Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Ten Best Films' 2013 Mini-Poll

1. Before Midnight (Richard Linklater)
73 points (LB, MA, ML, PK, SB)
2. Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
72 points (AZ, KW, LB, PK, SB)
3. The Grandmaster (Wong Kar-wai)
70 points (KW, LB, MA, ML)
4. The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino)
68 points (KW, LB, MA, ML)
5. A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke)
67 points (KW, LB, MA, RS)
6. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen)
64 points (AZ, KW, MS, SB)
7. Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach, 2012)
60 points (AZ, LB, MS, PK)
8. Leviathan (Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, 2012)
52 points (LB, MA, RS)
9. Her (Spike Jonze)
50 points (KW, MS, PK)
10. Side Effects (Steven Soderbergh)
39 points (AZ, ML, SB)

Runners-up: The Past (Asghar Farhadi) - 35 points (AZ, PK), Upstream Color (Shane Carruth) - 33 points (AZ, SB), Nebraska (Alexander Payne) - 31.5 points (MH, PK), Captain Phillips (Paul Greengrass) - 29 points (MS, SB), Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine, 2012) - 28 points (LB, SB), Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley, 2012) - 26 points (KW, MS), To the Wonder (Terrence Malick, 2012) - 26 points (MA, RS). 

Our annual indulgence - one more very unnecessary, unscientific year-end film poll with little more reason for existing than the fact that it allows old NYU friends to re-connect around the holidays - produced a surprising, but appropriate result in its sixth official incarnation: the latest in one of the art form's great, multi-part inscriptions of a long-term relationship, Richard Linklater's Before Midnight. The Linklater film was one of only two pictures to be cited by at least half of our voters, with Alfonso Cuarón's 3-D blockbuster Gravity finishing second, a single vote behind.The Grandmaster, The Great Beauty, A Touch of Sin and 12 Years a Slave - excellent choices all - round out those films that met the forty percent threshold of our admittedly small (or 'mini') body.

Contributors' Key: AZ - Alberto Zambenedetti (Ten Best Films), KW - Karen Wang, LB - Lisa K. Broad (Tativille), MA - Michael J. Anderson (Tativille), MH - Matt Hauske, ML - Mike Lyon, MS - Matt Singer, PK - Pamela Kerpius, RS - R. Emmet Sweeney (Ten Best Films), SB - Soren Bailey (Ten Best Films).

1 comment:

Peter said...

My favourites films of the year were Neil Jordan's "Byzantium", Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine" and Stephen Frears' "Philomena".