14. On The Road
Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart and Kirsten Dunst play the self-obsessed Beats in this immensely entertaining adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s acid era road novel. Following the characters back and forth across the US from the late 50s to the early 60s, this is a witty, sexy, enjoyable film that benefits immensely from director Walter Salles’ established talent for road movies, from Central Station to The Motorcycle Diaries. In not taking itself or – crucially - its characters too seriously, it manages to be rather better than the novel in some ways.
13. Skyfall
Judi Dench gets her first lead role (well, almost) in the 23rd Bond film, released to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the series. To explain: Judi isn’t quite playing Bond (that task still falls to Daniel Craig) but her character is of equal importance. This is a very different kind of Bond film, even more so than Craig’s other two, going way beyond the standard Bond and Mission formula into the realms of two handed character drama at times. There are the expected stunts, jokes and set pieces in the first half, while the second is full of unexpected philosophy and backstory exploration. Director Sam Mendes ties it all together very well, and the performances are all well on top. Only Javier Bardem disappoints, hamming up his villain. Go Jude!
12. Juan of the Dead
As it’s rare to get the chance to see a Cuban film outside Cuba, this comedy-horror needs to be snapped up at the first opportunity. A sort of remake of Britain’s Shaun of the Dead, this tells a similar story of a hapless man who accidentally finds himself leading the group of motley survivors of a zombie apocalypse, only this time it’s a crumbling Havana (as opposed to a crumbling London) that they’re wading their way across in an attempt to escape. Hardly the most representative film you’ll ever see about life in Cuba, but great fun none-the-less.
With bit of a pedigree in documentaries – One Day In September, Touching the Void – Kevin MacDonald returns to the field with his best yet, a long, riveting and immensely watchable portrait of Bob Marley. Benefiting from being an “insider’s account” of sorts – it features in depth interviews with Marley’s family, friends, co-workers and fellow countrymen – this shrewdly weaves together the story of the great man’s life using a mix of talking heads, archive footage and concert clips. There’s nothing new in any of this, but MacDonald manages to pace it all as something closer to a dramatic film than a documentary, so the stunted flow that often blights doc’s is mercifully absent, and the viewer is able to sit back and be entertained and educated at the same time. Whether you’re a newcomer to Marley or a life long connoisseur, this is a must.
10. The Sweeney
With six films under his belt in just ten years, director Nick Love shows no signs of slowing down with this terrific feature remake of the cult 70s TV series. In a clever bit of casting, Ray Winstone plays the 21st century equivalent of John Thaw’s ‘plays by his own rules’ flying squad detective and Ben Drew his loyal sidekick once cheekily portrayed by Dennis Waterman. In something of a Mike Leigh moment, the two coppers and their other halves go out to dinner in a flashy “new East End” gastro pub and Drew’s wife – played by Kara Tointon – orders lasagna with chips; it’s a brilliantly scripted and very telling bit of social detail and observation of the emerging cockney professional middle classes. The rest of the film follows suit – the flying squad operates out of flashy shiny offices not unlike those of latter day The Bill and the gray-blue sheen of the cinematography mirrors the glass and metal skyscrapers of the new Docklands. Love stages terrific action set pieces throughout; particularly memorable are two high speed car chases and a bombastic shoot out in Trafalgar Square. There’s even a bit of Drew’s influence as a director when the Sweeney happen upon some scuzzy goings on round the back of a mini cab firm, which feels like it’s fallen in from the shoot of Ill Manors (see below).
An unusual and engaging film that attempts to make sense of the true story of a woman who disguised herself as a man in order to get work in 19th century Ireland. Glenn Close gives a typically superb performance as the eponymous Albert and there’s strong support from Janet MacTeer and Pauline Collins. A curious mixture of Victorian costume drama and Almodovar-esque gender bending, this might have seemed fantastical if it hadn’t actually happened. The production values are top-notch, conjuring up an evocative and rich depiction of Victorian Dublin, and Close’s rendering of Albert is so vulnerable and sensitive. She really should have won the Best Actress Oscar for which she was nominated.
8. The Master
Appearing on almost everyone’s film of the year list, this is one that really is worth the fuss. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, it’s – as often the case with him – an intense, brooding study of the strange relationship between father and son like figures as well as an examination of post-war America which touches on the origins of scientology and self appointed pastors. Like most of Anderson’s films it's slow and demanding and won’t satisfy anyone looking for instant gratification, but stick with it and you’ll find an engrossing drama with a pair of massive performances (from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix) at its core. Mention should also be made of Amy Adams supporting turn as Hoffman’s wife; if anything I thought she was even better than the blokes.
