Best Films of 2013 - So Far

[Buscemi]

I will guess 533.

[Chienfantome]

I will guess 533.

If it was that number, it would be the hospital you'd call instead of the police, fearing for my own sanity and ability to distinguish fiction from reality
No it's much lower than that, fortunately.

[numbersix]

Updating my list having seen a few worthy films...

By US Release Date

1. The Hunt
2. Sightseers
3. Wolf of Wall Street
4. The Great Beauty
5. The Act of Killing
6. Upstream Colour
7. Philomena
8. Inside Llewyn Davis
9. Prisoners
10. American Hustle

By International Release Date

1. The Congress
2. Wolf of Wall Street
3. The Great Beauty
4. The Act of Killing
5. Upstream Colour
6. Philomena
7. Borgman
8. Inside Llewyn Davis
9. A Field in England
10. Prisoners


Still to see: What Maisie Knew, All is Lost, The Grandmaster, Snowpiercer, You're Next, Her, The Past, Don Jon, etc.

[JohnErle]

My list has changed pretty radically since the last time I posted it, so I may as well do one now. I can't let Six be the only one trying to manipulate the committee prior to the next voting deadline.

1. Inside Llewyn Davis
2. Blue Is The Warmest Color
3. All Is Lost
4. 12 Years A Slave
5. Dallas Buyers Club
6. Her
7. Philomena
8. Don Jon
9. The Wolf Of Wall St
10. The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug

I don't think there's anything I really need to see that I haven't already, but I do need to re-watch Gravity in 2D. I hate 3D so much that I don't feel I can fairly judge the movie until I've seen it without the distraction of 3D gimmickry. I saw The Desolation Of Smaug twice in theaters and thoroughly enjoyed it in 2D, but when I went back to catch it in 3D HFR I found it almost unwatchable.

[Chienfantome]

I'll put my top online later on myself.
Just a few comments on the ones here, of Six' and John's.
Six, out of your two tops, there's three films I haven't seen, the eagerly anticipated Upstream Colour, A Field in England, and American Hustle which I'll be seeing in a couple of weeks.
Of the rest, well, there's only films I really like, or even plain love for some. It's a strong, beautiful list of films I can only approve.The Great Beauty, The Congress, Prisoners are three of my favourite films of the year, and I highly regard the others.

John, I can only say the same. I have yet to see Dallas Buyers Club, which opens on wednesday in France, and Her, which will only open in March, but the rest of your Top consists only of films I love (Blue is the warmest color, All is Lost, Llewyn Davis), or at least very much enjoyed like The Hobbit and Don Jon.

[W]

1. The Way, Way back
2. Anchorman 2
3. Gravity
4. Dallas Buyers Club
5. Spectacular Now
6. The Sapphires
7. Captain Phillips
8. Wolf of Wall Street
9. Prisoners
10. Now You See Me

I'm at 80 and still have at least 13 to see.

[JohnErle]

John, I can only say the same. I have yet to see Dallas Buyers Club, which opens on wednesday in France, and Her, which will only open in March, but the rest of your Top consists only of films I love (Blue is the warmest color, All is Lost, Llewyn Davis), or at least very much enjoyed like The Hobbit and Don Jon.

I approve of your approval of my list.

[transformers2]

Throwing my hat into the committee-manipulating ring...

1.Fruitvale Station
2.This is the End
3.American Hustle
4.The Spectacular Now
5.Pain & Gain
6.Iron Man 3
7.The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
8.Fast and Furious 6
9.The Last Stand
10.Inside Llewyn Davis

Currently at 86 films and I'll surely catch a few more before the Fantaverse nominations are due.

[BanksIsDaFuture]

Watching Short Term 12 recently definitely threw my list into a tizzy....

1. Short Term 12
2. 12 Years A Slave
3. The Wolf of Wall Street
4. Her
5. Gravity
6. American Hustle
7. Prisoners
8. Captain Phillips
9. The Spectacular Now
10. Spring Breakers

[silversurfer19]

Hmm, I have it on my laptop ready to watch. Guess it's just jumped to the top of my must see list then...

[Chienfantome]

A lot of love for The Spectacular Now, and having seen it a few days ago, I can see why. t's really a great film about adolescence. Can't wait to see American Hustle, it's opening next week here.
As for Short Term 12, I'll wait til it opens in Paris, it should be released in April, so I won't see it on time for the awards.

[Chienfantome]

I guess this is a good thread to put this : My Top 12 Korean films of 2013, as a recommendation to all of you who want to discover some Korean films they might not have heard about (I was about to make a Top 10, but I figured there were really 12 films I could wholeheartedly recommend, so I might as well). This is the year of my life I have seen the most Korean films, as I told you I'm a programer for the Paris Korean Film Festival, I got to watch dozens and dozens of Korean films in 2013, so really, trust me this isn't 12 films out of 12 I've seen. Some of those films were released in 2012 in Korea, others in 2013.
So without further introduction, here are the 12 Korean films you guys should keep an eye for :

All Bark No Bite by Jo Byoung Ok
A small town gang, barking more than biting, sees the return in town of their ex-leader, a violent gangster who used to beat them all. This time, they want to revolt. On the paper, a fun gangster comedy, but on film, there is much more than that, a strong and fascinating metaphor on the fear of the Dictatorship's return, and the difficulty of the Korean people to kill the paternal figure and get out of childhood. Probably my favourite Korean film of the year.

