Kevin Jagernauth's Favorite Films Of 2012

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by Kevin Jagernauth
January 14, 2013 12:01 PM
7 Comments

5. "Beasts Of The Southern Wild" (dir. Benh Zeitlin)
Few films in 2012 -- or even in the past few years -- arrived with the kind of wide-eyed, pure, unfiltered emotion as Benh Zeitlin's "Beasts Of The Southern Wild." It's a magical realist, fairy tale look at the post-Katrina South, pitched through the eyes of the pint-sized Hushpuppy who watches her entire world shift and change around her, trying to understand it all as best she can. Death is never too far away, and revolt is a reflex for survival in a movie that still remains hard to describe to those who haven't seen it. Indeed, most reactions from those I've talked to about the movie have been about how they felt, rather than the particulars of what they saw. Striking a deep and resonant chord, Zeitlin's film may be small, but its heart is big.

4. "Anna Karenina" (dir. Joe Wright)
When the budget for his Leo Tolstoy adaptation started spiralling beyond reach, director Joe Wright turned lemons into the most dazzling lemonade of the year. The single location, interchangeable setting conceit of "Anna Karenina" wound up breathing new life in the literary adaptation genre as a whole, heightening the already roiling emotions of the story. Featuring setpieces and sequences (the opening introduction, the dance, the horse race) as breathtaking in dimension as anything in a summer blockbuster, and executed with tremendous skill, the film marries its visuals to the powder keg story it tells. And hidden within are two of the most underssung performances of the year: Jude Law as the cuckolded husband, who struggles to save face while protecting the honor of his wife and Matthew Macfadyen as Oblonsky, who faces any situation with a tender zest for life. Does the film overcook its own concept? Perhaps, but it's a cinematic dish I'd happily have again.

3. "Take This Waltz"/"Stories We Tell" (dir. Sarah Polley)
No other filmmaker in 2012 understood the messiness that life sometimes brings with it than director Sarah Polley, who had two movies hit screens in the last twelve months. In "Take This Waltz," Polley matches the unwieldyness of the story, with a core that is so raw, mature, observant and reflective, that you can easily overlook its "flaws." Because that's sort of the point. Margot, played perfectly by Michelle Williams, is all rough edges herself, perhaps uneasy to wholly embrace as a character, but one who you intimately understand. Margot is a character driven by the fear that life is passing her by, that a better opportunity lies elsewhere and she's desperate to capture feelings -- intense, dizzying love among them -- that she has perhaps built up in her own mind. Margot has a nagging feeling that the grass is always greener, without realizing how good it's always been on her side of the fence. Meanwhile, Polley explores the unbelievable and riveting true story of her own family life in "Stories We Tell," a tremendous documentary that also plays with the very idea of storytelling itself, and the fictions that sometimes sustain relationships.

2. "Rust & Bone" (dir. Jacques Audiard)
Physical and emotional survival are two persistent themes in Jacques Audiard's nearly operatic "Rust & Bone," another movie that like Polley's "Take This Waltz" may not be perfectly formed, but delivers such powerful emotional tides, that it's easy to roll with it. Central to the film are the performances of Matthias Schoenaerts and Marion Cotillard, the former as Alain, a single dad drifter and the latter as Stephanie, a disfigured whale trainer. Both are rootless, and uneasy to trust and yet in the most unlikely ways, they find a support system in each other. Stephanie finds in Alain a tough, but very real love, someone who'll challenge her in all the right ways and bring her out into a life that, following a horrific accident, seemed unliveable. And in Stephanie, Alain experiences the kind of steadfast loyalty -- her unflinching look as he's battered, bare knuckle boxing is one of the most powerful shots of the year -- he's never had anywhere else. Their journey is fraught, but Audiard goes from tragedy to triumph with the skill of a master storyteller, in one of the most satisfying moviegoing experiences this year.

