In one of the most riveting lead performances of 2015, Christopher Abbott plays the emotionally adrift James White. He’s a twentysomething in the midst of a terrible family double-tragedy: his father’s just passed and his mother, Gail (Cynthia Nixon), has terminal cancer. It’s a chilly November morning in New York City and there’s a memorial for his father being held at his mom’s apartment where friends and family have gathered to mourn, but that’s not where James is. James is slumping through a raging club, drunk and delirious, pushing his way past sweaty young bodies in his stinky gray hoodie (which he seldom changes). He emerges from the den of excess, steps into sunlight and hops into a cab. When he finally arrives at the gathering, he meets the grieving guests with dark circles under his eyes, smelling of gym socks and booze. All he wants is for everyone to leave so that he can continue to bum on his mom’s couch and party every night. He’s an easy read: Scumbag. Slacker. Fuck-up. Freeloader.

James White, the moving directorial debut of Brooklyn filmmaker Josh Mond, doesn’t let you write James off so easily. In addition to being a total slob and a bully who’s more than happy to lay hands on any stranger who rubs him the wrong way, he’s an attentive caregiver, a loving son and a good friend. He’s only got one friend, Nick (Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi), but they’re tight; they back each other up in bar fights, and Nick’s happy to help take care of Gail at the drop of a hat. James can be a dick, but slowly we begin to understand his mental oddities and hangups. He unleashes his anger on people outside of his tiny inner circle because he’d never intentionally hurt the ones he loves. Does that make him a good guy? An asshole? He’s neither, existing in that complicated, dark, mysterious space in between. He’s a ticking time bomb, and as his story unfolds, we learn what makes him tick.

Sympathy for James blossoms as we get to know him, but melodrama and sentimentality are virtual non-factors in Mond’s storytelling. James White is a chillingly up-close-and-personal observation of a young man bubbling with so much emotion that he exists perpetually at the precipice of physical and psychological implosion. Dire, stressful situations like James’ are ugly and messy and horrible, so Mond doesn’t attempt to paint a pretty picture.

Still, glimmers of sweetness arise as we unpack James’ mental baggage. He’s got some serious (scary) anger issues, but being around his mother brings out his softer, compassionate side: When Gail’s admitted to the hospital following a frightful mental lapse, James gets frustrated that he can’t find her a bed amid the chaotic hospital traffic of busy doctors and nurses. In the name of her well being, he tries exercising patience. “All I’m trying to do is get her a bed,” he pleads with the bed manager. “She’s down there sitting in her own shit. I’m just trying to do anything I can do to help her.” The most powerful scene involves son helping mother from bedroom to bathroom, carrying her weight as she’s too sick to stand. Gail’s too exhausted to make it back to her bed and asks James to sit for a minute, burying her head in his chest. “Where do you want to be?” he asks her gently. “Paris,” she whispers.

Such subtle, penetrating character work is a hallmark of the film collective to which Mond belongs, Brooklyn’s Borderline Films. Mond and fellow filmmakers/best friends Sean Durkin and Antonio Campos were the guys behind Martha Marcy May Marlene and Simon Killer, and James White fits comfortably into the group’s catalogue of low-and-slow psychological dramas.

The Borderline fellows have also exhibited a keen eye for visual poetry and meaning, and Mond’s film may just be their crowning achievement in that regard. Cinematographer Mátyás Erdély employs the same clingy, close-proximity technique that made his work on Son of Saul so widely discussed and dissected in cinephile circles, almost never straying more than a foot from James side even as he rushes through swinging doors to escape uncomfortable interactions. Staying so tight on James never gives us an inch of breathing room should we feel the urge to shy away from his pain or the tension of the disaster he’s dealing with.

Given this perma-close-up technique pretty much defines the film visually, the pressure was on Abbott to turn in a breakthrough performance, and he obliged to astounding effect. The former Girls actor powers through the movie with the force and velocity of a cannonball, bringing a different color and energy to each scene. Without a doubt, Abbott proves he’s a world-class talent, and Nixon’s equally stunning performance takes James White to another level.

It’s getting toward the end of the week and we’re honing in on our top 10 movies of the decade, leading in with today’s #20-11. This list has been hotly debated and mulled over by our staff the past few months and we’re excited to have a complete list of the 50 movies that stood out to us most in the 2010’s thus far. The first half of the decade has been amazing, so let’s hope the next five years are just as memorable!

Be sure to read up on #50-21 and tune in tomorrow for the final ten films on our epic list.

Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far
(#20 – #11)

Take Shelter

Anchored by a breathtaking performance by Michael Shannon (a role that graduated him from “that guy” to “THAT GUY”), Take Shelter is one of the scariest films ever made despite not being a horror film. Shannon’s performance as a man losing touch with his reality while desperately fighting to protect his family has the complete spectrum of emotionally complexity—at times sad, at times terrifying, always intriguing. The themes are complex, too, ranging from climate change to the struggles of the middle class in middle America, from religious fable to mental health tale. There are films that can take on multiple readings, and then there is Take Shelter, which can be a completely different film for different people—for me, this is an incredible strength. And can we talk about that ending? OK, no spoilers, but the discussion on what the final images meant was some of the most invigorating discussion of film in 2011. Some saw it as a horror villain coming back from the dead in the final frames, some had the complete opposite view of hope that the main character was getting better in dealing with his sickness. No matter your reading of the final images, however, it is still one of the most visceral endings to a film this decade so far. [Aaron]

Certified Copy

Certified Copy, by inimitable Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami, is about a man and woman who, while on a stroll through Tuscany, fall into something that looks, sounds, and feels a lot like love. William Shimell plays a British author who on a book tour meets a local antiques merchant (Juliette Binoche), who insists on showing him around town while she picks and prods at his brain, absorbing and challenging his unconventional views on life and art. What at first appears to be a touristic on-the-clock romance á la Linklater’s Before films soon reveals itself to be something more abstract, puzzling and dreamlike, with the true nature of the characters’ relationship shifting from scene to scene. One moment, all evidence suggests they’ve only met hours ago; the next, they’re speaking as if they’ve been together for years and years. If watching Shimell (incredible in his first onscreen role) and Binoche (as ravishing as ever) verbally and intellectually spar while framed by sun-drenched vistas isn’t interesting enough for you, the mystery of how they actually know each other will keep you plenty engaged. You’ll find no concrete answers by film’s end, but you’ll be too thoroughly enchanted to care. [Bernard]

