The Best Movies of 2013, Part III

Part I was a short novel, Part II was the sequel, but Part III will most certainly be a short story.  After dealing with the best movies of the year in Part I and the best performers and their performances in Part II, the final section of this year in review ties up the loose ends.  Rather spending time on cinematography, makeup, or screenplay I offer my final few thoughts on this year in movies.  This is a collection of those ramblings along with the final award for this year:  Most important movie of 2013.  So without further ado, I present:

The Most Important Movie of 2013

The following movie did not make my best of 2013 list.  I have not mentioned it previously and it didn't have amazing acting performances.  It is by far the most disturbing movie that I have ever witnessed.  It is the first time in my life that I have seen a movie so unsettling that I had to stop it four times just to get through it.  There are many problems with the film ranging from implementation of the subtitles (hint: it's foreign) to the structure of the story that it portrays, but due in part to its subject matter and in part to the ingenuity that it took to create it, this is by far the most important movie of the 2013 and one of the most important of the decade.  It tells a story that few of us know through the eyes of the terrible men who created it.  It goes to the theory that once and for all, history is written by the winners.  The most important movie that you need to see from 2013 is Danish Documentary The Act of Killing.  

The Act of Killing looks at the horrific Indonesian Killings of 1965-1966 that claimed between 500,000 and 1,000,000 lives.  In particular the documentary focuses on a former gangster, Anwar Congo who lead one of the worst death squad's the Eastern World has ever seen.  Congo admits to killing more than 1000 people personally, usually with a wire, as he re-enacts multiple times throughout.  And that is the important facet of the film, "re-enacts" as the film's director Joseph Oppenheimer, who we never see, invites the former torturers to re-enact the gruesome scenes of murder and despair in their attempts to create a movie.  While some of the squad members look back on the times with despair, others find great pride in their accomplishments.  Eventually, Congo is asked theatrically and personally to deal with his inner demons and what comes out is simply astonishing.

This is not a happy movie.  I do not suggest watching it with a full stomach, but it is so damn important that everyone sees this film.  It is haunting, terrifying, and downright sickening, but it looks at the deepest depths of human depravity and it comes out seeing villains with differing levels of villainy.  At times you feel sorry for the former murderers and the feeling that is created as an audience member is equally disturbing as the first thought.  It is raw but deals directly with the power of the cinema and lasting affects it can create.  As I said, I believe their were some editing mistakes making it difficult to follow at some points but in the end, in terms of story, it is a masterpiece.  It is the best foreign film, best documentary, and is the most important movie of the year.

Other final ramblings:

As the year wound to a close I noticed a few things that I thought I might impart, because I am sure you all love hearing me ramble.

The Danes know how to make movies.  Along with the monumental success of The Hunt, the documentary The Act of Killing is also Danish as well as another lesser known triumph from this year in that of the gritty crime thriller Northwest.  They are all fantastic films with the third, non nominated Northwest, nearly being more complete a film than that of the first two.  Nearly.

Claiming that you're partially Cherokee is not a good enough reason to make a shitty, racist film.  Without a doubt, the biggest flop, the worst movie, and the heart crushing of little boys from my parent's generation, was Disney's The Lone Ranger.  Even without its subplot of mythical werewolf highwaymen (that's right, Fitchner's character was actually a werewolf which explains the psychotic rabbits) the movie ran off the rails before it was even completed.  When Depp made his plea that he was partially Cherokee (although he claims he "might be Creek) that was the straw that broke the racial back.  Horrifically acted, produced, and directed, this mind-numbing POS movie is Racist at best.  Early in the Summer, Depp admitted that he was partially blind and was considering retirement.  Sorry for the eye JD, but it's been 10 years since Finding Neverland, hang it up.

Young Actors are on fire.  Already established names like Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, and Brie Larson welcomed Onata Aprile, Adèle Exarchopoulos, and Tye Sheridan this year.  It was a great year for them and now with the early reviews for the upcoming Joe with Nicholas Cage and Tye Sheridan it looks like he is the key to career resurgence.  

Frozen was overrated.  There I said it.  If you want to know, you can look at one of my many Facebook rants.  It wasn't bad, just drastically overrated.  

Watch a documentary.  There may be only five documentaries nominated this year at the Awards but there are so many good choices out there from this year including Blackfish, 20 Feet From Stardom, God Loves Uganda (SEE THIS FILM), A Band Called Death, Cutie & the Boxer, At Berkley, Stories We Tell, We Steal Secrets, The Square, Dirty Wars, Sound City, Salinger, and of course The Act of Killing.  There is one other movie that was made this list which I would like to give special mention.  Simply shot and told is the movie Bridegroom based on a widely popular post on Youtube about the death of a young artist and his partner's isolation from the hospital and the family of the deceased.  It is a beautiful film that encapsulates what it means to be in love.  I strongly suggest it not just because it is a great film, but because the stories' protagonist, Shane Bitney Crone is a friend of mine and is a truly great human being.

R.I.P. Dolores (Annette Funicello), Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole), Melville Crump (Sid Caesar), Gen. Marshall Carter (Ed Lauter), Col. Winter (James Gandolfini), Cousin Avi (Dennis Farina), Jett Jackson (Lee Thompson Young), The Quarterback (Cory Monteith), and of course Lester Bangs, Lancaster Dodd, Paul Zara, Truman Capote, Caden Cotard, Andy, Father Brendan Flynn, and George Willis, Jr. aka Philip Seymour Hoffman.  PSH you were a fantastic actor and contributed to many of my favorite moments on screen as a kid.  I am sorry that you lost your battle with addiction and I hope that you are happy wherever your ethereal being lies.

Thanks for reading this and thanks for a great year in film.  I look forward to the next one.  One final thought before I go.  For me, going to the movies is a great experience.  It allows me to escape from my busy, stressful life, and just sit in awe of the cinema.  I love a good movie when I'm down and alone, but even better I appreciate a good movie when I am with my friends.  Thank you to Zak, Brandon, Stephen, Duane, and Paul for an evening unlike any other with a double billing of The Man of Steel (which I maintain was terrible) and This is the End.  

"Music, you now, true music - not just rock n roll - it chooses you. It lives in your car, or alone listening to your headphones, you know, with the cast scenic bridges and angelic choirs in your brain. It's a place apart from the vast, benign lap of America." ~ Lester Bangs in Almost Famous.