Film Feature: The Best Films of 2013

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Mud

4. “Gravity”

Cinema has lost its sense of wonder. Generations used to view films as entertainment largely for the journey that they could take in a darkened cinema. Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg — these men, and a select few others, transported viewers in a way that the more movie-cynical millennial generation hasn’t been as easily allowed. Alfonso Cuaron’s technical masterpiece returns that sense of wonder to movie-going. We are transported to the degree that one even forgets that nothing they’re seeing is real. I’m not saying we all go to the degree of the reporter who asked Cuaron what it was like to film in space but the film works because of how easily we buy this fantastic story in emotional, adrenalin-pumping ways that turn CGI and visual effects into truth. We take the ride with Ryan Stone because we believe it’s happening and not that it’s just CGI. That’s true wonder. And that’s too rare.

Mud

3. “Her”

How do we connect? And why do we so often give up on connecting with others or even our own needs? Spike Jonze’s deeply personal film is going to be sold to you in the next few weeks as that movie about a guy who falls in love with his Siri. Yes, it’s a movie about a man (perfectly played by Joaquin Phoenix) who connects with an “Intuitive Operating System” in the near-future (voiced by Scarlett Johannson) but there’s SO much more going on here than a reductive plot description can convey. In one of the best screenplays of the year, Jonze uses this sci-fi vision to thematically riff on the issues of today. Why do we use technology designed to connect us to separate ourselves? What defines a relationship? If you can be in the same physical space as someone who doesn’t support you or only speak with someone who encourages and adores you, why is the former more “real”? Beautiful production design, a great score from Arcade Fire, solid performances throughout, and a story that feels pulled from within Jonze — this is a movie that will frustrate people not ready for its unusual tale. Ignore those people.

Mud

2. “Inside Llewyn Davis”

Like a long-lost folk record, Joel & Ethan Coen’s best film since “Fargo” not only floats on its creators’ amazing attention to detail and ability to draw stunning performances from every single cast member but resonates on multiple levels beneath its masterful filmmaking. Imagine a recording like Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” in film form. Like Dylan, the life of Llewyn Davis isn’t particularly special. He’s not the most talented singer in the Village in 1961. He’s dealing with an unplanned pregnancy, he’s essentially homeless, and he struggles to hold on to his artistic integrity. We watch him sing songs, many heard in their entirety, that often say more about his emotional state than his dialogue. And the Coens walk an amazing tightrope of comedy and drama, pushing along a protagonist who is arguably kind of an asshole. The songs, the scenes, the character beats — they come back in memory like that record that you heard and can’t wait to hear again. And again. And again.

Mud

1. “Before Midnight”

Films like “Gravity” may transport us to places that we will never be but Richard Linklater’s best film does the opposite — captures something so many already know. Marriages in film almost always feel false. They exist to sell a Hollywood version of romance or, worse, play up comedic stereotypes to get a laugh. And then there’s Jesse & Celine, one of the most believable couples in film history. It may not have the CGI of some movies or even the auteurist fingerprints of some films on this list but the final act of “Before Midnight” is equally jaw-dropping and unmatched. As Jesse & Celine verbally spar, bringing emotional undercurrents of their relationship to the surface, we feel like eavesdroppers, listening in on something so real that we weren’t meant to hear it. It’s not flashy, it’s not groundbreaking, but it’s what cinema SO rarely is — truthful. And it would have been so fifty years ago and will be so fifty years from now. Linklater, Delpy, & Hawke have delivered a story of human emotion so real that it’s timeless. And it’s the best film of 2013.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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