My top 20 movies of the year... so far (part #1)

Blimey, those six months just sped by, didn't they? And with them lots of very, very good films. I don't know whether we've had a stone-cold classic yet but with the likes of Todd Haynes' Carol, Michael Fassbender starring in Macbeth, and Crimson Peak from Guillermo del Toro scheduled for later in the year, there's still plenty to look forward to in 2015. Of all the films I've seen there is only one I can honestly say I hated – American Sniper – but that was more about its lousy politics than Clint Eastwood's skill as a director or the merits of Bradley Cooper as an actor. 

Anyway, the rules here are simple: all films under consideration had to have had a UK cinema release between January 1 and June 30 2015 (to prevent moans of 'But surely that was out last year', I've even included each film's official UK release date, courtesy of launchingfilms.com). No straight to Netflix/Amazon Prime or straight to DVD/Blu-ray movies were considered (sorry, Starry Eyes). 

Not being a professional critic, there are dozens of films I've yet to catch up on that have been released in the last six months (The Falling, White God, and Slow West to name but three) but of those I've seen – 59 as of this morning – these will be my 20 21 favourites. Let's start with numbers 20-11, shall we?

=20. Selma
(Director: Ava DuVernay UK release date: February 6)
The fact David Oyelowo wasn't nominated for an Oscar for his astonishing portrayal of Martin Luther King still sticks in the craw. The rest of this civil rights drama doesn't quite hit the heights of the British actor's performance but is powerful, heartfelt stuff nevertheless.

=20. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
(Director: Roy Andersson UK release date: April 24)
Bizarre comedy following the antics of two dour salesmen as they attempt to flog a range of hopeless novelty items. There isn't a coherent plot as such, just a string of loosely connected sketches each commenting on some aspect of human existence. Gloriously odd.

19. Blind
(Director: Eskil Vogt UK release date: March 27)
Fantasy and reality merge in this extraordinary Swedish film from a first-time writer/director about a young blind woman struggling to come to terms with isolation and paranoia. Boasts a great central performance from Ellen Dorrit Petersen (below)

18. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
(Director: David Zellner UK release date: February 20)
Terrific but elliptical drama charting a young Japanese woman’s quest to find the briefcase full of cash buried by Steve Buscemi’s character in the movie Fargo. Is the titular Kumiko mentally ill or merely so alienated from modern life that taking refuge in fantasy is her only option? 

17. Inherent Vice
(Director: Paul Thomas Anderson UK release date: January 30)
Vague and sprawling, this adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s similarly opaque novel features Joaquin Phoenix at the top of his game. Perhaps a difficult film to truly love but it is nevertheless enormous fun.

16. Jauja
(Director: Lisandro Alonso UK release date: April 10)
A weird and woozy ‘western’ set in the wilds of 19th Century Patagonia and starring Viggo Mortensen (below) as a Danish engineer on a quest to find his missing daughter. I’d be surprised if I saw a more visually stunning movie all year.

15. Wild
(Director: Jean-Marc Vallée UK release date: January 16)
Reese Witherspoon is terrific as an emotionally shattered young woman hiking a thousand miles up America's west coast in a bid to come to terms with her mother's death and the downward spiral it has plunged her into.

14. Foxcatcher
(Director: Bennett Miller UK release date: January 9)
Haunting adaptation of a true story featuring superb performances from a strong cast. Steve Carell is creepiness personified as John E du Pont, the unstable multi-millionaire who founds a wrestling academy to train US Olympic hopefuls. Suffice to say, it doesn’t end well...

13. Wild Tales
(Director: Damián Szifrón UK release date: March 27)
Argentine portmanteau featuring six stories about rage and vengeance. The final sequence centring on the meltdown of a couple’s relationship at their wedding (below) is a tour de force of bleak humour and brutal emotion.

12. The Duke of Burgundy
(Director: Peter Strickland UK release date: February 20)
BDSM and lepidoptery (the study of butterflies and moths) make strange but beguiling bedfellows in this eccentric and gorgeous lesbian relationship drama. Not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.

11. Mad Max: Fury Road 
(Director: George Miller UK release date: May 15)
Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy, pictured at the top of the page) returns to the post-apocalyptic Aussie badlands in a movie for which the term high-octane was surely invented. Charlize Theron’s badass Imperator Furiosa steals the film out from under him though.

Numbers 10-1 coming later in the week...

