This year I have attempted to acknowledge the films that I feel are examples of cinema at its best on both technical and artistic levels, with the films that had more a personal impact in the sense that they long stayed with me or compelled me to see them again. Most films ended up falling into both categories. Regardless of the reasons, these are the films I loved the most over the past twelve months that got a full theatrical release in Melbourne, Australia:
Top ten favourite films of 2014
1. Inside Llewyn Davis (Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, 2013)
released January
2. Two Days, One Night (Deux jours, une nuit, Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, 2014)
released November
3. Snowpiercer (Bong Joon-ho, 2013)
released July
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)
released April
5. The Grandmaster (Yi dai zong shi, Wong Kar-wai, 2013)
released September
6. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013)
released January
7. Blue Is the Warmest Colour (La vie d’Adèle, Abdellatif Kechiche, 2013)
released February
8. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)
released January
9. A Touch of Sin (Tian zhu ding, Jia Zhangke, 2013)
released February
10. Nymphomaniac (Lars von Trier, 2013)
released March
Honourable mentions
I thought this was a particularly strong year in cinema so these are fifteen more films, listed alphabetically, that have stayed with me for one reason or another:
52 Tuesdays (Sophie Hyde, 2013)
released May
Big Hero 6 (Don Hall and Chris Williams, 2014)
released December
Calvary (John Michael McDonagh, 2014)
released July
Charlie’s Country (Rolf de Heer, 2013)
released July
The Dark Horse (James Napier Robertson, 2014)
released November
Force Majeure (Turist, Ruben Östlund, 2014)
released October
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour, 2014)
released December
Godzilla (Gareth Edwards, 2014)
released May
Her (Spike Jonze, 2013)
released January
The Infinite Man (Hugh Sullivan, 2014)
released September
Lucy (Luc Besson, 2014)
released July
Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy, 2014)
released November
Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch, 2013)
released April
Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)
released May
What We Do In The Shadows (Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, 2014)
released September
Favourite ten films not given a full theatrical release
Many of the best films I saw this year were not given a full theatrical release, but were still screened to Melbourne audiences at festivals or other special events.
1. Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2014)
2. Hard to Be a God (Trudno byt bogom, Aleksey German, 2013)
3. Virunga (Orlando von Einsiedel, 2014)
4. Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets (Florian Habicht, 2014)
5. The Possibilities Are Endless (James Hall and Edward Lovelace, 2014)
6. Happy Christmas (Joe Swanberg, 2014)
7. Why Don’t You Play in Hell? (Jigoku de naze warui, Shion Sono, 2013)
8. The Overnighters (Jesse Moss, 2014)
9. Ping Pong Summer (Michael Tully, 2014)
10. Housebound (Gerard Johnstone, 2014)
This list was compiled for the Senses of Cinema 2014 World Poll
If you want to hear me discuss many of the films listed above, plus some that I wasn’t able to find places for in my lists, then check out the final episode of Plato’s Cave for 2014, which you can listen to via Radio On Demand or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
See you all in 2015 and thanks for reading my monthly summaries. I don’t have any plans to return to long form reviewing just yet, but I’ll still continue to do my radio spots as well as work on a couple of long term projects that may even come to fruition. Following me on Facebook and/or Twitter is the best way to see what I’m up to.
CINEMA AUTOPSY 