A Separation

There’s a reason Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation steamrolled through the festival circuit in 2011 as well as (or, even better than) any foreign art-house film in recent memory. It’s just that good. Detailing the troubling moments of an Iranian marriage, Farhadi finds a way to encapsulate worldviews, ideological perceptions, and every major component of family dynamics, into a two-hour roundhouse kick to the gut. Nader (Peyman Moaadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami) are the couple in question, and at the heart of A Separation is their 11-year-old daughter Termeh (Sarina Farhadi), torn between two loving parents. Most people in the West have never heard of these actors before this film, but they sure took notice when all three of them shared best acting honours at the Berlin Film Festival, where the film won the Golden Bear, on to its way to a Golden Globe and Academy Award. The realism created by the powerhouse acting, and one of the most perfectly constructed screenplays of the century so far, allows Farhadi to grow the story beyond the restrictions of a specific country’s conservative shackles, and into a fully fledged universal tale. When family gets in the way of family, and wrong choices turn to dire moral consequences, who can’t relate? Not an easy one for repeat viewings, but one that made a singularly deep impression in the past five years. [Nik]

The Hunt

I never thought I would hold in such high regard a film about a man wrongly accused of being a pedophile. And yet. From director Thomas Vinterberg and starring a ridiculously good Mads Mikkelsen comes The Hunt from 2012. The film is remarkably uncomfortable to watch, but not for why you might think. Yes, the topic of pedophilia is unsettling, but the fact that Mads’ character is wrongly accused—and the fact the viewer knows it—actually softens that portion of it. It’s the aftermath of the accusation that ratchets up the film’s intensity to unsettling levels. A man who was once a pillar of the community isn’t even afforded an “innocent until proven guilty” consideration. What the child said becomes gospel, the man she accuses becomes the cardinal sinner, and the small-town mob that once embraced him becomes the congregation looking to cast out the devil. And it could happen to you. Try to forget that after watching this. [Michael]

Black Swan

An artist’s pursuit of perfection and the starring role in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake causes her to unravel, losing touch with reality in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. This frightening psychological thriller may be writer/director Aronofsky’s most fully realized work to date, combining the intense terrors of his stylistic and shocking Requiem For A Dream with his more intimate, empathetic approach in The Wrestler. In fact, Black Swan shares a lot of similarities with The Wrestler in that both films feature performers that love their craft above all else, willing to sacrifice their own health or happiness in the hopes of achieving artistic integrity. As opposed to Mickey Rourke’s aging wrestler Randy “The Ram”, Natalie Portman’s Nina takes a path to artistic enlightenment that involves an uncertain blend of truth and fiction, which threatens to drive Nina insane. There are the paintings that move on the walls, the was-it-all-a-dream lesbian sequence and of course the most terrifying hangnail in film history. All these moments create an aura of anxiety until the film climaxes with a beautiful, stressful sequence during a performance of Swan Lake, one that Nina performs perfectly. However, was it worth what it cost her? [Zach]

Frances Ha

I often find my favorite films are ones where I feel both loathing and love, bewilderment and recognition, and where a perfunctory analysis just doesn’t seem to suffice. I’m not calling Frances Ha the great think-piece of our time, but Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig’s tale of a 27-year-old at odds with her life and in a place of limbo around her career, her love-life, and—most painfully to Gerwig’s Frances—her friendship with her best friend and roommate Sophie (Mickey Sumner), I was left with conflicting emotions. What stuck with me most about the film was the way in which I found myself identifying with this seemingly clueless character. Her behavior and conversations are so typical of the urban middle class artist of this generation, even if somewhat inflated. Her painful interactions with others as she ignores social queues, caught in a place of distracted self-absorption, only occurs when at the precipice of deciding who one wants to be. I identify because I went through it myself, but I appreciate it because Frances Ha captures a perfect snapshot of what is now the new norm among young adults—who seem to stay younger longer, but whose convictions, deep felt friendships, and ambitions are as strong as any generation before them. It’s a rare film that captures an emerging behavioral trend, finds the humor in it, but doesn’t degrade or condescend to its subject. [Ananda]

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Martha Marcy May Marlene is a completely spellbinding film that grabs you from the first scene and doesn’t let go. The story of a girl trying to assimilate back into society after living at a cult commune, the film works subtly through its editing and performance to feel much more dangerous than anything you actually see onscreen. One of the best editing films of the decade, it whirls back and forth from past to present through match-cuts and other tricks. Its technique puts the viewer into the troubled mind of its protagonist. We’ve seen a lot of films about the cult experience—some of them are good, some bad, but none are as intensely felt as Martha Marcy May Marlene. With its parts, the film should feel cold and a little too calculated, but its movement gives it liveliness. While also being on the edge of my seat from the thrills, I experienced almost every cut with a “how did he do that” intrigue. This could have killed the momentum of the film, especially considering the tone of Martha Marcy May Marlene, but it works wonderfully here. Elizabeth Olsen’s debut performance (discounting a cameo role in one of her sisters’ films) is something special. She is partnered by John Hawkes in powerful role worthy as a follow-up to his Oscar nominated turn in Winter’s Bone, a similar character, but with an entirely different sort of intensity. [Aaron]

Carlos

If there was ever an unsung performance of the past five years it would have to be Edgar Ramirez’s portrayal of Venezuelan terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez aka ‘Carlos’. Ramirez gained and lost 35 pounds for different sections of the film. Ramirez is ruthless as the South American who will kill anyone, friend or foe, who stands in his way. Carlos started a worldwide terrorist organization and caused mayhem on multiple continents, bombing and shooting his way from one country to another. Oliver Assayas depicts all of this in a five and a half hour opus that is never boring for a single moment. Assayas shot the film in three different continents over seven months and while there are many memorable moments in the film (a lot of them are tense sequences involving some sort of mayhem) none stand out as much as the 1975 OPEC raid in which Assayas dedicated a staggering 120 minutes of the 330 minute runtime. The entire sequence feels like a movie onto its own (and honestly it kind of is its own film) but doesn’t feel out of place within the entire arc of the film. Carlos originally aired for French TV and was eventually shown in US theaters before Criterion released it for home viewing. Assayas’ film is monumental. A grand spectacle that is seen, by us at least, as one of the towering achievements of the last five years. [Blake]

