Top 5 Films of 2013

These are not in any particular order. It's just a list. 

1. Frances Ha (2012) by Noah Baumbach

Alright, let me get this out of the way. I don't care that this film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in September of 2012. It got a wide theatrical release in 2013, so I'm counting this as a 2013 film. 

This is a brilliant film. Frances Halladay (played by the lovely Greta Gerwig) is a late-twenty-year-old dancer who lives with her friend Sophie. They have beautiful chemistry; some of the best I've seen on-screen in a long, long time. 

The film is shot in black and white and is much less about beautiful camera movements and is much more focused on realistic and rather witty dialogue. This is a film that dives into friendship and ambition. It's worth a watch; check it out on Netflix Instant.

2. Stranger by the Lake (2013) by Alain Guiraudie

This is a rather bizarre film. I've never seen a psychological thriller paired with a gay-romance film. The story is that there is an all-male nude beach somewhere in France. When the men are sick of sunbathing and are looking for "adventure," they dip into the woods where other men are looking to hook-up. 

The main character, Franck, is a character that falls in love with Michel at the nude beach. Michel is already in a relationship with a rather jealous man and they always dip into the woods before Franck has a chance to have a real conversation with him. One day Franck is coming out of the woods to see Michel and his boyfriend swimming in the lake. It looks as if they are wrestling in the water until Michel's boyfriend doesn't come up. Michel kills his boyfriend.

Michel's boyfriend's body is found and airlifted out. From there a detective begins asking questions. At the same time Michel and Franck are basically a couple.

This film is riddled with subtle suspense. There is so much going on between the lovers, Franck's knowledge of who murdered the man, and Franck's inability to tell the detective that his lover is the killer. Stranger by the Lake is a fantastic film.

3. Pacific Rim (2013) by Guillermo del Toro

Do I really need to talk about this movie? It's giant monsters versus giant robots. This was my favorite blockbuster of the summer. I got together with a bunch of my friends, decided to see this  total testosterone flick, and have a good time. We had a blast; it was so fun.

Basically, in the future these Kaijus (big alien monsters) travel through another dimension and try to wreck havoc on Earth. We build giant robots (Mechas) to fight them off and get really good at it. Eventually the Kaijus get stronger and stronger and we are unable to fend them off for much longer. So the humans drum up a plan to stop the menacing inter-dimensional beings once and for all.

This movie's dialogue is stupid to say the most. I only watched it for the robots and the monsters. I got my money's worth. It's the most fun I've had in the theater in a long time.

4. Blue Is The Warmest Color (2013) by Adellatif Kechiche

This film is so raw and emotional that I can't help but put this on my top five. It's a little embarrassing, but this film made me feel things I haven't felt in a long time. It's a very impactful film.

It's a very traditional storyline: girl meets girl, they fall in love, they have a falling out, and years later they meet up and reconcile with their emotions and sexual longing.

It's disappointing that this film is surrounded by so much controversy over the sexually graphic scenes. They are so appropriate and so well done that I write off that kind of criticism. This film is emotionally packed and it explodes in a very tender and loving way, but also in a rather violent and extremely depressing way. 

This is going to be a very important film in the next decade.

5. Only God Forgives (2013) by Nicholas Winding Refn

This film did not do good critically. I think audiences and critics were both expecting Drive 2 with this film. Obviously this is a HUGE departure from what Drive was. 

I read Only God Forgives as a middle finger to the people that liked Drive because it has even LESS substance than the 2011 film. This is a classic case of style-over-substance, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The cinematographer, Larry Smith, also worked on Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. This guy is on top of his game in this film. The lighting layout must have been insanely technical and complicated. You can't have pure red, pure yellow and pure blue all separated perfectly by just "messing around."

Audiences and critics read Gosling's performance in Drive as a way to project the viewer into the viewpoint of the driver. I believe that Refn had Gosling do the same thing in Only God Forgives, so that audiences would try and project themselves onto an oedipal, crazy,  and hopeless person. Refn has always been a polarizing director and Only God Forgives only adds onto that fact.

Honorable Mentions of 2013: The Canyons, Place Beyond The Pines, Gravity, Spring Breakers