The Best Films of 2013

THE BEST FILMS OF 2013 
by Joshua Handler

2013 has been a remarkable year for film, both independent and mainstream, which made making this top 10 list incredibly hard.  While I do have the films ranked, the rankings really don't mean much, as each film on my top 10 list is a masterpiece in its own right and represents the best that this year in film had to offer.  Don't watch my number three over my number nine just because they were ranked that way by me.  These films all deserve to be seen.

When compiling this year's top 10 list, I tried to watch as many top 10 candidates as I could a second time to see if they gave me as much pleasure viewing the second time as the first.  While I didn't get to see all twice, the ones I did re-watch were either as good, if not better, the second time.  My number one film would have placed lower had I not recently re-watched it.  I loved it the first time I viewed it, but the second time really showed me how highly brilliant and rewatchable it was.

This year I chose my top 10 from about 180 films that I saw this year.  I didn't include films that I saw at festivals that did not receive theatrical releases in 2013 (I have one exception that I will explain later).

While mainstream film was decidedly horrible this summer, the fall and winter offerings were superb (look at The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Frozen, American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street, and countless others for good examples).  World cinema was especially daring this year.  Wadjda was the first film to come from Saudi Arabia – and it was directed by a woman.  Blue is the Warmest Color was a three-hour epic about a lesbian romance that was released with an NC-17 rating.  And, speaking of romance, love stories were especially good this year.  Before Midnight and Her, along with Blue, were two of the most insightful romances in years.

Enough blabber from me.  Here is my top 10 films of 2013 with a few other "best of" lists:

Toni Servillo as Jep Gambardella in THE GREAT BEAUTY
Courtesy of Janus Films

1. THE GREAT BEAUTY (LA GRANDE BELLEZZA) (Dir. Paolo Sorrentino) – Crazily stylized, stunningly shot, ambitious, entertaining, hilarious, bizarre, moving, electrifying, and the list goes on – Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty is impossible to describe using one word or a million.  No film this year has felt as alive and has been as jaw-dropping as The Great Beauty.  It is a film that consistently surprises with every scene.  While there is a central narrative, the film is essentially a series of individual scenes, each one more entertaining or moving than the next.  The best film of the year, for me, is a film that makes me feel electrified and amazed throughout its running time.  It’s an indescribable sensation.  While I have loved many films this year, no film made me feel that sensation until I viewed The Great Beauty again.  When I saw it for the first time, I knew it’d end up on my top 10 list, but the second time was the clincher.  From Toni Servillo’s complex lead performance to Sorrentino’s unique direction, this film reaffirmed why I love film and showed me how a filmmaker could take an old story and make it feel fresh and new.  And, the party scenes are among the best I’ve ever seen.  I’m going to stop writing now – by you reading this post, it’s taking time away from you going to see it.  My full review here.

Left to Right: Julie Delpy as Celine and Ethan Hawke as Jesse

Photo by Despina Spyrou, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

2. BEFORE MIDNIGHT (Dir. Richard Linklater) – Anyone who reads this blog or follows Roboapocalypse on Twitter or Facebook knows how much I love Richard Linklater’s trilogy of films that has spanned 18 years.  Before Sunrise was a great start, Before Sunrise was even greater, but somehow Linklater and co-writers/stars Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke managed to top themselves once again with Before Midnight.  This film comes nine years after Before Sunset and picks up nine years later and finds Jesse and Celine together with kids in Greece.  Viewing this film feels like catching up with old friends after a long time away.  Delpy and Hawke’s acting has never felt more natural and the dialogue has never been richer or funnier – they manage to put into words sensations and thoughts that most of us have but never vocalize.  With this film, though, there’s a dark undertone, which gives the film more depth than its predecessors.  Now that Celine and Jesse are older and a couple, they must look towards the future and decide whether they will be able to last as a couple for the rest of their lives.  As a profound statement on love, marriage, and life, Before Midnight is one of the few films that consistently astounds.  My full review here.

Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) (L) and Emma (Léa Seydoux) in Abdellatif
Kechiche's BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR.
Courtesy of Sundance Selects

3. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR (LA VIE D'ADÈLE) (Dir. Abdellatif Kechiche) - No film has ever captured first love in all its pain and glory like Palme d'Or-winner Blue is the Warmest Color.  Rated NC-17 and causing an enormous amount of controversy for its 7-minute-long lesbian sex scene (among other things), the film is so much more than an explicit lesbian movie.  The film follows Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos), a teenager in France, who comes of age and learns about first love through her relationship with the slightly older Emma (Léa Seydoux).  At an epic running time of 179 minutes, the film barely drags and is as immersive a film as they come - you feel as if you've lived with Adèle for years by the film's end.  Blue is a universal love story, one that will connect with any teen experiencing first love or any teen who's struggling with coming out.  Abdellatif Kechiche's penetrating eye makes this one of the most moving and detailed love stories ever committed to film.  My full review here.

Leonardo DiCaprio is Jordan Belfort in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET,
from Paramount Pictures and Red Granite Pictures.
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures
© 2013 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

4. THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (Dir. Martin Scorsese) – At 71 years of age, Martin Scorsese hasn’t lost his touch – in fact, he’s gotten better.  With his innovative 2011 film Hugo, Scorsese showed that he was still willing to push the boundaries of cinema with his immersive use of 3-D and with The Wolf of Wall Street, he shows that he still has the energy of a young man.  Telling the true story of Jordan Belfort, a stockbroker whose hedonistic lifestyle eventually lead to his inevitable downfall, Scorsese teamed up again with Leonardo DiCaprio who gives a performance for the ages.  His energy level is high and with Wolf, DiCaprio shows his impressive knack for physical comedy – the Quaalude scene is probably my favorite of the year.  Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Rob Reiner, P.J. Byrne, among others, round out the supporting cast along with Matthew McConaughey who steals every scene he’s in.  At 179 minutes, Scorsese keeps the pace racing and Terence Winter’s screenplay features dark humor, clever dialogue, and raunch in equal doses.  Scorsese and Winter push the envelope as far as possible and, in the process, create one of the most outrageous (and outrageously entertaining) American films in years.  My full review here.

Tom Hanks stars in Columbia Pictures' "Captain Phillips."
Photo by Jasin Boland
©2013 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

5. CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (Dir. Paul Greengrass) – Paul Greengrass proved once again that he’s a master of suspense with Captain Phillips, the true-life story of an American ship captain (Tom Hanks) whose ship is hijacked by Somali Pirates.  As the eponymous character, Tom Hanks gives a career-best performance, which is saying something given his legendary career.  The final scene of the film is one of the finest pieces of acting I’ve seen this year.  Barkhad Abdi is also excellent as Muse, one of the hijackers.  Billy Ray’s screenplay is brilliant for humanizing the pirates as well as telling a compelling story.  Greengrass keeps the tension going throughout the entire running time and kept me on the edge of my seat unlike any film this entire year.  Like last year’s Zero Dark Thirty and Greengrass’ own United 93, we all know the ending to this story, but it is the direction, Barry Ackroyd's cinematography, the screenplay, and acting that keep us riveted.  My full review here.

Brie Larson and Keith Stanfield in SHORT TERM 12Courtesy of Cinedigm

6. SHORT TERM 12 (Dir. Destin Daniel Cretton) – No film this year was more heartfelt and moving than Short Term 12.  The film follows Grace, a troubled foster care home supervisor, who tries to help the teens she cares for as she deals with her own problems.  Short Term 12 garnered a lot of attention after winning both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Awards at this year’s SXSW Film Festival and managed to gain critical acclaim up until its theatrical release in August.  When I saw this film for the first time in July, I really had no idea what to expect.  When the film was over, I couldn’t believe what I had seen.  I have seen countless troubled teen films, but none had the honesty that Short Term 12 had.  Nothing felt contrived or clichéd and every single performance is perfect.  This is the performance that will make Brie Larson a star and will make Destin Daniel Cretton a talent to watch out for.  My full review here.

