Best First Features of 2014

‘Thou Wast Mild and Lovely’

The critics circles, the cities, your neighbors and friends have come to wide consensus on some of the best feature films and performances of the year. Now it’s time to take a second look: How about the best feature films and performances that didn’t (perhaps) get billboard treatment? Here are some of the lists of best first features of the year.*

[Note: Titles in bold on first mention only.]

Michael Atkinson

1. Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy)
2. Fifi Howls from Happiness (Mitri Farahani)
3. The Babadook (Jennifer Kent)
4. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour)
5. The Two Faces of January (Hossein Amini)
6. Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
7. As It Is in Heaven (Kay Pollak)
8. Escape from Tomorrow (Randy Moore)
9. Coherence (James Ward Byrkit)

Sean Axmaker

1. The Babadook (Jennifer Kent)
2. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour)
3. Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy)
4. Obvious Child (Gillian Robespierre)
5.  John Wick (David Leitch and Chad Stahelski)

Miriam Bale

It Felt Like Love (Eliza Hittman)

Aaron Cutler

Unrelated (Joanna Hogg)

Brian Darr

1. The Strange Little Cat (Ramon Zürcher)
2. Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy)
3. Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater (Gabe Klinger)

‘Dear White People’

David Ehrenstein

Dear White People (Justin Simien)

Samuel Fragoso

Dear White People (Justin Simien)

Jaime Grijalba

1. Waiting for August (Teodora Mihai)
2. Coherence (James Ward Byrkit)
3. Bad Words (Jason Bateman)
4. A World Not Ours (Mahdi Fleifel)
5. Stage Fright (Jerome Sable)

Tomas Hachard

1. It Felt Like Love (Eliza Hittman)
2. Dear White People (Justin Simien)
3. Hide Your Smiling Faces (Daniel Patrick Carbone)
4. Obvious Child (Gillian Robespierre)
5. 12 O’Clock Boys (Lotfy Nathan)
6. The Heart Machine (Zachary Wigon)
7. Palo Alto (Gia Coppola)

Brandon Harris

See You Next Tuesday (Drew Tobia)

‘The Strange Little Cat’

Dennis Harvey

Dear White People (Justin Simien)
Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy)
The Way He Looks (Daniel Ribeiro)
We Are Mari Pepa (Samuel Kishi)

Eugene Hernandez

1. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (Ana Lily Amirpour)
2. Dear White People (Justin Simien)
3. Hide Your Smiling Faces (Daniel Patrick Carbone)
4. The Strange Little Cat (Ramon Zürcher)

‘Double Play’

Jonathan Kiefer

The Babadook (Jennifer Kent)

Kevin B. Lee

The Strange Little Cat (Ramon Zürcher)
Dear White People (Justin Simien)
Policeman (Nadav Lapid)
History of Fear (Benjamin Naishtat)
In Bloom (Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Gross)
Butter on the Latch (Josephine Decker)
Manakamana (Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez)
It Felt Like Love (Eliza Hittman)
Obvious Child (Gillian Robespierre)
Next to Her (Asaf Korman)

Michael Pattison

1. The Tribe (Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy)
2. Goodnight Mommy (Veronika Franz / Severin Fiala)
3. In the Crosswind (Martti Helde)
4. Casa Grande (Fellipe Barbosa)
5. What a Wonderful World (Anatol Durbală)
6. Stella Cadente (Luis Miñarro)

‘We Are Mari Pepa’

Anna Tatarska

1. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour)
2. Obvious Child (Gillian Robespierre)
3. God Help the Girl (Stuart Murdoch)
4. Hide your Smiling Faces (Daniel Patrick Caarbone)

Nick Schager

1. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Ammirpour)
2. John Wick (David Leitch and Chad Stahelski)) 
3. Coherence (James Ward Byrkit)
4. The One I Love (Charlie McDowell)

Ella Taylor

1. The Babadook (Jennifer Kent)
2. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour)
3. Dear White People (Justin Simien)
4. It Felt Like Love (Eliza Hittman)

Lauren Treihaft

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (Ana Lily Amirpour)

Michael Tully

1. Manakamana (Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez)
2. The Babadook (Jennifer Kent)
3. Hide Your Smiling Faces (Daniel Patrick Carbone)
4. It Felt Like Love (Eliza Hittman)
5. See You Next Tuesday (Drew Tobia)

*Where no number was listed, no order preference was given. To the critics who participated in this survey, we apologize that we’ve revised your lists in places for accuracy or consistency; to those who spot errors and omissions here, please correct us in the comments. We weren’t able to use all critics selections and lists. Overall contributors to this year’s survey as a whole are: Aaron Cutler, Adam Cook, Adam Hartzell, Adam Schartoff, Anna Tatarska, Brandon Harris, Brian Darr, Chuck Bowen, Cody Lang, David Ehrenstein, Dennis Harvey, Glenn Heath, Jr., Ehsan Khoshbakht, Ella Taylor, Eugene Hernandez, Jaime Grijalba, Jay Keuhner, Jonathan Kiefer, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Jordan Cronk, Kevin B. Lee, Lauren Treihaft, Laya Maheshwari, Max Goldberg, Michael Atkinson, Michael Pattison, Michael Tully, Michael Sicinski, Miriam Bale, Nick Schager, Pam Grady, Samuel Fragoso, Sean Axmaker, Shade Rupe, Steve Erickson, Steven Jenkins, Tara Judah, Tomas Hachard.