15. Ida (Dir. Pawel Pawlikowski)
Pawel Pawlikowski returns to his Polish roots with this swooning, sad story of a young nun who learns she is Jewish. Gorgeous cinematography evokes the complex tightrope of emotions felt by the protagonist as well as the self-confining nature of her aunt (played beautifully and beguilingly by Agata Kulesza, who deserved an Oscar nomination). It’s an intriguing commentary on religion, but more so a heartbreaking parable about order and adolescence.
14. Nymphomaniac (Dir. Lars von Trier)
Possibly the unsexiest movie made about sex, Lars von Trier subverts expectations of erotica (among other things) with this divisive but near-perfect five-and-a-half hour opus. Charlotte Gainsbourg proves she is at her best with the Danish auteur, masterfully playing an externally and intuitively bruised woman finding sole satisfaction in life through physical contact. It’s surprisingly humorous before taking fiercely dark turns into the juxtaposition of hungry bodies and empty souls.
13. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (Dir. Ana Lily Amirpour)
An explosive directorial debut, A Girl Walks Home At Night is as entrancing as it is shocking. Set in a perpetually nocturnal Iran, a young woman gets by through solitude, music, and bloodsucking – literally. Gorgeous photography and an excellent soundtrack (seriously, it features perhaps the best and most pivotal music moment of 2014) bolster this romantically violent, or violently romantic, drama that touches upon everything from love to female empowerment to vampires. Strange, dazzling, and wonderful.
12. Night Moves (Dir. Kelly Reichardt)
A nightmare amidst the Pacific Northwest, Kelly Reichardt’s best and most sharply observed film yet (which is saying something) is a moral saga featuring a trifecta of thorny characters. Dakota Fanning stuns as a young woman crossed between fervent ferocity and recklessness, while Jesse Eisenberg guilts both himself and her in the aftermath of their bombing of a nearby dam. It’s “Crime and Punishment” by way of Hitchcock, but Reichardt has a still, quiet, yet gripping voice of her own.
11. The Double (Dir. Richard Ayoade)
Jesse Eisenberg is clearly having a hell of a year, duplicating himself into two great films just as he’s done in The Double. Richard Ayoade first came onto the directorial scene with the charming Submarine, but The Double is more of a fun follow-up – it’s a stylish and stinging knockout. Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska are terrific in this doppleganging mystery featuring excellent camera tricks, nightmarish lighting, and a bureaucratic world where nothing is what it seems. It’s intoxicating.
Cinemaniac 