Movies of 2013

At this point in my movie-going life (and my life in general), I’ve grown weary of hipster irony and I crave the films of directors who seem to care about something. The directors (and actors) that I return to again and again (e.g., John Sayles, Ken Loach, Nicole Holofcener) have a mission and purpose to their work and aren’t just trying to dazzle with special effects. Here are  my best moments in the dark this year:

1) Before Midnight – If it were up to me, Richard Linklater would keep updating this story of Jessie and Celine, the couple we first met in Vienna in 1995, every nine years for the rest of his career. In the latest update, they adorable twins and fight their way across Greece.

2) 56 Up – Any time an update of the “Up Series” directed by Michael Apted comes along, it’s a de facto favorite movie of the year. Started in 1964 as a World In Action feature, Apted has followed his group of seven year olds over their lifetimes, with

fascinating results.

3) Nebraska – Alexander Payne’s new film is the most honest and loving look at the father/son relationship since Kramer vs. Kramer. Bruce Dern will get all the Oscar plaudits but SNL’s Will Forte is a revelation.

4) The Sapphires – Probably the most fun I’ve had with a movie this year. In a similarly charming way that “The Commitments” did 20 years ago, “The Sapphires” shows the magical resonance of blues based music around the world. In this case, it’s an aboriginal girl group who travel to Vietnam to entertain the troops.

5) Stories We Tell – Sarah Polley, my favorite actress, has now become an accomplished director. Her latest is a documentary about a shattering secret inside her own family. It’s astonishing to see how deep and unflinching she is in exposing the truth.

6) Fruitvale Station – On the heels of the terrible verdict in the Zimmerman case came this cautionary tale about the last day of the life of Oscar Grant, an Oakland, California resident who was shot to death on a BART platform.

7) Blue Jasmine – Woody Allen’s best movie in this millennium centers on a never-better Cate Blanchett as a New York socialite trying to survive a marriage to a Madoff type by holing up with her funky younger sister in San Francisco.

8) The Way Way Back – In a summer full of coming of age pictures, this was the best. Sam Rockwell steals the show as a water park owner who mentors a young kid during the most challenging summer of his life.

9) No – Gael Garcia Bernal stars as an advertising guy who’s recruited to head up the “No” campaign against Augusto Pincochet’s dictatorship in Chile in 1988.

10) Spring Breakers – Harmony Korine’s trippy gonzo take on spring break in Florida was marketed as a teen exploitation film but it’s much, much too weird to be satisfying for voyeurs.

Notable Others:

* The Bling Ring

* The Book Thief

* Brooklyn Castle

* The Company You Keep

* The East

* Frances Ha

* The Kings of Summer

* Mud

* The Place Beyond the Pines

* Side Effects

* Step up to the Plate

* Unfinished Song

* What Maisie Knew

Disappointments:

• Admission – This Tina Fey/Paul Rudd romantic comedy vehicle sheds very little light on the college admissions process, and worse than that – it was incredibly unfunny.

*Inside Llewyn Davis – What could have been a loving tribute to the Greenwich Village folk scene, in the hands of the Coen Brothers is a really unpleasant, depressing story about a sad sack musician.

• Promised Land – John Krasinski’s new anti-fracking drama starring Matt Damon as a natural gas hustler is full of promise but also flaws –a missed opportunity.