It is now July and it has been a great six months of movie-watching for me. I went to several film festivals and discovered a lot of great films in the process.
Here is my list of the Top Ten Films of the past six months. I saw 106 films but i will only restrict my selections to those movies that were released this year or late last year but only expanded this year. I will also consider those films that were released in prior years but were only exhibited at a film festival this year. I will not consider the movies i saw on DVDs unless they are 2014 releases.
#1) We Are The Best (Denmark) - This is a film about 3 girls who formed a punk band despite being told that punk was dead! A lovely film that pulsates with life and youthful exuberance! This one earned the biggest applause from me during the Scandinavian Film Festival LA in late January this year. If Denmark decides to submit this film to this year's Oscars, it has a strong chance at making the shortlist. (And a nomination, i pray.)
#2) The Fault in Our Stars (USA) - Gus and Hazel. Enough said. But, really, I have never cried myself dry as much as I did for this movie. I saw it at an early screening in April and have seen it twice after it opened in theaters in late May. The movie has all the winning elements of the genre and it features an Oscar-caliber performance by Shailene Woodley.
#3) Giuseppe Makes a Movie (USA) - This is one of the funniest and interesting films i've seen this year. This documentary is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Giuseppe Andrews' (the title character) 30th feature as a DIY filmmaker. Armed with a $1,000 budget and a cast of homeless friends and kindly neighbors, he makes a movie for 2 days and have lots of fun in the process. I discovered this film at this year's Los Angeles Film Festival. I hope it gets picked up for distribution because it has the potential to become a sleeper hit.
#4) Ilo Ilo (Singapore) - A favorite from this year's Palm Springs International Film Festival, this heartwarming drama tells the story of the relationship between a rambunctious boy and his Filipino nanny during the Asian crisis in 1997.
#5) Transit (Philippines) - One of the best Filipino films i've seen in many years. This feature debut from Hannah Espia is a masterful examination of the effects of Israel's discriminatory law that called for the deportation of children born to non-Israeli parents to a group of Filipino migrant workers. The movie is based on the filmmaker's own experience meeting a deported child at an airport during one of her travels.
#6) Clownwise (Czech Republic) - This film is about three estranged stage comedians whose friendship was inexplicably broken three decades earlier only to be confronted by their shared past when one of them tried to stage a farewell show. This is my favorite film from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival last February.
#7) The Gambler (Lithuania) - Another favorite from the Santa Barbara Fest, this one is a gripping drama about a luckless paramedic who finds success in a scheme that plays on the survival chances of the patients they take in. This is a powerful film that mirrors the games of chances we play with our lives by the choices that we make every day. The closing scene is so haunting that it offers two plausible scenarios depending on one's own disposition when he watched this movie.
#8) Mother, I Love You (Latvia) - This is a tender portrait of adolescence as seen through a young boy's strained relationship with his mother and his tendency to solve his juvenile mistakes with equally juvenile solutions. This movie features a winning performance from the young actor whose name escapes me at the moment.
#9) X-Men: Days of Future Past (USA) - This is the best popcorn entertainment that Hollywood offered this year. Bryan Singer's reboot and reimagining of the X-Men universe is masterful. He brought old and dead characters back to life and we do not even pause for a second to ask why instead we race everyone to a thunderous applause of appreciation for the gift that the filmmaker has bestowed his audience.
#10) The Life and Mind of Mark DeFriest (US) - This documentary will leave you with a conflicted sense of the law. The story is about Mark DeFriest who was sent to prison in his early twenties for the crime of "stealing" some tools that his father willed to him. 30 years later, he is still in prison - in a maximum security prison, no less - because he was incorrectly diagnosed as mentally fit for trial during his initial incarceration. The psychiatrist who made the mistake is now revising his initial findings but everything might be too late because Mark is not set for parole until 2081. You'll have to watch this documentary to marvel at how even well-meaning laws can victimize the most innocent among us.
Below is the list of movies 106 movies i've seen, so far, this year.
