The Best Films of 2014
A Landmark Year At The Movies
I adore going to the movies. I love how images capture human life in a singular moment. At its best, a film extends that into a scene and from there, as the late Roger Ebert once said, becomes an “empathy machine”. Throw in a good script, some well-written dialogue and a great soundtrack and we’ve got ourselves a product that leaves an impression for months to come. However, writing about movies is difficult. It’s a topic of incredible subjectivity, making it far too easy to assess a movie based purely on emotion. On the other hand, this is what makes a movie such a powerful topic of discussion—people go back and forth, almost evangelizing their points, often leaving either party agreeing to disagree.
But it’s now the new year. And for the average working adult there have been frankly too many great films to see in 2014. Thus my hope is to provide a way to sift through the machine that is Hollywood and the international film community. And as film critic Jason Gorber of Twitch wrote this past Friday:
Yet another list, adding yet another fatuous bracketing of art as it it was some sort of sport or competition, We look to an arbitrary marker (the end of a calendar year) and then tally up our likes and dislikes to fuel our own (narcissistic?) compulsions.
Perhaps with much less cynicism, here I go:
Boyhood
Simply put, the only film that had me misty-eyed this year. Emotions aside, this 166-minute behemoth epitomizes how a movie is a delivery device for human storytelling. The 12-year filming period, the dedication of the actors to stay beyond their contracts and the incredible script all added up to the real surprise: the film’s utter sincerity. The emotional tension was palpable in the audience which included families and parents (including my own). Such a memory in and of itself is a testament to Linklater’s impact on a multi-generational level.
Nightcrawler
When I saw that Dan Gilroy, a formidable screenwriter was directing this, I knew that at the very least, this would be a freshly original story. After walking out of the screening however, I received much more than I had expected. Forget original, Nightcrawler is the most unconventional American movie in recent memory. Devoid of traditional character development, we’re thrust into a story of how a man of uninhibited ambition can succeed in America without moral consequences. Jake Gyllenhaal is perfect in his portrayal of Lou Bloom, a publicly civil yet privately psychotic man that we follow through the veering open streets of nighttime Los Angeles.
Inherent Vice
Paul Thomas Anderson is like a cinematic Picasso—always challenging himself afresh with new films that defy convention and genre. His latest work, which is an adaptation of a seemingly unadaptable novel by Thomas Pynchon, is dripping in nostalgically gorgeous cinematography. Personally, I still regard There Will Be Blood as his masterwork but Inherent Vice comes close as a second-place contender. It encapsulates the cultural climate of the early 70's—hippies were waking up from their haze of pretension and America was seeing its politics and the outside world in increasing turmoil. Vice places itself squarely in this context with an incredibly dense script that may seem unmanageable at first but is so hysterical that it becomes more than palatable. Down to its final film-noir frames, the experience is well worth it.
Grand Budapest Hotel
I’m of the opinion that Wes Anderson’s latest is his finest feature yet. When a film can communicate the human tendency to yearn desperately for the past, I’m all over it. By specifically using a hotel and its eclectic staff to deliver such a message, I believe Anderson succeeds brilliantly. Yes, all his usual schticks are on display here but never with such cohesion and forward momentum.
Citizenfour
A documentary about the most audacious American whistleblower in modern history. Yet despite its coverage of such hot-button issues, the film smartly reveals to us an average, albeit incredibly intelligent American man named Edward.
Locke
Tom Hardy driving in a BMW for 90 minutes. What could possibly go right with such a premise? But Locke proves to be smartly subversive, using a man’s confinement in a vehicle moving in a singular direction representing an irreversible choice. Watching Hardy unravel the consequences of such decisions was fascinating as passing headlights, pole lights and the glow of his onscreen dashboard illuminate his incredibly expressive face.
Raid 2: Berandal
If there’s one goal in 2015 with regards to film, it would be to watch more foreign language movies. There have been great ones this year that I’ve yet to catch up with (Force Majeure, Ida, Goodbye to Language, The Tale of Princess Kaguya) but alas, I did go see the Raid 2, an Indonesian action movie that by all accounts, knocked the wind out of the entire theatre. Following up on the original Raid, Berandal renders the first film into child’s play as every aspect is exponentially made more intense. Director Gareth Evans keenly uses a steady escalation of beautifully choreographed mixed martial arts, giving us room to breathe with some Indonesian gangster drama.
The Keeping Room (TIFF 2014)
I was fortunate enough to catch a few films at TIFF this year but by far the standout from my screenings was this Civil War dramatic film. Grounded with three equally powerful female leads, the story moves briskly, using the American South as a proven backdrop for highlighting America’s dark underbelly. Look for its wide release in the fall of this year.
And that’s a wrap! In the coming weeks, some amendments may come to this post as I hope to catch up with Only Lovers Left Alive, Foxcatcher, Frank, Whiplash, Calvary, Force Majeure, Selma, Mr. Turner and A Most Violent Year. Yeah that’s a lot of film.
As always, thanks for reading! — J
Honourable Mentions
Interstellar
Christopher Nolan’s epic delivers some definite visual thrills on the IMAX screen but ultimately left me unsatisifed with its heavy-handed emotional scenes and rather ridiculous fifth-dimension sequences. I still love my “McConaissance” but perhaps next time Nolan should adjust his ambitions slightly.
Birdman
I understood the well intentions of this film to have its leads and the Hollywood community examine the fleeting nature of stardom but by the end, I found it too navel-gazing and self-reflective to be anything memorable. Treat yourself to 50's classics Sunset Boulevard and All About Eve if you’re looking for some aging actors desperately searching for relevance again.
Gone Girl
For all the things this movie gets right—a provocative look at marriage relations, a haunting soundtrack and a chilling performance by Rosamund Pike, the movie doesn’t really find its cinematic climax, leaving me with the sense that I just watched a really well-executed TV drama.
Imitation Game
A prestige biopic with the usual Oscar formula: have a true story, have your lead experience emotional breakdown and have it be a rousing victory for the West. Ignore the rather overblown marketing and see it for its vital history lesson.
