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Wylie Writes’ Ten Best Movies of 2013
By: Addison Wylie
Now that we’ve recognized the bad movies that were slingshot at audiences last year, it’s time to move on and engulf ourselves in the cream of the crop.
2013 introduced a wide variety of great films to audiences. I feel like I say that every year, but as I scour my selected picks, the only thing these movies share are the odd genre they’re grouped in.
Take documentaries, for example. Audiences were shown terrific autobiographies that opened their subjects like books. André Gregory: Before and After Dinner was one that caught my interest. Gregory is a writer, an actor, a director, an all around theatrical wiz, yet he presents himself as such a humble human being who could easily sweep the average movie goer off their feet. Director Cindy Kleine doesn’t have to stretch to find a comfortable groove for this pleasant doc.
Nicky’s Family wasn’t necessarily a straightforward autobiography like André Gregory: Before and After Dinner, but it told a revolutionary story involving Nicholas Winton. Winton, who rescued Jewish children before WWII, is shown in high regard with Matej Mináč’s film. Nicky’s Family may look like something you’d find on PBS on a Sunday afternoon, but the doc’s importance could impact a sold-out stadium.
Rounding out the list of sensational documentaries was Lucy Walker’s The Crash Reel, a film that snuck onto our radars when the year was winding down. The message about the importance of safety during extreme sports follows alongside snowboarder Kevin Pearce’s inspirational story. Walker’s doc is incredible, and you’ll never want to take your eyes off of it.
There were a few independent films that caught my attention and impressed me with their storytelling. The Oxbow Cure, for instance, is a film that moves deliberately slow. However, Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas were able to chill me to the bone with their frigid settings and drawn out creeping.
Sally El Hosaini’s My Brother the Devil was a fantastic feature film debut, providing superb performances from actors who could rationalize their drastic arcs quite well. Sean Garrity’s Blood Pressure was a worthy-enough thriller with an anchoring turn from Michelle Giroux. The film has its flaws, but I enjoyed myself all the way through this low budget drama.
And, Tower. I desperately wanted Tower and actor Derek Bogart to receive more recognition for their contributions to Toronto’s indie scene. It was an uncomfortable, often amusing and unhinged jarring character study from filmmaker Kazik Radwanski. I’ve seen a lot of fine performances from lots of actors in 2013, but Bogart’s portrayal of a disconnected wanderer stuck with me all year round.
Of course, I had some mainstream picks. I thought The Wolf of Wall Street was great fun. It was a lengthly film, but it showed audiences that Martin Scorsese is still a gutsy filmmaker willing to tackle any genre at any given time. August: Osage County was another strong contender. It’s ensemble cast knocked the film out of the park, and frequently had me in stitches.
Blue is the Warmest Colour, The Spectacular Now, and The Way, Way Back were three coming-of-age films that were unforgettable. All three featured moving performances from everyone involved, the creative minds behind the flicks were fearless, and nothing was sugarcoated. Movie goers could sense the filmmakers treating the characters with earnest gratitude, which helped sustain the staying power of each flick.
But, enough lollygaging. Let’s take a look at what fleshed out the top spots of 2013.
Underrated Movies:
Everyday is Like Sunday
It’s A Disaster!
Nicky’s Family
Texas Chainsaw 3D
Warm Bodies
Honourable Mentions:
#15. Tatsumi
#14. Charles Bradley: Soul of America
#13. To The Wonder
#12. Nebraska
#11. Short Term 12
Wylie Writes’ Ten Best Movies of 2013
#10. Spring Breakers
Spring Breakers acts as a statement about the impatient youth of today, and about the need for constant change amongst a modern younger generation.
It’s also a stylistic blast and an interesting conversation starter. Filmmaker Harmony Korine reassures his fans that he isn’t leaving, and he brilliantly introduces younger audiences to a new way to look at movies.
#9. Her
Spike Jonze’s poignant work is a personal film about an impersonal society.
#8. Downloaded
Downloaded is a fantastic documentary on the brink of a remarkable level involving the rise and the inevitable fall of the file trading peer-to-peer service Napster.
#7. 12 Years a Slave
An absolutely brutal, but rewarding watch that’s extremely well acted by its vast ensemble.
Filmmaker Steve McQueen shows an anthropological side to the relationship between an owner and his slave, as well as a fascinating, stomach churning outlook on how easy it was for people to consider other people “possessions”.
