Nordling here.
So, the rules (which change every year, probably, and who gives a damn) - movies released theatrically somewhere in the world in 2015. Otherwise, if it was a list of films I saw at festivals or early screenings, this list might be quite different - there are some good movies coming next year, let me tell you. Going in, I didn't see as many films this year in comparison to previous years. That's entirely on me; personally it's been a very busy year with family, health, finances, and various other things. I tried to see all the major blockbusters, but a lot of the smaller films slipped through the cracks. I'll try to do better on that front this year, and I'll catch up eventually. This is why this is a Top 10 and not a Top 50.
My number 1 shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. It's the film I saw the most this year, and I keep discovering new aspects to it every time I sit down to it. I never get tired of watching it. I'm excited to see it again, actually, and of all the movies this year, it's going to be the one we talk about the most in years to come, I'm sure of it.
Finally - no, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS isn't on here. That's deliberate - while the film has grown on me as I expected it would, all the emotions, expectations, and joy of this saga are just too big to quantify for me. I'm not saying STAR WARS is the best film of the year; I'm saying that like Luke struggling to lift the X-Wing out of the swamp in Dagobah, it's just too big. I can't promise not to keep a STAR WARS film off my Top 10 list in the future, but I also don't want it to dominate the conversation when these ten films are completely worthy of it. Okay, let's begin.
10. VICTORIA
On the surface, this one-shot Berlin heist film would seem like a gimmick, but the elegant direction of Sebastian Schipper and the breakout performance of Laia Costa as Victoria prove otherwise. Their skill is breathtaking, and while this is one of those movies that you want to know how they did it, you also don't want to spoil the atmosphere of it by asking too much, either. The best scenes are quiet conversations, and as the camera follows Victoria through the night, we cannot help but become attached to her. We see young romance bloom between Victoria and Sonne (Frederick Lau) and we want nothing but the best for her, but that is denied as events throughout the night unfold. The drama and the tension becomes almost palpable, and VICTORIA ratchets up the intensity with a steady, sure turn of the knob. VICTORIA is a long movie, especially considering how it was made, but each minute is worth it.
9. BRIDGE OF SPIES
Steven Spielberg's look back at the Cold War in its prime is smart, engaging entertainment, and like LINCOLN before it, revels in the spoken word. It doesn't hurt when you have Joel and Ethan Coen taking a hand in the screenplay, and it doesn't hurt when you anchor that screenplay to actors like Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance. The era is captured perfectly - all the paranoia, all the complexities of the politics of the day, and through it all, Tom Hanks' Donovan navigates through the moral dilemmas with the steadfast belief in the power of negotiation and that democracy only means anything if it protects both the weak and the strong, both our enemies and our allies. Mark Rylance's Rudolf Abel might not be our kind of patriot, but he is a true believer, just like Donovan, and their relationship throughout the film is always fascinating to watch. BRIDGE OF SPIES tells a complex story with skill and spirit, and while some may consider it a "lesser" Spielberg, I feel that its esteem will grow over time.
8. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS
Other than my number 1 film of the year, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS may be my most rewatched film of 2015, and I expect I'll be watching it a lot more in the years to come. Not only is it a great comedy, it's a great vampire movie, and I hope that Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi bring all their talents to their werewolf movie as they did to this one. It's a quirky, delightful universe they've created here, and we enjoy spending time with Viago, Vladislav, Deacon, Nick, and Stu. It's endlessly quotable ("We're werewolves, not swearwolves"), hilariously gory, but also remarkably sweet and full of heart at its center. The best comedy of the year.
7. EX MACHINA
Great science fiction provokes, and Alex Garland's directorial debut does exactly that. With incredible performances from Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, and Oscar Isaac, Garland isn't simply telling the story of artificial intelligence, but examing the very fabric of human relationships. The best science fiction is always about more than the face it first presents itself with, and EX MACHINA serves as a microcosm of just how men and women relate to each other in 2015. Do each of these characters deserve their fates? That's for us to decide, and examine, and talk about for quite some time. Perhaps EX MACHINA is a test, not unlike the tests that Caleb gives Ava, not unlike the tests we give to each other every day. EX MACHINA is brilliant, and disturbing, and exciting.
6. COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK
This was a year of great documentaries (THE LOOK OF SILENCE, AMY, GOING CLEAR, LISTEN TO ME MARLON) but none of them affected me as much as Brett Morgen's examination of Kurt Cobain. And, honestly, I expected that - Nirvana takes up a very personal space in my life and I debated this film's place on this list much like I debated STAR WARS. I'm just too wrapped up in it. But Morgen's unflinching look into Cobain's life, including some very intimate moments between Kurt, Courtney Love, and Frances Bean Cobain, is emotional and honest. Morgen doesn't set out to turn Kurt into a hero - he is simply a man, with a man's faults, problems, and struggles. But Kurt was also a voice for those who were voiceless (even though he claimed he never wanted to be). Cobain was full of dichotomies, and never willing to let anyone in, but Morgen successfully navigates this complicated life with empathy and purpose.
5. ANOMALISA
Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson explore depression, age, love, and despair in one of the most fearless movies of the year, and it's all done with puppets. At first, one might question why anyone would want to take such meticulous extremes to a film of this nature, but when the method becomes part of the narrative, part of the thematic weight of the story, ANOMALISA grows into so much more than the sum of its parts. David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Tom Noonan do incredible voicework, and the movie revelas itself the more you see it. The first time I saw it, I was impressed with the technical intricacies, but on repeat viewings, the emotion and the surprising humor of it lifted ANOMALISA even more. There have been some strong animated films this year (INSIDE OUT came very close to making this list) but none as compelling as ANOMALISA.
