It's been kind of funny keeping up with the critical conversation of cinema in 2013. If you look back to June, July, and August, it seems like all anyone was talking about was how broken the current Hollywood system is, the emptiness of this year's plate of blockbusters, the suppression of unique vision in American cinema, the overemphasis on foreign marketing, etc. Even well-respected industry veterans bemoaned the state of film in America. But come mid-autumn, something changed. Well, actually, I'm not sure anything really changed—the Hollywood system, I assume, is still as problematic as ever—but what did happen was that a whole lot of good movies started hitting theaters, and now, you don't have to look too hard to find people calling 2013 one of the best years for movies in recent memory.
I don't think I ever got quite as cynical about the future of cinema as some professionals did, but I am still pleasantly surprised at how great a year for movies this one turned out to be (although I'd say 2010 and 2007 have it beat, as far as "best in recent memory" goes). Considering all the fantastic films that came out this year, it was really hard to narrow this list down to a Top 10, so I've added an appendix of sorts to recognize other noteworthy movies from 2013—because what pop culture list couldn't benefit from being a little longer, right? As always, if you disagree with me, I'd love to hear about it. I've said it before, but the most valuable thing about lists like this one is not the ranking itself (which, after all, is a kind of silly thing to do) but the discussion to come out of the ranking. So please feel free to post your own lists in the comments below or on Facebook or wherever. I'd love to hear from y'all.
Two more things before the actual list—first: the movies I considered for this list are ones that had a theatrical release in the US during 2013. That means a few movies here might have actually been released in 2012 but didn't reach America until this year. Second: unlike music or literature, it is actually technically possible to see every theatrical release in a given year; however, I didn't, so there are several movies out there that probably would have made this list had I gotten to see them. The two I'm primarily thinking of are 12 Years a Slave (semester got busy, then I couldn't find it in a theater) and Her (don't even get me started on how frustrated I get about movies that don't get wide releases in the same year that they're up for awards), but I'm sure there are others out there I would have enjoyed—All Is Lost, Frozen, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Short Term 12, and The Spectacular Now spring to mind already, not to mention the host of blockbusters I haven't caught up with yet (Star Trek: Into Darkness and Thor: The Dark World, to name a couple). I know there's technically still a day left in the year, but it's not looking like I'll be able to get out to see anything else, so I figured I'd just go ahead and publish this list now. Let me know if I missed something else awesome.
Now, the movies!
Favorite Movies
Since the release of Toy Story 3, I've contended that the Toy Story movies are the best film trilogy of all time. And while I'm not exactly reneging on that idea just yet, the Before... movies are giving Pixar a run for its money. Part of what's so revelatory about Jesse and Céline's story is that each successive installment has a way of making the previous movies feel incomplete without it. Without Before Sunset, Before Sunrise is just the story of a coincidence, not the beginning of a majestic love story. Now, with the hindsight of Before Midnight, the previous two become blindly romantic (albeit masterfully crafted) fairy tales. Throughout its often harrowing 109 minutes, Before Midnight picks apart every little bit of idealism in its predecessors, forming a stunning depiction of two people as broken as any of us.
If nothing else, Gravity wins the award for most stressful movie of the year, and by a considerable margin. But this isn't a nothing-else situation. Gravity is an embarrassment of cinematic riches, from the masterful use of CG effects to the swooping, inventive camerawork to the primal man-vs.-nature story that, despite the space-age setting, feels ancient, almost mythic. People have complained that the movie skimps on character development (and even I'll grant that the movie cheats majorly at one point near the end), but I don't really think character is the point, not in a modern sense. Sandra Bullock's character is more reminiscent of Gilgamesh or Odysseus than Ellen Ripley, fighting erratic gods in order to say something sweeping about humanity. Oh yeah, and it's also great blockbuster entertainment.
Though not quite as funny as Hot Fuzz or Shawn of the Dead, The World's End is, for my money, the most mature, thematically rich, and flat-out best of the Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg "Cornetto Trilogy" (though to be honest, I didn't know the trilogy had that name until just recently, and I didn't know "Cornetto" was ice cream until even more recently—shame). But don't take "not as funny" to mean "not funny at all"; The World's End is often hilarious, with jokes that are at once silly, meticulously constructed, and satirically sharp. It's just that more than any of the previous Cornetto entries (and probably more so than any Wright creation, save maybe a few episodes of Spaced), The World's End focuses on the brokenness and misery of its characters. And it's all the more powerful for it.
