6.
Martha Marcy May Marlene
A star was born in Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes proves creepy yet again and after having now seen Martha Marcy May Marlene three times I can tell you it only gets better with repeated viewings. I gave it a “B-” review at Cannes and wrote the following in my final paragraph:
I can’t quite explain why this film needs to exist or why the story must be told, but it is strangely compelling mostly due to its honest approach. There’s an aura to this film that could eventually make it a film to own and watch over and over again, but it could just as easily become a feature you watch once or twice and never again revisit. It’s a hard film to figure and while I accept the challenge, I’m still not sure if I am giving it too much credit or not enough.
Clearly I have since given the film more time to digest and it’s a combination of the brutal honesty I felt coming through in the story and the performances that won me over. Well, that and the chilling ending, which I discussed recently.
Read my full review of Martha Marcy May Marlene from the Cannes Film Festival right here and read my interview with Elizabeth Olsen and writer/director Sean Durkin here.
5.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
I appear to be in the vast minority in loving Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. You either buy into it or you don’t and it caught me hook, line and sinker. Thomas Horn is great as the young child who lost his father in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and I couldn’t help but be moved by the profound human spirit moving through every scene as he searches for a way to make sense of it all, coming into contact with other New Yorkers attempting to deal, cope and share in the grief of the tragic event that happened only a year earlier.
It’s a tough film to watch, but after seeing it twice I can honestly say it placed a lump firmly in my throat both times and I know it will do the same once I watch it a third.
Read my full review of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close right here.
4.
We Need to Talk about Kevin
When you talk about dark films it doesn’t get much darker than We Need to Talk about Kevin, an art house horror film drenched in red and superbly told through a fractured narrative. Just look at the metaphorically gory photo of Tilda Swinton at the La Tomatina festival in Valencia, Spain from the film’s opening.
Director Lynne Ramsay creates such a haunting atmosphere with her use of sound, color and shot selection this film wraps itself tightly around you from the start and never lets go. If you can manage to go into it without even the slightest clue as to what it’s about you’re going to be all the better for it, I know I was.
Read my full review of We Need to Talk about Kevin from the Cannes Film Festival right here.
