My Top 20 Films of 2015: Part 2

My 10 favourite films of 2015. And find films 20-11 here.

The ones I missed: Crimson Peak; Slow West; A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence; Eden; Steve Jobs; Jurassic World; Amy; The Look of Silence; 45 Years; John Wick; Taxi Tehran; Appropriate Behaviour; Pasolini; Love Is Strange; The Forbidden Room; Sunset Song; Brooklyn; The Good Dinosaur; Mistress America; While We’re Young; The Wonders; Love & Mercy; Far from the Madding Crowd; Trainwreck; Clouds of Sils Maria; Chappie; Spy; Ant Man; Straight Outta Compton; 99 Homes; The Martian; Bridge of Spies; Macbeth; Foxcatcher

10. Catch Me Daddy (Daniel Wolfe, UK)
I was so impressed with this rugged and fierce low-budget thriller, where so many elements are stripped back to make something so very urgent and shocking. It follows Laila (Sameena Jabeen Ahmed), a young woman who has run away from her Pakistani family to live a meagre existence with her boyfriend in his trailer. The family tracks her down and her brothers and several bounty hunters chase them through the night onto the Yorkshire dales, as the couple fights to escape.

The depiction of the Pakistani family could be said to border on an offensive stereotype, but at the heart of this film is a desperate survival thriller where the limitations of setting and plot work to create a claustrophobic verisimilitude, full of restrictions. It’s set over a single night, and the small scale helps infuse a sense of dread over every scene – you can’t possibly imagine how they can they could escape when everything seems weighted against them. The ending scene alone is brutal and terrifying. It’s beautifully filmed with some interesting stylistic choices that actually makes this an almost hypnotic experience.

9. The Tribe (Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ukraine/Netherlands)
A teenager is sent to a Ukrainian boarding school for deaf children where he quickly falls into the vicious criminal gangs that run the dormitories and terrorise the younger children and local residents. What’s remarkable is the entire film is told in sign language without subtitles. As a formal experiment about the amazing ability of cinema’s visual language to tell stories and convey themes, this film is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The filmmaking is impeccable – there are long takes here that rival Birdman for sheer audacity and achievement, and I learnt a lot about how important sound design is to immerse you within diegetic worlds.

The Tribe is also a fascinating allegory for Ukraine’s displaced position within Europe, and a depiction of the harmful conditions caused by poverty. It’s an incredibly tough watch with scenes that rank amongst the most disturbing I’ve seen all year. I honestly don’t think I’d ever want to watch it again, but I’m glad I’ve seen it.

8. Ex Machina (Alex Garland, UK)
At a time when so many sci-fi films are massive mega-budget epics, it’s invigorating when an unashamed genre picture makes the decision to remain low-key. Essentially playing out as a chamber piece with four characters, Ex Machina is a fascinating allegorical story which plays with modern fears of rapid progress and technology, and feels like a classic even as you are watching it.

Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a young computer programmer, wins a competition to meet elusive CEO Nathan (Oscar Isaac), who gives him the task of performing a Turing test on his newest creation, an AI robot called Ava (Alicia Vikander), to determine whether she could pass as human. It’s a wonderfully simple premise, which expands in ways I never expected. It plays out like a futuristic Gothic horror, with its isolated mansion full of secrets causing a descent into fevered paranoia, and characters who never appear as they seem, not least Ava as the Frankensteinian monster. There’s solid performances all round by a cast very much en vogue this year, not least a starmaking turn by Vikander, who graces Ava with a balletic otherworldliness.

7. The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Marielle Heller, USA)
A wonderfully refreshing and frank movie on what it is like to grow up, what it means to be a woman, and how sex can leave you giddy with emotion, Diary of a Teenage Girl had me grinning throughout both from sheer recognition and relatability, and because it’s a wonderfully written movie, very funny with an incredible fearless performance by Bel Powley as Minnie. Set in San Francisco in the mid-1970s, we follow Minnie as she first explores her sexual desires, beginning a secret affair with her mother’s boyfriend.

The most remarkable thing about this film is the balance of tone it achieves. No act or emotion is shied away from, but the film never falls into the pit of judgement or shaming. Minnie is entirely unashamed by her actions and it refreshing to see a film which takes risks with potentially controversial themes and produces something honest and universal. This is a noteworthy debut and Marielle Heller is a name worth remembering.

6. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, USA)
I’ve always struggled to read any Thomas Pynchon, as much as I’ve desperately wanted to engage with his work. Often brimming with dozens of characters, heaps of cultural references and quotations, and wild shifts in tone and voice, Pynchon’s work doesn’t seem adaptable for the screen. So I think it’s a huge achievement that Paul Thomas Anderson was able to translate Inherent Vice and create something so complete and so assured.

A beguiling mixture of film noir and stoner movie, Inherent Vice follows the multiple investigations of “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix), an LA county private detective and dopehead. It’s a deliberately dense and mystifying experience, capturing the essence of a time in place in transition – the end of 60s-era hippieism and idealism and rise of corrupt politics and paranoia. Yet this never stops it from being a genuinely funny and farcical romp, and one of the most unexpectedly entertaining adventures of this year. The way all aspects from the production design to the mellow dialogue and Jonny Greenwood’s lush soundtrack completely immerse you in this world is awe-inspiring and left me feeling a little dazed (and a little blazed too). The convoluted plotting and sheer weight of material can be demanding and deserves multiple watches, but I’ll be a bit controversial here in saying I think the film makes perfect sense as challenging yet conventional detective story. Inherent Vice also has the honour of being the only film since university that I’ve gotten to see projected in 35mm, which gave it this gorgeous grain and texture which only improved the evocation of the 70s.

5. Mommy (Xavier Dolan, Canada)
The latest by the sickeningly talented Xavier Dolan (he was 24/25 when it was being made) is his most mature yet. It feels both epic and intimate, following the lives of those normally considered quite small and unimportant and raising them to a pedestal of high drama and high emotion.

We see widowed mother Di (Anne Dorval) struggle with the task of raising her troubled son Steve (Antoine Olivier Pilon), who has ADHD, is prone to violent outbursts and has just been released from an institution. With help from shy and repressed neighbour Kyla (Suzanne Clément), they work hard to get by. It’s a simple premise, but brimming with such heartfelt emotion and positive energy that makes this a tough but rewarding, moving and entertaining watch. It’s obvious Dolan deeply loves his characters and he throws every stylistic trick at this to make something which feels very special.

4. Inside Out (Pete Docter, USA)
Proof that Pixar works best when taking risks, Inside Out is the strongest film they’ve made in years and surely one of the most ambitious – a challenging study of the mind of an 11 year old girl which simultaneously appeals to both adults and children with a broad array of jokes, insights and titbits. There have been articles bemoaning the flaws with the depiction of emotions in Riley’s mind, but… come on, this isn’t a documentary. What we have is a vast concept attempting to depict how our minds work in a way that everybody can appreciate, all beautifully designed and performed.

The sheer weight of ideas and bases covered can get a little frenetic, but the way the story is able to tie the stresses of a family moving to a new city with the gradual breakdown of a young mind is pretty incredible. Kudos too for making a film which shows the necessary importance of sadness, and how we cannot experience the truest forms of happiness without it.

3. Carol (Todd Haynes, UK/USA)
Probably no other film this year has come with such a formidable wave of critical appreciation and as such a huge weight of expectation. Thankfully, Carol delivers on every front. What an extraordinarily transcendent film this is, where the slightest gestures and minutest details are magnified to create this enveloping and magnetic sensation of feeling almost drunk with adoration for someone.

It is named after Carol (Cate Blanchett), the object of desire of young Therese (Rooney Mara) who is true anchor of this story. Both their performances are so true to life, their conversations scattered with these wonderful little asides and moments of silence that conveys the scenario of two women both discovering feelings from one another that they’ve never experienced before. The chemistry is amazing. It’s the simplicity of the story and sheer amount of thought and care that has gone into every detail from the costumes and to the swoon-worthy soundtrack (seriously, how has Carter Burwell never been nominated for an Oscar?) that truly gives this film its power.

2. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, Australia/USA)
This film is omnipresent on pretty much every ‘best of’ list of 2015 but that’s for bloody good reason. Jesus Christ, it’s a hell of a ride. Essentially playing out as one giant chase scene, Fury Road is surely one of the greatest action films ever made – experiential cinema of the purest kind, with a completely fully realised world, complete characters with an unusual amount of depth and drive, some wonderful artistic asides (including the lovely silhouettes of the night scene in the middle) and bold creative choices.

