THE BEST OF 2012: THE TOP 5

#5 Holy Motors (dir. Leos Carax):

Wiry French character actor Denis Lavant has been on my radar ever since his impressive contribution to Claire Denis' masterpiece Beau Travail.  His work in Holy Motors, overseen by long time collaborator/director Leos Carax, has yielded one of his best performance to date, as well as what might be the oddest film since David Lynch last made a feature (count 'em, six long years ago).  Lavant plays Monsieur Oscar, an actor of sorts driven around Paris as he prepares to play various roles in the back of white limousine.  At the end of each stage of his journey, Oscar emerges an entirely different beast, ranging from a cold killer to a bag lady, a deranged caveman, and beyond.  

Throughout Holy Motors, there are clues and reflexive statements aligning the seemingly random journey to a larger commentary on film as a technologically-based medium going through what is either a growth spurt or the beginnings of a death rattle.  At the same time, one can easily read the same cues as a statement on identity.  Carax has designed a film that is open to competing interpretations and even enjoyable if no attempts at analysis are made at all.  Has there been a more interesting and weird use of motion capture technology this year (or ever)?  I think not.  To quote a woman who saw the same screening I attended: "can anybody explain to me what THAT was about?"

Holy Motors is currently still in theaters.  Hit up Mr. Movie Times for details of when and where.


#4 The Master (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson):

Paul Thomas Anderson doesn't usually swim in the shallow end of the pool when it comes to story.  But with The Master, he's produced a film that barely seems interested in its own plot, choosing to devote excessive amounts of time to being present with its characters while slowly abandoning thread after thread of story they inhabit.  Luckily, Anderson's provided the audience with two of the more interesting characters he's ever drawn in Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) and Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman).  The static created between these two men says more about what The Master truly is than any piece of exposition or connect-the-dots plotting ever could.  They are the story.

Read my review of The Master here.

The Master is scheduled for release on DVD & Blu-ray on February 26th.


#3 Wuthering Heights (dir. Andrea Arnold):

Here's the rare costume drama that never feels stodgy in the least.  Still, Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights may test the patience of many viewers with its stubborn (or is it thrilling?) insistence on depicting a world without modern distractions.  However, those willing to wait it out 'til the bitter end will be amply rewarded with an exquisitely rendered take on timeless themes found both within and outside of the source material.  Wuthering Heights only furthers the suspicion that Arnold will eventually be counted as one of our greatest filmmakers.
 
Read my review of Wuthering Heights here.

Wuthering Heights is currently unavailable on DVD & Blu-ray in Region 1.  It will presumably be release on home video sometime in 2013 in the U.S.


#2 5 Broken Cameras (dir. Emad Burnat & Guy Davidi):

Back in April, I wrote that, "I don't think I've seen a more affecting documentary this year than Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi's 5 Broken Cameras."  It's still true.  There hasn't been a week all year that I haven't thought about this film at least once.  I could say a lot more about it, but, really, everyone should just watch it instead.

Read my review of 5 Broken Cameras here.

5 Broken Cameras is scheduled for release on DVD on January 15th.


#1 Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan):

I viewed Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia just before it screened at last year's Portland International Film Festival.  I knew that night that there was little chance that I'd encounter another film that could top it in 2012, despite there being ten months left in the year.  When writing about it later, I hinted that the plot of the movie is a diversion from what the film is actually about.  Most films about a search for a body at night wouldn't stray far from the urgency of that charge.  Ceylan's film turns the floodlights directly on the men carrying out the search.   

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia tells us more about those men than anything related to the crime being investigated.  A completely original, utterly patient, and truly satisfying tale.  It's a stone-cold masterpiece; one for the ages.

 

Read my review of Once Upon a Time in Anatolia here. 

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is currently available on DVD & Blu-ray and can be streamed via Netflix.

