Brandon Isaacson's Top Ten Films of 2014

New release movies seen: 219 total, with an additional 21 moved to next year for consideration as they didn’t come to theaters in the US.

10. Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler is a hard movie to evaluate in list format, as it combines deeply affecting moments and very artificial ones. Gyllenhaal’s performance made my skin crawl for the entire film, and I don’t think a single other film did that this year. He’s a highly believable manifestation of what capitalism would do to a person, if not prevented by society’s moral norms. This movie is often reaching and sometimes it’s within its grasp. Those moments are absolutely terrifying.

Read Carter Sigl's review of Nightcrawler here.

9. Palo Alto

I walked out of Palo Alto feeling a high level of respect for Gia Coppola’s distinct visual perspective, a feat in any case, but was less enthused with the broader structure of the film. Those issues I had feel very unfamiliar at this point, as this film has grown and grown on me through the months. Coppola provides an unusually honest portrait of youth, albeit one very specific to the Palo Alto lifestyle. This world, unlike most including many of the films in this top 10, feels truly lived-in and real. Outstanding accomplishment for a first time filmmaker.

8. Starred Up

Starred Up has the scents of many stories you’ve seen before (prison, crime drama, tough guys go soft), but don’t be fooled; Mackenzie is doing his own thing. Even if the ideas and situations aren’t new, it feels like the realized vision of a visually articulate filmmaker. That vision is brought alive by an outstanding performance by Jack O’Connell.

Read my review of Starred Up here. 

7. Men, Women, & Children

Go ahead, scoff and snicker at your leisure. This film illustrates a point in time that aligns very specifically to my teenage years. It gets the time and pace of many Internet-related moments perfectly, in a way that no other film has. I think people misjudged this as failing to move the conversation forward, but actually it's moving the older conversation deeper. The first time I saw this I was deeply shaken up. It's one of those rare film experiences when you don't forget when you walked out of the theater, where you went, and how naked you felt. 

What MW&C does best is relaying the deep human bond that can occur through the Internet, and fundamental misunderstanding that occurs between older and younger generations about the earnestness of this bond.

Read Brian Hamilton's review of Men, Women & Children here. 

6. The Immigrant

The Immigrant is an elegant presentation of the American Dream as an illusion, shown quite obviously and beautifully in a magic show by Jeremy Renner’s character. This movie is not going to win you over with its thematic subtlety, but if you buy into its message, it shows it gorgeously through the remarkable Marion Cotillard and breathtaking cinematography.

Read Carter Sigl's review of The Immigrant here.

5. Under the Skin

The predator/prey relationship between men and women is the focus of Under the Skin but in reverse. Scarlet Johnansson’s unnamed character is followed by various men, mouth agape; she isn’t a person, but a body. Under the Skin is a masterfully distinctive visualization of this predator/prey interaction. It’s hard to describe exactly how or why, because it’s a rare instance of truly original storytelling. Through this odd combination of images and sounds, Glazer made me feel the inhumanity of being perceived as something other than a complex human.

Read my review of Under the Skin here. 

4. CITIZENFOUR

Last year I just saw Her, and I didn’t know where to place it or what to say about it. This year that spot is taken by CITIZENFOUR. I’ll leave you with my immediate tweet:

Amazing. Mindblowing. Terrifying. Upsetting. Uplifting. Outstanding. 

3. The Grand Budapest Hotel

It took me months to really figure out why I loved The Grand Budapest Hotel so much. Surely it was adorable and fun, but I couldn’t recognize why it struck my heart so deeply. What Anderson does so effectively, is embodying the intellectual ideas of the film in the cinematic construction of the story. The sudden moments of violence are particularly striking partly because Anderson hadn’t done such violence much before, but also because these moments of violence are forcing the viewer away from the whimsy that they went to the theater to escape to. Anderson is confronting the viewer with this push and pull process, and perhaps our ambivalent response to it, is a reflection of how we may act in a similar situation.

Read Mary Tobin's review of The Grand Budapest Hotel here.

2. True Detective 

I would never do a combined TV/movie list, simply because for me, TV rarely matches the artistry of the best movies. Given the way that TV shows are made from a business perspective, it's not hard to understand why it never works in the long run. They make it up as they go, and that lack of planning degrades each series (with the sole exception of The Wire, the only TV show that is among my favorite movies).

True Detective shook me to the core, and stood above most of the year's cinema. I’ve seen it three times, and I’m still not quite sure what to say. Moments of the show, like the glorious Rust Cohle philosophical tangents or brilliantly filmed scenes, have wandered in and out of my mind for the last six months since I first watched the show. Anything that becomes a part of my life in that way exemplifies the deep connection I’m always hungry for at the cinema.

I’m still not a believer in TV, and I don’t expect to be content with season two of True Detective, however this show has created an obligation to work through the next year in TV.

1. Ida

My top film of the year, Ida, has haunted me since I first saw it at a film festival in 2013. When reflecting on the Holocaust, the two main questions often discussed are "How could this happen" and "How could people do this" or in other words, wondering about what happened before and during. Ida plunges into territory not often discussed: how can people just pretend this didn't happen? 

Each frame fascinates and enthralls me. Agata Kulesza's gestures perfectly embody the deep sorrow of a Jew in a society fighting to be ignorant, rather than remorseful. One particularly harrowing scene with Kulesza, involving a window (coy to avoid spoilers), has been seared into my brain. Ida is a remarkable feat of visual storytelling, and an important under-seen perspective on what the Holocaust says about human nature. Its only notable flaw is focusing on Ida (Agata Trzebuchowska), rather than Wanda (Kulesza).

Read Carter Sigl's review of Ida here. 

Honorable Mentions

-Edge of Tomorrow for being incredibly entertaining.

-Obvious Child for being funny, charming and moving.

-The Unknown Known for being a fascinating study of a very powerful man in modern American history.

-Snowpiercer for being a haunting yet entertaining action film

-Jodorowsky’s Dune for being a study of mythology and the romanticization of what could’ve been.

-Transparent, because if I’m to include True Detective, I must be honest about another show’s inclusion. This one is too obvious in its intention at times, but nonetheless poignant, true and important.

-The Babadook for being a beautifully shot horror movie with a marvelously demonic pop-up book

-Boyhood for being truly, deeply moving, even though much of it felt artificial to me.