut to the bone by credits’ end.
The best thing I can say about 2014 is that my top ten (heck, maybe my top twenty-five) could be re-organized and re-listed without making me too angry about what is mentioned before my #1 pick (that one stays right where it is). So maybe it was a good year after all.
I just wish I was able to keep up on foreign film front better. For whatever reason, all the best contenders received very late releases locally during Spring 2015. Some may never come.
Films not seen yet that have potential of creeping into the Top 10: Belle, The Better Angels, Beyond the Lights, Clouds of Sils Maria, Dear White People, The Drop, Finding Vivian Maier, Frank, Jodorowsky’s Dune, Last Days in Vietnam, Life Itself, Listen Up Phillip, Love is Strange, Manakamana, Mandariinid [Tangerines], Mommy, Palo Alto, The Salt of the Earth, The Skeleton Twins, Timbuktu, Virunga, Kis Uykusu [Winter Sleep]
Honorable Mention:
15. Guardians of the Galaxy, review: While Marvel was always bound to make it on a year-end list courtesy of their consistent quality under Disney’s banner, I never thought it would be the property I knew absolutely nothing about. James Gunn proves the perfect fit for the comic bent and Chris Pratt a surprisingly effective superhero in the same vein. Add a menagerie of characters from talking trees, raccoons, and an alien who doesn’t understand metaphors and you get one of the most entertaining action flicks of the past few years. It fires on all cylinders right down to its catchy classic rock soundtrack and it needs minimal if any knowledge of the other MCU installments to comprehend its hilarious wonders.
14. Wild, review: Give Reese Witherspoon credit for seeing the true tale of Cheryl Strayed‘s journey inward by way of a thousand-plus mile hike along the western coast of America as something necessary to share with the world. It’s been well-documented that the actress has spoken out about a lack of quality female roles in Hollywood and she’s now putting her money where her mouth is by producing her own. A one-woman show of extreme strength, courage, and emotion—with some memorable supporting players like Laura Dern challenging her the entire way—Wild provides a story about humanity and our capacity to discover rebirth after we lose our way.
13. Starred Up, review: This film is fierce and unapologetic — two things I can’t help but find myself investing in, no matter what the subject matter might be in the end. Jack O’Connell is a a wreaking ball; Ben Mendelsohn a conflicted father learning far too late what such a title means once reunited with his son behind the bars of a maximum security prison. The evolution screenwriter Jonathan Asser gives his characters in so short a time is an impossible feat that only someone who experienced such a world in real life could even dream to complete. When the system is rigged, you do what you can to survive it. Often times, however, it’s never enough.
12. Boyhood, review: Richard Linklater‘s twelve-year-long passion project earns a spot on this list for its sheer scope alone. The confidence to set a movie in motion with a shooting schedule spanning longer than a decade and two unproven child actors at its center is unimaginable. Sure, it doesn’t necessarily say much beyond those universal truths about adolescence that we’ve all experienced (because that’s not important), but it does so with a level of honesty you cannot manufacture during a two-month production. Add an unforgettable turn from Patricia Arquette as the mother doing what she can to give her children a good life, and we’re for all intents and purposes shown our America in its full, tragically optimistic glory.
11. A Most Violent Year, review: I was a fan of Margin Call and thought All Is Lost was a tad over-rated, but A Most Violent Year is without a doubt a home run for writer/director J.C. Chandor. Ignore its lack of award season love and watch it for its impeccable style, complicated characters, and subdued mob atmosphere. It’s an American Dream tale about turning the other cheek despite knowing how helpful a show of strength could prove for success. It’s an existential wrestling match as well with Oscar Isaac‘s Abel Morales doing everything he can to stay true to himself while everyone around him slowly chips away at his resolve.
The Top Ten of 2014:
10. Selma, review: Throw all that over-the-top backlash and conspiracy theories out the window because Selma is the real deal. So powerful, I couldn’t believe when I learned afterwards that the filmmakers weren’t able to use Martin Luther King Jr.’s actual speeches. That’s how good David Oyelowo is at delivering the rousing words given to him and the revelry we as a nation hold for a legend like MLK. We’re thrown back and forth to the front lines of his civil rights fight in the titular city, the pontificating of Gov. George Wallace at the capital, and President Johnson’s struggle between politics and decency. This is war—violent, unforgivable war wrought both physically and psychologically. And Ava DuVernay holds nothing back to ensure we all realize it.
09. Relatos salvajes [Wild Tales], review: Don’t think that this film’s construction as six separate short films with nothing to connect them but darkly comic fates makes it less worthy of your attention than a more cohesive feature. As my placing it on this list shows, it’s better than almost every other picture I saw in 2015 regardless. If anything the ability to say so much and not be hindered by the contrived need to drop everything on one small stable of characters is key to its success. The hilarity that ensues from its pitch-black humor helps as well because I couldn’t stop laughing as my worst thoughts came to life. Wild Tales is a cathartic release, doing all the things we wish we could in civilized society but know we never will.
08. Fury, review: For all who label it too brutal or too redundant compared to an ever-increasing catalog of authentic war dramas: shut up. With quite possibly the best ensemble cast of 2014 anchored by a supporting actor Oscar nomination-caliber performance from Logan Lerman, I was on the edge of my seat throughout. Fury, like 2009′s Lebanon, is less about the war or the vehicle wearing the film’s title proudly as it is the men packed within a ticking bomb. It’s a character-driven work expertly written to allow each actor room to deliver as much substance by expression as words. A devastating two-plus hours at the movies.