Courtesy of Drafthouse Films

7. THE ACT OF KILLING (Dir. Joshua Oppenheimer) – Few films go beyond just being films.  The Act of Killing manages to be a psychological experiment, a social experiment, a historical document, and a riveting film.  The film shows what happens when perpetrators of the 1960s Indonesian genocide are challenged to reenact their crimes for a film that they can make in any film genre.  The results of this experiment are fascinating and quite disturbing.  I wonder what would have happened if this experiment had been done with the Nazis.  There’s nothing more to say other than it’s the single best documentary film I’ve ever seen.  I’ll post a link to my review as soon as it’s posted.

Waad Mohammed as Wadjda

Photo by Tobias Kownatzki © Razor Film, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

8. WADJDA (Dir. Haifaa Al Mansour) – Wadjda, the first movie to come from Saudi Arabia, was the heart-melter of the year.  Director Haifaa Al Mansour had to direct some of the film out of a van due to the restrictions imposed on women in Saudi Arabia.  Wadjda is a deceptively simple film that tells the story of a young girl, Wadjda, who dreams of getting a bicycle but cannot since she’s a girl.  The film blends this simple story with searing social commentary to create an inspirational story that shows that simplicity is sometimes the key to success.  Waad Mohammed's performance as Wadjda is astonishing and Haifaa Al Mansour's screenplay is economical and occasionally very funny.  This is a film that I could watch over and over again.  I have not written a full review of the film.

Paulina García stars in GLORIACourtesy of Roadside Attractions

9. GLORIA (Dir. Sebastián Lelio) - This is the only film on this list to not have been released in the United States outside of festivals.  I chose to include it because it will be released soon enough on January 17 and is far too good to not be celebrated on a list such as this.  Sebastián Lelio's Gloria is a film that would have never been made by Hollywood in its current form simply because it's too subtle and too frank.  The film tells the story of Gloria (Paulina García), a woman in her mid-50s, who learns how to live life again.  This film really snuck up on me.  Lelio plays the film so close to real life and so far away from genre clichés that its power could be completely missed - and that is its genius.  Paulina García's gutsy, warts-and-all performance gives the film warmth and character.  She is the entire film and it is a pleasure to watch her - we all know someone like Gloria.  Gloria is a film that revolves around a strong middle-aged woman who always seems real - something we don't usually see in films - and that's something to commend on its own.  Seeing García at a press conference, I had trouble separating her from her character - that's how good she is.  My full review here.

JOAQUIN PHOENIX as Theodore in the romantic drama "HER," 
directed by Spike Jonze, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. PICTURES
©2013 UNTITLED RICK HOWARD COMPANY LLC

(tie) 10. HER (Dir. Spike Jonze) - Spike Jonze's Her is a remarkable romance that tells the story of a man, Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), who falls in love with his advanced operating system, Samantha (the voice of Scarlett Johansson), in the near future.  Phoenix, one of the most versatile and exciting actors working today, shows that he's as good a romantic leading man as any.  He made me care for Theodore in a way that I cared for few other protagonists this year.  Johansson's voice acting may be the best ever vocal performance, as she creates a three-dimensional, lovable character that we never see.  Amy Adams plays Theodore's friend Amy and gives one of her warmest performances.  Jonze's screenplay (the first he's written solo) gives great insight into the evolution of love in the Digital Age and provides a glimpse of what relationships might be like in the very near future.  Arcade Fire's score is magnificent, as is Hoyte Van Hoytema's cinematography.  Her is a love story for the ages.  My full review here.

Oscar Isaac in Joel and Ethan Coen’s INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS 

Photo: Alison Rosa, ©2012 Long Strange Trip LLC

(tie) 10. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (Dir. Joel and Ethan Coen) - Melancholic, elliptical, and evocative, the Coen Brothers' latest, Inside Llewyn Davis, might be their best film yet.  Inside Llewyn Davis tells the story of Llewyn Davis, a folk singer in 1961 Greenwich Village, who tries to make it, but keeps failing.  Through Bruno Delbonnel's rich, hazy cinematography, Oscar Isaac's sympathetic performance, and the Coens' alternately hilarious and tragic screenplay, Inside Llewyn Davis captures a bygone era in all of its beauty and pain.  The structuring of the film is a feat in itself, and John Goodman's performance is among his most memorable.  This film shows why the Coens are masters.  My full review here.