4. CREED
Ryan Coogler's return to the ROCKY Saga was triumphant; he made the old new again. It seems deceptively easy on the surface - Apollo Creed's son Adonis (played to perfection by Michael B. Jordan) wants to find a life of meaning and purpose, and he's assisted by Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa, turning in a performance of such grace and heart that it might - just might - be his best performance he's done inside his iconic character. I loved listening to the audience react in this movie, and the simple joys of a story told well and with confidence. There were a few movies this year that were spirited returns to franchises long thought finished, and many of them were surprisingly good. But CREED was probably the most unexpected of them, and also unexpected was just how good CREED turned out. Seven films into this franchise, and Coogler, Jordan, and Stallone are hopefully just getting started. I hope we see all the fun of this series renewed in Adonis Creed, and I hope Coogler isn't afraid to have fun with it now that he's opened it up to a whole new generation of fans. CREED is a winner.
3. THE HATEFUL EIGHT
When people asked why Quentin Tarantino shot a mostly one-room-set film in widescreen 70mm, I felt like they were missing the point. Although 70mm can display incredible vistas and landscapes, when it maps the surface of the human face it becomes shockingly, almost uncomfortably intimate, and THE HATEFUL EIGHT is full of people that we probably don't want to get too close to. On the surface, THE HATEFUL EIGHT would appear to be another Tarantino film about bad people behaving badly, but Minnie's Haberdashery quickly becomes a microcosm of modern life once we dig beneath the surface, a life where racism, distrust, and jealousy can seize the moment with little effort if the opportunity presents itself. Samuel L. Jackson does some of the best work of his career here, as does Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh, but everyone does a spectacular job. We aren't supposed to like these people, be we are supposed to recognize ourselves in them, because under the right conditions, we all can return to our baser natures. There is more to dive into THE HATEFUL EIGHT than is readily apparent, and I am amazed at how subtle and elegant Tarantino has become as a director. I imagine his next films (if they truly are to be his last) are going to be incredible. THE HATEFUL EIGHT ranks among his best.
2. LOVE AND PEACE
This one requires some explanation, but I have to be careful, because Sion Sono's LOVE AND PEACE carefully straddles that line for me between subjectivity and objectivity, and I don't want anyone to confuse the two. Objectively, LOVE AND PEACE shouldn't work at all. It's a rock musical. It's a children's story. It's a romantic comedy. It's a puppet movie. It's a kaiju movie. And to reveal what kind of movie it winds up being would be completely unfair to audiences that haven't seen it yet - which is likely 98% of the people reading this; while LOVE AND PEACE has opened theatrically in Japan, it hasn't made its way West yet except for some festivals. There are moments in LOVE AND PEACE that are so silly, moments that are so emotionally broad that conventional audiences would likely not enjoy it, although that's conjecture on my part. Sion Sono's films are always in-your-face with the emotions on display, and Sono makes no apologies for diving deep into sentiment, if you've ever seen his films. LOVE AND PEACE is certainly no exception.
And yet there is a moment in LOVE AND PEACE, when the stories come together, when the paradigm shifts and everything we've seen before collides and the puzzle pieces lock into place, that is so emotionally overwhelming that I can't remember the last time I was moved by a movie to that degree. Maybe E.T. or THE IRON GIANT. When it hit me what the movie was trying to do, the tears came in a flood, and I clearly remember the people who I saw it with embracing me and crying as well. Imagine discovering that as a child that your toys are really alive. Or that the person you've loved from afar absolutely loves you back. Or that all the wonderous flights of imagination in your childhood really happened. That's what LOVE AND PEACE did to me, and while I realize that this may be frustrating to others reading this list, having not seen this movie and having no idea what I'm talking about, I cannot ignore the power that LOVE AND PEACE had over me. This was the most singularly transformative experience I had watching a movie this year, and while I saw one other film that was "better", I did not see a movie that did anything to me like LOVE AND PEACE did. I hope, if and when you see it, you get the same joy from it that I did. Here's the trailer:
1. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
The more I see MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (and I've seen it six times now), the more I want to see it again. It's intricately detailed worldbuilding, and George Miller, with broad strokes, creates a Wasteland that feels real and formidable. And yet, this isn't really Max's film; it's Furiosa's, and while Tom Hardy does terrific work as Max, it is Charlize Theron's Furiosa that we are compelled to watch. She is a heroine for the ages, and while we can get into the thematic aspects of the feminism of MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, what puts this on the top of the year for me is that it's just one hell of a ride of a movie. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD measures up to all the great action movies ever made - not just THE ROAD WARRIOR but films like RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, or DIE HARD, or ALIENS. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is an action masterpiece, the best film of the year, and deserving to be among the greats.
I saw quite a few other films this year that I loved, like THE BIG SHORT, INSIDE OUT, ROOM, BROOKLYN, THE MARTIAN, THE REVENANT, CAROL, SICARIO, SPOTLIGHT, STEVE JOBS, ANT-MAN, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, HE NAMED ME MALALA, and yeah, even STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS and FURIOUS 7. There are more that I've missed that I'll catch up to in the weeks, months, and years ahead. It's a marathon, not a sprint, and that's what I love about cinema - I'll never be finished. Next year promises more great films, and I'm telling you right now, when you see GREEN ROOM, TOO LATE, and THE WITCH, your asses will be delightfuly kicked, and I won't be surprised to see those films on the list next year. Until then, Happy New Year and have a great time at the movies in 2016!
Nordling, out.
