It is always a perk, a bit tedious indeed, for an entertainment writer to compile a list of ten films out of tens and hundreds available. It is a trial to whittle the full calendar of release dates down to ten – not even nine or eleven. And, this time, side-lining the magical tally of ten agreed upon by annual consensus of global critics we are cutting it short to a trimmer and slimmer five. And, in this high-octane mystical art of arcane list creation – reducing an entire spectrum of world creativity to an even narrower numeric five – we can omit few, patronize few and even disregard few since trimming down an entire spectrum to a bite-size easy-to-consume bullet bears some collateral damages. And, this is not an exception. What follows is a list of five international movies which I personally found to be topping the creative charts of moviemaking in the year 2013!
Inside Llewyn Davis:
Coen Brothers delivered an intimate, well-executed, and honest slice of life with this movie. With a sharp, tight-fisted script and a linear way of story-telling the Coens this time went no wrong avoiding all cinematic clichés. Oscar Isaac as the titular folk singer was outstanding. He himself performs Llewyn’s songs, with a sweet, vulnerable voice that offers a touch of soul to Llewyn’s otherwise-bleak surroundings. And, it is the music and music that pulled the movie out of it’s gloomy, starky outlook like a New York city winter.
Blue Is The Warmest Color:
This is a mesmerizing movie about an adolescent girl beginning to explore herself as a woman when she meets a free-spirited woman with blue hair. The movie proceeds as they explore social acceptance, sexuality, and the emotional spectrum of their maturing relationship. This erotic depiction of a very sensible issue of society is showed in a heart-wrenching manner. The movie pushes boundary off the shore and certainly lights on a new look on life.
Gravity:
The technicalities and the innovations that go behind creating a movie are mostly targeted to create an experience for the audience. The experience that will make the people all other aspects of life and will glue them to the movie till very end. And, Gravity justifies this to the very core. The Sandra Bullock and George Clooney starrer depicts artistically the significance of being human in the outer space. It is a celebration of nature – brilliant portrayal of life and universe – visualized in an astonishing grace and artistic honesty.
12 years a Slave:
The most talked-about and supposedly one of the best movies of not only this year – 12 years a slave is indeed a movie to be bowed before. Based on an incredible true story of one man’s fight for survival and freedom, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery – the movie crafts a harrowing tale. It is an important movie of 2013.
Nebraska:
The Alexander Payne epic drama is about a father and son road trip from Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska that gets waylaid at a small town in central Nebraska, where the father grew up and has scores to settle. With his unique style of visualization and magical way of story-telling, Payne comes up with another masterpiece – a subtle, poetic reflection of loss of time!