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THE BEST OF 2012: #6-10

#10 In the Family (dir. Patrick Wang):

This tiny, little indie that could slowly toured the country, gathering up word of mouth and positive critical notices wherever it played in 2012.  Still, In the Family is a film I've not a single soul reference all year, betraying I think more about what happens when films don't have the luxury of a proper marketing push, festival wins, or distribution than anything to do with the quality of the film.  Actor/director Patrick Wang's work here deserves a large audience.  In the Family is the smallest, most honest film I saw in 2012.

Read my review of In the Family here.

In the Family is currently still touring the country in limited engagements.  Check the website for more details.


#9 Amour (dir. Michael Haneke):

Michael Haneke's work tends to focus on the brutal truths of society; in this regard, he is one of modern cinema's most reliable truth tellers.  His latest work, Amour, dodges applying that characteristic to larger social phenomena.  Instead, this uneasy honesty is aimed entirely at a naked examination of mortality, fidelity, and the limitations of love.  The brutality is still there, but it's present in the way the film is edited.  In one quick cut after another, Haneke abruptly moves his characters further to the brink of their shared personal disaster, and it's crushing to apprehend the state of unraveling portrayed onscreen.  Oh, and if that wasn't enough, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva turn in the two best performances of 2012.

Amour is currently still in theaters.  Hit up Mr. Movie Times for details of when and where.


#8 Beasts of the Southern Wild (dir. Benh Zeitlin):

Benh Zeitlin could walk away from filmmaking altogether and have made his mark with his debut feature, Beasts of the Southern Wild.  A joyous, tragic coming of age narrative that hits up more than a few indie tropes and techniques, but never resembles anything other than its own magical self.   
Beasts of the Southern Wild is a disaster lived through the eyes of a child, untouched by the strains of dominant culture and codified knowledge.  In Beasts, we finally have something along the lines of what I'd hoped for from Terry Gilliam's adaptation of Mitch Cullin's Tideland (absolutely worth a read, but skip the film).

Read my review of Beasts of the Southern Wild here.

Beasts of the Southern Wild is currently available on DVD & Blu-ray and can be streamed via Amazon Instant Video and VUDU.


#7 Oslo, August 31st (dir. Joachim Trier):

Oslo, August 31st is a difficult film to talk about with those who require a ray of sunshine present in the films they watch.  It's all about a guy who wants to die from a self-administered overdose.  We know this because early in the film he lets a friend in on his plans.  From that point on, we're made to watch as he makes his way through the day, unsure as to whether or not he'll actually go through with it.  Crazily enough, the film is incredibly life-affirming, both in the way that the reasons for living pile up (despite our protagonist's inability to acknowledge them) and because Oslo, August 31st is one hell of a film, and (c'mon, movie nerds) what's more life-affirming than that?

Read my review of Oslo, August 31st here.

Oslo, August 31st is currently available on DVD and can be streamed via Netflix.


#6 Dark Horse (dir. Todd Solondz):

Maybe you're one of the many out there who thinks Todd Solondz is past his prime, a relic of the oh-so-cynical 90s.  And you'd be forgiven for thinking this way; after all, Storytelling was a huge misstep after the triumphs that were Happiness and Welcome to the Dollhouse.  Palindromes only further alienated audiences, enough so that many might not have noticed that Life During Wartime was actually pretty good.

So it's kind of unfortunate that with Dark Horse, his strongest work since the late 90s, most of his audience has already walked away.  Trust me, I kinda like what Solondz does on a regular basis, but even I didn't expect him to produce the funniest film of 2012.  Sure, it's probably unbearable if you can't deal with humor borne from misery, but that's kind of what Solondz is all about, right?  Oh, and it features the best/worst music of any film this year, outside of the re-released 80s cult treat Miami Connection.

Read my review of Dark Horse here. 

Dark Horse is currently available on DVD & Blu-ray and can be streamed via Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.

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THE BEST OF 2012: #11-15

#15 Django Unchained (dir. Quentin Tarantino):

It's really difficult to pick a favorite Tarantino flick , but, as far as I'm concerned, Django Unchained is absolutely a contender to the throne.  With it and, to a slightly lesser extent, 2009's Inglorious Basterds, Q.T.'s moved from merely referencing the films he loves to a place where he's fully operating within the genres he worships.  With this shift, he's traversed the distance between throwing knowing winks up on the screen and perpetrating full-blown homages to some of the greatest and lurid works of the past.  The latter path ends up being so much more satisfying, cohesive, and mature.  

