I joke with people that I don't watch features anymore. I'm big into this "Golden Age" of television thing (being a huge teenage anime fan I'd been waiting for sequential storytelling for a long time), and of course, if you know who I am, you know that I watch more shorts than only a handful of people on the planet. Features? Not so much.
So, it's been fun, controversial, cocktail banter to declare the feature film dead—that if I want character development and world building, I want the novelistic complexity of television, and if I want ideas, narrative or visual, I'm usually happier getting them in sub 15min packages.
That's bullshit of course. I do go to the movies like…
I joke with people that I don't watch features anymore. I'm big into this "Golden Age" of television thing (being a huge teenage anime fan I'd been waiting for sequential storytelling for a long time), and of course, if you know who I am, you know that I watch more shorts than only a handful of people on the planet. Features? Not so much.
So, it's been fun, controversial, cocktail banter to declare the feature film dead—that if I want character development and world building, I want the novelistic complexity of television, and if I want ideas, narrative or visual, I'm usually happier getting them in sub 15min packages.
That's bullshit of course. I do go to the movies like everybody else, and dammit, as everyone is noting, it's been a fine fine year for cinema. I'm not a feature film critic, and there are a lot of notable things I haven't seen, but I go to a lot of fests, and curate Vimeo On Demand, so I see my fair share of interesting things. These were my favorites.
1.) The Crash Reel
A documentary with the thrills of action movie, the emotion of a family drama, with a social cause to boot. The 3min "Crash Reel" halfway through was the most uncomfortable and spectacular thing in the cinema this year, and Kevin's brother w/ Down Syndrome deserves an Oscar for Supporting Actor.
2.)The Wind Rises
The love story is, ultimately, a bit too tragically Japanese, but goodness, this is a beautiful film. I've never been a gigantic Miyazaki lover (Mononoke being the only film I love unreservedly), but Miyazaki weaves all his preoccupations into a surprisingly mature and realistic movie about the price of passion, and the obsession of the artist. A fitting coda to the career of a prickly but seminal filmmaker.
3.) It's Such a Beautiful Day
Utterly unique. Indescribably moving. The fantastical denouement touched me in a way no other film did in 2013.
4.) These Birds Walk
My tastes in documentary tilt towards what Robert Greene calls Cinematic Nonfiction. I love "Only The Young", or "Bombay Beach". I have a new one to champion, this criminally underseen SXSW film. Naturalistic, gloriously observational, it is the most immediate and beautiful doc I can remember.
5.) The World's End
Exhibit A in the undervaluing of Comedy. The Wright/Pegg/Frost triumverate are always meticulous, smart, soulful and funny as hell. A masterpiece that, due to its modest aims, will never be recognized as such.
