8.

The Act of Killing

Drafthouse Films
In 1965, the thug Anwar Congo was hired by the Indonesian
government to stamp out the threat of Communism; he and his
fellow gangsters formed paramilitary squads that tortured and
illed thousands of inno!ents" #early a half$!entury later, Anwar
and many of his !olleagues are still around, still prote!ted by the
politi!ians in !harge, and ready to reena!t their atro!ities" %oshua
&ppenheimer's ama(ing do!umentary gives that opportunity to
men who grew up idoli(ing )rando and *a!ino and are pleased to
star in their own !rude biopi!s" +o more !losely resemble his
young self, Anwar dyes his hair and gets new teeth" ,e rehearses
garroting a man with a wire, to the laughter and applause of the
women wat!hing" -aing the movies, whi!h vault from film noir
to bi(arre musi!al, eventually gets under Anwar's sin and into
his dreams; the pearly iller is finally affli!ted with nightmares"
.or any viewer, the effe!t is no less haunting"
7. Frozen
Disney
*rin!ess /lsa has powers of sor!ery beyond her !ontrol0 she !an
and does !ast a nu!lear winter on her northern ingdom" ,er
sister Anna is the normal one, falling in love at the first sight of
any eligible male, yet bound to !onfront her sister and save their
realm" +he first animated feature in the 1alt 2isney studio's
glorious history to offer two prin!ess heroines, .ro(en transforms
,ans Christian Andersen's 3+he 4now 5ueen6 into a fable of
modern, timeless sisterhood" .or this full$musi!al en!hantment,
1riter %ennifer 7ee and !o$dire!tor Chris )u! tapped some of
the )roadway musi!al's brightest lights 8 !omposers 9obert
7ope( and :risten Anderson$7ope( and a!tor$singers Idina
-en(el ;/lsa<, :risten )ell ;Anna< and %onathan =roff ;as the
gruff mountain man :ristoff< 8 and poured all !omi! inspiration
into the snowman !hara!ter &laf ;voi!ed with irrepressible
enthusi$woo(y$asm by +he )oo of -ormon's %osh =ad<" ,is
show$stopping set pie!e 3In 4ummer6 provides the finest two
minutes of !inema you'll seer this year"
6. Furious 6
Giles Keyte / Universal Pictures
*lanes, trains and automobiles !ollide spe!ta!ularly in the fourth
.ast > .urious movie to be dire!ted by %ustin 7in and written by
Chris -organ" In a reunion of ?in 2iesel, the late *aul 1aler,
their gang and girlfriends and 2/A agent 2wayne %ohnson,
.urious 6 vrooms from +enerife to -os!ow to 7ondon, with
astounding stunts in ea!h lo!ation, and hit!hes a ride on a
military !argo plane for the final brawl" 1here .ast .ive heralded
the #ew ,ollywood's e@altation of sensational a!tion over subtle
!hara!ter, Furious 6 revs everything up, purifies and improves it
to a level even !ooler and more aerodynami!ally delirious than its
prede!essor, if su!h a thing is even mathemati!ally possible" +his
adrenaline$stoing series is addi!tive, for its !hases, !rashes,
!rushes 8 and for its poeti! limning of the !losest !amaraderie
many men !an ever now0 with their !ars" &wning one, some
auto$holi! says, is lie a marriage" 3Aeah,6 another guy replies,
3but when you brea up they don't tae half your shit"6
5. The Grandmaster
The Weinstein Company
9unning at B hours and 1C minutes in its world premiere at the
)erlin .ilm .estival, 1ong :aw$wai's dreamy biopi! of martial
arts master Ip -an was !ut by BB minutes 8 one$fifth of its
running time 8 by D"4" distributor +he 1einstein Company"
+hat's a !rime ain to !utting random holes in a )os!h or
)reughel painting; but what's left is !hoi!e" +he ,ong :ong
dire!tor maes superb movies ;Chungking Express, In the Mood
for Love, 2046< that ignore narrative drive for tales of roman!e
and regret in a rapturous visual style of slo$mo imagery and ha(y
!loseups of wistful stars" +ony 7eung Chiu$wai, who loos lie a
more beautiful &bama, plays Ip -an as a poet of gestural
pre!ision, in !ombat s!enes !horeographed by the great Auen 1o$
ping ;The Matrix, Kill ill<" 7eung's partner in reverie is a female
do!tor, daughter and martial artist played by Ehang Eiyi
;Crou!hing Tiger" #idden $ragon<; she e@udes a goddess's
solemn grandeur and is given a diva's final aria 8 a fittingly
elegia! !lima@ for a world$!lass filmmaer who's always in the
mood for lost love"
4. her
Warner Bros.