No stranger to challenging concepts, Michael Winterbottom here takes Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles and sets it in modern India. This may seem like a strange proposition but if anything the archaic nature of the subcontinent makes it a perfect choice for making the story relevant to our times. Frida Pinto plays the girl from a poor family who goes to work for the son of a rich man, falling in love with him and briefly finding happiness, before finding herself trapped in the wake of his abrupt transformation into a callous, misogynist nightmare. Riz Ahmed gives another fabulous performance as the leading man, and Roshan Seth plays his dad. It’s wonderfully photographed, fluidly made and totally watchable.
6. Monsieur Lazhar
Set in Montreal, this plays something like a Canadian version of France’s Entre les Murs/The Class from 2009. This isn’t a class of unruly teenagers however, but a primary school full of generally well behaved children, and the story of what happens when they suddenly find themselves with a new and apparently benevolent teacher. Beautifully made and touchingly acted, it’s also a joy to watch for it’s observation of the unique mixture of French and Canadian culture that powers Montreal.
A riveting head spin of a film about the sleazy underbelly of modern family life. Set in Bloemfontein, this is the story of a middle class, middle aged white South African family man who has closeted his homosexuality for years but develops an unhealthy obsession with his daughter’s friend – a younger, more attractive, apparently heterosexual young man. It’s a fairly negative portrayal of Afrikaner culture – in this world, it seems to be saying, awful things happen and everything is swept under the carpet – but it doesn’t pretend that this is the only society in which this happens. The exploration of how men keep homosexuality a secret is perceptively done, not least thanks to the superb performances of the relatively unknown cast. Hard to watch and not for the squeamish (or easily shocked) it deserves every positive recognition going. Anything but beautiful, but that’s the whole point.
4. This must be the place
A real curiosity, slightly underrated, and completely unique. In one of his best performances, Sean Penn – an actor who has really found himself with this, 21 Grams and Mystic River – plays a retired Goth-rock star with bittersweet memories of his glory days who goes on a trans-American odyssey to come to terms with himself. It should have been awful, but somehow it wasn’t. The lead character is largely sympathetic rather than navel-gazing and irritating, the supporting characters are loveable (especially his wife, played with wonderful pragmaticism by Frances McDormand) and the soundtrack – particularly that title song by Talking Heads - is to die for. Whether you’re an 80s enthusiast or a travel junkie – or better still, both – you’re gonna love this. It’s a shame its low key charms passed a lot of people by; for me it easily exceeds director Paolo Sorrentino’s previous, equally slow but less interesting, films.
One of those films that has ‘Europudding’ written all over it, this is actually miles better than might have been expected. Taking its cue from Robert Altman’s big, multi character epics, this is a series of loosely interrelated stories set all over modern day Europe and America which covers enough ground to fill three films. There’s no real central player – Jude Law and Rachel Weisz’s tortured yuppies are just as important as Anthony Hopkins’ grieving father; blink and you’ll miss the connection between the two – and the tent poles of the story are a porn website and a transatlantic flight. Director Fernando Meirelles does a superb job of holding all of this and more together, and everyone – especially Hopkins – gives top drawer performances.
2. Ill Manors
Harsh and haunting scuzz from the mean streets of London. This isn’t the relatively comforting East End of Albert Square, nor is it the old East End of years gone by, but a blighted, forgotten place way out in the east, yet paradoxically just round the corner from the Olympic Park. Opening across the UK at a time when everyone was getting excited about the Games and chirruping about a “regeneration” of the Stratford-Forest Gate-Maryland-Romford Road area, this cynically slams all such notions into oblivion and reminds us that it’s never the people on the ground who benefit from that kind of activity. A kind of East side answer to the West London youth subgenre of the late noughties (Kidulthood, Adulthood and West 10 LDN), this was directed by actor and rapper Ben Drew, who grew up in Forest Gate and already covered much of this ground in his debut album. Cleverly mixing music with dialogue and keeping the various narrative balls in the air without losing control, this is a surprisingly accomplished effort from a first time director.
Charlize Theron is back in action and loving every minute of her best role since Monster, while writer Diablo Cody turns in another fine screenplay (it’s even better than Juno). This gloriously sharp, funny, touching, embarrassing and nostalgic film is an ironic love letter to the 90s, a ruthless send up of small town America, and a cautionary reminder about the pitfalls of hanging onto (and worse, re-writing) your past. As Theron’s frustrated writer Mavis Gary returns to the dead end, hick town she grew up in – and swore never to come back to – she quaintly imagines she is there to reclaim her rightful man, her ‘one that got away’. What she is about to discover is something quite different. Something that everyone fears is falling into the trap of idolising the past then realising present reality is not what we’d always imagined it would be; Theron plays a woman who learns just that.