Jiseul by O Muel
A black & white drama that won the Grand Prix in the World section at Sundance. Set on an island just before the Korean war, when exactions were committed by the army on the population, in a communist hunt frenzy. Visually stunning, narratively audacious, historically fascinating.

Pluto by Shin Su-won
A suspense film in the arcanes of the Korean school system, with a student found dead on campus and his roomate quickly suspected to be the murderer. The suspense isn't as important as the examination of Korea's obsession for school success, how it messes their youth.

South Bound by Yim SoonRye
A refreshing social comedy about a rebel filmmaker, teaching his children what he believes in and beginning a fight against Korean capitalism. It's a delight of a film, a bit too long, but full of laughs and heart, with a great performance by Kim Yoon Seok, the lead actor of "The Chaser".

Nobody's Daughter Haewon by Hong Sang Soo
One of the two 2013 Hong Sang Soo films, about a female student torn between several men, desires and interrogations. A delight as usual for the HSS lovers.

All About my Wife by Min Kyu Dong
A crazy romantic comedy about a man terrorized by his wife but who does not dare to dump her and so asks a womanizer to seduce her. This is laugh-out-loud funny, and it manages to change the balance of the very machistic Korean society.

Fatal by Lee Don Ku
A drama about the search for redemption for a young man who participated in a gangrape during high school and encounters the victim years later, without her recognizing him. A powerful film.

The Russian Novel by Shin Yeon Shick
A literary drama, very unsettling at first, with a strong visual style and enigmatic storyline about a young man trying to have a great writer read his manuscript. It's a dual film, with a brutal change of tone in the middle of it that changes your perception of it. It's a hard film to watch at first, but fascinating when you let yourself be absorbed by that second part.

Berlin File by Ryu Seung-wan
For the action lovers, here's a spy film set in Berlin in which north Koreasn and South Koreans try to uncover each other's secrets with chases and gunfights that keep the audience hooked. A great cast helps, and a solid final. It's not the best of the bunch, but it's very effective.

National Security by Chung Ji Young
During the 80's, under Dictatorship, there was a place where rebels of the regime where interrogated and tortured in Seoul. This film follows the imprisonment of one of those rebels. Powerful film about the ghosts of the Dictatorship years.

Padak Padak by Lee Dae Hee
An animated film. If you know Korean cinema, you know it can be very dark. Well, imagine the fishtank part of Finding Nemo, at the dentist, but made in Korea. A sort of dark animated musical about fishes in a restaurant watertank trying to escape their fate. It can be viewed as a very interesting metaphor on Korean society, and the individual desire to escape your place in society.

A Muse (Eungyo) by Chung Jiwoo
Lastly, a love triangle between an old poet and professor, a young writer who used to be his student, and a 17 year-old girl who brings back inspiration in the old professor's life. A film offering poesy and a reflexion on time and our inescapable desire to relive our youth, with nice touches of delicate erotism.

I will also point out a trio of documentaries a documentary from Argentina with a Korean subject, The Girl from the South, which is one of the most fascinating docs I have seen recently. The filmmaker was in North Korea in the late 80's for an International Youth Reunion, and the first part of the doc is the images he filmed back then. The rest is his attempt to find a South Korean girl who had travelled to Pyongyang back then and was emprisoned when she returned to the South. It's really a fascinating doc, by its subject matter, but also because it deals with how one's film, and documentary can get out of control from its maker, and the difficulty to find the heart of your film. It's really fascinating.

So there it is.

[Chienfantome]

So I still haven't posted my Top 10 of 2013, maybe it's time, although there are still a a handful of films I have yet to see because they weren't released in France :

Top 10 by US release date :

1. Prisoners
2. La Grande Bellezza
3. Prince Avalanche
4. Mud
5. About Time
6. Blue is the warmest Colour
7. Gravity
8. Inside Llewyn Davis
9. Man of Steel
10. The Silence

Top 10 by international release dates :

1. Prisoners
2. La Grande Bellezza
3. Prince Avalanche
4. The Congress
5. Mud
6. About Time
7. Blue is the warmest colour
8. All bark no bite
9. La jaula de Oro
10. Why don't you play in Hell

There's another Top 10, by French release dates, in which I include "Cloud Atlas" because it was released so damn late here.

[silversurfer19]

I would probably say five of your top 10 US releases correspond with my own top 10, with our top two exactly the same. Great minds, 'eh, Chien!

Still need to catch The Congress and Prince Avalanche though.

[Chienfantome]

Great minds indeed mon ami

I hope you'll have a chance to catch The Congress and Prince Avalanche yes.