Top 10 Best Films of 2011
2011 was a pretty goddamn incredible year for movies. We had lots of experimentation with some films showing us things we’ve never seen done with film before.
Here are my top 10 Favorite Films of 2011, at the end of 2011*.
*this list could possibly change as I see more and more films from the year.
10.
With The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo David Fincher returned to his roots with this gritty, disturbing thriller using techniques that made Se7en such a masterpiece. Rooney Mara also comes out of nowhere with one of the best performances of the year. This film is visually stylish and incredibly intense.
9.
We Need to Talk About Kevin is absolutely chilling. The story focuses on the mother of a child who’s committed a school massacre, played brilliantly by Tilda Swinton. The film switches back and forth between the aftermath of the killing and the childhood of Kevin. Wonderfully edited and shot, this is a must-see film.
8.
The Artist certainly lived up to all the expectations and hype I had considering how much praise it has been getting. I laughed, I cried, I smiled, I cheered. It’s a real crowd pleaser but it also happens to be one of the most creative films of the year. The very idea of making a full on silent film in the year 2011 is very bold indeed.
7.
Shame took me into a world and a mindset I’ve never visited with cinema before: into the world of sex-addiction. Its absolutely harrowing, beautifully shot and with two amazing lead performances to boot.
6.
And the worst date movie of 2011 goes to: The Skin I Live In. A freakish, nightmarish revenge tale from Pedro Almodovar, this film really gets under your skin. I won’t say anything about the story because it’s best going into this film completely void of any knowledge of the plot but I will say that its gorgeously stylized and incredibly disturbing.
5.
Take Shelter is the 2nd directorial effort of indie filmmaker Jeff Nichols and it proved to be one of the most intelligent, creepy and intense films of the year. Michael Shannon (whose performance in this is Oscar worthy) plays a man who is haunted by visions and dreams of an earth shattering storm approaching which leads him to build a tornado shelter to protect his family. But his new behavior starts to destroy all of his personal relationships. It’s also shot the way Terrence Malick would shoot a horror film.
4.
Melancholia is Lars von Trier’s most personal and most beautifully shot film. It’s a relationship drama about two sisters who have to deal with the fact that a planet is hurtling toward the earth and will soon destroy everything. Kristen Dunst is incredible as well as the entire cast of the film and we also see Von Trier’s typical depressing yet beautiful atmosphere. Proof that he is still Europe’s best director.
3.
Where the hell did this film come from? A Separation, a Iranian drama written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, had a fucking stellar cast and one of the best screenplays I’ve ever seen in a film. The acting and dialogue all felt so fucking realistic that the entire time I felt like a fly on the wall of these people’s lives. The content of the film felt like Bergman mixed with Hitchcock mixed with Kieslowski. Don’t look up the plot, its best going in completely blind to what’s about to unfold in front of you. This was one of the most unexpected masterpieces I’ve seen in years.
2.
Drive is among the most violent films I’ve ever seen in my life. I say that due to the context of the violence and not what the violence actually shows (yet it does show quite a lot) and yet none of the violence feels gratuitous or unnecessary. The film is a beautifully shot romance film that is told through the thriller genre. This leads to some incredible action scenes mixed with a 100% convincing romance. Truly incredible and unexpected with a badass soundtrack to boot.
1.
I knew this film would be a masterpiece from the moment I saw the trailer in theaters in front of Black Swan. Malick did not disappoint. With The Tree of Life, he not only has given us his magnum opus and the best film of the year, he has also given us one of the greatest films of all time. It is the only actually important film to come out in decades and, in my opinion, the best shot color film of all time. I honestly do not know how to describe a film that is about everything. It is an absolute masterpiece and one of those films that will be studied and admired for years to come.
Honorable mentions:
Midnight in Paris, Hugo, Beginners, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, The Muppets, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Attack the Block, A Dangerous Method, Carnage, Jane Eyre, The Descendants, Another Earth, 50/50
Films I have yet to see: The Turin Horse, Moneyball,
