What Happened to Me in the Dark
2013: The Year in Review
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
There was plenty to complain about in 2013. Studios continued to bank
everything on enormous, heavily advertised behemoths, which routinely
underperformed. (Hopefully someone will learn a lesson from all this.)
It was a mediocre year for animation, but a pretty good year for
documentaries. Bad movies continued to explore new territories of
badness, and I saw the worst movie of my life this year (see below). And
as the summer of movies based on comic books passed into the fall season
of movies based on "true stories," a few wonderful things appeared in
the cracks. The following ten are my choices for the year's best (and
not a comic book or a "true story" among them).
1. Gravity
I have never seen a movie quite like Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity. It was
a thrilling entertainment, and also a work of art. It was experimental,
visceral, metaphysical, and spiritual, all at the same time. It found a
balance between the bold, inventive, intrepid nature of man, and man's
inherent fragility (our need for air to breathe, etc.). It cast a line
between death and birth (and rebirth). Its technical achievements were
truly groundbreaking, pulling off seamless effects that left the mystery
of how they were done intact. Love her or hate her, Sandra Bullock was
the movie's center, her great performance encompassing fear and doubt,
while George Clooney represented life energy (who better than Clooney to
do that?). It's one of the greatest films I've ever seen, and far more
than just the film of the year. It's a film for the ages.
2. Her
Gravity is a hard act to follow, but Spike Jonze's Her does
the job nicely. It takes a quirky idea -- in the near future, a man
falls in love with his female-voiced operating system -- and turns it
into a fearless, open-hearted exploration of love and connections. The
movie's incredible design constantly emphasizes its theme, forever
clashing the artificial and the beautiful. It could have gone so wrong
in so many ways, but it sidesteps correctly each time. Jonze also took
the chilly, guarded actor Joaquin Phoenix and guided him to the most
giving, touching performance of his career.
3. Before Midnight
Turning Before Sunrise and Before Sunset into a trilogy can't have
been an easy task, since all the blooming romance is gone and all that's
left is the hard work. But Richard Linklater's Before Midnight --
co-written by stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy -- presents a fearless
portrayal of a relationship in flux, with all the little doubts and
desires that get in people's way. Expertly crafted without a bit of
exposition, it flows through alternating moments of humor, sadness, and
beauty. And it deepens what may become the cinema's greatest love story.
4. To the Wonder
Terrence Malick's To the Wonder is the much-hated sixth film by one
of the most acclaimed filmmakers of our time, though I have yet to
figure out why. Like Her, it explores the slippery and elusive nature of
love and human connections. A man (Ben Affleck) falls for two beautiful
women (Olga Kurylenko and Rachel McAdams), but can't seem to sustain any
feelings for them; he's still searching. In the meantime, a priest
(Javier Bardem) has a similarly searching, uncertain relationship with
God. Malick's sublime, dreamy visuals are also forever searching,
alternately settling on moments of joy, reflection, or sadness before
moving on.
5. Like Someone in Love
The great Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami continues his investigation of
the rest of the world with the Japanese-set Like Someone in Love.
Telling the story of an old professor who hires a young prostitute for
some unknown reason (nostalgia? lust?), and the reaction of her jealous
boyfriend, it's less about a plot or a series of events than -- like
some of this year's other great films -- the elusive nature of love and
connection. As the title hints, they're "like" someone in love but not
in love. Kiarostami's trademark meditative shots allow viewers to fully
explore each moment.
6. Upstream Color
Shane Carruth's long-awaited follow-up to his low-budget Primer,
Upstream Color could accurately be described as an experimental film.
It's not easy to pick up on exactly what's happening on a first viewing,
but Carruth's strange, intoxicating rhythms make it absolutely
compelling at every turn. It's elliptical, slippery, vaguely sinister,
and brainy, but Carruth seems to respect his audience; it's one of the
few films that presupposes some intelligence on the part of a viewer.
Have patience: it actually does have a plot, and part of the greatness
of this movie will be returning to it again and again and untangling it
a bit further each time.
7. Nebraska
Whenever Alexander Payne has slipped up in the past, it has been from
going too far or trying too much; Nebraska is his most stripped-down
movie, rendered in simple landscapes, with simple characters, and filmed
in simple black-and-white (it was one of four terrific black-and-white
movies this year!). Bruce Dern and Will Forte make a wonderfully
bittersweet father-son team, on a road trip for a hopeless quest. June
Squibb matches them in a wonderfully fearless performance as Dern's
cranky, long-suffering wife. The movie gracefully balances funny and
sad, and the satisfying ending feels earned.
8. Drug War
Hong Kong director Johnnie To has been one of our most prolific and
streamlined of action directors for two decades, and has turned in
several outstanding, low-gear crime films -- he's like the Anthony Mann
of our time -- but Drug War is a high point. Crafty and exhilarating,
it's based on a simple premise that spins ever more wildly out of
control. It was To's first film shot in mainland China, and it uses that
disparity to brilliant effect, increasingly crossing the landscape with
the action in more nefarious ways.
9. Computer Chess
Along with Upstream Color, Computer Chess was one of the year's most
outstanding experimental films. Director Andrew Bujalski was an inventor
of the so-called "mumblecore" genre, and while the other members of that
club have gone more mainstream, Bujalski crafted this astounding, funny,
and ultimately loony work. Created to look like a video documentary from
the early 1980s, the movie takes place at a convention for programmers
of chess-playing computers. But things get weirder and weirder,
ultimately -- like Her -- asking big questions about the differences and
similarities between technology and humans.
10. The World's End
Completing the so-called "blood and ice cream" trilogy (or the
Cornetto trilogy), director Edgar Wright and co-writer/star Simon Pegg
have made the year's funniest film. Filled with genuine laughs and
genuine sci-fi surprises, it ventures where Invasion of the Body
Snatchers dared to go half a century ago, and tops it, asking even more
complex and fascinating questions. In a year when sci-fi seemed to grow
dumber, The World's End -- perhaps ironically -- gave us hope.
Ten Runners up (in alphabetical order):
Honorable Mention:
Great Performances
- Bruce Dern, Will Forte, and June Squibb, Nebraska
- Sandra Bullock, Gravity
- Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips and Saving Mr. Banks
- Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
- Harrison Ford, 42
- James Franco, Spring Breakers
- Joaquin Phoenix, Her
- Miles Teller, The Spectacular Now
- Adele Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux, Blue Is the Warmest Color
- Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
- Scarlett Johansson, Don Jon and Her
- Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, and Octavia Spencer, Fruitvale Station
- Winona Ryder, The Iceman and Homefront
Great DVD and Blu-ray Releases
I no longer review DVDs and Blu-rays with the same vigor I once
did, and there were several worthy releases that I did not get a chance
to see. This list, while not comprehensive, comprises the best of the
ones I did see.
Guilty Pleasures
Including all three of the year's Sylvester Stallone movies, plus three James Franco movies!
The Year's Worst Films
Sorry about this... I started making the list and it just kept going.
- InAPPropriate Comedy (the worst movie I have ever seen)
- Movie 43
- Upside Down
- Paranoia
- The Big Wedding
- The Hangover Part III
- Ass Backwards
- Scary Movie 5
- At Any Price
- Aftershock
- The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia
- World War Z
- Runner Runner
- R.I.P.D.
- Fast & Furious 6
- The Butler
- Red 2
- A Good Day to Die Hard
- The Last Days on Mars
- Pain and Gain
- We're the Millers
- Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
- Romeo and Juliet
- Elysium
- Kick-Ass 2
- 47 Ronin
- Delivery Man
- Closed Circuit
- Touchy Feely
- C.O.G.
