Top 20 Discoveries of 2014

Bulk of my cinematic exploration came early this year: there was always dependable Rendez-vous with French Cinema series of course, providing me with my #2 pick of the year, Love Battles, then there was the best film series I've ever been part of in a long time, the first inaugural Art of the Real, presented by FSLC. The series encapsulated everything I was interested in cinema now - blurring the boundaries between film and reality, fired up by people at Havard Film Ethnography Lab (Leviathan, Manakamana, Iron Ministry). Then there was annual New York African Film Festival which fueled my interest in African films. Needless to say, It's been a very good year for films.

Top 20 in order watched:

Drowning by Numbers (1988) - Greenaway


Another Sky (1954) - Lambert


Still of the Night - (1982) - Benton


Le Notti di Cabiria (1957) - Fellini


Under the Sun of Satan (1987) - Pialat


US Go Home (1994) - Denis


Libera Me (1993) - Cavalier


Touki Bouki (1973) - Mambéty


Yeelen (1987) - Cissé


Sinbad (1971) - Huszárik


Phaedra (1962) - Dassin


Goodbye Again (1961) - Litvak


Koumiko Mystery (1967) - Marker


L'Avventura (1960) - Antonioni


Détective (1985) - Godard


Rendez-vous (1985) - Techiné


The Public Woman (1984) - Zulawski


Strayed (2003) - Techiné


Buffet Froid (1979) - Blier


Viola (2012) - Piñeiro

Top 10 Performances of 2014

Most memorable of the bunch, not necessarily in order

Sara Forestier in Mes séances de lutte/Love Battles


Isabelle Huppert in Abus de faiblesse/Abuse of Weakness


Juliette Binoche in Clouds of Sils Maria


Tony Servillo - La Grande Bellezza/The Great Beauty


Kristen Stewart in Clouds of Sils Maria


Liao Fan in Black Coal, Thin Ice


Michael Fassbender in Frank


Patricia Arquette in Boyhood


Agata Trzebuchowska in Ida


Emmanuelle Devos in Arrête ou je continue/If You Don't I Will

My Top 10 Favorite Films of 2014

Oh Lordy, it's that time of the year again. It was a solid year at the movies. And I thank North Korean hackers stopping yet another James Franco/Seth Rogen jerking each other movie from coming out in theaters. Two films I saw early on this year held their impact- Under the Skin and Love Battles, and topped this year's chart, while Boyhood really surprised me since I was never into Linklater's work. As usual, there were some spectacular documentaries: The Look of Silence, The Iron Ministry, Manakamana and many others. Godard never seizes to amaze me, so too Breillat. So without further a do:

*Click on title for full review

1. Under the Skin - Glazer

My mind was made up early on this year, after watching Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin that nothing would beat this film as my favorite. And I was right. Audacious and cinematic, looking at humanity through the eyes of alien in the form of Scarlett Johansson, the film is a profound, hypnotic headtrip for sure.

2. Mes séance de lutte/Love Battles - Doillon

The sheer force of physicality of Love Battles is just mind-boggling. Unlike von Trier's hollow exercise on human sexuality, Doillon's grand experiment has real resonance and honesty that can't be duplicated.

3. Cavalo Dinheiro/Horse Money - Costa

Pedro Costa does it again here with Horse Money. Bravely exorcising his non-actor subject's own past without guise or limitation.

4. The Look of Silence - Oppenheimer

Perhaps the bravest of all filmmaker working today, Joshua Oppenheimer faces the evil from victim's point of view this time. The film is just as compelling and disturbing as last year's Act of Killing.

5. Jauja - Alonso

Finally got to see a Lisandro Alonso film and happy to report that it is magical. I have a lot to explore from this Argentine auteur's filmography coming new year!

6. Eden - Hansen-Løve

Eden is a film of lasting impression. It gains its poignancy long after you watch the film. It's sprawling epic that is tender and touching and beautiful. This might end on my top 100 some day.

7. Adieu au langage/Goodbye to Language - Godard

3D Godard! Certainly one of a kind experience.

8. Clouds of Sils Maria - Assayas

Perhaps the most entertaining non-Hollywood Hollywood film of the year.

9. Black Coal, Thin Ice - Biao

Biao Yinan's neo-noir is the whole package: handsomely crafted, compelling characters, great narrative pull - everything we want in films. It reminds us that Chinese cinema's future is not in mega million CG wu xia films but in low-budget independent filmmakers like Biao Yinan, Li Yang, Lou Ye, Jia Zhangke, Ying Liang and so on.

10. Abus de faiblesse/Abuse of Weakness - Breillat

Breillat's stroke didn't stop from her from making a brilliant depiction of a sexual power game. It made even better.

The Rest:

11. Timbuktu - Sissako

12. Ida - Pawelikowski

13. Le Meraviglie/The Wonders - Rohwacher

14. La Grande Bellezza - Sorrentino

15. The Iron Ministry - Sniadecki

16. Frank - Abrahamson

17. Die Zeit Vergeht Wie Ein Brüllender Löwe/Time Goes by Like a Roaring Lion - Hartmann

18. The Dance of Reality - Jodorowsky

19. Manakamana - Spray, Velez

20. Boyhood - Linklater