Perhaps the biggest surprise of 2013 was the notoriously high quality and quantity of the films on release, which has pushed out of our Top 50 countdown recent works by such acclaimed directors as Baz Luhrmann, whose flamboyant take on The Great Gatsby opened Cannes to critical approval and audience acclaim; Carlos Reygadas, adopting full experimental mode in the challenging Post Tenebras Lux; Matteo Garrone, who followed up his acclaimed ‘Gomorrah’ with a satirical study of our obsession with celebrity in Reality; Andrzej Wajda’s epic account of the life of influential Polish Union leader Lech Walesa; Abas Kiarostami re-enacting the rules of romance in the witty Like Someone In Love or the mix of social realism with over the top goth in Basque genre master Alex De La Iglesia’s latest, Witching & Bitching.
Less accomplished, but not without their merits were Neil Blomkamp raising questions about the future of health care in his latest politically-tinged sci-fi epic Elysium; Olivier Assayas going back in time to May of 68 with Something In The Air or Nicolas Winding Refn’s Cannes panned Only God Forgives, where neither its slick cinematography, nor a exotic Thai location or Kristin Scott-Thomas show-stopping turn as evil matriarch on her way to avenge the killing of one of her sons, made us forgot about ‘Drive’. Stephen Frears’ Oscar baity Philomena has taken Judi Dench and Steve Coogan’s screenplay to the Academy gates, unlike Saving Mr Banks, which despite a cast of traditional Hollywood favourites headed by Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks in top form and the self-referential story of the difficult process to take ‘Mary Poppins’ to the big screen, became this year’s biggest Oscar snub.
Among the year’s best curios, the adorably vintage French animation of Ernest and Celestine whose old fashioned charms have granted it a nomination for the Oscar; Yoji Yamada’s faithful remake of Ozu’s classic ‘Tokyo Story’, now called Tokyo Family; Guillermo del Toro dusting the also Japanese Kaiju film tradition in the uneven, but enjoyable Pacific Rim; Dexter Fletcher’s musical based in the songs of The Proclaimers Sunshine On Leith, and the latest from the Bridesmaids team pairing Sandra Bullock, who must be having the time of her life, against Melissa McCarthy in the hilarious cop buddy flick The Heat.
All of them worthy of mention, but pale in comparison to our Top 10 biggest surprises of 2013: