Pictures: Top 20 Films of 2012

Honorable Mention: The Grey

20. Rust & Bone (dir. Audiard) (review)

"Did you hear what happened to me?"

19. Anna Karenina (dir. Wright) (review)

"Romantic love will be the last illusion of the old world order."

18. The Gatekeepers (dir. Moreh) (review)

"You can't make peace using military means."

17. Moonrise Kingdom (dir. Anderson)

"What kind of bird are you?"

16. Queen of Versailles (dir. Greenfield)

"Do you get strength from your marriage?"

Visionaries: 2012's Best in Writing and Directing

Screenwriters
Runners-up: Michael Haneke (Amour), Alex Ross Perry (The Color Wheel), Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master)

5. Reid Carolin (Magic Mike)

Incredibly layered and attentive to even the smallest characters, Carolin's script digs beneath the surface to transform the specificities of this particular group of men into a universal story about love, ambition and the 'American dream.'

4. Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha)

Comparisons with the quirky humor and incisive look at young, middle-class New Yorkers in HBO's Girls will be inevitable, but the similarly tailored Frances ups that show's game with whip-smart banter and a personality all Gerwig's own.

3. Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty)

Mark Boal's screenplay is an astounding achievement of journalism on screen. Structured to maximize the intensity in a mundane affair, Boal builds momentum toward the final climax but allows the film to breathe. It's a comprehensive text, as a character study and a propulsive action film.

2. Miguel Gomes (Tabu)

In lesser hands, the major tonal shift would create an imbalance between the comic absurdity of the first half and the swoony romanticism of the second, but Gomes makes them work beautifully in tandem. Its richness is in the simplicity.

1. Tony Kushner (Lincoln)

Erudite and exhaustively researched, the respected playwright's new cinematic work is an engaging and layered work; one that portrays Lincoln as an accessible everyman while maintaining his larger than life character, an antihero clothed in immense power.

Motifs in Cinema: The Dichotomy Between Fantasy And Reality

"Motifs in Cinema is a discourse across several film blogs, assessing the way in which various thematic elements have been used in the 2012 cinematic landscape. How does a common theme vary in use from a comedy to a drama? Are filmmakers working from a similar canvas when they assess the issue of death or the dynamics of revenge? Like most things, a film begins with an idea - Motifs in Cinema assesses how the use of a common theme across various films changes when utilized by different artists." 

- Andrew K.

Andrew has a knack for providing us with great motifs to explore for this series, but for the second year running, nothing piqued my interest as much as the dichotomy between fantasy and reality. At the risk of coming off as incredibly conceited, let me quote myself from last year's article to illustrate why I remain so interested in this topic: "Fantasy, in the strictest sense of the word, is inseparable from the cinema. What are fictional films if not the fantasy of those who imagine them, write them and act them? What is fantasy if not the imaginary world we immerse ourselves in for a few hours in the dark?"

All cinema can essentially be boiled down to that word: fantasy. It's all unreal and imagined. Take a film like Argo, for example, that tells the true story of a landmark political event, and yet, remains so infused with the glorification of the proceedings that it becomes difficult to suspend disbelief when the Iranian forces are chasing the airplane on the airport tarmac. On the other end of the spectrum is Holy Motors, so unhinged from reality that all presumptions about the real world are destabilized and fantasy becomes the default mode of thought. Monsieur Oscar permanently lives in purgatory between fantasy and an alternate reality.

Magicians: 2012's Best in Crafts

In my review of the year's best in acting I mentioned how difficult it was to narrow the performances down to a list of 20. In a foolish attempt to put myself through even more struggle, I've decided to limit my choices in the crafts categories to just ten. Most people seem to think that the below-the-line elements are apples and oranges. How can one compare the work of the sound engineer who mixed the final tape of Les Misérables with the costume designer who designed the hats in Moonrise Kingdom? Where is the common ground between the artistry of Alexandre Desplat and the wizardry of the team who worked tirelessly to create Richard Parker?

The reality is that the work they do shares little but their purpose is the same. They all want the film to succeed. For me, the quality of crafts work in a film comes down to the answer to one question: how does it serve the whole picture? The below-the-line elements have to be at the film's service. They should all gel. They should enhance each other and the performances. And often times, it's a sign of their strength if they don't call attention to themselves individually. With that in mind, I decided to group them all together here and try to judge them on that basis. Naturally, a list this short doesn't allow me to include everything I like. The sound design and music in Tabu, the cinematography in Amour, the sound design and cinematography in Killing Them Softly, the editing in Zero Dark Thirty, the sound work in Looper, and the musical score in Beasts of the Southern Wild were the biggest among the exclusions. In the end, here are the ten I simply could not do without:

10. Production Design and Costume Design in Moonrise Kingdom

Filled to the brim with memorable individual frames, but also coherent as a fully realized universe of its own and a visualization of the youthful energy of the film's leads, the design team bring to the screen Wes Anderson's unique vision with remarkable artistry and colorful pizzazz.

9. Production Design in Beasts of the Southern Wild

The bayou-set world of Beasts is so integral to the narrative that it becomes difficult to distinguish the design as a separate entity a few minutes into the film, but that's the greatest triumph of the designers. The low-key, knots-and-bolts quality of the production enhances the authenticity of The Bathtub.

8. Production Design and Costume Design in Anna Karenina

The costumes and settings in Joe Wright's visionary adaptation not only evoke mood and emotions, but very often they become the storyteller. That Wright manages to conceal the financial limitations of his film with such creative energy is in large part thanks to the contributions of his design team.

7. Cinematography in Skyfall

Roger Deakins relishes the opportunity to flex his muscles in several showy sequences - the neon-lit tower in Shanghai, the lantern-clad casino - but his true mastery of lighting and his painterly instincts are also evident in Skyfall's more understated moments.

6. Musical Score in The Master

Building on the same platform that shaped his indelible score for There Will Be Blood, Jonny Greenwood's string arrangements are appropriately dissonant. The compositions are fragile and haunting, like a window into Freddie's soul.

Thoughts on Beasts of the Southern Wild

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Director: Benh Zeitlin; Screenwriters: Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar
Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, Levy Easterly
My Grade: A-/A

- There’s a certain degree of expectation that comes with a film that manages to win over critics and audiences alike at festivals all over the world. Beasts of the Southern Wild manages to exceed that level of expectation. I understand that I’m making the burden even larger on the shoulders of the film for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, but what can I say; this is as astonishing a debut as last year’s Sundance darling and you know how much I loved that one. Although, whereas that film exhibited the confidence of its director in his cool, calm and controlled presence behind the camera, Beasts is unhinged and energetic.

- While we’re on the topic, let’s talk about Benh Zeitlin. What a terrific first film this is for him. Magical realism is a tricky realm for any director, let alone a newcomer, but in his vision, fantasy is so seamlessly integrated with reality that the boundaries between them have been rendered unimportant. The audience is lost in Hushpuppy’s world; we live in her real and imagined spaces. And for all its unruliness, Beasts is actually very carefully constructed, meticulously art directed and intimately photographed. The score is rousing and the mixers incorporate sound into the film’s narrative. This film can be dissected and praised for every element, but as a whole, it’s even better than the sum of its very impressive parts.