The Best Movies You Didn't Watch This Year

                Being a writer for a southeast Idaho publication, I have tried to review and discuss films that are going to play to the southeast Idaho audience.  But, being a movie fan, I have also been watching plenty of other movies that I didn’t get a chance to weigh in on. With the year coming to a close, I would feel remiss if I were to deny Journal readers my recommendations for the amazing output in this year’s limited releases. Though many of the films in this article may have not played first-run in our region, the year’s most interesting, groundbreaking and entertaining films, released in independent, foreign, and/or boutique markets, are now or will soon become perfectly available through rental or streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.

                 Early in the year we were treated with a smattering of interesting crime movies that not only broke the traditions of their genre but also broke the predictability of the typical three-act movie structure. Director Danny Boyle reteamed with his old “Trainspotting” screenwriter John Hodge and released the tenchnodelic brain caper “Trance” and reminded people that complicated plots and disappearing MacGuffins are not nearly as precious if you have three capable leads like James McCavoy, Rosario Dawson, and Vincent Cassel to carry you through. You’re never sure if what you are watching is actually happening or what character’s perspective you’re viewing the events through, but Boyle’s energy never lets up and the movie never gets boring. Similarly, Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers”—perhaps the most controversial and divisive film of the year—transforms a simple good-girls-gone-bad heist thriller into a fragmented, neon nightmare parable. James Franco makes a peculiar but refreshing turn as a white-trash, rapping Big Bad Wolf and Disney tween actors (Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez, respectively) stand in as a satirical representation of the hopelessly duped and shallow Gen-Y marketing demographic.  In a more sober representation of American hopelessness, Derek Cianfrance’s “The Place Beyond the Pines” tells an intricate collection of stories about families, fathers, murder, and secrets, highlighting an ambitious screenplay that manages to fit all the drama and operatic tension of the Godfather trilogy in just one feature.  

                This has also been a terrific year for movies about women.  Noah Baumbach’s “Frances Ha”, a modern black and white indie about a young New Yorker (Greta Gerwig) who can barely make ends meet or even hold on to a stable living situation in her post-academic life, perfectly captures the plight of the overqualified, jobless 20-somethings of our era. “Enough Said”, with Seinfeld’s Julie Lewise Dreyfus and James Gandolfin in his last role, is a warm and clever rom-com throwback about middle-aged second chances. In Woody Allen’s latest, “Blue Jasmine”, he wisely gives Cate Blanchett a meaty enough character and a light enough screenplay to let her take hold and command the screen for its entire ninety-eight minutes. Blanchett plays the complicated Jasmine with heartbreaking sympathy and sociopathic wit in such a way that the movie, refreshingly, never condemns the character or begs the audience for her redemption.

                If you’re like me than you probably can’t resist a good coming of age movie.  “Mud”, by Jeff Nichols, frames a criminal-on-the-lam plot with a teenage story about first loves and broken homes. Matthew McConaughey continues his impressive winning streak and Nichols’ southern world-building feels fully realized and lived in, creating something like a cross between “Huckleberry Finn” and “E.T”.  “The Spectacular Now” is a confident coming of age film about a young alcoholic (Miles Teller) who, in trying to mend a freshly broken heart, finds companionship in a geeky loner girl (Shalene Woodly) from his high school. In giving her the confidence she needs to make things happen in her life, he also exposes her to his most destructive tendencies. It’s a real film about real teenagers and it doesn’t promote or judge the character’s choices. Of course, when it comes to this category, one can’t not bring up the lyrical beauty of the French, Palme D’Or winner “Blue is the Warmest Color”, a young love story that isn’t afraid to take its characters or its actors anywhere.  Unlike many American coming-out dramas, this doesn’t end after our heroine figures out her sexual orientation gets the girl. Instead, the movie continues to follow both the pragmatic Adele (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and her artsy, bohemian lover Emma (Léa Seydoux) as they learn about who they are and what they need out of a long term commitment. Both leads give fearless performances and by the movie’s end you will feel like you have gone through the couple's most intimate highs and lows.

                Lastly, this year has also treated us too some wonderful oddball, genre-bending films such as the horror-comedy “John Dies at the End”, a film that crosses the slacker, pizza-breath vibe of “Wayne’s World” and “Idle Hands” with the shadowy and nonsensical terror of films such as “Donny Darko” and “Lost Highway”. And then, in what is probably still my favorite motion picture of 2013, one should not miss seeing the tragic sci-fi romance “Upstream Color”, about a young couple who find each other after unwillingly undergoing a psychic treatment that involves pigs, worms, orchids and the writings of Henry David Theroux.  It’s a puzzle box narrative without an instruction booklet, but it’s hard work pays off in an intensely interior and emotionally engaging way.  Self financed and self distributed, “Primer” director, Shane Caruth, not only makes one of the most impressive sophomore efforts by an indie filmmaker but he practically creates a whole new cinematic language in which to tell his story.  It’s on Netflix. And you’re welcome.

                 So, even though I have spent a lot of time ragging on the Hollywood blockbusters and the star vehicles from this year, 2013, film for film, has proven to be one of the most engaging years in movies. I also want to remind readers that I chose not to spotlight the obvious awards-season indies such as “Inside Llewyn Davis”, “Dallas Buyers Club”, or “Nebraska” because, while all of those films are fantastic and deserve your attention, they certainly don’t need my help. Also also, I want to remind those who may think my tastes lean so far left that I can’t enjoy a popcorn movie anymore, that Alfonso Cauron’s “Gravity” deserves just as much praise for its expressive storytelling as it does its special effects and sometimes it feels like I might be the only person left who will admit to unabashedly loving “Star Trek into Darkness”. So there.

Originally published in the Idaho State Journal/Dec-2013