In a future 7os Angeles so near$Dtopian that no s!ene taes pla!e
in a !ar, +heodore +wombly ;%oaquin *hoeni@< has a Fob
!omposing love letters for other people" *rofligately romanti!,
bruised by the failure of his marriage to Catherine ;9ooney
-ara<, he has enough sentiment left over to fall truly, madly,
deeply in love with a !omputer operating system who !alls herself
4amantha ;4!arlett %ohansson<" +heir virtual affair might be the
springboard to satire, but writer$dire!tor 4pie %on(e instead
!reates a splendid ana!hronism0 a modern rom$!om that is laugh$
and$!ry and warm all over, totally sweet and utterly serious" &r, if
you will, utterly 4iri" *hoeni@ !orrals the dul!et melan!holy of a
man whose emotional pain finds refuge in 4amantha's embra!e,
in a love that, to misquote *hillip :" 2i!, is 3more human than
human"6 *hoeni@ and %on(e show what it's lie when a mourning
heart !omes alive 8 be!ause he, +heodore, loves ,er" And I,
9i!hard, loved her"
3. American Hustle
Francois Duhamel / Annapurna Productions / Columbia Pictures
,istory remade as sparling far!e0 the .)I's late$GC's Abs!am
investigation of politi!al !orruption, whi!h led to the !onvi!tion of
a D"4" 4enator and seven Congressmen, be!omes this headlong
tale of roman!e and re!lessness" In dire!tor 2avid &" 9ussell's
third !onse!utive movie about mismat!hed !ouples and their
!ra(y families, after The Fighter and %ilver Linings &la'(ook, A
#ew Aor !on artist ;Christian )ale< Fuggles a mouthy wife
;%ennifer 7awren!e< and a !unning girl friend ;Amy Adams< while
relu!tantly !ooperating with the sting 8 supervised by a federal
agent ;)radley Cooper< 8 of a #ew %ersey mayor ;%eremy
9enner<" 34ome of this a!tually happened,6 reads the movie's
opening te@t; but 9ussell and !owriter /ri! 1arren 4inger aren't
going for verisimilitude" +his portrait of the 'GCs revels in the
de!ade's gaudiness 8 its dis!o dan!ing and !asino dreams, its
ugly !oiffures and fa!ial hair 8 and in the eternal abrasion of se@y
women and !ovetous men" +he five stars form a fabulous
ensemble !ast, in the year's most nowing e@plosion of flat$out
fun"
2. The Great Beauty / La grande
bellezza
Gianni Fiorito / Janus Films
31hat's the matter with nostalgiaH6 ass an aging poet in this
masterpie!e of divine de!aden!e" 3It's the only thing left for those
of us who have no faith in the future"6 1riter$dire!tor *aolo
4orrentino, whose Il $ivo blended politi!al bio$pi! and &vidian
satire, views modern 9ome in all its e@!ess through the Faded eyes
of 3the ing of the so!ialites,6 Fournalist %ep =ambardella ;Il
$ivo's +oni 4ervillo< 8 and, further ba!, more than a half$
!entury, to the /ternal City as seen by .ederi!o .ellini in La
$ol!e )ita" +his profligately !inemati! a!hievement shows an
affe!tion for nearly all of its outsi(e !hara!ters, and a melan!holy
that the flaming !reatures of %ep's a!quaintan!e will soon burn
out" =iving even the !yni!s a faith in the vibran!y of movies, The
*reat eaut' is the year's grandest, most e@hilarating film that
taes pla!e on /arth"
1. Gravity
Warner Bros.
1hen #A4A travellers 4andra )ullo! and =eorge Clooney get
lost in spa!e, all awe breas loose" 7osing !onta!t with -ission
Control, as well as a!!ess to their o@ygen supply, they are alone
together, with time and options running out" An epi! of desperate
peril and profound wonder, Alfonso CuarIn's thrilling J$2 drama
is a testament to human grit and groundbreaing te!hni!al
ingenuity" It deserves to be seen on!e for the wow fa!tor and a
se!ond time to try to figure out how CuarIn and his digital
savants managed to mae the impossible seem so !inemati!ally
plausible" #o one had dared even to imagine this stuff 8 lie the
astounding 1J$minute tae that opens the movie 8 yet here it all
is, vividly and sumptuously reali(ed" In depi!ting the fearful,
beautiful reality of the spa!e world above our
world, *ravit' reveals the glory of !inema's future; it thrills on so
many levels" And be!ause CuarIn is a movie visionary of the
highest order, you truly !an't beat the view"