Transit (Philippines) – 5 Stars
Ilo Ilo (Singapore) – 5 Stars
Metro Manila (UK) – 4 Stars
Tatuagem (Brazil) – 1 Star
Han Gong-ju (Korea) – 4 Stars
Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium) – 5 Stars
Wolf of Wall Street (US) – 3 Stars
Secret Life of Walter Mitty (US) – 1 Star
American Hustle (US) – 3 Stars
Girl,Boy,Bakla,Tomboy (Philippines) – 1 Star
Full Speed (France) DVD – 3 Stars
The Mudge Boy (US) DVD – 3 Stars
Bekikang (Philippines) DVD – 1 Star
The Monuments Men (US) – 1 ½ Star
About Time (UK) DVD – 2 Stars
Les Miserables (US) DVD – 3 Stars
Mother, I Love You (Latvia) – 5 Stars
The Disciple (Finland) – 4 Stars
Call Girl (Sweden) – 5 Stars
Frost (Iceland) – 2 Stars
Conversations on Serious Topics (Lithuania) – 4 Stars
The Shooter (Norway) – 3 Stars
Two Lives (Germany/Norway) – 3 Stars
We Are The Best! (Denmark) – 5 Stars
Empire State (US) DVD – 1 Star
The Internship (US) DVD – 1 Star
February
Mount Joy (US) – 3 Stars
Sam (Switzerland) – 4 Stars
Cold Eyes (Korea) – 4 Stars
Night Has Settled (US) – 2 Stars
The Gambler (Lithuania) – 5 Stars
Barefoot (US) – 3 Stars
Clownwise (Czech Republic) – 5 Stars
Late Spring (Korea) – 2 Stars
Algunas Chicas (Argentina) – 1 Star
Short Term 12 (US) DVD – 4 Stars
Enough Said (US) DVD – 3 Stars
A Hijacking (Denmark) DVD – 5 Stars
Philomena (UK) – 5 Stars
Los Dias Del Agua (Cuba) DVD - Qualified Rating
The Imposter (UK) DVD – 5 Stars
Don Jon (US) DVD – 3 ½ Stars
Enemy (US/Canada) – 5 Stars
The Breakfast Club (US) Streaming – 4 Stars
Bona (Philippines) DVD – 5 Stars
The Lone Ranger (US) DVD – 2 Stars
The Counselor (US) DVD – 2 Stars
March
The Deadly Game (UK) DVD – 1 Star
Fire With Fire (US) DVD – 1 Star
Prisoners of the Sun (Australia) DVD – 1 Star
Starting Over Again (Philippines) – 3 Stars
Disconnect (US) DVD – 2 Stars
El Mar (Spain) DVD – 3 ½ Stars
Touch of Pink (Canada) DVD – 2 Stars
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (US) – 2 ½ Stars
When the Love is Gone (Philippines) DVD – 1 Star
The Last Year (US) DVD – 1 Star
Back Soon (US) DVD – 1 Star
Eating Out (US) DVD – 3 Stars
Kids (US) DVD – 5 Stars
Muppets: Most Wanted (US) – 3 Stars
Nymphomaniac: Volume 1 (US/Denmark) – 4 ½ Stars
April
Nymphomaniac: Volume 2 (US/Denmark) – 4 ½ Stars
August: Osage County (US) DVD – 3 Stars
Old Boy (US) DVD – 2 Stars
The Grandmaster (HK) DVD – 5 Stars
The Fault in Our Stars (US) – 5 Stars
On The Road (US) DVD – 3 Stars
Shame (US/UK) DVD – 4 Stars
Noah (US) – 2 Stars
Drug War (HK) DVD – 5 Stars
Outrage: Beyond (Japan) DVD – 4 Stars
May
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (US) DVD – 4 ½ Stars
Transcendence (US) – 2 Stars
Heaven is for Real (US) – 3 ½ Stars
The Other Woman (US) – 3 Stars
Lust, Caution (US/China) DVD – 4 ½ Stars
Vengeance (France/HK) DVD – 4 Stars
A Complicated Story (HK) DVD – 3 Stars
Cold War (HK) DVD – 4 ½ Stars
Firestorm (HK) DVD – 3 ½ Stars
Godzilla (US) – 4 Stars
Neighbors (US) – 1 Star
Mamma Mia (US) DVD – 4 ½ Stars
(500) Days of Summer (US) DVD – 5 Stars
X-Men: DoFP (US) – 5 Stars
We Need to Talk About Kevin (UK) DVD – 4 ½ Stars
June
A Touch of Sin (China) DVD – 5 Stars
Maleficent (US) – 3 Stars
Maybe This Time (Philippines) – 2 ½ Stars
A Million Ways to Die (US) – ½ Star
The Grand Budapest Hotel (US) – 4 ½ Stars
Lone Survivor (US) – 5 Stars
Edge of Tomorrow (US) – 4 Stars
The Liberator (Venezuela) – 5 Stars
The Overnighters (US) – 3 Stars
Walking Under Water (Poland) - 4 ½ Stars
The Life and Mind of Mark Defriest (US) – 5 Stars
Starred Up (Ireland) – 4 Stars
The Well (US) – 2 Stars
Giuseppe Makes a Movie (US) – 5 Stars
The Road Within (US) – 3 ½ Stars
A Thousand Times Goodnight (Norway) – 4 Stars
Deliver Us From Evil (US) – 3 Stars
In The Blood (US) - 2 ½ Stars
Bends (HK) DVD – 5 Stars
XXX
Raymond Lo
