Best of 2013

[oscar jubis]

There is permanence to this list because I've had time over the past months to watch films I missed in theaters. Several of the films I admire most barely can be said to have had a theatrical release: Paradise: Faith, The Future, Night Across the Street, Here & There, Viola, Faust, etc. The fact is that more films are available for viewing than ever before and that there are multiple ways to access them. People who live away from the top markets have never had it so good, finally there is no excuse not to watch documentaries, low-budget films, avant garde cinema, foreign-language movies, etc. Still, I am happily surprised that Fruitvale Station made over $16 million at the box-office. Those are blockbuster numbers for a cheap indie. And I'm happy that a movie in Oscar's top 10 received an Oscar (that does not happen often). There is also permanence to this list because I've had time to watch many of these wonderful pictures more than once. I notice that there are two films about religious extremism in my top 10 which may give the impression that I let ideology dictate my choices (which is different than saying that ideology is always relevant) but I have rewatched them and I'm convinced of their absolutely mastery of the art of film, especially Seidl's second film of his paradise trilogy Faith. I wish there was a less unpleasant masterpiece to put at the top, a film I could recommend to friends and family, but there isn't, not in 2013.

Best Films of 2013

1.---- Paradise: Love/Faith/Hope (Austria)
2(tie) Before Midnight (USA)
-------Fruitvale Station (USA)
------ Here and There (Mexico)
5(tie) Beyond the Hills (Romania)
-------Frances Ha (USA)
-------The Future (Chile/Italy)
-------Her (USA)
-------Night Across the Street (Chile)
-------You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet (France)

NUMBER ELEVEN (Alphabetical Order)

American Hustle (USA)
Blue is the Warmest Color (France)
Faust (Russia)
Hanna Arendt (Germany)
Like Someone in Love (France/Japan)
Lore (Germany)
Museum Hours (Austria/USA)
The Past (France)
Post Tenebras Lux (Mexico)
Renoir (France)
Viola (Argentina)

Also recommended: Gloria, 12 Years a Slave, Gravity, 56 Up, Mother of George, What Maisie Knew, After Lucia, The Great Beauty, Nebraska, Blancanieves, No, Mud, Frozen, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Inside Llewyn Davis, An Oversimplification of her Beauty, Philomena, All is Lost, Behind the Candelabra, Violeta Went to Heaven, The Gatekeepers, War Witch, Room 237.