Yes, it's that time of
year when I attempt to sum up the year's filmic offerings and compose
my 'Top Five of 2012' list. Now, before we begin, I have to point out
that whilst I have seen a nice cross-section of this year's films,
I'm not super-human and haven't been able to catch everything. You
will, no doubt, shout 'how could he have left that out?!' and there
are some highly-recommended films which I haven't seen. Life of
Pi has been very well-received,
as has Planet of Snail which
was hailed by many as a moving documentary about friendship and love.
Equally, Michael Haneke's Amour has
been much lauded, as has the thriller Argo
which, for many, is their favourite film of 2012. It's been very
difficult to narrow down the films to a top five. The fact that I've
excluded the likes of The Pirates! In An Adventure With
Scientists, Jeff, Who
Lives at Home, Avengers
Assemble and Silver
Linings Playbook shows just how
good 2012 has been for film. Over the past year, I've seen and
reviewed forty-four films. And these, in my opinion, are the best of
the bunch...
The Hunger Games
Based
on the best-selling book, The Hunger Games could
quite easily have been a superficial action flick for teenagers which
could have quickly disappeared to a DVD stand in a pound shop. In
reality, The Hunger Games was
discussed in the same sentence as Harry Potter and
Twilight. The
dis-utopian future portrayed in the film, where each year, twelve
teenagers are selected to fight one another to the death in the
annual Hunger Games contest, was rather unsettling and the action was
enthralling, the violence visceral and shocking. A stunning central
performance from Jennifer Lawrence as the head-strong and
ferociously-driven Katniss Everdeen was a refreshing addition to
young female protagonists seen in recent years. The second book,
Catching Fire, is due
to be released as a film next year and if it is anything like The
Hunger Games, it will be hugely
– and deservedly – successful.
The Descendants
With
a strong cast led by George Clooney, The Descendants is
a strange film. It follows
Hawaiian land baron Matt King (Clooney) as he struggles to come to
terms with a jet ski accident which has left his wife in a coma and
his relationships with his two children in turmoil. Watch
it once and you'll find it moving, funny, engaging and you will want
to book a flight to Hawaii straight away. But wait a few days and
something very odd will happen. Rather like a Polaroid photo, the
film develops on an emotional level long after the credits have
rolled. Indeed, it was only a week or so after I'd seen the film that
I looked back and thought 'you know what, I was much more affected by
that film than I first believed'. Whether it was the powerful
performances (especially from Shailene
Woodley as Clooney's teenage
daughter) or the thought-provoking narrative, I don't know. What I do
know, however, is that it is one of my favourite films of 2012.
Skyfall
In
my mind, no list of the best films of 2012 will be complete without
an appearance from Bond 23. Not because it's James Bond and not
because it's taken nearly $1 billion worldwide.
Skyfall succeeds
thanks to Daniel Craig's troubled and lethal Bond, some fantastic
action sequences, a brilliant villain and, importantly, a return to
old-style Bond. By this, I don't mean a return to the invisible cars
of Brosnan or rather suspect treatment of women, but a return to the
essence of Bond: stylish, gritty and supremely entertaining.
Paradoxically both traditional and updated for the 21st
Century, Skyfall is as
British as it gets and after the patriotic year we've had, that's no
bad thing.
The Dark Knight Rises
Hailed
by many as an auteur director,
Christopher Nolan brought his Batman trilogy to an epic conclusion
with The Dark Night Rises.
Beautifully-shot and with a real sense of dramatic gravitas, Nolan's
film is masterful in its approach to reinventing the superhero genre
(you need only look to the new Superman film to see its impact) and
offers much on repeat viewings. Despite a few very minor plot issues
which weren't satisfactorily addressed, there's plenty to keep mouths
wide open in amazement. Hans Zimmer's score and a stellar cast only
heightened the unrelenting thrills of a film which requires no
interest in comics to enjoy. This is high-stake, intelligent,
pulsating action cinema at its very best.
Rust and Bone
Here
it is. The best film of 2012. Rust and Bone is
a French film and, as such, you won't have seen it. In fact, I would
bet a lot of money (well, £5) that you haven't seen it. You're
missing out. Starring Marion Cotillard and Matthias
Schoenaerts, the film sees Stephanie (Cotillard), an orca whale
trainer who, after an horrific accident, develops a strange and deep
relationship with Ali (Schoenaerts), a nightclub bouncer who wants to
make it big in the world of boxing and kick-boxing. You could throw a
bucket load of superlative adjectives
at Rust and Bone and
the vast majority of them would stick to a film which, whilst not
perfect, features such gut-wrenchingly powerful performances that its
emotional impact has been unrivalled this year. Painfully consuming
and dramatic in every sense of the word, Rust and Bone
restores my faith in cinema
which, as we shall see with my Worst Five Film list, has been
seriously shaken throughout the past year. See it. Now.
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