The Master

There was quite a gap after Punch Drunk Love, but when Paul Thomas Anderson returned with There Will Be Blood, he returned like a boss. And then, The Master happened. The only straight line one could draw to it from anything Anderson directed previously was the director’s incredible knack for pulling out career-defining performances from his actors. This time around, it’s Joaquin Phoenix who gets to bathe in the cinematic glory of Anderson’s gift to turn the complex into the fascinating. Continuing his dig into the American past, The Master follows Freddie Quell (Phoenix, like you’ve never seen him before) as he wanders from one job to the next alongside thousands of other veterans of the Second World War. He meets self-made ideologue Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman’s final masterpiece) and his wife Peggy (a piercing Amy Adams), and his life changes. Or, does it? This is PTA dabbling in psychoanalysis, toying with the origin of cults, and indulging in limit tests of cinematic storytelling. It’s dense, and it doesn’t as much as sniff at the thought of follow conventional three-act structures, which The Master turns into an advantage. I was left with an unquenchable feeling, egging me to return and repeat the experience. Also, it gets major bonus points for allowing cinematographer Mihai Malamare Jr. to make magic with 70MM. [Nik]

Whiplash

I didn’t see the short film that was Whiplash’s original format before watching the feature film, but I do recall thinking before my initial screening that a director as young and inexperienced as Damien Chazelle seemed unlikely to impress me. 100 minutes later I let go of my grip on my chair’s arm rests and reminded myself to judge not lest I be judged. I’ve seen Whiplash an additional three times since catching it on the festival circuit, always with friends who haven’t seen it yet and I’m constantly peeking glances to see if they get as worked up as I do. And I do. Every. Time. A simple enough concept, the film follows Andrew (Miles Teller), an aspiring drummer at an elite music school. The school’s bad-boy dictator of a conductor, Fletcher, recruits Andrew into his studio band and then proceeds to mentally (and sometimes physically) torture Andrew into being a better drummer. Andrew is pushed to the very edges of his sanity and his abilities, and the very real argument for how to teach talent and inspire genius becomes a battle of wit and stamina. Edited like an action film pulsing to the fast paced and sporadic beat of idiosyncratic jazz, Whiplash assaults the eyes and ears with the same vigor its main character uses to hit stick to drum. Oscar winner J.K. Simmons deserves every inch of that gold statue for Best Supporting Actor, playing Fletcher as calculatedly cruel and complexly evil. It’s the sort of role that comes around less than once a decade and Whiplash isn’t likely to see an equal any time soon. [Ananda]

See the rest of our Best Movies Of The Decade lists!

View Other Lists of this Feature:
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#50 – #41)
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#40 – #31)
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#30 – #21)
Best 50 Movies Of The Decade So Far (#10 – #1)

We get it, it’s the time of year when theaters are pushing ghosts, creepy possessed dolls, and axe-murderers onto the masses. But that’s not everyone’s jam. No taste for the supernatural but still want that rush of adrenaline? We’ve got you covered. Here are 13 of the most formidably frightening films we could think of, guaranteed to set your skin crawling and max out your energy bill with how many lights you’ll need on. Forget those psycho villains, the wide world of cinema offers plenty more thrills without ’em.

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park was the first movie my parents went to see on their own before deciding to let my brother and I see it in theaters. Not a bad idea as I was 10 and he was 9 when it released in 1993. Even with their blessing, in my first viewing of the film I had to leave the theater during the iconic t-rex chase scene because the adrenaline rush was too much for little me. As one of Stephen Spielberg’s absolute masterpieces, what makes this tale of extinct animals brought to life so thrilling is the perfect combination of Spielberg’s expert pacing and detailed visuals. Incorporating some of the first truly successful CG elements with elaborately crafted mechanics, the film had children and adults alike wondering if Spielberg had actually recreated dinosaurs. In one of the film’s most panic-inducing scenes, two kids (who 10-year old me identified with a little too well) crawl in fear around a stainless steel kitchen to elude two smart velociraptors. Their clacking claws on the kitchen tile, their echoing barks, and roving eyes searching for their prey still cause me to breakout in a cold sweat. [Ananda]

Gravity

First off, watching Gravity outside of a theater is significantly easier to handle than when the endless vacuum of space is projected onto a huge eyeball encompassing screen. Second, I can say from experience that seeing this film on a first date may cause you to relate stressful feelings toward that person and may impede the success of future dates. As Sandra Bullock’s Dr. Stone spins uncontrollably into the dark depths of space when her astronaut team is hit by an unexpected debris shower hurtling at them, viewers are introduced to a nightmare they’d previously been unable to imagine without actual space travel exposure. The never-ending inertia of zero-gravity and the utter loneliness of space are so absolutely realistic as we remain fixed inside Dr. Stone’s helmet, floating with her. A true survival tale, every difficulty she encounters is petrifying. Forget “edge of your seat,” this film has you clinging to the seat back, feet lifted, doubting everything you ever learned about physics and solidifying that those silly childhood dreams you had of being an astronaut were really, really not thought out. [Ananda]

Rear Window

The official “Master of Suspense” excelled at films that weren’t strictly speaking “horror” but were always enthralling. The one that presents the most uncomfortable feelings of distress for me as I watch it is my favorite of Hitchcock’s, Rear Window. Jimmy Stewart’s wheelchair-bound photo journalist Jeff starts to notice his neighbor in the apartment complex across the way has been behaving quite suspiciously. A scenario made incredibly relatable as his daily observances seem to affirm his rising paranoia. As he and his beautiful girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) push boundaries, eventually breaking into the man’s apartment, Hitchcock leaves us feeling just as vulnerable as Jeff is when forced to watch as the man comes home during the break-in and catches on to Jeff. Using Jeff’s telescopic camera lens to focus in on the scene, there’s hardly a shot so chilling as when the burly man turns to look straight at Jeff, and the audience, instilling instant fear. [Ananda]

A Clockwork Orange

This 1971 Kubrick directed dystopian crime thriller is spine-chilling entirely because of the lurid actions of its main character, Alex. A sociopathic hoodlum, Alex leads his band of thugs on a crime spree that includes plenty of raping and pillaging. With the same creepy effervescence of a clown, Alex’s enjoyment of his actions and the way these scenes are drawn out and narrated with his cockney slang all add to the difficulty of watching it. From the gang’s outfits to their brutal actions, there is plenty of truly disturbing imagery. The moog-filled soundtrack by Wendy Carlos only adds to the ill-feeling. Not even Alex’s eventual capture and brainwashing lead to any sort of relief as the film leaves us with a sense that a “cure” for sociopathy is simply impossible. [Ananda]

