my favorite films of 2013

These are my subjective favorites, not the ones I think "worthiest". (The most important film of the year is no doubt the Act of Killing, but I'll be damned if I'm going to call it a favorite.) On the other hand, nothing on this list is shabbily done; they are all objectively delightful in their own ways. It should also be noted the many I have not yet seen, including Inside Llewyn Davis, Her, American Hustle, Bastards, and, most crucially, Under the Skin.

In no particular order:

1. Stoker:

A darkly beautiful Gothic thriller, shot and assembled with brio and care. It's like getting the good parts of a Tim Burton film, the gorgeous palette and huge vision and attention to detail, without the kitsch and camp and script mishaps. It's best to go in knowing as little as possible, but if spraying blood and violent death make you squeamish, you may want to head for a different party.

2. the Lone Ranger and also here

3. Before Midnight:

If you haven't watched the other two and so haven't built up a relationship with Jesse and Celine, this may seem like getting caught in the middle of a marital thunderstorm, which is never pleasant. For those of us who have grown into adulthood alongside these people (because they do feel like real people. We've watched them age, seen the sameness and the differences), this is the best of the three. I have never before seen an ongoing conversation between long-time lovers which felt so extraordinarily true, and the fight they have is just flat-out courageous. Delpy in particular lets herself go way over the edge into bitchdom, which we all do in real life, just nobody ever does it onscreen, not in a real way. Hawke's Jesse, too, lets himself be very annoying (with his repeated accusations of her having "blown" other men), although it's clear that part of the problem in their relationship is that he is the "nice" guy, that she carries the bulk of the shadow in the household.

For many years, I was the anti-Hawke poster-child. A trusted friend once came to me and said, "There's this movie, Gattaca, you have to see it, you'd love it," and my response was, "I believe you, but I've taken an oath that I will not watch anything with Ethan Hawke in it." I did, too, I avoided all his movies for many years. This was the series which made me change my ways, and turned my mind around about him. (I'm still tentative, though. It was Reality Bites. Did you see that? I hated him so much in it that even in the wake of this "Before" series, a series I think as great as any trilogy ever made, possibly the greatest, even now I approach his films sidelong and slowly, ready to bolt at a single wrong move.)

4. Much Ado About Nothing:

The play itself is so extraordinarily well-written and its characters so engaging that no matter how often you see it, there are lines which never fail to delight. In this one, Benedick's "Your answer is enigmatical," is particularly pleasing, and Nathan Fillion and Tom Lenk as Dogberry and his Verges are an unexpected laugh-riot. (Unexpected because I always groan and roll my eyes when Dogberry comes onstage, but this version is whittled down to emphasize the funny bits, and Fillion is just the guy for the job.)

5. the Last Stand:

Ji-Woon Kim is right up there alongside Mel Gibson as a master at storytelling through action. He loves speed, yes, is intoxicated with copious, exaggerated amounts of it, but he also loves putting on the brakes suddenly to explore a slow, quiet moment, as when a bad guy gets his ear blown off, or the villain and the hero are driving sportscars through a cornfield and must stop and hover and listen. His pacing is perfect, and his exploration of dynamics is revitalizing.

There's some American cornpone, but that must be attractive to a first-time player in the American sandbox, and although a little Johnny Knoxville goes a long way, the second time I watched this I actually thought he was funny. Eduardo Noriega disappointed me: his voice is weak when he speaks English. In my favorite section, at the bridge, at the beginning of the final showdown, he seems to be imitating Eli Wallach from the Magnificent Seven, and I wish he had done more of that.

Great music.

6. Mud:

Sometimes I feel like a voice in the wilderness, calling out to unhearing masses about the consistently high quality of McConaughey's work, but I think my long years of faith are about to be rewarded. Between this and the Oscar-Obvious Dallas Buyers Club (so Oscar-Obvious, in fact, that I may not watch it), this may be his year to shake off the pretty-boy stoner label and find recognition among the real actors. (He has long belonged with one foot firmly in both camps, and why not? I love a guy who can surf.)