(Left to right) Bruce Dern is Woody Grant, June Squibb is Kate Grant and 
Will Forte is David Grant in NEBRASKA, 
from Paramount Vantage in association with FilmNation Entertainment, 
Blue Lake Media Fund and Echo Lake Entertainment.
Photo credit: Merie Wallace
© MMXIII Paramount Vantage, A Division of Paramount Pictures Corporation. 
All Rights Reserved

(tie) 10. NEBRASKA (Dir. Alexander Payne) - While Nebraska is the first of Alexander Payne's films that he hasn't written (Bob Nelson wrote this film), it is no less strong.  The film tells the story of Woody Grant (Bruce Dern), a borderline senile man, who goes on a road trip with his son, David (Will Forte), after getting a letter in the mail telling him that he has won a $1,000,000 Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize.  Bruce Dern owns this film.  It is his towering performance that makes this movie the moving experience that it is.  Dern takes advantage of the small moments and makes them shine.  Will Forte is also surprisingly excellent and June Squibb is hilarious as Woody's wife, Kate.  Bob Nelson's honest, moving screenplay strikes a balance between comedy and drama, and the black-and-white cinematography by Phedon Papamichael is stunning.  My full review here. 

And 10 more that barely missed the top 10 (in alphabetical order): 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, The Attack, Beyond the Hills, Blackfish, Cutie and the Boxer, The Dirties, The Hunt, Let the Fire Burn, Stories We Tell, Tim's Vermeer

And some more that I loved: Drinking Buddies, The World’s End, The Punk Singer, Laurence Anyways, Una Noche, The Spectacular Now, Much Ado About Nothing, Crystal Fairy, Twenty Feet From Stardom, The Past, Philomena, Gravity, Paradise: Faith, Don Jon, Mud, The Angels' Share, A Hijacking, All is Lost, After Tiller, Ain't Them Bodies Saints, The Wind Rises, You're Next

10 Greatest Movie Moments/Scenes (in no particular order):

The Quaalude high gone wrong in The Wolf of Wall Street

Christian Bale fixing his toupee in the opening of American Hustle

Jennifer Lawrence and the "science oven" in American Hustle

The first party scene in The Great Beauty

The finale of The Act of Killing

The final scene of Captain Phillips

The anniversary party in Short Term 12

The long walk through the ruins in Before Midnight

The fight scene in Blue is the Warmest Color

The lunch scene in The Wolf Wall Street

The first scene with the elderly woman in Prince Avalanche

The eavesdropping scene in Much Ado About Nothing

Listening to “Gimme Shelter” in Twenty Feet From Stardom

The single-take robbery in The Bling Ring

The bar shoot-out in Only God Forgives

The space debris scene in Gravity

Crystal Fairy and the rocks in Crystal Fairy

The clapping scene in The Conjuring

Any dream sequence in The Wind Rises

The opening of Inside Llewyn Davis

The jetlag in Paris in Frances Ha

The final scene of All is Lost

The diner scene in Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa

Woody’s walk through his childhood home in Nebraska

"Let it Go" in Frozen

The walk in the carnival in Her

Best Performances (in no particular order):

Joaquin Phoenix in Her

Scarlett Johansson in Her and Don Jon

Adèle Exarchopoulos in Blue is the Warmest Color

Bruce Dern in Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave

Lupita Nyong’o in 12 Years a Slave

Michael Fassbender in 12 Years a Slave

Gaby Hoffmann in Crystal Fairy

Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street

The cast of American Hustle

Ali Mosaffa in The Past

Joanna Scanlan in The Invisible Woman

Judi Dench in Philomena

Toni Servillo in The Great Beauty

Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis

John Goodman in Inside Llewyn Davis

Jake Gylenhaal in Prisoners

Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips

Brie Larson and cast in Short Term 12

Kathryn Hahn in Afternoon Delight

Olivia Wilde in Drinking Buddies

Suzanne Clément in Laurence Anyways

Miles Teller in The Spectacular Now

Shailene Woodley in The Spectacular Now

Ethan Hawke in Before Midnight

Julie Delpy in Before Midnight

Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine

Greta Gerwig in Frances Ha
Sandra Bullock in Gravity

Margarete Tiesel in Paradise: Love

Paulina García in Gloria