Deliverance

This one’s for city slickers like me. Maybe it was my upbringing, or my longtime aversion to sleeping on the ground (others think “sleeping under the stars”; I think “sharp rocks on my spine”), but nature always frightened me. The four businessmen who choose to leave the concrete jungle and spend a weekend retreat floating down a river in the middle of nowhere in John Boorman’s Deliverance serve as filmic vindication of my fear of the great outdoors. (That’s how I look at it, at least.) While their excursion starts out pleasantly enough, the nightmarish events that await down the river subsequently ravage their minds and bodies, and while Boorman’s film is a pretty one (those trees…), it’s also given us some of the most iconically disturbing moments in movies. The film, starring the great Jon Voigt and Burt Reynolds, doesn’t fit squarely into the horror genre, but it’s as freaky as they come. Hillbillies give me the willies. [Bernard]

Requiem for a Dream

Darren Aronofsky’s quick-cut tale of addiction is one of the few films I’ve ever had to turn off and finish when there was more daylight to be had. Watching it alone isn’t just scary, the sensory overload may lead us sensitive folk straight into full-blown panic attacks. Following four different people, each with different drug addictions, it’s hard to decide which storyline is most traumatizing. For me Ellen Burstyn’s character, Sara, was most relatable as she starts taking over the counter amphetamine pills to aid in her obsession to lose a little weight. Her jitters, teeth grinding, and sedative-induced hallucinations aren’t even the hardest scenes of the film to watch, but a scene where she experiences the delusion that her own fridge attacks her will make anyone reconsider crash dieting. And then there’s all the heroin addicts that make up the rest of the characters. Not an easy watch, but the closest thing non-users will get to experiencing the actual horrors of drug addiction. [Ananda]

Hard Candy

Before David Slade made the hellish Alaskan vampire chiller 30 Days of Night (and later, one of those Twilight movies), he made a more subtly terrifying movie in his directorial debut, Hard Candy. The revenge fantasy stars Ellen Page as a 14-year-old girl who dupes a man she believes is a pedophile (Patrick Wilson) into letting her into his home. She then proceeds to outsmart and physically abuse the guy in gruesome fashion (the film came out when torture films like Audition and Hostel were cool), she threatens to expose him for the predator he is. It’s such a sadistic, monstrous film not because of gore or jump scares, but because of the psychological trauma we suffer along with the man as the girl toys with his precious…manhood. Revenge is messy, and deep down, although we hate to admit it, the whole “eye for an eye” philosophy exists on the ugly side of human nature. [Bernard]

127 Hours

Sometimes movies are scariest not when we’re shown the quick, flashy death of a faceless victim, but when we’re allowed to spend time with a person as they face death itself, feeling the weight of mortality sink into our bones and theirs, the character’s face growing pale along with ours. 127 Hours is the most extreme example of this there is. Based on a true story (which makes it scarier), James Franco plays real-life mountain climber Aron Rolston, who on a solo hike got trapped under a boulder in the middle of nowhere and had to do the unthinkable (with a small knife) to attempt to free himself from the crag. “What if that were me?” is the thought that’s on repeat as you watch Danny Boyle’s minimalistic meditation on the human spirit, and while most consider the film a story of heart and resiliency, the film plays more like a living nightmare for those like me who are scared shitless of mountain climbing, suffer from mild claustrophobia, and have never broken a bone. Much like Deliverance, 127 Hours demonstrates just how disastrous things can get when you’re out in the wild. [Bernard]

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Elizabeth Olsen plays Martha, a girl who attempts to reunite with her family after spending years away on a hippy cult compound, in Martha Marcy May Marlene, an unsettling mind-fuck drama by Sean Durkin. In the role that announced her as a serious talent to watch, Olsen is a picture of mental collapse as her soul-sick eyes telling most of Martha’s twisted story. The always-excellent John Hawkes delivers one of his spookiest performances as the cult leader who strips Martha of everything, mentally and physically, damning her to a life of perpetual paranoia and torment. Indoctrination and loss of identity are horrible things to think about, and Martha makes you think about them from every angle until your blood curdles and you’re as deeply troubled as the poor girl on-screen. [Bernard]

Shock Corridor

It’s typically a beautiful thing when someone devotes their life to their craft, but Shock Corridor serves as a stark warning that, yes, there is a line, and if you cross it you may not come back. (You hear that, Shia?) In Sam Fuller’s mind-bending masterpiece, Peter Breck plays Johnny Barrett, a journalist who feigns mental sickness to get himself committed to an insane asylum where he hopes to solve a murder three inmates were the only witnesses to. Off the deep end he goes. It’s a decidedly melodramatic film with lots of over-acting and pretentious dialogue, but the wackiness of it all sort of makes it scarier, distancing the film from the firm ground of reality in a way that’s really quite disturbing. Barrett’s “fake it ’til you make it” approach may have gotten him into the looney bin as planned, though “fake it ’til you break it” seems a more apt phrase for what happens to his brain once he’s locked in. [Bernard]

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

So much of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is enchanting and fun and delightful that it’s easy to forget the crazy levels of creepiness it reaches in a handful of unforgettably weird scenes. For one, the kids who fail Wonka’s cleverly orchestrated morality tests meet their fates in ways so bizarre and twisted you could look at the film as a loose precursor to recent Rube Goldberg death extravaganzas like the Saw series. On top of that, there’s Gene Wilder’s climactic spluttering tirade that reminds you of that time your dad caught you drawing on the wall with crayons when you were a kid. Traumatic! And don’t get me started on that acid-trip boat ride. “Is it raining is it snowing? Is a hurricane a’blowing?” You’re freaking me out, man! Just give me some snozberries and let me off the boat! [Bernard]

Mulholland Drive

Choosing only one of Lynch’s films to include in this list proves quite difficult, we mentioned in our latest podcast just how frightening a phone call in Lost Highway was and I mention that almost every scene of Eraserhead gives me the willies, but the Lynch film that is so genuinely start-to-finish utterly unnerving that it almost classifies as horror is without a doubt Mulholland Drive. Every scene of this dream-like film is confusingly creepy, one of the earliest scenes even includes a man who literally dies of terror when a nightmare he had proves to be reality. And that’s why this film is so scary, it can’t be trusted. No character is set in stone (not all of them even know who they are at any given moment) and the storyline literally snaps part of the way through and starts again with a whole new set of rules. Trying to make actual sense of the film isn’t advised, but the tension is real in every feverish scene that makes up the whole. [Ananda]

Sleeping With The Enemy

The most terrifying scenarios in film, to me, are those based in very real situations. It’s a sad reality that spousal abuse is one such real situation and no film has left me more scarred by the extent to which a controlling abusive spouse will go then this 1991 thriller. In it, Julia Roberts plays Laura, a young wife whose marriage to an affluent physically abusive jerk becomes unbearable. Laura fakes her own elaborate death and takes off to start a new life in a small town. But her husband starts to doubt her death, obviously there was no body found, and starts the hunt for her. There are plenty of close-call hold-your-breath types of scenes but the most formidable aspect is that feeling a good thriller permeates viewers with, which is a total sense of the villain’s ceaseless energy to pursue his weak prey. The climax, where Laura realizes her husband has found her because her bathroom towels have been aligned in his obsessive perfectionist style, is an exercise in slow dawning terror. [Ananda]

Martha Marcy May Marlene is a haunting psychological thriller from first time filmmaker Sean Durkin, about a young woman trying to recover from her years of being part of a cult. Escaping her past is nearly impossible for her to do as one cannot simply forget about the things she was put through. The film benefited from two exceptional performances from Elizabeth Olsen and John Hawkes. It is a film that might actually be better on the second viewing.

