This is the first in a series of lists where I will be talking about my most favourite movie of the year and in the process maybe highlighting some of them, that you may not have heard of. For my first post, I will be dealing with the most recent decade aka the 2010s. So here are the ten movies, one from every year that I love the most.
MONOS (2019)
Set in an unnamed South American country, Monos deals with a group of eight armed teenagers who watch over a hostage high atop a remote mountaintop. Less of a story and more of an experience, Monos is a descent into hell that keeps you hooked through its intensity and the authenticity of the settings that actually takes you into these forests and terrains, as it digs deep into the psyche of these kids as it studies this never-ending war through the way it has changed them.
ASH IS PUREST WHITE (2018)
A complex tale of love and betrayal spanning decades of a gangster couple, focusing more on the woman and her experience with it as in the background her country changes. Tao Zhao gives an epic performance as she takes you on the journey alongside her and you feel how her character grows over the years. Ash is Purest White may initially feel like a gangster movie, but it transforms into much more than that creating a simultaneous story of a rise and a fall of the two main characters.
PHANTOM THREAD (2017)
Paul Thomas Anderson brings a toxic relationship onscreen with Daniel Day-Lewis yet again giving an epic performance, this time as a work-obsessed genius dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock and the supposed love he develops for a strong-willed woman, Alma, as their mutual toxic love for each other disrupts the life of Reynolds as the movie examines their relationship as it unravels. Also of note, is Lesley Manville who is stellar as Reynolds’ sister and possibly the only one who actually knows him. With great costume design and recreation of the period, Phantom Thread can seem to be really cold but has some warmth left within just like the couple in focus.
MOONLIGHT (2016)
An almost poetic tale told in three chapters detailing the childhood, adolescence, and adulthood of a gay Black man, Chiron, and the way the people in his life shape him. Barry Jenkins creates a beautiful movie that gently explores the impact society has on a person, as we see Chiron taking on the personality of those around him, esp. Juan played wonderfully by Mahershala Ali who is the only father figure in his life. The entire ensemble of this movie is perfection and add to that the beautiful score and cinematography and you have an absolute winner.
STEVE JOBS (2015)
Working on an Aaron Sorkin Script, Danny Boyle’s take on Steve Jobs is told in a unique way by going backstage to three iconic Apple product launches as it examines Jobs through his interactions with the various people he knows that come to meet him. This is more of a theatrical experience but provides an opportunity to show what a masterful writer Sorkin and Michael Fassbender as Jobs is the perfect choice for this particular rendition.
THE BABADOOK (2014)
Jennifer Kent shot onto the scene with this sheer brilliance of a Horror movie regarding a mother trying to raise her son who has become increasingly difficult to manage, as the mysterious monster going by the name of The Babadook comes into their house. Both a terrifying experience that will leave you shook and a study of grief, this is a movie firing on all cylinders that takes its time developing the characters so that when the scares go up to an eleven you actually care for them.
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (2013)
The Coen Brothers bring onscreen a beautiful but extremely bleak portrait of a young singer who seems to be walking from one failure to another as he tries to make his mark in the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. This can be quite a depressing watch, so you have been warned and the really muted and bleak cinematography only adds to it, but it always remains a compelling watch with Oscar Isaac in top form. The music is simply great which is definitely required for a movie so dependent on. The bonus is you get to see an absolutely hilarious minor role from Adam Driver.
GANGS OF WASSEYPUR (2012)
This movie is an epic and there is no denying that. A five-hour-long saga of bloodshed and revenge spanning across generations, Anurag Kashyap’s magnum opus is a vision that deserves all the praise it gets. Giving a bigger platform to some of India’s talented but underrated actors and some new ones. A soundtrack that fits perfectly into the movie and it never loses focus of its characters even through the violence onscreen, fleshing them all out to ensure that they stay on with you long after the movie is done. GoW is a triumph of epic storytelling done right, that is among the best Bollywood has to offer.
A SEPARATION (2011)
Asghar Farhadi’s movie blew me away. It may not seem like it when it starts but as it goes on, you begin to realize the sheer brilliance of the screenplay and how effectively it manages to fully flesh out all the five characters, giving all of them complex personalities. Starting with a divorce hearing with the wife wanting to move out of the country for better education of her daughter and the husband wanting to stay back in Iran for caring after his father, A Separation goes down unexpected paths to create a brilliantly written character study with every single one of them played perfectly.
BLACK SWAN (2010)
Daren Aronofsky brings his branch of intensity to the world of ballet, focusing on a ballerina Nina as she tries to win the role of a lead dancer in a production of Swan Lake, a double role of the White and the Black Swan. While the role of the White Swan comes naturally to her, it is her pursuit of the darkness of the Black Swan that sends her life into a downward spiral, testing how far she will go for perfection. Black Swan is an intense experience that goes on dialing it further up as it proceeds with Natalie Portman absolutely owning the role, culminating in a climax that will stick with you for a long time after the credits start rolling.
