2013 IN FILM

Of the 800+ titles I saw this year, these were my most favourite. A Top 30 & many many honorables. Also, my 2013 ballot at the Wandering Image , highlighting the year's best in film. 



Here's the countdown:








30.               NEW WORLD

29.  YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET

.

28.
   BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR

.

27.    CAMILLE CLAUDEL 1915

.

-tie- 27.   OUTSIDE SATAN

.

26.               PASSION

.

25.                    MUD

.

24.                OH WILLY...

.

23.         THE CRASH REEL

.

22.                    HER

.

21. BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO

.

20.        STORIES WE TELL

.

19.       THE GREAT BEAUTY

.

18.      POST TENEBRAS LUX

.
          THE GRANDMASTER

17.[domestic Chinese cut]

.

16.   LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE

.

15.             BYZANTIUM

.

14.       THE WE AND THE I

.

13.       UPSTREAM COLOR

.

12.       THE ACT OF KILLING

.

11.             DRUG WAR

.

.

10.     THE LORDS OF SALEM

.

9.               BASTARDS

.

8.         BEFORE MIDNIGHT

.

7.         THE WORLD'S END

.

6.      INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

.

5.               LEVIATHAN

.

4.            THE WIND RISES

.

3.                      VIOLA

.

2.            TO THE WONDER

.

.

1.             A TOUCH OF SIN

*****

ALSO ESSENTIAL. NOT RANKED.

(the other titles of 2013 I loved that could've placed)

THESE BIRDS WALK

.

COMPUTER CHESS

.

VANISHING WAVES

.

THE MISSING PICTURE

.

TERRAFERMA

.

MAN OF STEEL

.

LAURENCE ANYWAYS

THE LAST STAND

 

.

PAIN & GAIN

.

MANIAC

.

PAVILION

.

V/H/S/2

.

AT BERKELEY

.

D IS FOR DOGFIGHT

[ABCs OF DEATH segment]

.

AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION

OF HER BEAUTY

.

NEWLYWEEDS

.

SUN DON'T SHINE

.

SPRING BREAKERS

.

IS THE MAN

WHO IS TALL HAPPY?

.

MUSEUM HOURS

.

IN ANOTHER COUNTRY

.

GRABBERS

.

WILD BILL

.

UNSPEAKABLE ACT

.

FRANCES HA

.

JUG FACE

.

42

.

.

.

PACIFIC RIM

 .

THE LONE RANGER

.

WE ARE WHAT WE ARE

.

HAPPY PEOPLE: 

A YEAR IN THE TAIGA

.

RIDDICK

.

WRONG

.

GRAVITY

.

WADJDA

.

BEYOND THE HILLS

.

CAESAR MUST DIE

.

GIMME THE LOOT

.

MOTHER OF GEORGE

.

REALITY

.

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

.

WOLF CHILDREN

ENOUGH SAID

.

THE PAINTING

.

ANTIVIRAL

.

ERNEST & CELESTINE

.

PRINCE AVALANCHE

.

MAMA

.

A HIJACKING

.

THE SELFISH GIANT

.

PRISONERS

.

SHADOW DANCER

.

THE INVISIBLE WOMAN

.

ROOM 237

.

THE COUNSELOR [Director's cut]

.

ALL IS LOST

.

.

AMERICAN HUSTLE

.

20 FT. FROM STARDOM

.

SOMETHING IN THE AIR

.

ALL THE
BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE

.

BULLET TO THE HEAD

.

12 YEARS A SLAVE

.

SIGHTSEERS

.

THE LAST TIME I SAW MACAO

THE PAST

.

GINGER & ROSA

.

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY

.

SIDE EFFECTS

.

TRANCE

.

THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

.

FERAL

.

56 UP

****

2013
TOP 30

1. A TOUCH OF SIN (Zhangke Jia)
2. TO THE WONDER (Malick)
3. VIOLA (Matías Piñeiro)
4. THE WIND RISES (Miyazaki)
5. LEVIATHAN (Castaing-Taylor/Paravel)
6. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (Coen Bros)
7. THE WORLD'S END (Edgar Wright)
8. BEFORE MIDNIGHT (Linklater)
9. BASTARDS (Claire Denis)
10. LORDS OF SALEM (Zombie)
11. DRUG WAR (To)
12. ACT OF KILLING (Oppenheimer)
13. UPSTREAM COLOR (Carruth)
14. THE WE AND THE I (Gondry)
15. BYZANTIUM (Jordan)
16. LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE (Kiarostami)
17. THE GRANDMASTER (Wong Kar Wai)
18. POST TENEBRAS LUX (Reygadas)
19. THE GREAT BEAUTY (Sorrentino)
20. STORIES WE TELL (Sarah Polley)
21. BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO (Strickland)
22. HER (Spike Jonze)
23. THE CRASH REEL (Lucy Walker)
24. OH WILLY (Emma De Swaef)
25. MUD (J.Nichols)
26. PASSION (De Palma)
27. OUTSIDE SATAN (Dumont)                                               -tie- CAMILLE CLAUDEL 1915 (Dumont)
28. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR (Kechiche)
29. YOU AINT SEEN NOTHIN YET (Resnais)
30. NEW WORLD (Hoon-jung Park)