There's still plenty of dark humor and energetic, bizarro fun to be had here; Tarantino's still Tarantino, after all, but it's also much easier to be lost in Django Unchained as a proper film than it was with the (still massively impressive) Kill Bill films.  For my money, this is the best thing he's made since Jackie Brown.  And I'm still having a hard time believing how good Jamie Foxx and Leo D-Cap are in this film.   

Django Unchained is currently still in theaters.  Hit up Mr. Movie Times to find out when and where.


#14 The Fairy (dir. Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, & Bruno Romy):

A wonderful surprise of a film, completely magical and moving, if you allow yourself to be swept away by it.  It's silly, surreal, and visually reminiscent of the best work of Robby Müller.  I've seen it twice now and it still holds up on a second viewing.  The Fairy is one of those films that I feel like I could recommend to anyone, regardless of taste.

Read my review of The Fairy here. 

The Fairy is available on DVD & Blu-ray and can be streamed via Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.


#13 Looper (dir. Rian Johnson):

There's never enough intelligent sci-fi released in any given year.  For every Primer, there's a dozen duds like Johnny Mnemonic.   Looper wasn't just the 2012's best foray into the genre, it's the best science fiction release since 2009's Moon.  Director Rian Johnson built a film out of various spare parts borrowed from other classic entries (Blade Runner, La Jetée, Akira), and he's smart enough to layer and sequence those influences into a clever and mostly unpredictable script that reminds the viewer why, despite the tons of poorly orchestrated sci-fi that fans have had to put up with in their lifetimes, we still go and see these kinds of film, holding out hope that every once in a while we'll stumble upon one of them that is actually kind of great.  Looper is one that justifies such patient optimism.

Looper is available on DVD & Blu-ray and can be streamed via Amazon Instant Video and VUDU.


#12 Café de Flore (dir. Jean-Marc Vallée):

Here's a film I nearly skipped out on seeing all together because every single synopsis out there (including the one in the PIFF 35 catalog or even the tagline of the poster) made it sound middling at best.  It starts out as a story about a narcissistic dj (Kevin Parent) who's abandoned his family for a hot chick.  Trust me, that's the awful part, but it's not what the film's about at all.  There's another story thread featuring Vanessa Paradis, which soon gains equal footing with all that rotten dj nonsense.  It's when the stories begin to influence and creep into each others space that things get really interesting. 

Unfortunately, Jean-Marc Vallée's (The Young Victoria, C.R.A.Z.Y.) film never really got the word of mouth or audience it deserved here in the U.S.  It's currently in distribution limbo and, thus, difficult to see.  If you are able to track down a screening or import dvd, I'd recommend going into it without much knowledge of plot, since it's the twists that count in this film.

Read my review of Café de Flore here.

Café de Flore is currently unavailable in Region 1 on DVD & Blu-ray.  There are import dvd options out there, but you'll want to make sure you can play discs from outside your region before importing.


#11 The Turin Horse (dir. Béla Tarr):

If Béla Tarr is truly stepping away from making films, The Turin Horse is one hell of a way to do it.  The film feels like both like a farewell to the medium and Tarr's interest in communicating with humanity.  From the first long tracking shot on, it's apparent that we're in the hands of a world master, and that the Hungarian auteur intends to make us aware of what we're losing with each moment of this final, funereal masterpiece.

Read my review of The Turin Horse here. 

The Turin Horse is currently available on DVD & Blu-ray and can be streamed via Netflix.

