Alex 's Best Ten of 2015
Note: Some of these films were viewed at festivals featuring unusual films with little hope of ever getting any commercial release. Hopefully most can now be downloaded from the internet if one finds an off beat title interesting. The films here are listed in roughly the chronological order in which they were viewed during the course of the year.
1. "The Theory of Everything"
British, Dir. James Marsh, with Oscar winning actor Eddie Redmayne as wheelchair bound English physicist Stephen Hawking. Tour de force central performance by Redmayne in a pic that gets a bit out of hand in maudlin soppiness as it goes along. Nevertheless, an important portrait of one of the great minds of the XX. century trapped in a deformed paralyzed body. Noteworthy supporting role by Felicity Jones as Hawking's long suffering wife. Great cinematography.l
2. "The Imitation Game"
With Benedict Cumberbatch as another British genius, Alan Turing, whose mathematical skills used to crack the undecipherable German secret code 'Enigma' basically saved England from going under in the darkest days of WW II. An edge of the seat thriller centering on an egomaniacal Cambridge professor who never got the credit he deserved because he was gay and eventually committed suicide because of the stigma attached to same sex preference in postwar Britain. Cumberbatch is even better than Redmayne in the Hawking film, but was nosed out by the latter for the 2015 Best Actor prize. Another important supporting female role by a deglamorized Keira Knightly. This is one I could easily see again.
3. "Luis Trenker - Der schmale Grat der Wahrheit", regie Wolfgang Murnberger -- (The Narrow Ridge of truth) -- TV film with Tobias Moretti and Brigitte Hobmeier. Views in theater at Munich Film Festival. Prewar Austrian star mountaineer Luis Trenker offers the supposed diaries of Eva Braun to a Hollywood agent shortly after the war. Master German director Leni Riefenstahl questions the authenticity of the diaries fearing her own reputation might be sullied by the claim that she was also Hitler's lover. Dazzling insights into the Nazi period with great Austrian actor Tobias Moretti fabulous in the title role. Recently Shown again on German TV.but should preferably be seen on the big screen as in was at Munich fest. A discovery with a very different angle on Nazi Germany.
4. "The Embrace of the Serpent", best picture prize, Golden Apricot festival, Yerevan. Director, Ciro Guerra, Columbia. The story of the relationship between Karamakate, a nearly naked very muscular Amazonian shaman, the last survivor of his people, and two german scientists who work together over the course of 40 years to search the Amazon for a sacred healing plant. Employs Amazonian languages. So realistic it looks like an anthropological documentary on primitive people. Gripping. Hypnotic -- plays out entirely in the jungle -- you are there.
5. "Pawn Sacrifice" Miskolc. Striking biopic of American chess Wunderkind Bobby Fischer who was regarded as the greatest chessboard genius ever, but turned into a raving maniac at the end ranting against Jews and America with equal venom from political exile in Iceland. The film however focuses on his Cold War chess confrontations with Russian grandmaster Boris Spassky. Oscar worthy turn by Toby Maguire as Fischer with canny reconstruction of the atmosphere of the Cold War.
6. Egoyan's "Remember" at Venice. 85 year old Christopher Plummer plays a ninety year old Holocaust avenger who ends up avenging himself. Bravura Plummer is Oscar material. Mind blower in a minor key.
7. "Janis, Little Girl Blue", Amy Berg. Doc., Venice --- Musician Cat Power narrates this documentary on Janis Joplin's evolution into a star from humble Texas origins via letters that Joplin wrote over the years to her friends, family, and collaborators. Interviews with such celebrities as Kris Kristoferson, survivors of The Greatful Dead, and intellectual talk show host Dick Cavett .Amy Berg's 'Janis: Little Girl Blue' offers a fresh new View of Janis Joplin’s Artistry and more important, her personal integrity. Emotionally stirring.
8. SPECTRE, NEW james Bond, with Lea Sedoux and Monica Bellucci, plus Christoph Waltz as the evil villain. A world tour, directed by Sam Mendes (of American beauty) -- Non-stop excitement, thrills, and fun. Pure entertainment. Six action films packed into one. Full review on my website.
9. "Steve Jobs" (Scumbag Millionaire). by Danny Boyle, script by Aaron Sorkin. Powerful demystification of the Jobs myth, takes much of the wind out of the puffed up sails of the Apple co-founder who pushed partner Woziak out of the limelight. Tour de force Screaming heebie-jeebies Jobs impersonation by Michael Fassbender is backed up with Powerful supporting role by Kate Winslett. Jobs admirers will hate it, detractors will love it. Any way you look at it, a powerful partial biopic.
10. Woody Allens "Irrational Man" starring Joaquin Phoenix as an impotent alcoholic professor of philosophy who turns into a virile existentialist murderer, backed up by another brilliant female performance by leggy redhead Emma Stone. Is Emma the new Pretty Woman of Hollywood? -- in any case, Woody's best in years.
HONORABLE MENTION.
ME & EARL & THE DYING GIRL --US indie. Director, Alfonzo Gomez-Rejon -- A smart look at American high school culture with a touch of Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye". This subject has been taken up many times before but never as thoroughly and incisively. introduces a host of new youthful talent, notably Thomas Mann and Olivia Cooke as the principals. Don't let the funnny title turn you off. Structured as a set of vignettes with captions, a device which sets it off into a class of its own.
"The Danish Girl" -- another sparkling performance by British actor Eddy Redmayne -- as the first surgical sex-change of the century, predating Christine Jorgeson by forty years. Tasty period piece that could result in a second successive Oscar for the British actor. Premiered at Venice.
THE MARTIAN. Fun follow-up to Gravity which only got us halfway there. Matt Damon plays Robinson Crusoe stranded on Mars with no Friday to help
Overrated and disappointing:
BLACK MASS, with Johnny Depp and Benedict Cumberbatch.
Depp was a fine Pirate of the Caribbean but he's not a very convincing gangster from Boston. Cumberbatch underexposed. Overinflated Depp vehicle is out of its depth.
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