Music Videos:
Projects:
Jessy Lanza - Pull My Hair Back
Kelela - CUT 4 ME
James Blake - Overgrown
King Krule - 6 Feet Beneath The Moon
FKA twigs - EP2
Ethel Wulf x Eric Dingus - Damare Shizukani
PARTYNEXTDOOR - PARTYNEXTDOOR
Drake - Nothing Was The Same
Burial - Street Halo EP
Movies:
2013's films explored two ideas: decadence (Gatzby, Wolf, American Hustle...) & bad luck (All is Lost, Gravity, 12 Years a Slave, Captian Phillips, A Hijacking). This year saw mainstream American cinema come harder than it has in a long time.
12 Years a Slave- You're probably not ready for Solomon Northup's harrowing journey of abduction and consequent slavery. You're probably just a little bit more ready than he was though. This true story makes the audience process each new development about Northups new environment with him. There's a visceral mounting dread that director Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame) builds with long takes that helps supplement the viewers idea of the 12 years that pass in the world of the film. Chiwetel Ejiofor (playing Northup) is a lock for best actor on the year, he blends anger, pain and bewilderment without uttering a word... and speaks with beautiful eloquence as the rare educated black trapped in his southern slave plantation. Steve McQueen can be found here at the top of his game. This may be the year's best.
Gravity- Alfonso Cuarón's exhausting space epic utilized similar technology to his friend James Cameron's Avatar to create this innovative feature. Yet somehow, despite the awe striking space explosions and sightly views of a tiny earth, the film's lead performance by Sandra Bullock is the best of her career & moves the viewer. The year's best action film had heart... and it set new standards for 3D cinema, a medium I have begun to believe in. Oh and this one goes in the bad luck category.
A Hijacking- I quite liked Captain Phillips... but somehow it is a distant second to this steely, raw portrait of a Somali pirate hijacking. Tobias Lindholm (R) writes and directs. I'll keep it brief because you need to go out and see this... and you probably haven't yet.
Dallas Buyer's Club- It's hard to like Matthew McConaughey. As soon as I say that name a vicious montage of rom-coms start to beat you in the face like the fists that give him a next level ass beating in the first 15 minutes of the film. And before you know it, the preening southern drawl... the womanizing cockiness... the ignorant homophobia... all play perfectly into the character that is: Ron Woodruff. This limited budget, indie film by Jean-Marc Vallee (The Young Victoria) has been highly praised, but I'm certain it deserves even more. Cinematographer Yves Belanger's composition is astounding in almost every shot, yet never detracts from the arc of the film. A gaunt McConaughey, who lost nearly 40 pounds for his role, commands the screen as the accidental savior of gay men in the 80's. But Jared Leto makes his first appearance on the silver screen in four years and gives the best supporting performance of 2013.
The Act of Killing- It was a cool year for documentaries (Cutie & the Boxer, Stories We Tell were both fantastic)... but this one was unprecedented. Director Joshua Oppenheimer traveled to Indonesia and got the killers from the 1960's genocide there to dramatically reenact their mass murders from the time. Through this process they examine themselves in the most fascinating way. These murders modeled themselves after gangsters they saw at the movies, and so when they are finally confronted by themselves on screen, it is a revelation for them... and doubly so for the viewer.
The Wolf of Wall Street- Scorsese just dropped a three hour pile of corrupt decadence in our lap and called it Wolf. In the late 70's Scorsese found him self contemplating suicide next to a pile of cocaine when Robert De Niro called him up and convinced him to make Raging Bull with him. My point is twofold: Scorsese knows about drugs and he puts his this on display... But more than that, Scorsese made his best films after this low moment. Wolf feels like a sequel to Casino or something. The montages of excess. The horrifically hilarious moments bombard the viewer and instead of moralizing some easy message about capitalism, the film makes it's points in subtler ways (the moment on the subway with the DEA agent made my jaw drop)... and somehow I feel like a lot of people who watched this film missed the point. People who left the theatre in droves idolizing Jordan Belfort have missed the point of this film. It's a bit too long at three hours but... like Jordan, nobody in the audience wanted it to end.
Blue is the Warmest Color- Abdellatif Kechiche's first two films were political. I'm convinced Blue is too but like Wolf the film make's its most profound points in subtle ways. It's happy to leave you asking questions in the final scene... leaving whispers about a sequel. Adele Exarchopoulos plays the lead role with the same first name. Kechiche would film her when she was on her way to set, at meals and when she was relaxing between scenes... and with all the great moments he had, he decided during production to change the name of the character to her real name. We spend so much time with her in these everyday moments that when we see the big moments in her life, the gravity of each is amplified. Adele's blue-haired lesbian lover owns her character as well, played by Lea Seydoux. This is the best foreign language film of the year, but it requires patience and focus.
American Hustle- David O'Russell (The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook) grabs all of the best actors from his previous films (Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Robert De Niro) and lets them loose. A great deal of the dialogue in the film is improvised... to the degree where actors worried about the consequences of their ad-libs on the progressions of the film. O'Russell's response?, "...I hate plots. I am all about characters, that's it." Bale's performance is remarkably nuanced and Jeremy Renner melts your heart as the politician who's duped into corruption. The story itself is not half as compelling as the performances. These are characters that make you listen.
Before Midnight- The sobering third installment to the most famous series of intelligent romance films leaves you without a sense of wonderment. You get it. This is the true story of middle aged love. This isn't staying up all night conversing in Paris, red wine and poetry... This is hanging out all day conversing in Greece about divorce, saggy tits and infidelity... but still all wrapped in Richard Linklater (Waking Life, Dazed and Confused)'s insightful philosophical musings. It's the same style with a major dose of realism. The kind that makes you realize that the early two films were just real enough to trick someone into thinking a life of commitment is all sunshine. As a viewer you're left to answer how fruitful the game of love really is... and how optimistic one really should be.
Her- Spike Jonze is one of my favorite directors and though this film is fantastic, I found myself disappointed. It's corny!... but it also works? It's nice to see Joaquin Pheonix smile and relax for a change. Scarlett Johansen supports as the enthusiastic, sultry voiced OS1 that Pheonix finds himself falling in love with. She shatters him when she admits she loves hundreds more. Pheonix complains early in the film that he's worried he'll never experience a new feeling. His OS is dealing with the opposite problem as the world's novelty turns into an exhausting feeling. She too however longs terribly for personal connection and the beauty of this film lies right there. Solar flares and bokeh are everywhere in this "perfect", near-future Los Angeles... yet Phoenix's character still fights melancholy to an Arcade Fire soundtrack. I wanted to love this film, but I don't.
Honorable Mention: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Grandmaster, Prisoners
Didn't see: Snowpiercer, The Great Beauty, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
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