The film opens with Marcy May sneaking out of the farm house where the people in the cult eat, sleep and work together. She tries to do so without waking up the others but she is unsuccessful. With the entire house now chasing after her she dashes across the road into the woods, there is able to hide from everyone. She escapes to a nearby town where she is able to call her sister for help.

Marcy May is not her real name, it is the name given to her by the cult leader Patrick (John Hawkes). Her real name is Martha (Elizabeth Olsen), who at first believed that the group was more like a family that aspired to be self-sufficient on the farm. It took her nearly two years before she realized that she was a part of a cult.

You can tell that Martha is having a tough time adjusting to regular society at her sister’s vacation home. She does not think to put on a bathing suit when going swimming. She puts her feet up on tables and bluntly asks her sister if it is true that married people do not have sex. The group really did a number on her mentally and physically making it hard for her to be normal again.

Martha Marcy May Marlene does a fantastic job using transitions to go between present times to flashbacks of her past. While staying at her sister’s she is often reminded of her haunted past. When going out for a swim in the lake we are seamlessly taken back to when she went swimming together with the cult members. That helps illustrate how Martha has a hard time distinguishing the past from the present. The fact that she did not really know where she was at nor for how long she was a part of the cult did not help her situation.

The biggest problem Martha has is her dependence of the people around her. This likely steamed from both of her parents dying thus she never really had proper parenting. She treated the cult like it was her family which is exactly what the cult wanted. It was incredibly easy for the cult to brainwash her into thinking what is right and wrong.

Elizabeth Olsen, sister to the famous Olsen twins, absolutely nails her first major role on the big screen. Her role demanded such a high level of emotion intensity that is normally reserved for only well-seasoned actresses. You may be able to debate other aspects of the film but her performance should be left out of any controversies.

Martha Marcy May Marlene reminded me of the last film I watched, Take Shelter, in that the building up of the suspense was the best asset. So much so that it makes the conclusion feel like it missed just a little bit. My favorite endings are ones that are ambiguous, like they both were. However, I felt like both films had opportunities to go a little further than they did.

Oddly enough, the comparisons between this and Take Shelter do not end there. In fact, the main characters in both are psychologically ill and are both extremely paranoid. The pair would make a great double feature, you could call it “Paranoia Plentiful”.

You would not ever assume while watching Martha Marcy May Marlene that both the director and lead actress were making their debuts, which is pretty impressive on both accounts. There is plenty of interpretation to be done as the director leaves enough unanswered questions to make you come up with your own conclusion.

We are only 23 days away from hearing the winners of the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards so I thought I would give a shot at predictions who those winners will be. The Spirit Awards are a little be harder to predict than the Oscars because they do not tend to follow as many patterns nor does it have as wide of an audience. This year has a chance to be closer to the outcome of the Oscars than any other year with The Artist being the favorite at both shows. Christopher Plummer and A Separation also could be set to win both a Spirit Award and Oscar. In addition to picking the winners for each category I gave some insight as to why in the “Notes” section under the categories.

Tune in on Saturday February 25th to IFC and see how well I did (or did not do).

The full list of Independent Spirit Award predictions:
(My prediction for the winners are highlighted in bold red font)

50/50 – Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Ben Karlin
Beginners – Miranda de Pencier, Lars Knudsen, Leslie Urdang, Jay Van Hoy, Dean Vanech
Drive – Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, Adam Siegel
Take Shelter – Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin
The Artist – Thomas Langmann, Emmanuel Montamat
The Descendants – Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

Mike Mills – Beginners
Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive
Jeff Nichols- Take Shelter
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Alexander Payne – The Descendants

Another Earth – Directed by Mike Cahill; Producers: Mike Cahill, Hunter Gray, Brit Marling, Nicholas Shumaker
In The Family – Directed by Patrick Wang; Producers: Robert Tonino, Andrew van den Houten, Patrick Wang
Margin Call – Directed by J.C. Chandor; Producers: Robert Ogden Barnum, Michael Benaroya, Neal Dodson, Joe Jenckes, Corey Moosa, Zachary Quinto
Martha Marcy May Marlene – Directed by Sean Durkin; Producers: Antonio Campos, Patrick Cunningham, Chris Maybach, Josh Mond
Natural Selection – Directed by Robbie Pickering; Producers: Brion Hambel, Paul Jensen

Demian Bichir – A Better Life
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Ryan Gosling – Drive
Woody Harrelson – Rampart
Michael Shannon – Take Shelter

Lauren Ambrose – Think Of Me
Rachel Harris – Natural Selection
Adepero Oduye – Pariah
Elizabeth Olsen – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn

Albert Brooks – Drive
John Hawkes – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
John C. Reilly – Cedar Rapids
Corey Stoll – Midnight In Paris

Jessica Chastain – Take Shelter
Angelica Huston – 50/50
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs
Harmony Santana – Gun Hill Road
Shaileen Woodley – The Descendants

Bellflower – Written and directed by Evan Glodell; Producers: Evan Glodell, Vincent Grashaw
Circumstance – Written and directed by Maryam Keshavarz; Producers: Karin Chien, Maryam Keshavarz, Melissa M. Lee
Hello Lonesome – Written and directed and produced by Adam Reid
Lovers of Hate – Written and directed by Dee Rees; Producer: Nekisa Cooper
The Dynamiter – Writters: Matthew Gordon and Brad Ingelsby; Directed by Matthew Gordon; Producers: Kevin Abrams, Matthew Gordon, Merilee Holt, Nate Tuck, Amile Wilson

An African Election – Jarreth J. Merz, Kevin Merz
Bill Cunningham New York – Richard Press
The Interrupters – Steve James
The Redemption of General Butt Naked – Daniele Anastasion, Eric Strauss
We Were Here – David Weissman, Bill Weber

