In the lead-up to the unveiling of our definitive Top 50 Films of 2013 list, we’ve asked some friends of Paste to tell us their favorites of the year. Tune in for a different list each day. Today’s contributor is director Megan Griffiths, who directed this year’s Eden (pictured) as well as The Off Hours and next year’s Lucky Them.
1. Short Term 12
(Destin Cretton)
I wandered into a screening of Destin Cretton’s previous film, I Am Not a Hipster, at the Seattle International Film Festival last year, not having read a word about it. I was completely blindsided by how much the film, and the style in which it was made, resonated with me. After that experience Short Term 12 had a lot to live up to, and it fulfilled that promise and then some. Cretton and his team have created something that manages to feel rich and layered yet stripped down and unadorned all at once. Brie Larson is deservedly getting a lot of love for her lead performance, but the cast is superb from top to bottom. John Gallagher Jr’s natural effervescence allows the film to go deep on some dark topics without ever feeling overly bleak, and Keith Stanfield’s stoic Marcus and Kaitlyn Dever’s wounded Jayden are utterly believable. I grew up the daughter of a social worker, and it’s rare to see a film that captures the reality of this corner of the population. This film did it in a way that was heart-breaking and hopeful all at once.
2. Joe
(David Gordon Green)
I’m actually not sure what the release plan is for this film, so I’m including it in this list potentially a year early. As a longtime fan of David Gordon Green, this movie really satisfied something deep within me. What initially drew me to Green’s work was his emphasis on mood and character and the embrace of the occasionally surreal nature of the world. And while I’ve definitely enjoyed some of Green’s more mainstream efforts, I have missed the singularity of the voice I first fell for. So Joe, a Southern gothic character study with stellar performances by both its leads and the large team of non-professional actors in the supporting roles, was a pleasure and a relief to see. I caught a screening in Toronto and was lucky enough to see a Q&A with Green and stars Nicholas Cage and Ty Sheridan, which yielded one of the best moments of my year. In response to an audience member commenting that Cage’s performance was, shall we say, more grounded than much of his recent work, Cage replied (paraphrasing here): “I like to describe my style in those other movies as ‘Western Kabuki’. Let’s just say when you’ve got a flaming skull, it gives you license to go a bit broader.”
3. Sun Don’t Shine
(Amy Seimetz)
If you know my work, you’ll know that Amy Seimetz played the lead in my film The Off Hours (which premiered at Sundance back in 2011). After observing her at close range on my own set and having since watched her in so many other films, I happen to believe Amy is one of the best actresses working today. My theory on what makes her so damn good is that she possesses a truly keen mind—one that churns with a combination of intelligence, inquisitiveness and stubborn independence. She has a staunch commitment to scrutinizing every moment in every scene to ensure that it is organic and honest. Watching her feature directorial debut, it’s clear that these qualities have translated seamlessly as she stepped into this new role. Sun Don’t Shine is a brutal, forceful, uncompromising, messy, and beautiful film, featuring raw performances that feel like they were pulled out of a Cassavettes movie and plunked down in a sun-soaked Florida nightmare. (Available on iTunes)
4. Southcliffe
(Sean Durkin)
I’m not sure this film officially counts, as it was made for British TV and I don’t think it has seen a US release yet, but I saw it as a special presentation at the Toronto Film Festival and was moved, inspired, and shaken by it. It deals with the lead-up and aftermath of a mass shooting in a small British town. Durkin’s non-linear approach gives the viewer a great deal of credit and I must say it’s nice to see a filmmaker take his audience’s intelligence as a given. He weaves a broad portrait of humanity together in a purposeful and powerful way, and in the process he manages to paint every character with a lack of judgment rarely seen in films dealing with this subject matter. It’s a film that starts a conversation, and one that we as a culture truly need to engage in.
5.The Immortal Augustus Gladstone
(Robyn Miller)
This film is squeaking in under the wire, as their small web release just began in late December. It was made by Robyn Miller (who co-created the seminal video game Myst back in the day) and has been criminally overlooked by festival programmers this past year, in my humble opinion. It’s an unconventional documentary about Augustus Gladstone, an eccentric man born in the South and now residing in an abandoned hotel in the Northwest. Augustus believes he is immortal. In fact, he believes he is a vampire. Augustus is fictional, a character fully fleshed out and inhabited by director Robyn Miller, but the film never states this outright. The filmmakers never mock the character or wink at their audience. Instead they take an earnest approach as they follow Augustus in his search for human connection, exploring the pathos of his desperate quest to maintain the elaborate world he has created as a refuge from the difficult truths in his past. It’s the kind of film that is near impossible to market, since the vampire fans that might be its easiest demographic would likely fail to appreciate its layers and complexity, but it is well worth seeking out for anyone who has ever struggled to come to terms with their own secrets. (Available at http://www.augustusgladstone.com/)