Nicole Brenez, Alain Guiraudie, Darezhan Omirbayev, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Kent Jones, Robert Koehler, Cristina Nord, Joshua Oppenheimer, Aaron Cutler, Sean Baker, Lois Patiño, Diego Lerer, Denis Côte, Gabe Klinger… That’s just a tiny sample of the names of filmmakers, programmers and critics whose lists are posted under the heading “La Internacional Cinéfila 2014” at Otros Cines. Roger Koza‘s done the collecting and the math and the top five films this year are:
- Pedro Costa‘s Horse Money, 45 votes.
- Jean-Luc Godard‘s Goodbye to Language, 36 votes.
- Lisandro Alonso‘s Jauja, 31 votes.
- Sergei Loznitsa‘s Maidan, 22 votes.
- Aleksei German‘s Hard to be a God, 20 votes.
Transit, the occasionally bilingual film journal based in Barcelona, has posted lists from over 20 of its contributors.
And one more in Spanish: Diego Lerer looks back on the year in television.
Ramon Zürcher‘s The Strange Little Cat tops Vahid Mortazavi‘s list—which is in Persian, but Google will help you out.
#1 for Arte France’s Olivier Père: Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin.
At critic.de and in German, Michael Kienzl reflects on his 2014.
The Chicago Reader‘s film critics have posted their annotated top tens. The #1s:
- For J.R. Jones, it’s Pawel Pawlikowski‘s Ida, depicting “a classic struggle between reason and faith, the carnal and the spiritual, hatred and forgiveness.”
- For Ben Sachs: Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises, “one of the most morally challenging movies of all time.” He also follows up with a list of “runners-up and caveats” and a look back on the year in repertory screenings in Chicago.
- Drew Hunt: Joel Potrykus‘s Buzzard: “Prepare yourself for this one when it hits theaters March 6.”
Newcity’s listing the “Top 5 of Everything 2014” and Ray Pride‘s put together 14 film lists, all in alphabetical order: American films, foreign films, performances, docs, the works.
Craig Keller‘s list of the “Best American Movies of 2014” is also in alphabetical order. Here he is on Lev Kalman and Whit Horn’s L for Leisure: “A sensual, sensorial, hilarious, and psychodramatic masterpiece—one of the most exciting films in all of recent cinema, American or otherwise.”
“Perhaps I didn’t feel quite as excited by cinema in 2014 as I did in 2013,” grants Jonathan Romney, writing for Film Comment: “there were few out-and-out revelations, more cases of filmmakers consolidating, building on their past achievements with confidence and style. But the signs are, once again, that cinema as an art still matters.” His #1: Miroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s The Tribe, 2014’s “true UFO and out-and-out revelation.”
Jordan Cronk‘s listing away. His #1s: Albert Serra’s Story of My Death (theatrically released), Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Hann’s Episode of the Sea (undistributed), Tsai Ming-liang’s Journey to the West (avant-garde), The Complete Jacques Tati and The Essential Jacques Demy (DVD/Blu-ray), George Stevens‘s Laddie (1935; repertory) and Apichatpong Weerasethakul‘s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010; decade so far).
Steve Erickson‘s #1 at Gay City News: Richard Linklater‘s Boyhood. “Yes, I know. Consensus is boring, but I loved this film as soon as I saw it at an advance screening, well before it became the most critically lauded film of the 21st century.”
Speaking of which. Via Sam Adams at Criticwire, Hayley Munguia has broken down, reshuffled and charted “best of 2014” lists from 30 national publications for FiveThirtyEight, measuring consensus, diversity and originality. You won’t be surprised to learn that Boyhood is the clear favorite.
Cinematography of 2014 from Jacob T. Swinney
At the L, Nicolas Rapold‘s list is in alphabetical order, but Jesse Hassenger‘s is ranked. #1: The Grand Budapest Hotel, in which Wes Anderson “often chases some of his biggest laughs (of which this movie has many) with a lump in the throat.”
Both Indiewire and Flavorwire have posted individual lists from their contributing writers. And the three writers at Cine Notebook have titles-only top tens.
You’ve seen Twitch‘s poll. Now the writers are chiming in, one by one. Editor Todd Brown‘s list is alphabetical; managing editor Peter Martin‘s #1 is Damián Szifrón’s “kinetic assemblage of modern frustrations,” Wild Tales; and I’m not sure there’s any order to Joshua Chaplinsky‘s list.
“The best films of 2014 were merciless on marriage (unless you’re a vampire), often obsessed with things of the past (most especially if you’re a vampire) and enveloped in profoundly evocative, inventive, hypnotic, ingeniously deployed music from the likes of Trent Reznor, Mica Levi, Jozef van Wissem, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood—music of the sort that rarely gets noticed by the awards people yet raises the atmospheres of their respective films to dizzying heights.” Josef Braun‘s list is unranked, but yes, Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive is in there. On a separate page, he writes up what may be his favorite, James Gray’s The Immigrant.
As reflected in Time Out London‘s top 20, the release schedule in the UK’s a bit different from the one in the States. Their #1: Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave.
The Philadelphia City Paper‘s top 20 is in alphabetical order.
For photographer Robin Holland, #1’s a tie: Ida and Boyhood.
At Movie Morlocks, R. Emmet Sweeney presents his “top ten new-to-me movies of 2014. That is, older films that I have seen for the first time.” In alphabetical order, and one of them is Herk Harvey‘s Carnival of Souls (1962), “one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen.”
Brian Tallerico at RogerEbert.com on the “Ten Best TV Programs of 2014”: “Was it a good year? Hell yes.” And his #1: “True Detective feels like it forever ended the ‘TV isn’t as artistic or important as film’ debate.”
Dean Napolitano‘s list of “Asia’s 10 most notable films of 2014” for the Wall Street Journal is in alphabetical order.
At Movies.com, Mike Bracken looks back on the year in horror.
AWARDS
From the Black Film Critics Circle:
- Best Picture: Selma.
- Best Director: Ava Duvernay, Selma.
- Best Actor: David Oyelowo, Selma.
- Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash.
- Best Actress: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Belle.
- Best Supporting Actress: Carmen Ejogo, Selma.
- Best Adapted Screenplay: Gone Girl.
- Best Original Screenplay: Selma.
- Best Cinematography: Birdman.
- Best Animated Movie: The Lego Movie.
- Best Foreign Film: Ida.
- Best Documentary: Keep On Keepin’ On.
- Best Ensemble: Selma.
The 2014 Lists and Awards Index. For news and tips throughout the day every day, follow @KeyframeDaily. Get Keyframe Daily in your inbox by signing in at fandor.com/daily.