It looks on the surface like another boys' coming-of-age story, but it's really about love between men and women, about how near-impossible it is to learn and even harder to practice, and how tenuous it is even when you get it right. (As one boy says early on after another admits to a crush on a girl, "You know you'll have to talk to her," to which the other replies a little despondently, "Yeah, I know.") It bears some resemblance to Winter's Bone in its evocation of a backwoods existence, this time in the islands and riverlands of the South. Even secondary characters, like Michael Shannon as an unlikely parent-substitute trying his best, are clearly delineated and fully alive.

The young actors are good, all the actors are, but, as always, it's McConaughey who has the money scene. I don't want to give it away, but it involves a copperhead, and the glorious physical immediacy he brings to the sequence is a thing that few actors could conjure.

7. Room 237:

Relentlessly pursuing cinematic obsession and movie criticism into a beautiful realm of absurdity, Rodney Ascher has given four (five?) Shining fanatics of various levels of sanity free reign in which to expound their theories about the film at some length. We never see them, watching only footage from the original interspersed with various visual aids to further our understanding. The resulting connotations are intriguing: about how we immerse ourselves in film in order to investigate metaphysics, politics, and the other, vaster levels of life, about the complexities of mental labyrinths, and also a remarking on the wild genius of Stanley Kubrick, whose works inspire such overtime.

It's a tribute to the original film that, even in mere cuttings and kept at arm's length by narration, it still creeped me out to the point at which it was hard to sleep.

8. Ain't Them Bodies Saints:

Lodged firmly at the fulcrum point connecting Nick Cave (sans the ultraviolence) and Terrence Malick (but with both feet lodged firmly on the ground), it's an old story of crime and longing in old Texas, superbly shot and edited. Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara underplay to perfection, and the rest of the cast (Keith Carradine, Ben Foster, Nate Parker) follow suit.

9. 12 Years a Slave:

This kind of film rarely escapes the life-nullifying grip of toe-ing the Politically Correct line, but this one very nearly accomplishes it. McQueen is one of our best, Ejiofor and Fassbender are both stunning; the telling of the story on a canvas stretched across the many years should be clunky but McQueen makes it seamless, timeless, and a joy. My complaint is that he shies away from the complexities of relationship, but that's a thing you give up when you have so many years to run across at a gallop. Also, there were moments when he lost me, like when the girl cries out that she wishes our hero had been the one to whip her.

For some fascinating insight into its flaws from someone who's read the source material, see Walter Chaw's review at Film Freak Central.

10. The World's End:

I was later to the party than most, having been less impressed by Shaun of the Dead than... well, anyone else I've ever talked to, actually, the result being that I failed to watch its follow-up, Hot Fuzz. Having greatly enjoyed Simon Pegg's turn as Montgomery Scott, however, I made it a point to traverse the Golden Mile to the World's End pub alongside the lads, and Pegg is now my total hero. More satisfying in every way than its American-Comic-Royalty counterpart This is the End in emotional gratification, dynamic flow, excitement, and sheer funniness, it's literally like nothing you have ever seen before, I guarantee it. (Except, maybe, Shaun of the Dead, which I don't frankly remember very well.) Plus, I love Rosamund Pike.


Also worthy of mention:

Gravity: This is the first movie I've seen in 3-D that didn't give me a headache, and I came out thinking, "That is exactly what 3-D is for." The test will be, once it comes out on DVD, whether it is watchable WITHOUT 3-D. (Go back and watch Hugo. Pretty dull, and certainly too long, once you strip away the tricks.)

Post Tenebras Lux: I can't say I loved it, but it was the boldest movie I watched all year, and I'm still thinking about its startlingly eldritch images and perfect, merciless editing.

We Are What We Are: *SPOILER ALERT* A cautionary tale against raising your kids to be cannibals, it's an impressive endeavour, with smooth camerawork, three-dimensional characters, a strong sense of backstory, and atmosphere to spare. It descends jarringly into (unintended?) comedy at the end, although even that bit carries the virtue of poetic justice. The acting is good, and Michael Parks deserves special mention in a gentle and true performance as the doctor who won't give up.

All said, its flaws are few, and it's easily one of the best horror films of the year.