I’m a little late to the game with end of year lists, I’m
personally going from the beginning of 2012 up to and including that was
released or eligible for this years Oscars, so it’s more like a 15 month
period. But anyway, enough with the build up, let’s get straight to it.
5. The Master
Easily the most difficult of films to get into, or even get
a hold of. Paul Thomas Anderson’s most recent film takes to post World War Two
America as we follow navy veteran Freddie Quell, played disturbingly well by
Joaquin Phoenix as he searches for something. The search is either to improve
himself and his situation, or to simply continue to find better and better
places to get drunk and have sex. Whether Freddie wants to change is one of the
biggest questions in the film.
The Master, is one
of Andersons shortest films, although the first viewing can be quite gruelling
as there isn’t a lot of plot to drive the film forward, instead it focuses on
the three main characters of Quell, Lancaster Dodd, or The Master (Phillip
Seymour Hoffman) and his wife Peggy (Amy Adams). However, on subsequent
viewings the film does “speed up” and is much more rewarding as it allows you
to really focus on these characters.
It isn’t as perfect as There
Will Be Blood, but then again few films will ever reach that bench mark
again. Instead, The Master offers a
personal look into beliefs and the power religion holds over people, as well as
asking just how much people want to change against how much they can actually
change. You may struggle with it, but it’s a film not be missed.
4. Looper
Arguably one of the biggest hits outside of the obvious
comic book fare we had at the cinemas this summer. Rian Johnson’s excellent
third film and possibly his best so far, reunited him with Joseph Gordon Levitt
from Brick and once again they found
and gave us an interesting and complicated protagonist.
Looper, for me follows
in the tradition of the last few years where we get a big, accessible and
intelligent science fiction film that really strikes a cord with the audience,
in previous years it’s been Source Code (2011), Inception (2010), Moon (2009), although budgets may vary for all, it was that they
all brought big ideas and themes to this resurgent genre.
The film begins quickly and gives our protagonist an obvious
goal, to kill his future self and get his life back. But it’s when Looper changes from what everyone is
expecting that it really kicks into high gear. As we are given Old Joe’s full
story and reason for coming back as well as what he plans to do. Whether you
can see a justification for what he does is a very individual thing. But by
giving us conflicting protagonists, the film asks us to choose what it is the
more valuable to us ,as well as why we are supporting this character over the
other.
3. Zero Dark Thirty
If you can get past the endless controversy that surrounds
this film, you are in for a tense and morally ambiguous film. We all know it
ends generally, but here it’s about the characters who spent near enough a
decade searching for one man. Bigelow and Boal do an amazing job of holding
your attention as these operatives discuss names, places and histories at such
speed that it would be quite easy for the audience to get lost. But because of
their own skill and that of the actors, not once did I feel lost or behind on
what was happening.
Chastain’s central character of Maya is one of the most
interesting protagonists in last five years. We watch her evolve from being
somewhat timid at the start of the film during her first interrogation, to a
borderline obsessive by the time of the raid on Abbottabad.
Now, does the film justify Torture or the various methods
that have been used by intelligence agencies? Not at all in my opinion, as one
crucial piece of evidence is found without the use of torture. The big
controversy comes from the fact that film states that torture took place in the
first place. Given the people that it’s likely screenwriter Mark Boal spoke to,
it’s seem fair to say that it did happen, maybe not like this, but that it
certainly did happen. That accusation for some is more serious than the methods
used.
2. Once Upon A Time In Anatolia
This may be a bit of cheat due to the date of release, but
as it was released in 2012, it qualifies for this list. Nuri Blige Ceylan’s
beautiful Turkish crime film is as mesmeric as it is visually stunning. Taking
place in the Turkish countryside mostly, as a group of officials go out with a
killer to find the body of the man he murdered.
As straight forward as the basic plot sounds, it is more
about the men who have come out to search for the body, as the killer struggles
to remember where the body is and they spend more time out in hills, they begin
to talk about the histories and what made the into the men they are.
As mentioned before, the greatest part of the film are it’s
visuals. We are often treated these elegantly framed and photographed long
shots of the countryside as the cars move along the winding roads. As it has
been mentioned before by various critics, these shots resemble moving paintings
(for all the clumsiness of that expression) which reminds me of Stanley
Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon.
This is personally complex, choosing it’s characters over
its plot as its main focus and apart from a kind of twist towards the end, has
the films stakes relate to the characters. To everyone else, what is it at
stake is just the finding the body and getting back, but for the more senior
members of the group, it is about, pride, reputation, the secrets of their past
and the cost of telling the truth.
1. The Dark Knight Rises
This choice may not come as a surprise to many, in fact it
may have been more of a surprise if it hadn’t made the top spot. Was it as
immediately satisfying as The Dark Knight?
Maybe not for everyone and it divide some peoples opinion, but that was no
doubt down to it being a conclusion and people do hate having stories ended for
them.
Like it’s predecessor, Rises
aimed big, using contemporary fears and concerns and used them to colour it’s
story, commentaries on it’s political leanings were expected, but maybe not as
ridiculous as some that emerged. It also pushed it’s scope even further,
breaking the narrative up into, two or three different storylines for the
majority of it’s middle and asking the viewer to keep up, something that big
budget blockbusters don’t, instead preferring to spoon feed audiences their
basic plots.
Despite the numerous plots and characters present within the
film, this and the rest of the trilogy were all about telling one mans story,
Bruce Wayne’s. We saw him return from sacrificing years of his life, to be
chased, beaten and driven to his lowest point and rebuild himself, leading to a
stirring and tense climax that left me open mouthed for remaining five minutes
of the film. We were given the scene between Gordon and Batman that we had
waited three films for as well as the most relief and joy inspiring almost shot
that any film of this kind has ever delivered.
All in all we were given a more than fitting finale to one
of the most well loved and entertaining trilogies of the last few decades,
easily standing alongside the sprawling Lord
of the Rings. With his next incarnation, I can only hope that they manage
to reach these heights once again.