I've never seen Oldboy (neither the original nor this year's Spike Lee remake), but if Stoker is any indication of director Park Chan-wook's visual flair and twisted, twisted sense of humor, I should seek out Oldboy pronto. Stoker is a movie unhinged in the best way possible, completely mesmerizing in its over-the-top gothicness and self-aware cinematographic antics. The big hooks here are the camera work and editing, which are immaculate and darkly witty. It's the kind of film Alfred Hitchcock would have made if he'd survived into the post-Tarantino film world, form and function meeting seamlessly. The style and overall grisliness may not be for everyone, but for those of us who can dig it, it's a great ride.
One thing Joel and Ethan Coen don't get all that much attention for is their use of physical humor (especially in their existential works, a category in which this film totally fits), but one of the many pleasures of Inside Llewyn Davis is that it's a great showcase of their talent for wringing comedy out of subtle physical interactions. The scenes with the cat, of course, are wonderfully choreographed bits reminiscent of old Disney shorts, but even beyond that, John Goodman, "Please, Mr. Kennedy," and so on provide great gags. What's even greater, though, is the emotional sincerity that comedy services. People rag on the Coens for being detached, but this film, along with their last feature, True Grit, seems to indicate a new period of emotional forthrightness for these guys. I'm cool with that.
Saying that "some of this actually happened" is probably the best way possible to introduce writer/director David O. Russell's latest film (or really, any "based on a true story" movie). Thankfully, that's exactly American Hustle's claim in its opening title card, preemptively dodging the tiresome trend of fact-checking every movie with any semblance of realism (an astronaut vouches for the realism of Gravity! Real-life PK finds Carrie highly inaccurate[2]!) while also announcing the film's commitment to both farce and "hey, this is kinda like real life" observationalism. And make no mistake: this is a farce. I mean that in the best way possible. Some have called it "Scorcese-lite," but that assumes a straighter face than American Hustle ever wears. Most of the movie is for yucks. And what yucks they are.
If you're into the "indie" corner of the film world at all, you've seen this movie before: over-educated twentysomethings wandering NYC aimlessly, afflicted by ennui and the crushing burden of being sophisticated white people in the cultural center of the United States. If I'm being a little snide, that's only because the movie itself is a little snide. Several moments in Frances Ha (the "Everyone's a Winner" montage; the "you aren't poor" interchange) are refreshingly self-conscious about the shortcomings of its characters in a way that this sort of movie usually isn't. What makes Frances Ha a winner, though, is that it balances out this self-critique with a warm sense of humor and a sincere affection for Frances, despite her flaws. It's a movie deft enough to have both biting honesty and a beating heart at its core.
Remember the end of Atonement? Well, imagine that stretched into a full-length movie told by way of Stephen King's novella "Apt Pupil," and you'll have a pretty good idea of the kind of experience you're in for with In the House. What at first seems to be a critique of the French educational system quickly morphs into something much stranger, an exploration of the nature of literature and the relationship between author, audience, and art. It's at once a thriller, a black comedy, and a (sometimes) tender character study that never ceases to be inventive and insightful.
Reports of Pixar's demise are greatly exaggerated. While the studio's recent abundance of sequels in current and future projects is troubling in the abstract, as long as they keep making movies with the grace of Monsters University, we shouldn't be in too much trouble in practice. Look, I'm just as much of a fan of Pixar's more showily daring movies as the next guy (WALL-E and Up are awesome), but there's something to be said for their more accessible features. Scratch that; labeling Monsters University as "only" accessible or family-friendly sells it short and ignores how the movie is quietly daring in its own way. I've already talked about that idea at length, so I won't belabor the point. Just go see MU if you haven't. It's quite good.
My exposure to non-English-language movies is sadly lacking, and my exposure to non-Western, non-English-language movies is even worse. So it's a happy coincidence that the only new non-Western, non-English-language movie I saw all year turned out to be one of the best films I saw all year, period. Drug War is a tight thriller about the policing of the drug trade in China. I don't know enough about Chinese crime to have anything intelligent to say about the social commentary this movie engages in (see again: my embarrassing lack of exposure to the non-Western world), but what I do know is this: it's exciting, smartly paced, thought-provoking, and fun in that meat-and-potatoes way of the best crime thrillers.
Appendix: Miscellaneous Movies Also Worth Noting
Favorite Movies, Documentary Division: Stories We Tell and Cutie and the Boxer—By all accounts, it was a great year for documentaries, too, and I'm bummed I didn't have room in my Top 10 to recognize any. So, lest they be ignored, here are two documentaries from this year that I enjoyed. Coincidentally, they're both observant, sensitive examinations of the intersections between storytelling and family relationships, and not so coincidentally, they're both very good. Harder, more journalistic documentaries came out this year, but these two were the most beautiful ones I saw.
