This year has been fairly strong for art-house and indie cinema, and the second half of 2012 has produced films achieving both commercial and critical success. But what should these lists take into consideration? The focus is on the most impressive and intelligent filmmaking, but also to give attention to films that deserve and require praise, further discussion and the chance to remain in the public eye. With that in mind, this list attempts to factor these approaches in.
All of these films had a UK release in 2012.
Number 10 – Skyfall
Sam Mendes / UK/USA / 2012 / 143 min
Skyfall is the 23rd James Bond film. After a botched mission leads to Bond going A.W.O.L, he eventually makes his way back to London to face off with a cyber terrorist targeting domestic objectives. Rather than the disappointing Quantum of Solace, there’s a return to the cold, heartless Bond that emerged in Casino Royale but it’s brought into the 21st century by an intellectual script that draws on the trepidations of modern society. Despite including cyber terrorism the film works hard to retain elements that would’ve been recognisable in Dr No 50 years ago, which creates a pleasing balance of classic and contemporary.
Read the The Wee Review review here
Number 9 – Carnage
Roman Polanski / France/Germany/Poland/Spain / 2011 / 80 min
Carnage is a one-room farce involving two sets of parents whose children have been caught fighting. Like all farces it relies heavily on a quick and witty script that delivers punchy one liner laughs and nonsensical lines of dialogue and these are riotously delivered throughout the production. There’re also elements of slapstick but these aren’t over used giving a smarter, crisper feel than other farces. While the plot is inherently silly it does comment on how seriously we take ourselves and whether the aspects of life we hold most important should really take such priority.
Read the The Wee Review review here
Number 8 – The Imposter
Bart Layton / UK / 2012 / 99 min
The Imposter is a bizarre, almost unbelievable documentary about a Frenchman who, pretending to be the long lost child of an American family is amazingly accepted into their home as the missing son. Interviews with the outrageous perpetrator and the law enforcement involved give insights into why he did it and just how lucky he was to get as far as he did. However, despite interviews with multiple family members the reasons for how they were so duped by somebody who was the wrong age and nationality become the unexpected focal point of the film. As each candidate offers their own beliefs into what lead to this scandal, no ultimate answer is decided upon leaving the reasons ambiguous.
Read the The Wee Review review here
Number 7 – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Benh Zeitlin / USA / 2012 / 93 min
Beasts of the Southern Wild is a poignant coming of age tale following the lives of a father and his young daughter living in New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. It paints the storm both positively and negatively; the material destruction is obviously a terrible outcome but the fierce spirit of camaraderie amongst those who survive the floods could only have been born through their shared suffering. While the beasts of the plot are undoubtedly the storm, the bureaucratic relief workers and the father’s sickness, through visual metaphor we are shown through the child’s eye view of how to remain brave when confronted with tribulations.
Read the The Wee Review review here
Number 6 – Untouchable
Oliver Nakache/Eric Toledano / France / 2011 / 112 min
Untouchable is a joyful comedy about a wealthy, elderly, white paraplegic who hires a working-class young black carer. Like a modern The Prince and the Pauper it’s a culture clash on many fronts and the film plays off on this with hilarious results. The character’s confrontations over their differences in taste are not uncommon within fiction but it’s the disability angle that separates this from other works. As with many culture clashes, the undercurrent is one of learning acceptance despite a person’s background, age or ethnicity but far from accepting their differences these characters wholeheartedly embrace them, warmly depicting the positive experiences that can be reaped from such relationships.
Read the The Wee Review review here
Number 5 – The Hunt
Thomas Vinterberg / Denmark / 2012 / 115 min
The Hunt is about a male nursery worker who’s wrongly accused of abusing one of his students. Without any evidence to prove his innocence and taking the word of the child over his, the closed knit community slowly turn against him. This film disturbingly displays the willingness with which people conform to mob mentality based on only rumour. The young girl is hailed as a symbol of innocence while the nursery worker is labelled as guilty. Interestingly, instead of blaming the child for his misfortunes, the protagonist realises that despite her shortcomings she is relatively innocent and that the true guilt lies with those who accuse unfounded claims.
Read the The Wee Review review here
Number 4 – Rust & Bone
Jacques Audiard / France/Belgium / 2012 / 120 min
Rust & Bone is a story of overcoming great difficulties. While struggling to look after his son, a single father befriends a woman who’s working through rehabilitation after a major accident. The father’s relationships with his child and the lady mirror each other and while she is physically injured her cognitive intellect outshines the man’s and their friendship becomes a mutually beneficial relationship in which she learns to accept her disability and he learns responsibility. What this film best shows is that while life sometimes throws moments of difficulty outward, it’s important to push through them because with the right attitude things can improve.
Read the The Wee Review review here
Number 3 – Michael
Markus Schleinzer / Austria / 2012 / 96 min
Michael is a haunting and disturbing portrayal of a paedophile that keeps a pre-pubescent boy imprisoned in his cellar. While the content of the film is harrowing enough, the skill of the director lies in not showing repeated scenes of graphic violence but instead using clever editing forcing the audience to infer the distressing actions, acting to magnify the horror in the audience’s imagination. It’s not a particularly enjoyable film to watch and is riddled with uncomfortable moments but is a remarkably crafted piece of cinema. Despite the officious nature of the plot, you’re drawn into the story by the stark realism of the situation.
Read the The Wee Review review here
Number 2 – Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Nuri Bilge Ceylan / Turkey/Bosnia and Herzegovina / 2011 / 150 min
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia follows a murderer, a policeman and a doctor as they slowly search for the place where the criminal buried his victim. The pace is ponderously slow and as the search interminably draws on the narrative becomes more and more about the character’s mind set, the dialogue slowly revealing insights into each of them. Set against the barren Turkish landscape, not only do the surroundings make for breath-taking visuals but, as night turns to day, they also becomes a tidy metaphor for the small epiphanies the character’s come to about each other’s personalities.
Read the The Wee Review review here
Number 1 – Holy Motors
Leos Carax / France/Germany / 2012 / 115 min
Holy Motors follows an extraordinarily odd performer as he is chauffeured around Paris from one eccentric role to the next. Not only is it masterfully constructed movie, with even seemingly insignificant moments framed and shot so as to produce intrigue but also it actively works to deconstruct cinema. Like a surgeon it cuts open and lays out a series of tableaus, each story representing the industry’s conventional building blocks, creating Meta uneasiness about what defines cinema and what should be expected from it. Although the ambiguity of the narrative is a little infuriating, it forces you to come up with your own understanding what it all means, which is sort of the point it’s making.
Read the The Wee Review review here
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