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| Sunshine Superman |
The standouts among the 2015 releases are mostly holdovers
from last year’s fall festival circuit. Great films that few moviegoers got to
see until now make 2015 a pretty good year at the movies if one knows where to
look. For me, 2015 has five standouts so far: one doc, one sumptuous adaptation,
one Canadian film, and one German mystery. I.e.: Sunshine Superman, Far from the Madding Crowd, In Her Place, and
Phoenix are clear favourites. Any of
the films below, though, deserve to be considered as one of the best films of
the year so far. The top picks for the best 2015 releases to date are, in
alphabetical order:
The Best Films of 2015 so far:
This dark and magical coming of age story marks a strong
feature debut for Christian Sparkes. Cast
No Shadow, a surprise Best Picture nominee at this year’s Canadian Screen
Awards, is one of the better under-the-radar films of the year, Canadian or
otherwise. Young actor Percy Hynes-White gives a remarkable lead performance as
a child who escapes abuse by retreating into the dark corners of the mind. The
film conjures both the power and horror of the imagination by blurring fantasy
and realism into a seamless dream.
Clouds, a
highlight from last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, is one of the
most surprising films of the festival circuit and this year’s releases. Writer/director
Olivier Assayas and star Juliette Binoche surpass expectations with this deft
character study of an aging actress struggling to revisit the early stages of
her career, but the real force of this film is Kristen Stewart. The Twilight star gives the best work of her
career as Binoche’s young assistant and makes a bold one-two dramatic punch
following her underrated performance in last year’s Still Alice.
(Clouds of Sils Maria
is now playing in limited release.)
Thomas Vinterberg’s Far
from the Madding Crowd is an exceptional adaptation that honours the novel
while making a film that feels updated and relevant to audiences today. Central
to the sweep and power of this take on the Thomas Hardy classic is Carey
Mulligan’s showstopper of a performance as Bathsheba Everdeen. It’s hard to
imagine anyone upstaging Julie Christie’s memorable turn in the role, but
Mulligan does it. Aided by strong co-stars like Michael Sheen and Matthias
Schoenaerts, plus lovely work from the arts and crafts team, this Madding could rightly stand as the
definitive adaptation of Hardy’s novel.
(Far from the Madding
Crowd is now playing in limited release.)
In Her Place is far
and away the standout Canadian film of 2015 so far. This powerful triptych from
writer/director Albert Shin is a searing character study. Grounded by three
note-perfect performances by Da-kyung
Yoon, Ji-hye Ahn, and Hae-yeon Ki, In Her
Place creates an effective triangle as a woman, a daughter, and a mother
negotiate competing loyalties and emotions to raise a child through a
well-intentioned, if brutally cold transaction. The performances are subtle and
devastating, and Shin handles the power and shifting sympathies with masterful
care. If any Canadian film release so far this year deserves a push for our
Oscar slot, In Her Place is it.
(In Her Place is now on VOD.)
Runko Kikuchi gives a master class performance of silent,
unhinged insanity in this darkly hilarious (and devastating) interpretation of
the myth that a mentally ill Japanese woman while trudging through the snow in
a motel blanket while searching for the briefcase full of money left by Steve
Buscemi in the Coen Brothers’ Fargo.
This black comedy offers a great counterpoint to the blurring of art and life
in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl as
Kikuchi’s insomniac analyzies an old VHS of Fargo
with fastidious obsession. Kumiko,
the Treasure Hunter is the most delightfully bizarre film of this year or
any other.
(Kumiko hits
iTunes on July 7.)
Montage of Heck is
one of those rock docs that goes to eleven. This phenomenal study of the
troubled psyche of Kurt Cobain brilliantly covers all the dark sides of his
persona as director Brett Morgan undertakes a stunning range of archival
footage and fills in the visual gaps with haunting animation. Interviews with
key figures like Courtney Love are also revealing, but the most effective
glimpses at Cobain’s life are the troubling home movies that show a life
consumed and destroyed by drugs and untreated mental illness. It’s a bold and
daring film that spares no punches.
(Montage of Heck is
now playing in limited release and on HBO.)
Me and Earl and the Dying
Girl looks like just another twee and annoying Sundance movie, yet it’s
anything but. This film is wise and young at heart as it moves the viewer
interchangeably through tears and laughter with a sweetly cinematic coming of
age story. Director Alejandro Gomez-Rejon peppers the film with bang-on film
parodies that speak to the heart of any Critierion obsessive, but at the heart
of the film is a beautiful message about the time spent in person-to-person
moments in this impersonal age, whether we’re watching movies together or not.
(Me and Earl and the
Dying Girl is now playing in theatres.)
I think I use the world ‘enigmatic’ every other time I
describe Nina Hoss, and I still can’t think of a better word to encapsulate her
screen presence. The German actress gives a nuanced performance-within-a-performance
as a Holocaust survivor who rises from the rubble to convincingly play, yes,
herself. Hoss shows that understated acting speaks a range of sensations and
emotions thanks to what goes unsaid in an ever-expressive actress’s eyes and
face. Central to the performance is how much Hoss’s Nelly must underplay her
emotions to get by as she negotiates post-war Berlin with the same
chameleon-like skills that kept her alive in the camps. Hoss keeps the viewer
guessing until Phoenix’s rivetingly
low-key finale.