A Separation – Asghar Farhadi
Melancholia – Lars von Trier
Shame – Steve McQueen
The Kid With A Bike – Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Tyrannosaur – Paddy Considine

Joel Hodge – Bellflower
Benjamin Kasulke – The Off Hours
Darius Khondji – Midnight In Paris
Guillaume Schiffman – The Artist
Jeffrey Waldron – The Dynamiter

Joseph Cedar – Footnote
Michel Hazanivicius – The Artist
Tom McCarthy – Win Win
Mike Mills – Beginners
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash – The Descendants

Mike Cahill & Brit Marling – Another Earth
J.C. Chandor – Margin Call
Patreck DeWitt – Terri
Phil Johnston – Cedar Rapids
Will Reiser – 50/50

Blake and I list our top ten favorite films of 2011. Comparing films to one another is hard to do when they are often so different. Thus ranking other people’s artwork such as films is never easy but everyone likes a Top 10 list (which is the reason why I told Blake we should do a numbered list of 10 instead of just an alphabetical one). So without further ado, our list of Top 10 Films of 2011:

]]> http://waytooindie.com/features/top-10-films-of-2011/feed/ 0 http://waytooindie.com/news/awards/2012-film-independent-spirit-award-nominations/ http://waytooindie.com/news/awards/2012-film-independent-spirit-award-nominations/#comments Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=2169 The 2012 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced today by presenters Anthony Mackie and Kate Beckinsale kicking off the award season. Of the total 277 total film submissions The Artist and Take Shelter raked in the most nominations this year with five in total. Close behind them with 4 nominations were films Martha Marcy […]]]>

The 2012 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced today by presenters Anthony Mackie and Kate Beckinsale kicking off the award season. Of the total 277 total film submissions The Artist and Take Shelter raked in the most nominations this year with five in total. Close behind them with 4 nominations were films Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Descendants, and Drive. I would say the front-runner for awards this year is The Artist but all of the films above will have a shot of being represented here as well as at the Oscars.

Michelle Williams gets her second nomination Best Female Lead nomination in a row with her role in My Week With Marilyn (last year’s nomination was for Blue Valentine). She was not the one to get a repeat nomination for the second year in a row as John Hawkes also received a nomination for Martha Marcy May Marlene for Best Supporting Male (John Hawkes won the award last year for Winter’s Bone).

In order to qualify for Spirit Awards a film has to be made for under $20 million, which would explain the absence of Tree Of Life among the nominations, which is a little disappointing as it has been my favorite film of 2011 so far (I still have a fair amount to see still though). Although I have not seen them yet, I am a little disappointed that Alps and The Skin I Live In did not make the cut for a nomination in the Best Foreign Film category (need to have at least 1 U.S. producer to qualify for the other awards).

The winners will be announced at the 27th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards on February 25th and the broadcast will air at 10 p.m. ET/PT on IFC.

50/50 – Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Ben Karlin
Beginners – Miranda de Pencier, Lars Knudsen, Leslie Urdang, Jay Van Hoy, Dean Vanech
Drive – Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, Adam Siegel
Take Shelter – Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin
The Artist – Thomas Langmann, Emmanuel Montamat
The Descendants – Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

Mike Mills – Beginners
Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive
Jeff Nichols – Take Shelter
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Alexander Payne – The Descendants

Another Earth – Directed by Mike Cahill; Producers: Mike Cahill, Hunter Gray, Brit Marling, Nicholas Shumaker
In The Family – Directed by Patrick Wang; Producers: Robert Tonino, Andrew van den Houten, Patrick Wang
Margin Call – Directed by J.C. Chandor; Producers: Robert Ogden Barnum, Michael Benaroya, Neal Dodson, Joe Jenckes, Corey Moosa, Zachary Quinto
Martha Marcy May Marlene – Directed by Sean Durkin; Producers: Antonio Campos, Patrick Cunningham, Chris Maybach, Josh Mond
Natural Selection – Directed by Robbie Pickering; Producers: Brion Hambel, Paul Jensen

Demian Bichir – A Better Life
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Ryan Gosling – Drive
Woody Harrelson – Rampart
Michael Shannon – Take Shelter

Lauren Ambrose – Think Of Me
Rachel Harris – Natural Selection
Adepero Oduye – Pariah
Elizabeth Olsen – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn

Albert Brooks – Drive
John Hawkes – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
John C. Reilly – Cedar Rapids
Corey Stoll – Midnight In Paris

Jessica Chastain – Take Shelter
Angelica Huston – 50/50
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs
Harmony Santana – Gun Hill Road
Shaileen Woodley – The Descendants

Bellflower – Written and directed by Evan Glodell; Producers: Evan Glodell, Vincent Grashaw
Circumstance – Written and directed by Maryam Keshavarz; Producers: Karin Chien, Maryam Keshavarz, Melissa M. Lee
Hello Lonesome – Written and directed and produced by Adam Reid
Lovers of Hate – Written and directed by Dee Rees; Producer: Nekisa Cooper
The Dynamiter – Writters: Matthew Gordon and Brad Ingelsby; Directed by Matthew Gordon; Producers: Kevin Abrams, Matthew Gordon, Merilee Holt, Nate Tuck, Amile Wilson

An African Election – Jarreth J. Merz, Kevin Merz
Bill Cunningham New York – Richard Press
The Interrupters – Steve James
The Redemption of General Butt Naked – Daniele Anastasion, Eric Strauss
We Were Here – David Weissman, Bill Weber

A Separation – Asghar Farhadi
Melancholia – Lars von Trier
Shame – Steve McQueen
The Kid With A Bike – Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Tyrannosaur – Paddy Considine

Joel Hodge – Bellflower
Benjamin Kasulke – The Off Hours
Darius Khondji – Midnight In Paris
Guillaume Schiffman – The Artist
Jeffrey Waldron – The Dynamiter

Joseph Cedar – Footnote
Michel Hazanivicius – The Artist
Tom McCarthy – Win Win
Mike Mills – Beginners
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash – The Descendants

Mike Cahill & Brit Marling – Another Earth
J.C. Chandor – Margin Call
Patreck DeWitt – Terri
Phil Johnston – Cedar Rapids
Will Reiser – 50/50

Margin Call
Director: J.C. Chandor
Ensemble Cast: Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore

Chad Burris – Mosquita y Mari
Sophia Lin – Take Shelter
Josh Mond – Martha Marcy May Marlene

Heather Courtney – Where Soldiers Come From
Danfung Dennis – Hell and Back Again
Alma Har’El – Bombay Beach

Simon Arthur – Silver Tongues
Mark Jackson – Without
Nicholas Ozeki – Mamitas

Day 3 of the Toronto International Film Festival I see The Descendants, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Extraterrestrial and the documentary Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory. Here are my first impressions and mini reviews of the films.