All aspects of the production design are just gorgeous, with an embrace of the grotesque and a sheer cacophony of detail and visual splendour that makes the film exhilarating. All aspects from the editing to the special effects to the stunt work is mind-blowing, although perhaps what is most respectable is the focus given to characters and themes. The film has roots in Western frontier films about the need for a place to call home and where survivors have to fight hard to make their lives matter. It explores environmental disaster and the consequences of political conflict and vengeance. And as many have pointed out, it’s an action film which dares to explore themes of female empowerment and give varied autonomous roles to women. It all boils down to the most extravagant, sense-numbing, over-the-top two hours of madness I’ve probably ever seen, a tense thrill ride that is rare for truly giving us something to root for.

1. Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako, Mauritania/France)
It feels like a rare treat these days going into a cinema totally unknown and unprepared for what’s coming. Other than the word of one good review I saw, this was how I went into Timbuktu. And what a fine film it was: a humanist masterpiece which explores difficult subjects with concern, honesty and humour.

Inspired by the real life takeover of Timbuktu in Mali by Islamist extremists in 2012, and the news story of the stoning of an unmarried couple, Timbuktu is a documentary-like collection of interconnected stories concerning the struggles of the ordinary people under the dictatorial regime. Terrorists on motorbikes pronounce the new rules over loudspeakers: sport and music is forbidden, women must dress appropriately, unmarried men and women cannot be in the same room. The residents remain defiant in wishing to live as they always had done, and in exposing the absurdity of the new regime. A woman at a fish market argues with a man forcing her to wear gloves. Another man is forced to remove his trousers in the street because they are too long. Others don’t get off so lightly.

Timbuktu’s real strength lies in its ability to present such a wide range of stories with maturity and compassion, all the while imbuing it with a sense of truth and drama that makes it feel vital. It displays the propensity for absolutely anyone to perform cruel or noble actions. It depicts the importance of individuality as well a sense of Islam as a community, where lives can come together and live peacefully and fruitfully. People are inherently contradictory – the invaders break as many rules as they enforce. But this truth about our flaws is never presented in a way that is patronising or lecturing. The terrorists are depicted neither as monsters or heroes

There’s long been this sense of Timbuktu in Western culture as being a mythical place of bounteous riches. Instead, it’s a poor, but historically important town on the edge of the Sahara. But it’s films like this that perhaps offer a sad indictment of Western ignorance to plight of many ordinary people, and can offer us a glimpse of these lives in a way that is searingly honest and humane, yet also entertaining and charming in its own way. It’s a tragic film, but not one without hope. A scene involving a game of football is especially magical. It’s because of films like this that I love cinema’s ability to show lives and stories so new to me and make them feel real.

My Top 20 Films of 2015: Part 1

Given the sheer breadth of films I’ve seen in 2015 and just how excellent many of them were, I’ve ended up extending the list to 20 entries this year. There was so much that I enjoyed, and many emotional and mind-blowing moments that I wanted to talk about that it seemed a shame to miss too much off.

My list is based on films with UK release dates in 2015. I spent the first few months of the year living in London, which gave me access to a wider range of cinemas than I had ever experienced before, and a number of limited release films which I probably would have struggled to see elsewhere. I also had money saved then, and could afford to go at least once a week! Moving back home, my trips were less frequent, but still regular. Saying that, there was still a huge amount I missed this year which I need to seek out.

I’ve realised my tastes have gotten especially … abstract this year. I love actively seeking out the most unusual and non-mainstream films going, as I increasingly find them so much more inspiring, satisfying and original than many major releases (not to say I haven’t been to see many of the biggest films of the year and not enjoyed them). So I imagine some of my choices might be a bit off-kilter for most people’s tastes, but these are the films that have really blown me away this year.

It was also a standout year for marginalised voices, with a wonderful range of films by and about women, and people and cultures not readily seen on the big screen. Many of the films on my list are also debuts, which is an incredibly exciting indictment of what the future of cinema may hold.