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THE BEST OF 2012: #16-20

#20 Sleepwalk with Me (dir. Mike Birbiglia & Seth Barrish):

Mike Birbiglia tells the film-going public the same long, rambling anecdote that he shared with the This American Life cult back in 2008 and, surprisingly, it doesn't feel like an old story.  With the help of This American Life guru Ira Glass and co-director Seth Barrish, Birbiglia's given birth to 2012's best substitution for a decent Woody Allen film.  Oh, and nobody seems to be mentioning Lauren Ambrose when writing about this movie, so let me correct that by ending this sentence with the following statement: she's very good in it.

Sleepwalk with Me is available on DVD & Blu-ray and can be streamed via Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.


#19 Compliance (dir. Craig Zobel):

Did I already say that Snowtown was the most disturbing film I saw in 2012 in that last chunk of my best of 2012 list?  Okay, it was, but, if that's the case, Craig Zobel's (The Great World of Sound) Compliance makes it in as a close second place holder.  Zobel's characters display actions that are so questionable that there were multiple times during the film that I completely lost track of the idea that the film is based on true events.  No, I did not feel good about myself or humanity after watching this film, but I couldn't shake it from memory, either.

Read my review of Compliance here. 

Compliance is scheduled for release on DVD and Blu-ray on Tuesday, January 8th.


#18 The Miners' Hymns (dir. Bill Morrison):

Bill Morrison's work can be located at the intersection of the experimental and the just plain cool.  General audiences probably aren't ready for anything he's produced, but, keep in mind, such viewers are to blame for the sequels to National Treasure and Night at the Museum (yeah, you buy into that crap, and someone's always going to line up to shovel more down your throat).  Having said that, this is probably his most accessible film to date; it's the one you could watch with your dad.  With The Miners' Hymns, Morrison weaves imagery drawn from history into a mesmerizing gaze back at a time and place that's nearly unrecognizable from the present.

Read my review of The Miners' Hymns here. 

The Miners' Hymns is available on DVD and can be streamed via Amazon Instant Video.


#17 Beauty is Embarrassing (dir. Neil Berkeley):

Wayne White calls 'em like he sees 'em and, in Neil Berkeley's documentary Beauty is Embarrassing, the puppeteer turned multidisciplinary artist doesn't hold back at all, especially when it comes to talking about his experiences in Hollywood.  White is funny, unpredictable, and, best of all, completely committed to the act of creation and telling others that they can to do the same.  I probably saw 10 times as many documentaries as I did features in 2012; Beauty is Embarrassing was the one that made me feel the most inspired.

Read my review of Beauty is Embarrassing here.

Beauty is Embarrassing will be released on DVD on January 22nd and currently can be streamed via Amazon Instant Video.


#16 Buoy (dir. Steve Doughton):

Buoy takes an action that would, at the most, fill a couple of minutes in any other movie and stretches it out to feature length.  Outside of its first 10 minutes, the entire film is centered around a woman (Tina Holmes) talking to her brother (Matthew Del Negro, who never appears on camera) on the phone.  In the hands of writer/director Steve Doughton, it's compelling, emotional, and, above all, compulsively watchable.  Who knew that eavesdropping on the conversations of others could be so cathartic?  Buoy proves that, in the right hands, less can definitely be more.  Seeing is believing and I'd highly recommend seeking this one out when it becomes more widely available.

Buoy is currently unavailable on home video, though plans are being made for an eventual release.  For now, you can check out the film's website.

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THE BEST OF 2012: THE RUNNERS UP

Well, there goes another twelve months.  Just like last year, I've put together a top 20 film list, but--yet again--that's not nearly enough space to fit in all the great films from last year (truth be told, I winnowed that list down from well over 40 films worthy of consideration), so here are, in no particular order, the runners up.

Some readers may point out that a few of the titles on this list AND the top 20 list were produced and/or released somewhere in 2011.  Here's the thing: this blog is being written in Portland, OR.  So, sure, some of these films toured the festival circuit in 2011 or had an Oscar qualifying run in NY or L.A. in final weeks that year, but, unless it opened in PDX before 2012, it's eligible for the best of 2012 list.  Yup.  Well, now that we've covered that minor detail, on with the show.


