I easily watch more new movies in December than any other month in the year. It’s a race to see what movies might end up on my year-end list and what movies I can start predicting for Oscar nominations.
Now both of those events have passed, and the urgency is gone. Still there are movies like “A Touch of Sin,” “The Past,” “Wadjda,” “At Berkeley,” “The Great Beauty,” “Bastards” and “The Wind Rises” that are beyond where I can easily access them (so maybe expect a part two to this post), but for those gaps that seemed most pressing, I finally amended them.
Rather than suffer through a full review for each long after the moment has passed, here are some capsule thoughts on recent 2013 movies I felt needed to be seen before they got lost in next year’s shuffle.
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints – 3 ½ stars
Though featuring shots that seem lifted from “Badlands” and a story that would appear to chronicle that film’s aftermath, “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” isn’t quite Terence Malick-lite. David Lowery’s film details the end of jailbirds Bob and Ruth, but not their sordid beginning. Lowery instead explores the will of Bob to escape from prison and return to his wife and daughter he’s never met and Ruth’s determination to start anew. Bradford Young’s cinematography evokes the rustic earth tones present in Malick’s best and worst while Daniel Hart’s music channels Nick Cave with rhythmic pattering and trembling strings. But Lowery separates the spiritual poetry and narrated prose from the imagery, making this strictly a film about responsibility and parenting, establishing the close-knit tension from how seemingly close the characters are to accomplishing what they must. Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck only share a handful of scenes, but their chemistry is in the unspeakable ether. Affleck has a simple, matter of fact presentation of his jailbreak that categorizes the whole movie’s tender mystique and close to the bone authenticity. “Sir, I used to be the devil, and now, I’m just a man.”
The East – 3 stars
Social hacktivism as portrayed in “The East” can make for a compelling thriller, but what it pulls from the headlines is unspecific, misdirected outrage about the environment and corporations, opting instead for a film that pulls its strings on moral grounds. Brit Marling plays a private eye agent assigned to infiltrate the eco-terrorist group The East, uncovering along the way the deep-rooted complications of these individuals and their identity crises. Some of the more curious habits of The East, like group bathing, a weird game of spin the bottle and dining while wearing straitjackets, are mostly forgotten and normalized as the film goes on, and the more inventive, surreal aspects of the film seem like a ruse. Marling as a screenwriter attained more nuance, romantic chemistry and convincing melodrama when paired with Mike Cahill on “Another Earth.”
Short Term 12 – 4 stars
“This how it’s gonna be?” A teenager asks this as he stares down a water gun being pointed in his face. Holding it is Grace, a counselor and supervisor at Short Term 12, a temporary home for troubled and “under privileged youth.” That’s a term that doesn’t go over well with the nearly 18 Marcus. He’s got harder eyes than most, and with just a few looks you fear the life he’ll lead as soon as he’s left this place’s small safety net, hoping this is not “how it’s gonna be.” Brie Larson, who seems just a movie away from Jennifer Lawrence level breakout stardom, plays Grace with brilliant depth, revealing the danger just underneath her tough, impenetrable surface when a smarmy, misanthropic teen girl named Jayden rekindles some of Grace’s old memories. Destin Cretton’s film is tense, on edge and capable of exploding in spontaneous melodrama and emotion all at once, but also like the kids at its center, it has a quiet dignity and beauty in the day-to-day activities of the Short Term 12 home. We see it in Marcus’s harrowingly honest rap and Jayden’s tragically simple kids story. This is one of the best films of 2013.
To the Wonder – 2 stars
Too much of the criticism levied at “To the Wonder” may actually have been attacks on “The Tree of Life,” and while these two films are notably different, the tone and the presentation seems in the same place. Terence Malick is quite literally dancing around ideas with this frustratingly oblique rumination on finding and losing love, with characters constantly frolicking through Oklahoma prairies with arms spread wide and ethereal sweet nothings whispered over the top. “To the Wonder” is in actuality a more melancholy reflection on God than its predecessor, examining how people can grow apart and even the uglier aspects of suburban Americana. The mood changes on a dime with barely an uptick in style, and it creates a sensation that is all too delicate, tender and forbidden to feel anything beyond manufactured and cloying.