For the last couple of years when I’ve come to do this end-of-year list thing, I overcame the struggle of compiling one list as a definitive statement on My Year of Film by doing an “alternative list”, alongside the list of discoveries of older films. This year, I’m going to combat the struggle of doing an alternative list by flagging it altogether for an expanded list of discoveries. What constitutes a “discovery”? The films without fanfare, the better-than-expected surprises, the underrated, the retro, and anything that wouldn’t fit into the main end-of-year list. Here we go, in no particular order (of course):
Rembetiko – Stunning historical drama about early 20th century Greek folk music, loosely based on the life of singer Marika Ninou. A long but transfixing journey, filled with trance-inducing musical performances.
Simon Killer – A genuinely unsettling, hard-to-shake experience burrows deep into the head of an American sociopath in Paris. Maybe the best character study I’ve seen of its type since Keane. Campos’ first film Afterschool well worth checking out too, plays like prequel.
Deathrow Gameshow – One-joke premise, moronic, tasteless, tries too hard to be funny, but would be lying if I didn’t have a swell time with this campy ‘80s black comedy.
Hell Bound – Amazing B-noir find! Caper gone wrong plot, crams hardboiled swagger, bleak worldview and jolting brutality into a brisk, lively 69 minutes.
The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears – Those who were left cold by Cattet and Forzani’s previous giallo homage Amer probably won’t get much out of this style-drenched exercise either, but for me, some of the most heady, visually intoxicating, beautifully disorienting images I’ve seen all year.
Myth of the American Sleepover – I was compelled to watch this earlier film by David Robert Mitchell after being bowled over by It Follows at the fest and it didn’t disappoint. Nothing ground-breaking but the languid, out-of-time vibe is hypnotic.
A Quiet Place in the Country – Pop art meets gothic in this trippy 1968 Italian psychological reality-bender starring Franco Nero as painter losing his mind in an Italian villa. Great off-kilter Morricone score.
The Cheshire Murders – Utterly grim and compelling HBO doco about 2007 home invasion killings in Connecticut. Had me glued to the screen but feeling completely drained and crappy after.
In the City of Sylvia – What if those scenes in Vertigo where Scottie shadows Madeleine were an entire film? It might resemble something like José Luis Guerín’s masterpiece — the elegant last word on people watching and stalking. Pure cinema. I want to see more from this guy.
Proxy – Impressive attempt to ape Hitchcock/DePalma shockers on a budget. Nothing as is it seems, layered, sharp twists and just demented enough to stand out.
This Ain’t No Mouse Music – I’m fairly partial to docos about obsessive music people (and obsessive people in general) and this one on Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz ticks all the boxes. Far from the most polished documentary around, but the vibrant music, invaluable anecdotes and general warmth make up for it.
The Secret of the Grain – Another “I gotta check out this director’s earlier film” viewing. Abdellatif Kechiche’s Blue is the Warmest Color was powerful stuff, and this 2007 film, following the lives of an Arab immigrant family in a French port town, similarly so. Running at two-and-half-hours, this is richly portrayed human drama at its best, with a final hour-long stretch that’s as nail-biting as any thriller.
Missing – True story about the search for a missing American writer during harrowing 1973 military coup of Chile. Nightmarish, absolutely chilling political mystery-drama from Costa-Gavras, with Sissy Spacek and Jack Lemmon in outstanding form.
The Eclipse – Totally underseen, underrated film. One of the best romantic ghost stories in recent memory — an exquisite example of “melancholy horror”. Ciaran Hinds has never been this good.
Sands of the Kalahari – Simply awesome ‘60s survival-of-the-fittest adventure. Plane crash survivors duke it out in a remote desert part of Namibia. Rousing tale, well-drawn characters, glorious Technicolor scope cinematography. Like Flight of the Phoenix with vicious baboons.
Bound for Glory – Hal Ashby’s Woody Guthrie biopic is a vivid, beautiful, marvelously textured story of the Great Depression. Maybe the best Dust Bowl depiction on film. Haskell Wexler’s work here is just transcendent.
Wrong – I wasn’t a fan of Quentin Dupieux’s killer tire flick Rubber but this follow-up somehow hit the right notes of weird and absurd. A dog lover’s movie.
How I Live Now – Smaller-scaled but the most subtly evocative and interesting of the recent crop of young adult-dystopia films. Saoirse Ronan gives a typically committed performance. Not quite When the Wind Blows for teens, but sometimes it comes close and it’s much better than it looks.
The International – I remember critics shitting on this Tom Tywker corporate espionage thriller but found it pretty engaging. I love Tywker’s feel for architecture and holy shit, that Guggenheim shootout is killer.
Hummingbird – It would be really easy to dismiss this as yet another Jason Statham action vehicle but I was taken aback by how un-action-centric it was. The PTSD-suffering ex-soldier is a Statham-ready role but the film around him is a whole lot more restrained, moodier and character-focused. He gets to romance a nun!
The Devil’s Business – British indie, Kill List-style crime-horror hybrid. Admittedly slight, but likably offbeat, tightly directed, with a gob-smacking WTF ending. Fantastic turn by Billy Clarke as a weary, hardened hitman.