Jim Mickle’s We Are What We Are shows a hauntingly humanistic portrayal of something that’s downright unfathomable: cannibalism. The film is an excellent slow burn with a jaw-dropping payoff.
#5. A Hijacking
Unfortunately overshadowed, A Hijacking is a riveting docudrama that I hope gets the respect and attention it deserves despite ingredients that some may be seasick about.
Dallas Buyers Club is an all around exceptional piece of work with flawless lead performances by Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto.
#3. Mud
Like the film’s stoic bluegrass backdrop, Mud resonates quietly. It’s an outstanding movie with phenomenal acting and careful direction.
#2. Before Midnight
Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight is brilliantly observant with its authentic portrayal of two people who love – and will always love – each other. The screenplay is simply one of the best.
#1. The Place Beyond the Pines
A complete 180° for filmmaker Derek Cianfrance. This sweeping drama about redemption, fatherhood, and “doing the right thing” is absorbing and never drops the ball. A true classic in the making.
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‘Ten Best Movies of 2013’ Artwork by: Sonya Padovani
Does It Float?: Spring Breakers
By: Addison Wylie
When I reviewed Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers in March, I stated that “it may very well be this year’s most argued about film.” I still stand by that, and it’s bittersweet to do so.
On the one hand, I’m right. On the other, there are still movie goers that react wildly negative towards Korine’s fever dream. However, just as many people are faithful to their opinion about Spring Breakers and even go as far as to say it’s one of the best movies of the year- which it very well is.
A good example of two radically different outlooks happened a couple weeks after the film’s opening weekend. A co-worker of mine hated the experience, thought the whole ordeal was “stupid”, and was dead set that I enjoyed the movie simply because it had “a ton of boobs”.
The other example is one I try to remember as frequently as possible because of how sincere it was. When chatting with another co-worker about current movies and which ones we recommended to each other, an older lady – somebody’s grandmother – piped up instantaneously. “Have you two seen Spring Breakers?” asked the frail woman. I shook my head just as fast. “I loved it.” “I really like that movie,” she said. “It’s very provocative and sharp.” She turned to my friend. “I really suggest you see it. You’re going to really like it.”
And, there we have it. A woman who was seemingly in the preferred target audience had a miserable time, whereas Cornation Street’s #1 fan had nothing but great things to say about Korine’s experimental flick.
But, where do I stand on the vivacious, audacious film? Are the messages still clear? Do the polarizing, more adult roles from Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens still resonate well?
In the third webisode of Does It Float?, I pop in the Blu-ray and see if Spring Breakers still holds water on a second watch.
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To read my original review, click here!
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Spring Breakers
By: Addison Wylie
Spring Breakers works in more ways than one. First of all, you can take Harmony Korine’s film at face value and perceive it as a lurid fever dream with a loose story integrating elements of the crime genre with a trippy punk rock attitude.
The four roles played by Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Korine’s wife Rachel Korine are charismatic enough in an entertaining train wreck sort of way as we watch these rebellious teens go down a snaky rabbit hole. They get involved with the wrong company after being bailed out of jail by a drug dealer/arms dealer/rapper named Alien (played by a well disguised and dazzlingly repugnant James Franco) and the rabbit hole goes deeper. Only a few are able to escape.
The style trumps the story as we watch the camera fall in love with black lights and its fluorescent colour palette. Korine also utilizes different types of video formats to make moviegoers feel apart of these spring break partiers; either in a way that suggests we’re at the party or watching it through a late-night infomercial after Maury Povich throws to a break.
The music, conceived by Cliff Martinez and dubstep icon Skrillex, is just as much of a star as any of the talented women in the film. The integration of lighter songs also adds a nice hint of nostalgia while bringing new life and mixed emotions to a scene. A certain montage set to a Britney Spears song pops to mind as a specific highlight, but I’ll let you discover that one for yourself when you watch this outstanding flick.
But, does the style really trump the story? Or, is it the other way around? A younger generation may not be familiar with the audacious filmmaker, but if you’ve followed Korine’s career since his screenwriting debut in 1995’s KIDS, you’ll know that he doesn’t believe that every film has to take on traditional storytelling. The film can take on a looser structure and let the characters speak for themselves. If one decides to latch onto the film and learn more about these distraught young adults, you can have just about as much fun as the fans who are there to support Gomez or Hudgens.