Best Action in an Action Movie, Runner Up: Pacific Rim—Honestly, this award should go to Gravity, but since that's already getting glory aplenty at #2 up there, I thought I'd give a shout-out to Pacific Rim, which is a blast in its action sequences.
Best Non-Action in an Action Movie: Iron Man 3—The action is okay, but where Iron Man 3 really shines are the long, actionless stretches where the characters are just hanging out, shooting the breeze. It's fun, and some of the best character work in the Avengers-connected Marvel movies.
Biggest Surprise: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire—I liked the first Hunger Games movie okay (and even thought it was an improvement over the book it was adapting), but the bland competence of the first movie did nothing to prepare me for how immensely entertaining and just plain good its sequel would be.
Best Use of Outer Space, Runner Up: Europa Report—Gravity wins again. But really, Europa Report does a fantastic job of capturing an austerity and mystery that (I imagine) space instills in those who travel through it. Found footage has been overdone (and this one isn't without its shortcomings—lookin' at you, ending), but for fans of golden-age sci-fi, Europa Report is worth a look.
Best Sci-Fi, Non-Space Division, Incomprehensible Division: Upstream Color—It's not as hopelessly confusing as Shane Carruth's other feature film, Primer, but I'd be lying to you if I said I understood everything about UC. That's not a bad thing, though. Like Primer, a lot of the power of this movie comes from the feeling of letting go, of allowing the narrative complexity wash over you. It's also like a thousand times better-looking than Primer, which makes the washing-over that much more beautiful.
Movie That Most Benefits from Being Based on True Events: The Bling Ring—Sure, The Bling Ring is beautifully shot, has a few killer scenes, and is generally well-made. But the thing I find most engaging about the movie is that people actually did this!! Maybe I'm more star-struck than I should be, but the absolute craziness of a bunch of bored teenagers robbing celebrities blind and the celebrities not noticing (!) feels more at home in satire than real life. But lo and behold, it's real, y'all [3].
Movie Almost Ruined by a Secondary Character: The Kings of Summer—Moisés Arias's character was so gratingly absurd and out-of-place in this otherwise winsome coming-of-age dramedy.
Movie I Want to Like More Than I Do: The Place Beyond the Pines—It's complex and interesting and sophisticated, but darn it all, it seems like every time I'm getting into it, the film switches gears, and I lose it.
Worst Use of a Director's Worst Tendency: Terrence Malick's To the Wonder—So. Many. Voiceovers.
Great Job, Michael Cera! Award: Crystal Fairy—I really didn't like this movie at all, but hopefully Michael Cera's utterly fearless turn as a douchey drug tourist will finally put to rest the misconception that he can't do anything besides pretend to be George Michael Bluth [4]. It's a phenomenal performance in a film that didn't sell me on anything else.
Great Job Yet Again, Jessica Chastain! Award: Mama—A pretty good horror movie with two great things going for it: first, it realizes that most great horror stories are really just great tragedies, and second, it stars Jessica Chastain. Her breathtaking work in last year's Zero Dark Thirty should have cemented her status as a legitimately great actress, but if you needed any more proof, look no further than Mama.
Pi Award for Bizarre but Oddly Compelling Black and White Movie About Early Computing: Computer Chess—It's a weird one, for sure, but if you can get on its level, it's a hilarious and kind of sweet exploration of intersecting fringe groups. Plus, for nerds like me, all that old computer technology is super nifty to look at.
Best Non-2013 Movie I Saw for the First Time in 2013: His Girl Friday—This movie is so good, I'm legitimately sad I can't experience it again for the first time. Comedy sometimes doesn't age well, but this one certainly did; that it has some of the most virtuosic dialogue I've ever seen in a movie no doubt helps.
That's all I've got for now. Don't forget to disagree with me.
Until next time!
1] If anyone's curious how Inside Llewyn Davis ranks in my previous rundown of Coen brothers movies, I'd put it squarely in the middle, right between Raising Arizona and A Serious Man. It's a testament to the ridiculously deep nature of their filmography that I have to put a movie as good as Llewyn Davis so low.
2] Unfortunately, this one's a fake. Real PKs never reveal the secrets of their trade!
3] Part of me also feels exceptionally cloistered for not hearing about the robberies when they happened in '08 and '09. And another part of me feels kind of bad for being this excited about theft. Maybe I should stop criticizing those "Team Walt" Breaking Bad fans.
4] Even George Michael Bluth didn't act like George Michael Bluth this year. His transformation into a half-hearted Bluth-douche was one of the funnier things about this year's new Arrested Development (a season which I liked quite a bit, by the way). Perhaps Mr. Cera has found his new niche.
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