{"id":10189,"date":"2016-01-19T02:30:32","date_gmt":"2016-01-19T05:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/culturedarm.com\/?p=10189"},"modified":"2016-01-19T03:04:57","modified_gmt":"2016-01-19T06:04:57","slug":"culturedarms-best-of-culture-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturedarm.com\/staging\/5793\/culturedarms-best-of-culture-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Culturedarm’s Best of Culture 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Culturedarm<\/p>\n

Best Film<\/strong><\/p>\n

While it came out in the middle of November in the USA, Birdman <\/em>only received a wide release in the UK at the start of January, extending across Europe over the next couple of months. Despite all the acclaim the film went on to receive – culminating in its Best Picture triumph at the 87th Academy Awards<\/a> – the movie is carried by the real life parallel afforded\u00a0by Michael Keaton’s casting, by the audience’s fondness for Keaton the man, and by the cramped yet tactile\u00a0cinematography of Emmanuel Lubezki. Alejandro G. I\u00f1\u00e1rritu might have\u00a0won the Oscar for Best Director, but his remains a patchy career – Javier Bardem was captivating in Biutiful<\/em>, but Babel<\/em> before that was an atrocious drag – and there is little in Birdman<\/em> in the way of characterisation or humour, while the\u00a0narrative arc is laboured and encodes\u00a0only facile critiques of fame, the roles and responsibilities\u00a0of art criticism, and our insatiable desire\u00a0for the intrusion of the real into fictive modes.\u00a0Our sense of Michael Keaton, already in flight as we settle down in our seats, is left to supply the psychological depth.<\/p>\n

Birdman<\/em> is still a good film, and one of the best I saw in 2015 – but then I didn’t see that many. Charlize Theron is an acting powerhouse, capable of imbuing her roles with real intrigue and a combustible presence,\u00a0and in Mad Max: Fury<\/em> Road<\/em> her Furiosa possesses dignity and strength,\u00a0with a backstory that makes you want to know more. Furiosa’s escape alongside the Wives feels vital, empowering, and fun, but the villains of the piece are commonplace and the chase and fight sequences somehow locked in, gesturing towards a rhythmic, punkish anarchy but proving visually repetitive, and with little at stake.<\/p>\n

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part Two<\/em> was a thoroughly satisfying conclusion to the saga of Katniss Everdeen, which\u00a0managed to provide epic and meaningful fight sequences while staying true to the damper patterns, the lulls and quiet moments of life. While the series has received criticism for splitting up Suzanne Collins’ last book, it is easy to imagine the twist at the end of Mockingjay – Part Two<\/em>\u00a0falling flat without the time spent on Julianne Moore’s Alma Coyne in the earlier picture. And even stretched over four films, The Hunger Games<\/em> still feels concise compared to other sci-fi and fantasy blockbuster series.<\/p>\n

But the best film of the year was Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, a picaresque based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon, with Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello a part-time private investigator in a hazy, drug-fuelled, paranoid Los Angeles County beach town. The film was released at the end of January in the UK. Joaquin Phoenix takes the lead role, at the head of a brilliant ensemble cast which includes Katherine Waterston, Josh Brolin, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Benicio del Toro, Jena Malone, and Joanna Newsom. And while evocative milieus, wrought through a broad palette of cinema history, are typical of the director’s work, in this intimate depiction of California in 1970 more than ever Anderson has conjured a time and a place for us to breathe in: Inherent Vice<\/em> is a magical experience, wonderfully alive, and full of slapstick and obscure romance.<\/p>\n

Of the numerous films released over the course of the year that I haven’t got round to seeing yet, I’m especially curious with regards to Carol<\/em>, starring Cate Blanchett, and marking Todd Haynes’ first time directing another person’s script; Arabian Nights<\/em>, based on the One Thousand and One Nights<\/em>, and directed by Miguel Gomes in a collage over three parts and six hours; The Assassin<\/em>, a martial arts film which won Taiwan’s Hou Hsiao-Hsien the award for Best Director at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival; and Tangerine<\/em>, the drama-comedy of a transgender sex worker, which was shot solely on\u00a0the iPhone 5s.<\/p>\n