Bullhead (dir. Michaël R. Roskam):

Michaël R. Roskam's Bullhead subverts expectations surrounding how a mob film should play out, emphasizing the damage that lies in its protagonist's past over any of his present concerns, no matter how largely they may loom.  Matthias Schoenaerts portrayal of hormone addled mobster Jacky Vanmarsenille, as a lumbering giant with scars that will never heal, powers the film.  Bullhead dons the wardrobe of a crime thriller, but its concerns are that of a character-driven drama.

Read my review of Bullhead here.

Bullhead is available on DVD & Blu-ray and can be streamed via Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.


The Deep Blue Sea (dir. Terence Davies):

  
The level to which The Deep Blue Sea visually approximates the emotional distress of Rachel Weisz' Hester is both astounding and profoundly disturbing.  Terence Davies' camera spins frightfully fast down an ecstatic whirlpool as Hester falls deeper into an affair that threatens to be her undoing.  Elsewhere, all sense of time is frozen in amber as an unyielding depression overcomes her.  The Deep Blue Sea is romantic in the same way that Romeo and Juliet is, describing a feeling of love so intense that the suggestion of its denial is synonymous with one's own death.

Read my review of The Deep Blue Sea here.

The Deep Blue Sea is available on DVD & Blu-ray and can be streamed via Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.


Moonrise Kingdom (dir. Wes Anderson):

Wes Anderson's films tend to be overly designed, and that's at times both the major strength and weakness of his work.  His best films match the fussy visual organization with an equal amount of emotional heft, raising the material to awe-inspiring levels of storytelling.  Moonrise Kingdom offers a well-balanced recipe of both ingredients, resulting in Anderson's best film since The Royal Tenenbaums.

Moonrise Kingdom is available on DVD & Blu-ray and can be streamed via Amazon Instant Video and VUDU.


The Queen of Versailles (dir. Lauren Greenfield):

The nouveau riche have never looked so vulgar as they do in Lauren Greenfield's documentary The Queen of Versailles.  But the harsh truth is that the Siegel family is uniquely American in their desires.  The film ends up being a spot on (and oddly amusing) indictment of consumer drive flying in the face of bottom line truths, something that just about any post-recession American can relate to, even if the levels of excess on display here are particularly outsized in their grotesquery.

The Queen of Versailles is available on DVD & Blu-ray and can be streamed via Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.

  
Declaration of War (dir. Valérie Donzelli):

   
I've found it really difficult to convince people that they should give Valérie Donzelli's second feature a chance.  It's not because tons of viewer saw her first film as a director (2009's Queen of Hearts) and didn't like it.  Nope, it's due entirely to three little words: kid with cancer.  

Yeah, that's a scary prospect and a topic that most folks would rather not think about at all.  But Declaration of War does an amazing thing with the premise; it doesn't make it about the kid.  The entire film rests on the relationship of the adults dealing with this crisis and it's a refreshing, energetic, sometimes heartbreaking, but often funny turn away from the standard tropes employed in just about any film dealing with illness and terminal diseases.  Plainly put, this movie rocks.

Read my review of Declaration of War here. 

Declaration of War is available on DVD and can be streamed via Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.


The Imposter (dir. Bart Layton):

Bart Layton's non-fiction film The Imposter pissed more than a few people off last year.  Constructed out of reenactments matched with interviews, the film strategically discloses the details of its story in guarded chunks that only tell part of the story.  Layton uses this method of delaying information to pile up the twists in the plot and that's where he got into trouble with some audience members.  Personally, I found the technique perfectly matched to the material, so I didn't mind the manipulation at all.  In its finest moments, The Imposter resembles Errol Morris' Tabloid, even as it aspires to be a 21st century version of The Thin Blue Line.

Read my review of The Imposter here.

The Imposter will be released on DVD on January 22nd and can be streamed now via Amazon Instant Video.


We Need to Talk About Kevin (dir. Lynne Ramsay):

It had been nearly a decade since Lynne Ramsay released Movern Callar, only her second film after her 1999 debut with Ratcatcher.  I'm not really sure what other people expected of her third film, We Need to Talk About Kevin, but, while working my final months as a video store clerk, it became pretty apparent that many viewers were disappointed by the film.  