Fantastic movie. This is gonna be a big crowd pleaser. George Clooney stars a Hawaiian land baron whose wife is in a boating accident that leaves her in a coma. After finding out that she will never wake up he goes on a quest to tell friends and family about the bad news. He first picks up his oldest daughter from a prep school on a different island. Clooney in this is a horrible father has utterly no clue on how to raise two daughters and rightfully admits it. The movie is very funny. Lots of great one liners that will have people smiling. Mixed with that comedy is a lot of heart. Some very great moments between Clooney and his oldest daughter. Clooney will surely walk away with the Best Actor Oscar come February. The film was directed by Alexander Payne who has made one of my favorite films in Sideways. This film isn’t as good, but it is a terrific follow up.

Far and away the best film I’ve seen at TIFF this year. This movie is listed as a psychological thriller but make no mistake this is the best horror movie of the year. Very VERY unsettling film about a girl who leaves a cult in upper New York state and tries to assimilate back into normal life with her sister and her new husband. The movie shifts between past and present events, making it murky enough that sometimes you don’t know at which point in time you’re at. But it’s never confusing. John Hawkes plays the leader of the cult and is downright scary. Never losing his cool always remaining calm, you never know when he’s going to burst. He is excellent. Elizabeth Olson (younger sister of the Olson twins) is mesmerizing in the lead role. She wants help but you can tell she just doesn’t know how to ask or she’s either too afraid to. This movie rattled everyone to the bone at my screening. Beautifully shot and edited. This is a must see.

This is the new movie from the director of Timecrimes (which is a phenomenal film by the way). The plot involves a love triangle (or is it a love square?) that is interrupted by an alien invasion. This movie was fun. It had absolutely no aliens in it at all. The film concerns itself with how humans react in dire situations. How they treat each other, themselves. The film asks a lot of questions, like what would you do if you were locked in an apartment with the woman you loved and her boyfriend? If you were threatened by one of her neighbors who knows secrets about you. Very fun, very funny lark of a science fiction film.

The third (and hopefully final) film in the documentary series about the West Memphis Three. If you haven’t followed this story, it’s about 3 teenagers in 1993 who were convicted with the murder of 3 young boys in the woods of Arkansas. No evidence was provided at the trial to link them to the murders. They wore black, listened to heavy metal and dabbled in the Wiccan religion. One was sentenced to death and the others to life in prison. With absolutely no physical evidence to tie them to the murders. The first film was about the trial and getting to know all parties involved whether they were the victims parents or the convicted boys’ families. The second film shifted it’s focus to one of the parents of the victims as possibly being a suspect. This third film presents new evidence showing the 3 teenagers (now men in their mid to late 30’s) could not have possibly committed the murders. It also shows a possibly new suspect in the case.

The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival is about to begin and I will representing Way Too Indie there. We previously posted the films we are most excited for but here is the list of films I will be seeing (some of which were on that list). Expect mini-reviews to follow as well as my general experience of the atmosphere in the city of Toronto.

Synopsis: Idiosyncratic, cheeky and uncategorizable, the films of Guy Maddin are testaments to the singular vision of a great contemporary cinema artist, and Keyhole may be his boldest film yet. A surreal indoor odyssey of one man, Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric) struggling to reach his wife (Isabella Rosellini) in her bedroom upstairs, this hypnotic dreamlike journey bewilders and captivates.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: A look at what happens when partners from different social backgrounds engage in in physical relationships.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Why excited: Not only is it black and white but it is a silent film.
Synopsis: Hollywood, 1927: As silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.

Synopsis: Intimate interviews and life stories of several inmates condemned to death in a Texas prison.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: Martin, a mercenary, is sent from Europe by an mysterious biotech company to the Tasmanian wilderness on a hunt for the last Tasmanian tiger.

Synopsis: Two sisters find their relationship challenged as a nearby planet threatens to collide into the Earth.

Synopsis: A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.

Synopsis: A land baron tries to re-connect with his two daughters after his wife suffers a boating accident.

Synopsis: Haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, a damaged woman struggles to re-assimilate with her family after fleeing an abusive cult.

Synopsis: Everyone knows what to do if one morning the sky would be absolutely full of UFOs: run as fast as you can. However, what would happen if the invasion started while you are in the flat of the girl of your dreams, the one you have just met?
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: A further investigation into the arrest of three teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of killing three young boys in Arkansas and spent nearly 20 years in prison before being released because DNA evidence proved their innocence.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: Follows veteran police officer Dave Brown, the last of the renegade cops, as he struggles to take care of his family, and fights for his own survival.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: The story of a young woman clinging on to her dream to become a beauty contest queen in a Mexico dominated by organized crime.

Synopsis: A suicide survivor works for a nameless corporation, where he puts other employees through series of bizarre performance tests in this dystopian, Tarkovsky-esque sci-fi and surreal dark fantasy, with flashes of dark humour and deep emotion.

Synopsis: A group of cooks at an asylum for the criminally insane get locked in with the inmates during a massive thunderstorm.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: The team behind “Baraka” reunites for another journey around the world, exploring themes of birth, death and rebirth through stunning visuals and music.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: A drama centered on 30-something Brandon, his myriad sexual escapades, and what happens when his wayward younger sister moves in with him.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Synopsis: A mysterious underground outfit, going by the name of ALPS, offers bereaved individuals a very unusual service: they stand in for their dearly departed.

The Toronto International Film Festival has started announcing titles of films that will be playing at it’s 36th annual festival held from September 8th – 18th 2011. Last year the TIFF had 246 films that were part of the festival, which included many world and international premieres. This year’s lineup looks to be very promising as it includes the works from; George Clooney, Francis Ford Coppola, Lars von Trier, Morgan Spurlock, Cameron Crowe and Jay & Mark Duplass. This year Way Too Indie’s very own Blake Ginithan will be attending TIFF and will be reporting back his thoughts on it so stay tuned.

There are too many films to list for one article so instead I will list some of the most exciting and big-named films coming to TIFF in 2011.

Why excited: It stars one of my favorite actors Philip Seymour Hoffman. Speaking of stars it is loaded with them; George Clooney (who also wrote and directed it), Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood.
Synopsis: An idealistic staffer for a newbie presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail. Based on the play by Beau Willimon.

