Philomena.
Martin Sixsmith is an Oxford educated former Labour Party spin doctor who is slightly depressed having been sacked in typical political scapegoat fashion. Seeking a new job and having, wisely, decided against writing a book on Russian history, Martin returns to journalism when he is told of a potential human interest story in Philomena, an elderly Irish catholic lady. As a teenager, Philomena lived in a convent in Roscrea having been an unwed mother, where she was duty bound to serve the nuns as well as the convent itself. Along with several other unwed mothers, Philomena worked seven days a week, seeing her son for only an hour a day and knew that given the opportunity, the nuns would sell her baby to adoptive parents. Inevitably, the unthinkable happened and her son, Anthony, is adopted, leaving her in the current situation of having not seen her son for almost fifty years. Martin and Philomena go in search of Anthony, learning a lot about each other and themselves along the way; with Martin, a rude, cynical elitist, and Philomena, a harmless, sweet, impossible-not-to-like traditionalist, rarely seeing eye-to-eye. Judi Dench and Steve Coogan are perfectly cast as the odd couple in an equally heartwarming and heartbreaking film with a seriously dark undercurrent, Coogan himself co-penning the screenplay, adapted from Martin Sixsmith’s book. Simple. Funny. Emotional. Brilliant.
Blue is the Warmest Colour.
Adèle is a reserved high school girl on the brink of womanhood. She is unfulfilled sexually by a man she dates and is rejected by a female peer she is curious about. After becoming enchanted by a blue haired woman on the street, Adèle meets Emma, the same woman, in a gay bar where they discuss their artistic interests. The two begin a friendship that leads to Adèle’s friends rejecting both of them due to Emma’s sexuality. As their friendship evolves into a romance, Adèle and Emma together discover themselves sexually and emotionally. Blue is the Warmest Colour is an erotic, emotional epic odyssey of a young woman’s formative years that is applicable to all viewers regardless of age, gender or sexual orientation. A special mention too for the two leads, Adèle Exarchopolous and Léa Seydoux, who are beyond excellent in their portrayal of a vividly real relationship.
Snowpiercer.
A 2014 mission to halt climate change goes disastrously wrong, causing Earth to freeze and all life to become extinct; that is, apart from those lucky enough to be onboard Snowpiercer, a self-sufficient passenger train capable of withstanding blistering heat and deathly cold. After seventeen years of life aboard Snowpiercer, a class system has developed; the privileged elite who live lavishly in first class conditions in the front, those in the tail who live in poverty and squalor, and the workers who maintain the system occupying the middle. Curtis has spent half his life living in the rear of the train, so he seeks to start a revolution by fighting his way, along with others from the tail, to the front of the train and distribute the wealth evenly. Bong Joon-Ho directs an under-appreciated action thriller with a relevant social commentary; bloody Thatcherite bastards in the front condemning the working class proles in the tail to a life not worth living. Tories eh?
A Field in England.
Four men flee from battle during the Civil War in 17th century England. Whitehead, a self-confessed coward, is a Royalist while the others are Roundheads and refuse to admit they are deserters, justifying their escape as a means to frequent an alehouse to take a momentary break from battle. The men encounter a bullish alchemist and former associate of Whitehead, who forces the men to divine and dig for treasure in the field. What begins as a strange and at times incomprehensible plot descends into a visceral, full on LSD trip where reality itself becomes questionable. A Field in England could be interpreted as a pretentious art house flick, but fuck that; if you enjoy films that feel as though you’re tripping balls: open up and let the devil in.
Frances Ha.
Frances is a struggling dancer living in New York City. She lives with her best friend Sophie, who is, as Frances puts it, “the same person but with different hair”. The seemingly co-dependent pair separate when Sophie moves into a new apartment with a different friend, leaving Frances to move in with Lev, a guy she met at a party, and his friend, Benji. Frances stumbles from one situation to the next as she strives for her dream of becoming a professional dancer, and finding her person she can glance at across a crowded room who she can share this secret world with. Greta Gerwig is fantastic as the kooky, quirky, impossibly likeable Frances, and excels herself in the writing department also with a quotably hilarious screenplay co-written with director Noah Baumbach. Frances Ha is an under appreciated, charming film sure to bring you out of the depression caused by the other films of 2013.
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