Honourable mentions: White Bird in a Blizzard; White God; Birdman; Whiplash; Spectre; Phoenix; Girlhood; Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation; Selma

20. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour, USA)
Billed as “the first Iranian vampire western”, Ana Lily Amirpour’s assuredly confident debut is an exercise in pure style but one which thankfully doesn’t excise substance. In an Iranian ghost town dogged by drug addiction and mired in decline, a lone female vampire glides along the streets, casually observing and haunting the prostitutes and lost souls in the night. A young man in debt to a dangerous pimp begins a tentative relationship with this unfathomable girl.

It’s a fascinating feminist work exploring female autonomy and strength under pressure, with splendid moody black and white cinematography that makes this one of the most distinct films of the year. Glacially slow at times, but with an eye for bold visual style and full of love for a whole gamut of genre influences, A Girl Walks… is a highly impressive addition to the vampire canon we never thought was needed.

19. Sicario (Denis Villeneuve, USA)
At a time when so many action films rely on rapid editing and visual excess to create excitement, it is doubly thrilling that Sicario is such a patient film. It takes its time. Scenarios and settings are allowed to develop, the stakes are heightened, and the consequences can be explored in all their brutal detail.

An overwhelming sense of hopelessness hangs over everything and everyone – FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) falling in out of her depth with the umbrous missions of CIA officer Matt Graver (Josh Brolin); the impossible task of the Mexican police in a state where corpses are left hanging in the street; the endless machinations of both sides of the conflict. At once both a desperately sad film about the failure of the War on Drugs and the ruinous damage it has caused, and a blisteringly original action film and revenge story, Sicario can’t help but leave you shaken.

18. The Duke of Burgundy (Peter Strickland, UK)
Probably the most beguiling and idiosyncratic film I’ve seen all year, The Duke of Burgundy is a rich fever dream of sensation for heart and mind. In a world without men, we observe the unusual play of power between a loving sadomasochistic couple (Sidse Babett Knudsen and Chiara D’Anna) as they perform their repetitive rituals. Deeply European in sensibility, plot structures concerning the blurring boundaries between dominant and submissive are subsumed within the heady atmosphere of deep longing which positively drips off the screen.

Every little detail is presented with the most exquisite care and attention. Each frame is unbelievably pretty and every gesture, every brief touch of fingers along skin, the brush of luxurious material or the flutter of a butterfly’s wings becomes a fetishistic indulgence of the most exquisite kind. At its heart though, this is a generous affable story of the complex love between two women. I can’t wait to see this again; I’m sure a second viewing will divulge new pleasures.

17. The Dance of Reality (Alejandro Jodorowsky, Chile/France)
Cult arthouse hero Alejandro Jodorowsky returns with his first film in 23 years and it was wonderful to have him back. An outlandish and deliciously unhinged autobiography of his childhood and struggles with his father, mixed with Jodorowsky’s trademark spiritual allegory and fantastical black humour, it honestly feels as fresh and urgent as the best of his work from the 1970s. There is a sense of spectacle and a number of incredible shots unlike anything I’ve seen.

The explicit content and blatant slaps in the face of all plotting and thematic conventions, plus the fact it’s simply batshit crazy, means more casual cinemagoers will likely be left frustrated. But for fans of his work, myself included, The Dance of Reality is a treat, and it was a pleasure to have seen it on a big screen with an audience. This is the most unashamedly auterist film of 2015, one that feels almost of another era for its sheer audacity and singularity.

16. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Isao Takahata, Japan)
Sadly set to be one of Studio Ghibli’s final films, Princess Kaguya surely has to be one of the most beautiful animations ever made. Every frame is a work of art in its own way with a glorious focus on line and texture hardly seen in animation these days – the complete film is a magical moving watercolour whose sheer beauty at times brought tears to my eyes (I know, it sounds ridiculous but it really did)

Inspired by a traditional Japanese folk tale of a bamboo cutter who discovers a magical girl and vast riches growing in bamboo shoots, the story is given a modern feminist sensibility about the importance of respect and honesty, and the way wealth and power corrupts. I know some have found the traditional Japanese elements involving the spiritual a little alienating, but you’ve just got to throw yourself into this world. And see it in the Japanese language if you can.

15. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, USA)
At first glance, this looks like the epitome of the quirky Sundance teen hit about artsy middle class teenagers. Which is why I couldn’t believe how very much in love I fell with Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, a thoughtful and genuine story of friendship which is also a welcome, playfully critical antidote to the more self-indulgent trends of recent teen movies, especially illness movies.

