This Year in Film
From actions to comedies and block busters to art-house indie movies, there was an overwhelming number of good flicks to watch this year. However, as most Exonians don’t have the time to bum around all day and watch dozens of movies, below are this year’s top picks as chosen by yours truly.
The Revenant
Finally winning Leonardo DiCaprio his Oscar, and bringing the end of an ever popular meme, this film is grippingly brutal. Its primal violence and harsh nature is in fact what draws the viewer in. There’s almost a morbid feel to the enjoyment that comes with watching the disgusting suffering faced by DiCaprio’s character. The imagery and plot is vile and unforgiving, yet carefully balanced to provide full impact on the viewer without feeling grandiose or gratuitous. Some scenes can be hard to watch, but for the same reasons are impossible to look away from. DiCaprio’s acting is particularly engaging throughout the film. His Oscar was well deserved as he makes the viewer feel every shred of pain in his character’s torturous journey. Like the rest of the film, DiCaprio’s performance is forceful and epic without being over the top. The director, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, in collaboration with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, created a stunning visual experience. Both use the power of cinema to its full potential, emphasizing the brutality of the plotline with the setting and directorial choices. Together they created an unforgivingly powerful epic that sucks the viewer in with every brutal scene.
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Star Wars fans anxiously awaited the return of their beloved space drama, and were not disappointed by this film. Fans of the original trilogy got to see their beloved Luke, Leia and Han as well as the core aspects that made the original series so compelling and respected. Seeing the original actors reprise their roles years later and the return of icons such as the Millennium Falcon was like greeting an old friend. However, “The Force Awakens” maintains a modern appeal by bringing a trio of new faces to carry us into the future of Star Wars. The choice of casting largely unknown actors to play Rey, Finn and Poe was particularly effective for this reason. Although the angsty villain Kylo Ren is often made fun of on the internet, lacking the depth and terror which Darth Vader held, Adam Driver still made the character compelling. “The Force Awakens” perfectly merges what made the original trilogy so popular with newer elements. The same sort of humor, drama, heart and soul is present, but this time in the hands of a new generation. As a fan of the original trilogy, I was delighted to see the familiar faces I had grown to love, but am just as excited to see where the galaxy will go in the hands of Rey and company.
Amy
This heartbreaking documentary depicts the rise and fall of late singer Amy Winehouse. Her incredible talent and stunning artistry are contrasted with her drug and alcohol addiction and self harm in this film. Using previously unseen footage and showcasing unreleased tracks, the viewer is offered a deep insight into the troubled singer and her beautiful work. We are painted a nuanced and intimate portrait of Winehouse, showing that she is more than the media’s depiction of her as a drug addict and leaving us with a multifaceted and utterly human picture of a troubled artist. One can’t help but feel a sense of kinship with her, to empathize with Winehouse as she struggles to navigate her newfound fame as well as pressures in her personal life. Her musical genius and the effect she has on those around her displayed in the film makes her inevitable death at the hand of her demons all the more tragic. In watching the film a deeper understanding of who and what exactly was lost when Winehouse died is gained. Incredibly blunt in its depiction of the relationship between art and celebrity, the viewer is left helpless as Winehouse struggles to deal with her celebrity and personal issues. Every minute of the film breaks your heart a little more. Beautiful yet heart-wrenchingly sad, this documentary is well worth the watch.