I found We Need to Talk About Kevin to be pitch perfect, as it traces not only the contours of the specific relationship being described here--a terrible proximity to an inexorable violent atrocity--but also captures a hint of what it is that we're all unable to come to grips with when facing down such tragedies.  It all plays out like an unending nightmare where time is rendered an ineffective healer and the unspeakable continually loops back into memory.

We Need to Talk About Kevin is available on DVD & Blu-ray and can be streamed via Amazon Instant Video.


The Color Wheel (dir. Alex Ross Perry):

Alex Ross Perry's The Color Wheel isn't just a harbinger of great things to come from its director.  It's a pretty damn perfect stab at the big time from all the way down in the mumblecore gutter.  Featuring sometimes brilliant, sometimes shaky performances from Perry and co-star/co-author Carlen Altman, it's the writing, sense of timing, and chemistry between the leads that launches the film beyond the limitations of its budget and the experience of its makers.  A very funny film that I've thought about often throughout the year.

Read my review of The Color Wheel here.

The Color Wheel is due out on DVD soon and can be streamed currently via Amazon Instant Video.


Love Free or Die (dir. Macky Alston):

Mediated events on the national and/or international scale are so often blown out of proportion that they lose all trace of the human element.  Macky Alston's Love Free or Die, about Gene Robinson's ordination as the first openly gay bishop of the Episcopal Church, rescues its story from the dehumanizing effects of the sound byte.  The tale of a everyday individual becoming something much more.

Read my review of Love Free or Die here. 

Love Free or Die is scheduled for release on DVD and VOD (video on demand) in 2013.


Snowtown (dir. Justin Kurzel):

Snowtown, or The Snowtown Murders, as it's been renamed for its release on home video, was probably the most disturbing film I watched during 2012.  It didn't help at all that I went into it with absolutely no idea that it was a serial killer flick (so, maybe, adding the word "murders" to the title is an appropriate move?) and that the only image I had to go on before the screening was a still from the film of kids eating ice cream on a street corner.  It was also undeniably well made, perfectly acted, and sported incredibly self-assured direction from first-timer Justin Kurzel. 

Read my review of Snowtown here. 

Snowtown is available on DVD & Blu-ray and can be streamed via Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.


Footnote (dir. Joseph Cedar):

Footnote locates a dark strain of comedy in the competitive (some might say spiteful) relationship between a father and son, Eliezer and Uriel Shkolnik, both of whom are Talmudic scholars.  Eliezer, the elder Shkolnik, is a hardcore researcher whose life-long efforts were undone by a competitor having stumbled upon the fruits of his labor through happenstance.  His son, Uriel, despite being more of a pop philosopher in his academic aims, is the Shkolnik gathering accolades while his Eliezer's contributions are all but forgotten.  The already nasty strain of resentment between them gets kicked up a level when an award intended for the son is mistakenly promised to his father.

Footnote is hilarious and uncomfortable, often in the same moment.  It's a focused, well-orchestrated comedy with more than its share of twists and turns.  Director Joseph Cedar (Beaufort) knows when to play up the drama and when to slice through it with a lunge of sharp-edged humor.

Footnote is available on DVD & Blu-ray and can be streamed via Amazon Instant Video and VUDU.


The Cabin in the Woods (dir. Drew Goddard):

Joss Whedon's The Avengers might have kicked up some dust at the box office this summer, but The Cabin in the Woods was the best movie he was involved with in 2012.  Directed by Drew Goddard and scripted by Whedon, Cabin takes the conventions of the standard horror film and turns them upside down, injecting both new life and a whole lot of intelligence into the proceedings.  This is one film where it's best to go in without knowing a single, goddamn thing in advance; all the better to discover its pleasures as they unfold across the screen.

The Cabin in the Woods is available on DVD & Blu-ray and can be streamed via Amazon Instant Video and VUDU.

 
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