1. "Tabu" (dir. Miguel Gomes)
A movie that I had heard some good things about throughout the festival season, it was also one of the last few I saw in 2012 and yes, also the best. A swooning love story, a tribute to classic cinema and at the same time one of the most unique pictures of the year, "Tabu" truly embodies the overused adjective "magical." Divided into two sections, the first part of the film, set in modern day Lisbon, austerely centers on a middle aged woman, who looks in on her elderly neighbor, who reveals the name of a man upon her deathbed. Tracking him down, the movie moves into the second section as he narrates an otherwise silent, but gorgeous expressive, retelling of his youthful affair with the woman in colonial Africa. Tackling memory, love, loss and the indescribable pull of lust, "Tabu" finds a place for Phil Spector covers and silent cinema homage all in the same place. Some have scoffed that the first half of the movie is inconsquential or even inessential, but they're missing the point: the halves are called "A Lost Paradise" and "Paradise" for a reason. Each half deeply informs the other, and there was no movie that captivated me more with its brilliance, emotion and creativity in 2012 than "Tabu."

Special Mention: "The Clock" (dir. Christian Marclay)
Okay, this art installation is technically not a movie, but this cinematic feat is nonetheless something that anyone even remotely interested in the medium needs to see. The project is an assemblage of film clips, that plays in a continuous, 24-hour real time loop, that presents a cut of a clock or timepiece from a movie each minute (see it different times of the day and you'll get a new experience each time). But Marclay's brilliant work goes far beyond a simple stunt of editing (which alone is massively impressive). "The Clock" is a tribute to movie history that entertainingly forces viewers to consider the hours we spend in darkened rooms, while also revealing the thousands and thousands of lives we've witnessed play out on the big screen. The piece is probably the most accomplished mashup ever compiled, taking a format that's generally associated with YouTube, putting it into a high art context, yet remaining completely accessible all at the same time. Both celebration and study, "The Clock" is witty and whipsmart, a meta-movie that will suck you in until you lose your own sense of time.

Other movies of note from 2012 (in no particular order): "The Forgiveness Of Blood," "Sound Of My Voice," "Ruby Sparks," "Safety Not Guaranteed," "Moonrise Kingdom," "Perks Of Being A Wallflower," "Amour," "Barbara," "Sister," "Looper," "The Dark Knight Rises," "Jeff Who Lives At Home," "The Invisible War," "Bernie" and probably a few others I'm forgetting.

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More: 2012: The Year In Review, Best Of 2012, Silver Linings Playbook, Laurence Anyways, Tabu, Anna Karenina, Rust And Bone, Take This Waltz, Stories We Tell, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, The Master, Zero Dark Thirty, Killing Them Softly

7 Comments

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Trevor | March 16, 2013 12:47 PMReply

Good list. Although I can't understand the ZDT love. Marketing campaign maybe. Jingoism... It really isn't a good movie, at all. It's sloppy, we know the ending (I get that's the point), Jessica Chastain is one-noted and obviously written. Silver Linings is far more human and moving and all around better. And The Master is great. Should def be above Beasts of Southern Wild, which forces audience to side with Hushpuppy way too much. All around pretty good list though.
Daniel Delago | January 14, 2013 10:20 PMReply

Lets compare notes. We have some similar top picks. My Top Ten Movies of 2012. examiner.com/article/top-ten-movies-of-2012
fred | January 17, 2013 12:46 AM

I don't like either of your best films lists, but it's truly a matter of opinion.
oogle monster | January 14, 2013 8:26 PMReply

THANK YOU for including Anna Karenina. How has this film not caught the Oscar bug? It's so damn good. And leaps better than Les Miz and Silver Linings Playbook. The Master and Anna Karenina were 2 stand outs this year. Bravo for including both.
AGW | January 14, 2013 2:06 PMReply

Love seeing Rust and Bone ranked so highly here. Great, tight analysis of my favorite film of the year.
Christopher Bell | January 14, 2013 12:08 PMReply

Finally! & love the love 4 tabu
Eamon | January 14, 2013 12:06 PMReply

YES! Love this list and so happy almost all you fine folks at Indiewire Put Killing them Softly in their top 10. Way underrated and excellent little movie