Top 50 for 2015 Part 2: 40–31
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40. Turbo Kid (Canada, dir. François Simard, Anouk Whissell, & Yoann-Karl Whissell): Vimeo, Amazon
TURBO KID was too quickly dismissed by a lot of critics for leaning too hard on “nostalgia,” but that’s sort of missing the point. Sure, there are clear callbacks to 80s sci-fi movies, cartoons, comic books, and video games. But like Steven Kostanski’s short “W Is for Wish” from THE ABCS OF DEATH 2, the nostalgia is tempered by the realistic depiction of the type of violence frequently shown in that media. In other words, when The Kid (Munro Chambers) gets his arm blaster, the bad guys don’t just disappear when he shoots them like they do in MEGA MAN: they explode in a torrent of blood. The film’s juxtaposition of a light, almost GOONIES-esque tone and gruesome violence is jarring and frequently hilarious, its twin impulses of sweetness and bloodlust embodied on-screen by the characters of Apple (Laurence Leboeuf, who absolutely steals the movie with her maniacally cheery performance) and Skeletron (Edwin Wright). TURBO KID is a pure sugar rush and a hugely entertaining action adventure.
39. Creed (USA, dir. Ryan Coogler)
CREED is top-shelf Hollywood blockbuster dramatic entertainment with some unbelievable fight choreography and multiple satisfying character arcs. It is made so expertly, in fact, that it begs the question of why more big studio movies aren’t made like this, and it throws the shortcomings of its contemporaries into sharp relief. The cast is excellent, led by a pair of great performances by Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone, and the characters are all carefully detailed. The two main boxing scenes in the film are both astonishing both for technical reasons (the first big fight staged in a single unbroken shot, the protracted climactic battle in the ring) and for how they pay off the audience’s emotional investment in the characters. It’s a thrilling, involving drama and a great example of how to make a great Hollywood movie by paying attention to the things that matter instead of spending tens of millions of dollars on CGI explosions.
38. Mistress America (USA, dir. Noah Baumbach): Amazon, iTunes
FRANCES HA was probably my favorite Baumach film yet, and I was excited to hear that he and Greta Gerwig had another collaboration in the works. While MISTRESS AMERICA may not be quite as great as their previous work together, it’s still very entertaining and proves once again that Baumbach knows how to play perfect to Gerwig’s strengths as an actress. She has an easy, natural poise and a warm screen presence, and these twin films are perfect showcases for her. This time around, though, Baumbach places her at the center of a film that melds elements of coming of age stories and screwball comedy, and the cadence of the dialogue often recalls prime Hal Hartley. Gerwig and Lola Kirke are fantastic and endearing leads, and the bright score by Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips gives the film a bouncy but wistful tone.
37. Phoenix (Germany, dir. Christian Petzold): Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, Google
There was not a better ending in any film in 2015 than the one here, a carefully staged, devastating gut punch that is so perfect it’s almost impossible to believe the movie actually pulls it off. Christian Petzold’s post-WWII drama takes cues from VERTIGO and film noir, but instead of being a straightforward thriller PHOENIX works stealthily on a level of pure metaphor. That’s not to say it’s not incredibly satisfying from a dramatic standpoint — again, that ending! — but it does explain some critics’ complaints of characters’ actions in the film straining credulity. Of course, an alternate explanation seems equally as likely: when faced with incontrovertible evidence of one’s willing complicity in one of the worst crimes in human history, who wouldn’t behave a little oddly? Who wouldn’t be desperate to make that story into something else, even if the new story was still something to be ashamed of? The story of PHOENIX is deceptively simple, but it leaves the viewer with a tremendous amount to reflect on after the shock of its final minutes.
36. Yakuza Apocalypse (Japan, dir. Takashi Miike)
After a tear of international cult hits in the late 90s and early 2000s, the stream of U.S. releases of films by Takashi Miike slowed considerably. So did his pace of filmmaking: after making over 50 films between his first big breakthrough in the States with SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY in 1995 and THE GREAT YOKAI WAR in 2005, Miike slowed from 5 or more films a year to a more reasonable (but still mind-boggling) 2 or 3 over the last few years. The content and production value of his films also changed considerably, leading some fans to speculate on whether more traditional films like 13 ASSASSINS and HARA-KIRI signaled a transition from Miike’s proclivity for weird spectacle into more respectable work-for-hire.
Whether that was the case or not, YAKUZA APOCALYPSE is a full-force return to the batshit insanity that made Miike’s reputation in the first place. It’s relentlessly absurd, packed with bizarre images and ideas and awesome fights (Yayan Ruhian from THE RAID films is put to good use here), including several between various yakuza vampires and a seemingly unbeatable guy in a fuzzy, bright green full-body frog suit. Like Miike’s DEAD OR ALIVE, YAKUZA APOCALYPSE builds to an impossibly weird finale, this time ending on a jaw-dropping middle finger punchline. It’s exciting to know that nearly 100 films into his career, Miike is still capable of making something this weird and unpredictable.