Why excited: Again, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill certainly do not hurt either.
Synopsis: The story of Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane’s successful attempt to put together a baseball club on a budget by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players.

Why excited: Not only is it black and white but it is a silent film.
Synopsis: Hollywood, 1927: As silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.

Why excited: The film is going to be a big mind-fuck. Plus got to love John Hawkes.
Synopsis: Haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, a damaged woman struggles to re-assimilate with her family after fleeing an abusive cult.

Why excited: 50/50 shot of being funny or lame but I enjoy Seth Rogen.
Synopsis: A comedic account of a 27-year-old guy’s cancer diagnosis, and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease.

Why excited: Any director that gets banned from Cannes is pretty badass. Plus Kirsten Dunst won Prix d’interpretation feminine at Cannes from her role in this film.
Synopsis: Two sisters find their relationship challenged as a nearby planet threatens to collide into the Earth.

Why excited: Looks like it might be a decent action movie.
Synopsis: A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.

Why excited: Nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year, this foreign film looks incredible in an artsy kind of way.
Synopsis: A brilliant plastic surgeon, haunted by past tragedies, creates a type of synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.

Why excited: Sounds messed up, in a good way.
Synopsis: Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.

Why excited: Jay and Mark Duplass are amazingly talented indie directors with their own style.
Synopsis: When he leaves his house on a banal errand for his mother, Jeff discovers that the universe might be sending him messages about his destiny.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Why excited: The synopsis sounds very intriguing. Seeing parts of the film upside down sounds brilliant.
Synopsis: Tul, a hitman, is shot in the head during an assignment. He wakes up after a three-month coma to find that he sees everything upside down, literally. Then he meets a girl that turns his world even more upside down. Who was trying to kill him in the first place?
There is no trailer for this film yet

Why excited: Why not?
Synopsis: Idiosyncratic, cheeky and uncategorizable, the films of Guy Maddin are testaments to the singular vision of a great contemporary cinema artist, and Keyhole may be his boldest film yet. A surreal indoor odyssey of one man, Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric) struggling to reach his wife (Isabella Rosellini) in her bedroom upstairs, this hypnotic dreamlike journey bewilders and captivates.
There is no trailer for this film yet

Cannes Film Festival is considered one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world and today they announced their lineup for 2011. This year the festival will be held from May 11th through May 22nd with American actor Robert De Niro being The President of the Jury.

Midnight In Paris (director Woody Allen)

The Beaver (director Jodi Foster)
La Conquete (director Xavier Durringer)
The Artist (director Hazanavicius)
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (director Rob Marshall)

The Skin I Live In (director Pedro Almodovar)
L’Apollonide – Souvenirs de la maison close (director Bertrand Bonello)
Hearat Shulayim (director Joseph Cedar)
Pater (director Alain Cavalier)
Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) (director Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Le gamin au vélo (director Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
Le Havre (director Aki Kaurismäki)
Hanezu no Tsuki (director Naomi Kawase)
Sleeping Beauty (director Julia Leigh)
Polisse (director Maïwenn)
The Tree of Life (director Terrence Malick)
La source des femmes (director Radu Mihaileanu)
Ishimei (Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai) (director Takashi Miike)
Habemus Papam (director Nanni Moretti)
We Need to Talk about Kevin (director Lynne Ramsay)
Melancholia (director Lars Von Trier)
Drive (director Nicolas Winding Refn)

Restless (director Gus Van Sant)
Martha Marcy May Marlene (director Sean Durkin)
The Hunter (director Bakur Bakuradze)
Halt auf freier Strecke (director Andreas Dresen)
Hors Satan (director Bruno Dumont)
Les neiges du Kilimandjaro (director Robert Guédiguian)
Skoonheid (director Oliver Hermanus)
The Day He Arrives (director Hong Sangsoo)
Hong Sangsoo (director Cristián Jiménez)
Tatsumi (director Eric Khoo)
Arirang (director Kim Ki-duk)
Et maintenant on va où? (director Nadine Labaki)
Loverboy (director Catalin Mitulescu)
Yellow Sea (director Na Hong-jin)
Miss Bala (dir. Gerardo Naranjo)
Trabalhar cansa (Travailler Fatigue) (directors Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra)
L’exercice de l’Etat (director Pierre Schoeller)
Toomelah (director Ivan Sen)
Oslo, August 31st (director Joachim Trier)

Labrador (director Frederikke Aspöck)
Wu Xia (director Chan Peter Ho-Sun)
Days of Grace (director Everardo Gout)
Le Maitre Des Forges De L’Enfre (director. Rithy Panh)
Michael Petrucciani (director Michael Radford)
Tous Au Larzac (director Christian Rouaud)

There were a few films that received multiple awards at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Drake Doremus’ Like Crazy won the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic as well as a special jury prize for acting by Felicity Jones. Mike Cahill’s Another Earth received two awards, one for special jury prize for dramatic competition and the Alfred P. Sloan prize. Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur also walked away with two awards.

Full list of 2011 Sundance Film Festival winners:

Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic:
Like Crazy

Grand Jury Prize, Documentary:
How To Die In Oregon

World Cinema Jury Prize, Dramatic:
Happy, Happy

World Cinema Jury Prize, Documentary:
Hell and Back Again

Dramatic Audience Award:
Circumstance

Documentary Audience Award:
Buck

World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award:
Kinyarwanda

World Cinema Documentary Audience Award:
Senna

The Best of NEXT Audience Award:
to.get.her

Directing Award, Dramatic:
Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene

Directing Award, Documentary:
Jon Foy, Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles

World Cinema Directing Award, Dramatic:
Paddy Considine, Tyrannosaur

World Cinema Directing Award, Documentary:
James Marsh, Project Nim

Waldo Scott Screenwriting Award:
Another Happy Day

World Cinema Screenwriting Award:
Restoration

Documentary Editing Award:
If a Tree Falls

World Cinema Documentary Editing Award:
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975

Excellence in Cinematography Award, Dramatic:
Pariah

Excellence in Cinematography Award, Documentary:
The Redemption of General Butt Naked

World Cinema Cinematography Award, Dramatic:
All Your Dead Ones

World Cinema Cinematography Award, Documentary:
Hell and Back Again

Special Jury Prize: Dramatic (Acting):
Felicity Jones, Like Crazy

Special Jury Prize: Dramatic:
Another Earth

Special Jury Prize: Documentary:
Being Elmo

World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Documentary
Position Among The Stars

World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Dramatic
Tyrannosaur

Alfred P. Sloan Prizes
Another Earth

Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award:
Cherien Dabis