1. THE ACT OF KILLING
Joshua Oppenheimer and co-director Christine Cynn and their anonymous collaborators travel deep into the heart of darkness with this astonishing look at former Indonesian death squad leaders who, buoyed by vanity, seduced by the power of movies and perhaps wanting to exorcise some guilt from their rotted souls, stylishly and absurdly re-enact for the camera some of the atrocities they committed decades earlier. Never has the banality of evil been documented so persuasively and with such a mixture of emotions.
2. 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Another historical horror story, that of real-life slave Solomon Northup, captured by director Steve McQueen and writer John Ridley with unblinking power and – especially in Chiwetel Ejiofor’s soulful, empathetic Solomon – dignity.
3. GRAVITY
Alfonso Cuarón’s thriller about an astronaut (Sandra Bullock) trying to find her way home is nail-biting, awe-inspiring and emotionally drenching. It delivers old-fashioned pleasures with state-of-the-art CGI and, more than any other film this year, needs to be seen on as big a screen as possible.
4. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
Without winking knowingly at the viewer, the Coen brothers capture the spirit of an era through the picaresque adventures of a grasping, flawed folksinger (a terrific Oscar Isaac) trying to eke out a career – not to mention find a place to crash for the night. A film that will make you weep over its honest, human story and music.
5. A TOUCH OF SIN
Many films have depicted the human cost of a rapidly changing China, but few have done it with such brutal anger and violence. Jia Zhang-ke’s decision to integrate wuxia to heighten moments was inspired.
6. NEIGHBORING SOUNDS
What starts out as a quiet, poetic look at the upper-middle-class residents of a single street in a Brazilian city becomes a disturbing look at the ugly legacy of slavery. First-time feature director Kleber Mendoça Filho is one to watch.
7. FRANCES HA
Noah Baumbach’s black-and-white coming-of-age dramedy is an Annie Hall for the overeducated and underemployed sexting generation. The luminous Greta Gerwig made us fall in love with her awkward non sequiturs, impromptu street dancing and meaningful looks at her bestie across a crowded party floor.
8. BLUE JASMINE
In Woody Allen’s best film in over a decade, Cate Blanchett delivers the performance of her career – think Blanche DuBois in Chanel – as a privileged woman who falls down the social ladder and moves in with her working-class sister. If there were any justice in the world, Bobby Cannavale and Andrew Dice Clay (!) would be battling for supporting actor awards.
9. THE SPECTACULAR NOW
It was a great year for acting by young men (Mud The Way, Way Back The Kings Of Summer). But few actors of any age show the range and complexity of Miles Teller in this heartbreaking adaptation of Tim Tharp’s novel about an alcoholic teen whose charm and fucked-up-ness attract an unpopular girl (a lovely Shailene Woodley) with issues of her own.
10. SPRING BREAKERS
Harmony Korine chronicles the death and dearth of the American dream with hypnotic, poetic grace, getting an actual performance out of Selena Gomez and a wickedly fun, unpredictable one from James Franco. That poolside piano, the montage to Britney and the machine gun ballet are like images from a feverish nightmare. Man, I’m glad I don’t have kids.
RUNNERS-UP: Fruitvale Station The Way, Way Back Cutie And The Boxer Short Term 12 Upstream Color The Conjuring Pacific Rim
