It’s that wonderful time of year yet again, when strangers list their favourite films that you haven’t seen to make you realise how wrong your own list is. With that in mind, please take into account that I haven’t had the chance to see Melancholia, Take Shelter or Weekend. So let’s crack on, my top ten…
10. Submarine – Any film that has imagining the reaction to your death, pathetically philosophical teenagers, divorce, dogs dying, the over-importance of teenage romance, not walking out of the cinema, and of course psychic-ninja-neighbors, has to have a place on this list.
9. Attack the Block – The Cornballs has done it again. If it’s true that you read everything that mentions your name Mr. Joe Cornish, read this: BEST BRITISH TEEN FILM IN FOREVER (take that Harry Potter).
8. Hobo With A Shotgun – A film so delightfully twisted movie that you can’t help but leave with a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Also a true inspiration to independent filmmakers on both an origins and technical level, Eisener is one to watch. Read my full review here.
7. Kill List – One of the scariest films I’ve seen in a long time, tonally and technically bold, and brilliant to see a £500,000 British horror film shot in Sheffield get so much worldwide attention.
6. I Come With the Rain – Imagine a hybrid between Miami Vice, The Silence of the Lambs and The Passion of the Christ. Now imagine that it’s good. And not just good, but really, really good. To quote Mike Dawson over at Left Field Cinema, a car crash of a movie, and in the best possible way.
5. The Artist – Genuinely the most joyous film I have ever seen, it is the Up of this year, hilarious and touching in equal measure. Coming out of the blue, as I’m sure you know, it is the front-runner for the Best Picture, and is the first film my grandmother, father and little sister will all be able to enjoy simultaneously. If this film isn’t “Universal” (take a hint BBFC) I don’t know what is.
4. Norwegian Wood – So we have a director with two films in my top 10! Here Ann Hung Tran has directed a beautiful film based on what I now consider one of my favourite novels (itself inspired by one of my favourite Beatles tracks), the film is a mixture of melancholic teenage reminiscence and filmmaking on the best possible level. Scored by the mighty Johnny Greenwood and featuring tracks by one of my all-time favourite bands, CAN, it is as though this film was made just for me. I seem to have used the word “favourite” a lot in this list, and trust me, there’s good reason.
3. Drive – I liked Refn before it was cool to like Refn. ‘nuff said.
2. Black Swan – Possibly a surprise for featuring so high in my list, but having rewatched this film in the past week I cannot deny the effect it has on me. The first time I saw it, I walked out of the screening in genuine shock. I proceeded to go and see The Ward (the disappointingly middle-of-the-road Carpenter flick) and was distracted, deep in thought, for the entire running time, and the whole bus journey home. It’s incredibly well shot, full of the best kind of movie references, fantastically written and breathtaking performances. I would be lying if I didn’t put it this high in my list.
1. The Tree of Life – I don’t want to write too much because it deserves more than a mere paragraph to sum up it’s true amazingness. All I will say is this: this film had a huge impact on me both on a philosophical and filmmaking/career-aspirations level. This film is on a higher level than any other film I have had the pleasure of witnessing on the big screen. In a word: revelatory.
