Rather than being a Top 10 list of films released in 2014, this list shares 10 films from the past year that challenged our expectations of film and brought excitement to the screen.
Nuri Bilge Ceylan has without a doubt evolved into one of the most important film auteur’s of our times. His films push the boundaries of cinematic storytelling, and Winter Sleep certainly pushes them further while still striking the audience as a classic. Paweł Pawlikowski’s Ida also plays like a classic film with its beautiful static shots and story presented with images and sounds that adhere to Robert Bresson’s idea of only presenting the necessary. Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin proves that cinema’s language still offers new worlds to explore, new modes of expression to discover. At the same time, Ava DuVernay’s Selma points out that great films and great directors are great because of what they represent and how they exist free of the need for validation. Like 12 Years a Slave by Steve McQueen, Selma is another important point in film history, one that hopefully invites filmmakers to reflect on cinema as an art and way to convey powerful emotions and ideas.
Another film that pushes the boundaries of cinematic storytelling is Richard Linklater’s Boyhood. There is a reason why it is adored by larger audiences: it touches on the soul of what it means and feels to be human. Also, one can not avoid the outstanding feat of producing a film over the course of 12 years in order to capture true life. Touching upon human emotion and life in its own way, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman was spectacular with its cast and ability to tell a film story in what appears to the spectator an unbroken long take. Ambition here too deserves to be honored. Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer shows how art can transcend cultural barriers and that there are driven tellers of human stories all over the world. It also sheds light on the importance of a director possessing a filmmaker’s style. Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s 20,000 Days on Earth confirms the power of the documentary under stylistic and poetic direction. Meanwhile Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, a sophomore film, reveals that brilliant emerging filmmakers are out there: they just need the chance to shine. Finally, in a list with Winter Sleep and Ida there is Chad Stahelski and David Leitch’s John Wick. A film that must’ve been what many expected from Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, it has to be one of the best action films of recent times, one that also looks, cuts, and sounds amazing. You can’t complain too that it delivers what it promises and never tries to prove itself to be something other than what it is: a stylish action thriller.
Mr. Turner, Foxcatcher, Nightcrawler, Finding Vivian Maier, and Wild.
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