35. Mad Max: Fury Road (Australia, dir. George Miller): Amazon, iTunes, Google
“Finally, the work began by Eadweard Muybridge in the 19th century has come to full fruition. Without hyperbole, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is the apex of all human artistic endeavor. Photography, cinema, drama, music, poetry: all previous works are now obsolete. They were embarrassing but necessary stepping stones to the creation of this one piece of art. Never again will mankind have to toil pointlessly toward expression of feeling or thought. This film is the Rosetta Stone for understanding the full breadth of the human experience. It is here now, and man’s restless soul may finally cease its toil. We now understand each other fully, regardless of race, creed, or language, and as more and more people see FURY ROAD, the peace of brotherhood will blanket the Earth forever. Amen.” — Everybody who saw FURY ROAD before it opened in wide theatrical release
I’m not going to argue that FURY ROAD is not a pretty great action movie, or a shockingly auteurist film to come out of the major studio system, because I don’t think those are things that anybody can really mount a reasonable argument against. However, I will say that more than any other film in recent memory, it hit screens with a level of pre-release hype and praise that was seemed less like enthusiasm and more like certifiable insanity. And then once it was released, that massive wave of unqualified praise continued unabated. This is not me complaining about the movie at all, by the way, but about how the Great and Terrible Hype Machine of the internet continues to shut down reasonable discourse regarding films. I’m not convinced FURY ROAD is the ultimate achievement of the cinematic art, but I do believe it’s one of the best post-apocalyptic action movies ever made, and I feel like that should be enough.
34. The Interior (Canada, dir. Trevor Juras)
James (Patrick McFadden) has received some bad news about his health. Suddenly finding himself with nothing to lose, he spectacularly quits his job and tries to make big changes, but it’s not enough. He makes a clean break with his life and sets off alone into the interior of British Columbia with minimal supplies. That covers about the first ten minutes of THE INTERIOR; after that, the film consists almost entirely of footage of James wandering the vast forests alone, occasionally breaking into cabins for food and other supplies. Why James has decided to set out on this trek is never really addressed. He just strikes off on his own, and the deeper he wanders into the woods the more uncertain the audience is of what is actually happening and what might be effects of his unspecified illness. The sense of isolation and increasing disconnect with reality created by this film is remarkable. Even more remarkable is that despite being largely devoid of dialogue and having one person in the frame for most of its running time, THE INTERIOR is surprisingly funny. It’s a deconstruction of “forest horror” tropes and a peaceful travelogue into some beautiful places, and it still manages to retain a sense of humor. Director Trevor Juras thanks Werner Herzog’s film school in the end credits, and that explains a lot. This is a bold, singular film made completely on its own terms.
33. February (USA, dir. Osgood Perkins)
Kat (Kiernan Shipka) and Rose (Lucy Boynton) are stranded at their all-girls school when their parents fail to show up to take them home for a February break. Rose is asked to watch over the younger Kat, but has her own agenda that doesn’t include babysitting a weird freshman girl. Meanwhile, a woman named Joan (Emma Roberts) arrives at a bus depot near the school where she meets an older couple (James Remar and Lauren Holly) who are visiting the area and offer Joan a ride to a nearby town. FEBRUARY is an extremely slow-burning horror story that steadily builds an atmosphere of oppressive dread and takes some very unexpected turns even up until its final minutes. It’s very difficult to talk much about it without giving away too much, but suffice to say that FEBRUARY becomes something that I can’t remember ever having seen before in its final minutes. All the performances are great, and the sound design and scoring are excellent in contributing to the film’s strange mixture of creeping terror and an underlying sadness. FEBRUARY is a seriously creepy and unexpectedly touching take on some familiar genre territory.
32. Carol (UK, dir. Todd Haynes)
CAROL may be the only film I saw this year that arrived with anything close to the amount of pre-release hype that accompanied MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. It’s not hard to see why, though. Todd Haynes has created a stunningly beautiful adult drama with a possible career-best performance by Cate Blanchett. That is no small feat, but overall CAROL is a much more conventional film than we have become accustomed to coming from Haynes. This isn’t really a complaint, just an observation. Haynes here proves that he is just as adept at creating a compelling film in a more traditional style as he has in the past done with much more obtuse approaches. There’s a lot more sincere “old Hollywood” in CAROL than most modern films seem comfortable putting on the screen, and that’s hardly a failing. It’s a film of gorgeous, swooning romanticism of a decidedly adult nature. That alone makes it one of the best things to hit the big screen this year.
31. What We Do in the Shadows (New Zealand, dir. Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi): Amazon, iTunes, Google
Peter Jackson’s tradition of great horror/comedy from New Zealand was given a worthy successor in Gerard Johnstone’s HOUSEBOUND last year, and this year there were two films to add to the canon: Jason Lei Howden’s DEATHGASM and Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS. This film is presented as a documentary following several months in the lives(?) of four vampires who room together in an old house as they go about their daily routines. This naturally involves roommate disputes, but also includes dealing with familiars (humans who help provide victims for their vampire masters), werewolves (vampires’ generally polite nemeses), and the odd vampire hunter. It’s not exactly an AIRPLANE!-style spoof, but there are more solid laughs per minute of run time than any other comedy this year. I don’t think two minutes passed the entire film where I wasn’t laughing out loud.
Underlining all the goofs on vampire mythology is an undercurrent of sweetness expressed most obviously through one of the vampire’s pining for his long-lost love, living the final years of her life alone while he looks on from afar. As sweet as this is, though, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS is never too heavy or dark. It’s a perfect mix of broad comedy, clever tweaks on familiar horror tropes, and heart. Oh, and blood, of course.
2015 Recap:
Part 1: Favorite Restorations & Reissues, Five Favorite Independent Genre Films