As far as character development goes, Spring Breakers leaves a lot up to the viewers’ imagination. It isn’t performed in a lazy way on Korine’s part, but he’s given you enough clues as to how these people think and carry out their actions for a moviegoer to draw conclusions for themselves. There isn’t a wrong answer, it’s all open for interpretation.
The film I saw was not only a statement about the impatient youth of today, but it’s also about the need for constant change amongst a modern younger generation. All four girls are looking for a change of environment. Faith (played by Gomez) wonders if there’s more to life than her religion, Brit and Candy (played with gleeful aggression by Benson and Hudgens) wonder if there’s a better place to get drunk, high, and party, and Cotty (played by Rachel Korine) follows Brit and Candy’s crassness and agrees with what they do.
All four characters are restless; you can sense it in their speech patterns. Not so much Faith – being the only sane body amongst the friends – but this is especially noticeable with Brit, Candy, and Cotty. As we watch scenes of them fooling around, standing in the rain and getting intoxicated, they repeat the same words and phrases. “We gotta get that money” and “spring break” make for a lot of their dialogue when the film is revving up.
Sure, it can get repetitive at times and Korine plays that hard game of trying to find a balance between repeating something the right amount of times and driving someone crazy – to which he’s usually successful. The thing is that the repetition means something. From the rebellious girls repeating their goals early on, to the scenes with them and Alien teasing each other over and over again, it represents just how shallow and one-track their thinking is. Going away for spring break and robbing people are dire needs and shows how desperate they are for non-stop action in their nowhere lives.
Faith’s religion isn’t the only biblical content in Spring Breakers. Their spring break destination is illustrated as a modern day, sin free paradise akin to Sodom and Gommorrah, where sex and excessive lewdness reigns and no consequences exist…until the girls’ wild ride is exposed. I’m sure there has to be more to the parallels as well with Brit, Candy, and Cotty acting as temptations to Faith’s comfortability and then those three being controlled by temptation as well when Franco’s Alien enters the picture.
Something’s to be said about the girls’ relationship to Alien. To bring up Maury Povich’s name again in a single review may seem a bit much, but during their introduction with each other, Spring Breakers feels like one of those episodes where young hellions spend a day at a prison with an inmate who had a similar past. Except instead of the girls looking at their future, they see a friend. You can feel this chemistry ignite when James Franco eyes each girl up and down. It’s a relationship that’s built on a disorderly materialistic attitude – and misery loves company.
Spring Breakers is a return to form for Harmony Korine and serves as a nice balance between his usual quirks and making something as mainstream as possible. As a moviegoer observing his sporadic career, it isn’t hard to notice Korine trying to figure out where his voice stands in today’s movies. He tried his hand with different types of formulas such as the divisive but whimsical Mister Lonely and the disturbingly unique Trash Humpers, but Spring Breakers is proof that the answer to his question was right under his nose.
With his success with KIDS, Korine shows that he has a keen observant eye for youth. Their voice, their presence, their annoyances, and their habits. Spring Breakers is the perfect project for the filmmaker because it allows him to work his perceptive skills in a modern world. While spring break may seem like an in-your-face experience involving aberrant characters, he never makes these scenes too obnoxious and unwatchable. The average moviegoer may not relate but we understand why these riotous rebels enjoy these chaotic settings.
It’s also good to note that Faith is the only one who phones home constantly to touch base with her Mom and Grandmother. We never see them or hear them, but they’re the only adults mentioned in the film who aren’t of direct authority like a police officer or a judge. Another point from KIDS that successfully transcends into Spring Breakers and rings as true – the absence of parents.
Spring Breakers is a blast and an interesting conversation starter. Everyone will have their different views on it and it may very well be this year’s most argued about film.
Harmony Korine has irked a lot of moviegoers and critics in the past with his intense works and how he presents them. I’ve always been a fan of his, but I can understand how many would consider him as much of a recluse as the girls in the movie.
With his loose storytelling theory, Spring Breakers shows that the filmmaker has grown up and knows how to attempt such a mould. It’s a sign that a lightbulb has gone off in Korine’s head and he’s worked above and beyond to prove those naysayers wrong, reassure his fans that he isn’t leaving, and to brilliantly introduce younger moviegoers to a new way to look at movies.
Wylie Writes 