Concerning Greg (Thomas Mann), a painfully awkward high school senior whose comfortable non-status at school is disrupted when he’s asked to befriend Rachel (Olivia Cooke), who is diagnosed with leukaemia, the film is a decidedly arch and self-aware film about teen films, full of knowingly ironic dialogue and comic stereotypes. But I felt the strength of the performances and characterisation drew the film from the brink of irritating pastiche to become something much warmer and more likeable. It is choc-a-bloc full of classic film and music references which of course I lapped up, but it was the moving and heartfelt moments which unexpectedly left me a emotional wreck that really made me love this film.

14. The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos, Ireland/UK/Greece/France/Netherlands)
One of my own most anticipated films last year, I’m glad to say The Lobster mostly delivers. A sci-fi comedy romantic drama that depicts a future society where it is illegal to be single, we watch freshly divorced David (Colin Farrell) as he’s shipped to a special hotel to find a new partner. What follows is a bizarre satire of dating routines and a chilly experiment of social mores pushed to their limits which we are invited to observe with pleasure.

Brimming with endless standout setpieces, a fine cast and a fiercely original script, The Lobster marks Lanthimos as one of the most singular directors working today. The film stalls somewhat in its final scenes in the forest, but the sheer commitment to its deadpan absurdity is bewildering and extremely entertaining.

13. A Most Violent Year (J. C. Chandor, USA)
It may be because it has been nearly a whole year since this was released (longer in America) that this film seems to have been so gravely underappreciated, forgotten almost. Which is a great shame, as this was surely one of the most assured and thrilling films I’ve seen this year. Oscar Isaac (what a great year he’s had!) stars as Abel Morales, head of a small heating oil company in early 1980s New York. He’s under immense pressure – more of his truck deliveries are being hijacked and stolen, and a determined district attorney (David Oyelowo) is scrutinising the industry, steadfastly rooting out corruption. Torn between the more determinedly pragmatic approach of his wife (Jessica Chastain) and his own tenacious need to remain legitimate, Morales struggles to keep all his plates spinning.

A real slow burner thriller, A Most Violent Year is less of the action thriller than many had come to expect. Instead, it’s a frosty character study which values intricate plotting and rewards audiences ready for sophisticated drama. It recalls the best of New Hollywood-era crime cinema, especially the films of Sidney Lumet, and confirms Chandor as one of the most promising writer-directors working today. Excellent stuff.

12. Wild Tales (Damián Szifron, Argentina/Spain)
My God, this film is fun. A portmanteau of six short films all linked by themes of violence and revenge, which includes a demolitions expert waging war against a car towing company, road rage getting out control, and possibly the worst wedding reception in history. The first and shortest story is a veritable gut-punch, with one of the most hilariously dark scenarios in a film in years.

In anthology films like this, it’s frequently inevitable that some parts outshine others but thankfully in this each story has its own strengths. It covers a bewildering array of conflicts, many linked by raw frustrations with bureaucracy, technology and infrastructure that can’t help but make you feel tensions might be running deep in parts of Argentina. At once tense, frustrating, and more than a little fucked up, Wild Tales is an intensely satisfying experience, if not simply for the fact that your day cannot possibly get any worse than the ones here.

11. Tangerine (Sean Baker, USA)
Much of the publicity surrounding this ultra-low budget film was astonishment at how the entire thing was filmed on an iPhone 5. And it does look fantastic, drowning in lush sunshine and neon glows. But it’s so much more than. It’s a boundless portrait of Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez), a transgender sex worker who, upon being released from prison on Christmas Eve, discovers her pimp boyfriend has cheated on her with a cisgender woman. This sets off a raucous chain of events, as Sin-Dee storms across LA trying to find the mystery woman, and best friend Alexandra (Mya Taylor) is left trying to calm her down.

There’s so so much to admire and love about this film. It’s a remarkable example of just how expansive and creative low budget cinema can be. It features trans characters played by actual trans performers. And it’s an immensely enjoyable and deliciously purile black comedy, which recalls the best of John Waters’ filthiest comedies. It feels completely genuine, making it a quotable, brash and confrontational experience. Building to an epic confrontation that leaves you watching through your fingers through sheer awkwardness, I left feeling both exhausted and exhilarated. If there is any one film on this list I feel everyone should watch to see what cinema is capable of, this would be it. Go see it!