07. Coherence, review: A massively overlooked gem from 2014, Coherence is the cream of the science fiction crop whether my next two selections accompany them within the genre or not. It’s a bona fide head-scratcher bringing the Schrodinger’s Cat conundrum (popularized in “The Big Bang Theory”) to life before our eyes. A working knowledge of the physics definition of the title definitely helps get a foothold closer to solving its mysteries, but this puzzle of doppelgängers, coded boxes, and quasi-time travel delights in its impenetrability, too. It also proves how a great film isn’t just about A-list stars or big budgets. All you need to manufacture a suspense thriller spanning infinite dimensions is a single set.
06. Enemy, review: A24 had a memorable year with a massive slate topped by this and my following entry. The afterthought at TIFF 2013 with director Denis Villeneuve also bringing Prisoners to light, Enemy is the one that stuck in my mind long after it ended. Darkly sinister, with a central mystery you’ll have to decipher for yourself, Jake Gyllenhaal provides a physical manifestation of the good and bad angel on everyone’s shoulder. He might not be as crazed as he is in Nightcrawler, but the ferocity bubbling underneath his nice-guy façade is definitely present. Oh, and how about that spider?
05. Under the Skin, review: Mesmerizing visuals, a singular central performance by Scarlett Johansson, and the provider of a bottom-less well of meaning, social commentary, and post-viewing intellectual discourse, Under the Skin is quite frankly a treasure in cinema’s new millennium. It’s definitely not for everyone, but those willing to give it a chance are going to at the very least partake in a theater-going experience like no other. Subtle sci-fi at its finest, you’ll either walk out halfway through or leave utterly shaken to your core.
04. Hellion, review: The knocks on Kat Candler‘s latest feature seem to stem from a place of stark drama overkill on behalf of the critics watching. Had they seen it before all those that already saturated the market, I wonder what the consensus would have been. For me it’s simply the type of film I love to watch. Emotionally powerful, I never felt manipulated once as each character progression occurs naturally until its inevitable climactic moment of nail-biting violence, stemming straight from the heart. Aaron Paul stands out as a broken father unable to let go of the love he thought would be forever and Josh Wiggins is a revelation as the wild yet sensitive son traveling a dangerous road to maturity.
03. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), review: I won’t lie: my love for this film is 80% due to its brilliant visual device. How can you not get drawn into the faux one-take from start to finish, with each entrance and exit of a character so meticulously timed and planned to seamlessly flow into the next room? Pile on the other 20% coming courtesy of some of 2014′s best acting from a rejuvenated Michael Keaton, a fantastically playful Ed Norton, and the scene-stealing bite of Emma Stone, and the story almost doesn’t matter. After all, the plot is super contrived and perfectly cyclical, but for this well-oiled machine of a film, it must be.
02. Calvary, review: Precisely funny in the darkest way, considering a plot surrounding a priest awaiting his death by a parishioner searching for retribution against the Catholic church, this understated gem is all about its characters. Each is a little off-kilter; each a prospective suspect with the means and mindset to pull the trigger. Brendan Gleeson is at his best — conflicted, introspective, ever faithful — but so is John Michael McDonagh. I enjoyed The Guard enough, but the dialogue here is so sharp that I now see what everyone else did back then.
01. Whiplash, review: I didn’t give many films four stars this year (the top four entries here are it) and, until catching Whiplash, none hit me with the force that demanded I do so. The fact that it would be a breakout to finally give me that visceral punch to the gut makes it all the more astounding. Damien Chazelle‘s look into the dangerously volatile world of genius ran away with the 2014 crown before the last note of its mesmerizing, edge-of-your-seat climax cut to black. J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller‘s powerhouse performances highlight the whole, but this thing is so much more than its stellar parts.
Top Nine
Foreign Films:
1. Relatos salvejes [Wild Tales], review
2. Samba, review
3. ЛЕВИАФАН [Leviafan] [Leviathan], review
4. Deux jours, une nuit [Two Days, One Night], review
5. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, review
6. Turist [Force Majeure], review
7. Libertador [The Liberator], review
8. Abus de faiblesse [Abuse of Weakness], review
9. Gui lai [Coming Home], review
Top Nine
Documentaries:
1. The Overnighters, review
2. 20,000 Days on Earth, review
3. Citizenfour, review
4. Particle Fever, review
5. The Wanted 18, review
6. Dinosaur 13, review
7. Beats of the Antonov, review
8. Björk: Biophilia Live, review
9. Take Me to the River, review
Top Five
Animated Films:
1. The Lego Movie, review
2. Song of the Sea, review
3. The Boxtrolls, review
4. Big Hero 6, review
5. How to Train Your Dragon 2, review
Top Five
Directors:
1. Richard Linklater, Boyhood
2. Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman
3. Ava DuVernay, Selma
4. J.C. Chandor, A Most Violent Year
5. Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Top Five
Supporting Actresses:
1. Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
2. Emma Stone, Birdman
3. Laura Dern, Wild
4. Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
5. Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Top Five
Supporting Actors:
1. J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
2. Edward Norton, Birdman
3. Logan Lerman, Fury
4. Gary Poulter, Joe
5. Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
Top Five
Lead Actresses:
1. Julianne Moore, Still Alice
2. Reese Witherspoon, Wild
3. Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
4. Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
5. Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Top Five
Lead Actors:
1. Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
2. Michael Keaton, Birdman
3. Jack O’Connell, Starred Up
4. Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
5. Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game