RUNNER UP
THESE BIRDS WALK (Mullick/Tariq), COMPUTER CHESS (Bujalski), VANISHING WAVES (Buozyte), MISSING PICTURE (Rithy Panh), TERRAFERMA (Crialese), MAN OF STEEL (Snyder), LAURENCE ANYWAYS (Dolan), THE LAST STAND (Kim Jee-Woon), PAIN & GAIN (Bay), MANIAC (Khalfoun), PAVILION (Sutton), V/H/S/2 (lots of dudes), AT BERKELEY (Wiseman), D IS FOR DOGFIGHT (Sarmiento), OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY (T.Nance), NEWLYWEEDS (Shaka King), SUN DON'T SHINE (Seimetz), SPRING BREAKERS (Korine), IS THE MAN WHO IS TALL HAPPY? (Gondry), MUSEUM HOURS (Cohen), IN ANOTHER COUNTRY (Sang-soo), GRABBERS (Jon Wright), WILD BILL (Fletcher), UNSPEAKABLE ACT (D.Sallitt), FRANCES HA (Baumbach), JUG FACE (Kinkle), 42 (Helgeland), PACIFIC RIM (del Toro), THE LONE RANGER (Verbinski), WE ARE WHAT WE ARE (Mickle), HAPPY PEOPLE (Herzog), RIDDICK (Twohy), WRONG (Dupieux), GRAVITY (Cuaron), WADJDA (Al-Mansour), BEYOND THE HILLS (Mungiu), CAESAR MUST DIE (Taviani Bros), GIMME THE LOOT (Leon), MOTHER OF GEORGE (Dosunmu), REALITY (Garrone), WOLF OF WALL STREET (Scorsese), WOLF CHILDREN (Mamoru Hosoda), ENOUGH SAID (Holofcener), THE PAINTING (Laguionie), ANTIVIRAL (B.Cronenberg), ERNEST & CELESTINE (Aubier), A HIJACKING (T.Lindholm), PRINCE AVALANCHE (D.Gordon Green), MAMA (Muschietti), SELFISH GIANT (Clio Barnard), PRISONERS (Villeneuve), SHADOW DANCER (Marsh), THE INVISIBLE WOMAN (Fiennes), ROOM 237 (Ascher), THE COUNSELOR: Director's Cut (Ridley Scott), ALL IS LOST (Chandor), AMERICAN HUSTLE (O. Russell), 20 FT FROM STARDOM (Neville), SOMETHING IN THE AIR (Assayas), ALL BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE (Levine), BULLET TO THE HEAD (W.Hill), 12 YEARS A SLAVE (McQueen), SIGHTSEERS (Wheatley), LAST TIME I SAW MACAO (Rodrigues/da Mata), THE PAST (Farhadi), GINGER & ROSA (Sally Potter), MONSTERS UNIVERSITY (Scanlon), SIDE EFFECTS (Soderbergh), TRANCE (Boyle), PLACE BEYOND THE PINES (Cianfrance), FERAL (Sousa), 56 UP (Apted)

A FIELD IN ENGLAND (Ben Wheatley) 2014 release
SNOWPIERCER (Bong joon-Ho) 2014 release
R100 (Hitoshi Matsumoto) 2014 release
JODOROWSKY'S DUNE (Frank Pavich)  2014 release
BEYOND OUTRAGE (Kitano)  2014 release
PERSISTENCE OF VISION (Kevin Schreck) 2014 release
(festival films I loved that got no 2013 theatrical release & no distribution deal. 12/24/13) 

WNUF HALLOWEEN SPECIAL (lots of people), IN THE HOUSE (Ozon), FAUST (Sokurov), DIRTY WARS (Rick Rowley), OLD DOG (Pema Tseden), THE ATTACK (Ziad Doueiri), NIGHT ACROSS THE STREET (Ruiz), BROKEN (Rufus Norris), MY BROTHER THE DEVIL (Sally El Hosaini), MACHINE WHICH MAKES EVERYTHING DISAPPEAR (Tinatin Gurchiani), THE GARDENER (Makhmalbaf), LET THE FIRE BURN (Jason Osder), THE ANGELS' SHARE (Loach), OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY (Danielle Gardner), GOLDEN SLUMBERS (Davy Chou), AFTERMATH (Pasikowski), SUNLIGHT JR. (Laurie Collyer), THIS IS MARTIN BONNER (Chad Hartigan), I USED TO BE DARKER (Porterfield), DECLARE WAR (Lapeyre), BIG SUR (Polish Bros), THE SQUARE (Noujaim), POSTALES (Josh Hyde), PARADISE: LOVE & PARADISE: HOPE (Seidl), INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER & PETE (George Tillman jr.), RESOLUTION (Benson/Moorhead), AFTER TILLER (Martha Shane), EXIT ELENA (Nathan Silver), IN THE FOG (Loznitsa), GRACELAND (Ron Morales), CLIP (Maja Milos), TIM'S VERMEER (Teller), MENTAL (P.J. Hogan), LABOR DAY (Jason Reitman), A BAND CALLED DEATH (Covino/Howlett), PHIL SPECTOR (Mamet), KID THING (David Zellner), LAST GLADIATORS (Gibney), LE PONT DU NORD (Rivette), THREE SISTERS (Bing Wang), FIRST COUSIN ONCE REMOVED (Alan Berliner), IL FUTURO (Alicia Scherson), BETTIE PAGE REVEALS ALL (Mori), PERVERT'S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY (Sophie Fiennes)

(I want to hear what everybody's favorite films of 2013 were. please post them below)