(Phoenix is now
playing in limited release.)
A top pick in a very good year for documentaries so far, Sunshine Superman soars. I’m in awe of
Marah Strauch for making a debut feature as thrilling and complex as Sunshine Superman. On one level, Sunshine Superman offers thrilling
cinematic escapism as the exhilarating 16mm footage of BASE jumper Carl Boenish
re-creates the freeing high he experienced while tempting fate in these
dangerous falls. No film quite makes the case for the power of big screen
entertainment these days when iPhone movies and VOD are the norm. More
impressive, though, is how provocatively Strauch turns the adrenaline rush into
a greater philosophical question: just what rights do humans have to test fate
while pushing themselves beyond the limits? It’s a beautiful and awe-inspiring
film on many levels.
(Sunshine Superman
is now playing in limited release.)
Another top doc of 2015 is this year’s Hot Docs standout, What Happened, Miss Simone? Liz Garbus (Love, Marilyn) outdoes herself with this
intimate study of the work and mind of the iconic and incomparable Nina Simone.
Garbus smartly intertwines Simone’s rise with the Civil Rights Movement, and
shows how Nina’s struggle with fame and celebrity is intimately connected to
her identity as a black woman in America, especially when she takes activism
too far into the spotlight for mainstream comfort. Like Montage of Heck, Miss Simone
uses much of the artist’s own diary entries and words to let the subject speak
in her own voice. Additional interviews give some context to Simone’s writing
and archival interviews and show a mind that was more complicated and brave
than one might expect. Plus, the soundtrack is simply outstanding.
(What Happened, Miss
Simone? Is now streaming on Netlfix.)
I don’t particularly want kids, but being childless isn’t a
burden, curse, or point for stigma, as writer/director Noah Baumbach shows in
this spot-on comedy starring Naomi Watts and Ben Stiller. Being happily
attached and loving one’s career is a success in itself, as the film reveals
through the middle-age crises of this husband and wife. While We’re Young celebrates the different lifestyles that adults
can enjoy and use to define success on their own terms, and While We’re Young should instil a grain
of confidence in any moviegoer—with or without child—as it brings a chuckle and
asks audiences to reflect on what they want from life.
(While We’re Young
is now available on iTunes.)
Honourable mentions:
The Dead Lands, Felix and Meira, I Put a Hit on You, Mad Max: Fury Road, Sugar Coated, The Valley Below
 |
| A Woman Like Me |
Best unreleased films so far:
Best of Enemies
(out in July)
 |
| Carey Mulligan in Far from the Madding Crowd |
Best Performance in a Leading Role:
Juliette Binoche, Clouds
of Sils Maria
Suzanne Clément, Sitting on the Edge of Marlene
Kevin Costner, McFarland
Nina Hoss, Phoenix
Percy Hynes-White, Cast
No Shadow
Rinko Kikuchi, Kumiko,
The Treasure Hunter
Yoon Da Kyung, In Her Place
Yoon Da Kyung, In Her Place
Carey Mulligan, Far
from the Madding Crowd
Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road
Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road
Naomi Watts, While We’re
Young
 |
| Kristen Stewart in Clouds of Sils Maria |
Cate Blanchett, Cinderella
Stephen Bogaert, The
Valley Below
Lynda Boyd, We Were Wolves
Lovely Kermode Fifi, Murder in Pacot
Molly Shannon, Me and
Earl and the Dying Girl
Michael Sheen, Far
from the Madding Crowd
Maggie Smith, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Kristen Stewart, Clouds
of Sils Maria
Alicia Vikander, ExMachina
Kil-Hae Yoon, In Her
Place
And some other kudos!
Best Cinematography:
Far from the Madding
Crowd - Charlotte Bruus
Christensen
Best Score:
Far from the Madding Crowd
– Craig Arnold
Honourable mentions: McFarland,
Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Costumes:
Far from the Madding Crowd
– Janet Patterson
Honourable mention: Kumiko,
the Treasure Hunter - The motel blanket poncho
Best Film Editing:
Kurt Cobain: Montage
of Heck – Joe Beshenkovsky, Brett Morgen
Honourable mention: Mad
Max: Fury Road – Margaret Sixel
Best Adapted
Screenplay:
Far from the Madding Crowd
– David Nicholls
Honourable mention: Phoenix
– Christian Petzold
Best Original
Screenplay:
Kumiko, the Treasure
Hunter – David Zellner, Nathan Zellner
Honourable mention: While
We’re Young, Noah Baumbach
Best Performance by a
Domestic Animal:
Bunzo the rabbit in Kumiko,
the Treasure Hunter
Best Overall Batshit
Craziness:
Mad Max: Fury Road
(unanimous)
Best Swag:
Francesca the pillow – Me
and Earl and the Dying Girl
Best Music Moment:
“Speak Low” – Phoenix (Watch
[Major spoiler… it’s the end.])
Honourable mention: “Let No Man Steal Your Thyme”
– Far from the Madding Crowd
Best Geriatric
Bollywood Dance Number:
The wedding dance – The
Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Honourable mention: The Beautiful Risk
Biggest Letdown:
It Follows
Honourable mention: Jurassic World
Hidden Gem:
Kumiko, the Treasure
Hunter
Runner-up: Cast No
Shadow
