2013’s Best Films

2013 turned out to be one of the most provocative years for film in recent memory.  There were beautiful period pieces, heartfelt serious stories, high tech epics and surprising thrillers. Here are 10 that are worth every minute of your life!

(1) “12 Years A Slave”: Steve McQueen answers D.W. Griffith’s racist  “Birth of a Nation”, of almost a hundred years ago,  with this revelatory chronicle of slavery due to John Ridley’s astute script and performances  by Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Lupita Nyong’o.  This work is an art film for the ages and an anomaly to the era of Hollywood comic book movies.

(2) “Gravity”: Director Alfonso Cuaron and DP Emmanuel Lubezki’s amazing technological feat that expands the ways films will be made must be seen in 3-D. It is the most significant sci-fi film since Kubrick’s “2001- A Space Odyssey”.

(3) “Fruitvale Station”: The Sundance 13 powerhouse of raw emotion and racist angst from the Bay Area’s most promising young director, Ryan Coogler, tells the tragic tale of a 22 year old African American named Oscar Grant. This one made me cry.

(4) “Short Term 12”: Director Destin Cretton’s remarkable minimalist film about a facility for troubled teens contains a spell-blinding performance from Brie Larson and an insightful look into youthful mental illness.

(5) “Nebraska”: Director Alexander Payne working with first time screenwriter Bob Nelson rises to new heights with his tale of loss and comic indignity.

(6) “Dallas Buyers Club”: Canadian director Jean Marc Vallee working with amazing performances from Matthew McConaughey and Jared (“30 Seconds to Mars”)Leto make this live- wire comedy drama work in every way.

(7) “Her”: Revolutionary director Spike Jonze charts our longing for intimacy in a cyber world of cold connections in this post modern love story.

(8) “Blue Jasmine”: Woody Allen and Cate Blanchett at their very best.

(9) “Before Midnight”: Richard Linklater’s beguiling talkfest of married life.

(10) “Inside Llewyn Davis”: For their 16th film the Coens render an indelible portrait of failure and fortitude in the early 60s Greenwich Village folk scene.

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