I know my colleague Norman Wilner says 2014 was a stellar year for film, but it didn’t feel that way to me. Perhaps because long-arc TV shows are becoming so good, so complex, film narratives don’t feel as gripping. But here are 10 movies – three of them docs, telling – that made me sit up and take notice this year.
1. Boyhood
Richard Linklater
A magnificent achievement, not just for the 12-year commitment and the time-lapse feel of seeing characters grow older before your eyes, but for its profound human truths. How can we ever look at fake movie aging again?
2. Under The Skin
Jonathan Glazer
Yet another film about what it means to be human, this time featuring an alien (Scarlett Johansson) stalking Scottish men and then mysteriously dispensing with them. Beneath the sci-fi and horror trappings, the film’s really about empathy and charity.
3. Ida
Pawel Pawlikowski
In 1960s Poland, a novitiate nun (terrific newcomer Aga Trzebuchowska) is tracked down by her sole remaining relative, a heavy-drinking judge (Agata Kulesza), and they embark on a journey into the horrors of World War II. Not a single second is wasted in this look at good and evil, innocence and guilt.
4. The Overnighters
Jesse Moss
A great American documentary with a modern-day Grapes Of Wrath setting, a deeply flawed central character (Pastor Jay Reinke) and a range of voices that captures a deeply divided town – and ultimately nation.
5. Jodorowsky’s Dune
Frank Pavich
A making-of doc about a film that was too insane, expensive and wildly imaginative to ever get made. Octogenarian Alejandro Jodorowsky‘s enthusiasm for art and life is pure joy.
6. Mr. Turner
Mike Leigh
Leigh’s portrait of the artist as a flawed, grumbling curmudgeon doesn’t rely on biopic clichés. But somehow J.M.W. Turner (Timothy Spall, incredible) and his unique vision come through with piercing clarity.
7. Nightcrawler
Dan Gilroy
A sleazy videographer works his way up the tabloid news business. Gilroy’s psychological thriller amounts to more than Jake Gyllenhaal‘s terrifying performance. It’s a damning statement about the current culture of fear and intolerance.
8. Winter Sleep
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
A retired Turkish actor who now runs a hotel nestled in the mountains of Anatolia argues with his younger, dissatisfied wife, disillusioned sister, overworked employee and a couple of tenants. 200 minutes of absorbing drama with echoes of Chekhov and Bergman. (Released January 8)
9. Wild
Jean-Marc Vallée
A film adaptation of Cheryl Strayed‘s memoir of healing and self-discovery could have been a terrible: Eat. Pray. Hike. But Vallée and a tough, disciplined Reese Witherspoon make it gripping stuff, moody, intuitive and underscored with strong emotional beats.
10. Citizenfour
Laura Poitras
Big Brother is alive, well and likely has a record of you reading this on your computer or phone. Poitras’s horrifying doc about America’s invasive data-collection programs is filmed like an espionage thriller, the money shot being the image of NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden shrouding himself to type on a laptop.
Worst
ANNIE It was a hard-knock life for Sony this year, and this tone-deaf adaptation of the musical didn’t help things.
MALEFICENT Even with Angie as an evil witch, this was not nearly as much fun as it should have been.
THE CAPTIVE We were, in our seats.
Underrated
EDGE OF TOMORROW Chalk it up to a terrible title, and Tom Cruise fatigue, perhaps, but this smart and funny thriller deserved more love.
Best film we didn’t see
THE BABADOOK Yeah, when The Exorcist’s William Friedkin says it’s the scariest movie he’s ever seen, it makes sense not to release it in theatres.