TV Movie Picks (UK): Monday, April 27 - Sunday, May 3

CABLE & SATELLITE: Ryan Reynolds’ presence in a movie I’m watching is usually about as welcome as finding a UKIP canvasser at my door or a lump on one of my testicles. Mercifully, Buried (22:55, Thursday, ITV4) is an exception to the rule because Reynolds (an actor whose eyes are so close together he’s practically a cyclops) is actually pretty good in it. Ryclops plays Paul Conroy, a US truck driver working in Iraq. After an attack by a group of locals (possibly upset their country has been illegally invaded and lots of their friends and family killed) he wakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. Armed with only a lighter, a mobile phone and some glow sticks (in case he’s thinking about putting on a rave presumably), Paul embarks on a race against time to escape his wooden death trap. Like last year’s Locke, Rodrigo Cortes' film is mostly a one-hander and Reynolds rises to that challenge impressively. He sells his character’s awful predicament convincingly and sympathetically, while the director cranks up the tension and claustrophobia to unbearable levels. It’s a simple but incredibly effective film and one that you’ll come away from feeling quite drained. 

Five more...
Basket Case (21:00, Tonight, Horror Channel) Hilariously unpleasant horror/comedy that never fails to make me laugh. 
Wild Things (23:25, Wednesday, Film4) Twisty-turny bad-girl thriller notable only for the swimming pool scene in which Denise Richards and Neve Campbell snog. Saucy! 
Downfall (22:00, Thursday, BBC4) German film chronicling the final days of Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich. Bruno Ganz is mesmerising as the fallen Führer. 
The Football Factory (23:10, Thursday, Film4) Danny Dyer punches some geezers in the canister after they mug him off. Or something. 
Solaris (21:00, Sunday, Syfy) George Clooney and Natasha McElhone star in Steven Soderbergh’s atmospheric take on Stanisław Lem’s 1961 sci-fi novel. 

TERRESTRIAL: As a fan of the comic-book series it is based upon, I really wanted to enjoy the heck out of Dredd (22:00, Saturday, Channel 4). Unfortunately, it’s rather a disappointment. In the long-running and frequently excellent Judge Dredd strip in 2000AD, the future lawman’s stomping ground is Mega-City One and it’s one of the most perfectly realised future dystopias in all sci-fi, never mind graphic novels. In fact, you could easily argue the city is the series’ most important “character”. The film – mostly for budgetary reasons, I imagine – eschews much of what makes the Meg such a gleefully nightmarish place; the insane crush of chronic over-population, the vast sprawling maze of its pedways, city blocks and zoomtubes, the kind of extreme crime and poverty only an unholy alliance of rampant capitalism and state fascism could ever produce. Dredd – scripted by 28 Days Later scribe Alex Garland – also forgets to pack a sense of humour and there’s little evidence of the blistering satirical edge the comic strip is famous for. What you’re left with is a fairly standard action film which sees the titular lawman (Karl Urban) and sidekick Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) battle their way through a criminal-packed apartment block to reach a disfigured drug dealer called Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) on the top floor. It’s like The Raid with less interesting fight scenes although Urban and Thirlby are at least good value. 

Five more... Unforgiven (23:00, Tonight, Channel 5) Clint Eastwood directed and starred in this superlative western long before he started talking to empty chairs and making right-wing horseshit like American Sniper. 
Ghost Town (23:50, Tuesday, BBC1) Ricky Gervais is a misanthropic dentist who can see the spirits of the dead in a passable if low-key comedy. 
Rushmore (02:20, Wednesday, Channel 4) Tycoon Bill Murray and geeky student Jason Schwartzman become love rivals in one of Wes Anderson’s best films. 
Senna (22:40, Friday, ITV) Powerful documentary about the life and death of triple Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna. 
Cop Land (00:15, Friday, Channel 4) Sylvester Stallone is surprisingly great as the small-town sheriff taking on police corruption in James Mangold’s underrated drama. 

VIEW ON DEMAND (VOD): I reviewed The Duke of Burgundy (various streaming services) when it enjoyed a brief dalliance with cinemas a few months back but want to mention it again now it’s available on VOD because it’s shaping up to be one of my favourite films of the year. Cynthia (played by Borgen’s Sidse Babett Knudsen) and Evelyn (Chiara D’anna) are lovers with a penchant for a bit of the old S&M. They live in luxurious surroundings in an unnamed bit of Europe that seems to contain no men. Betwixt amorous assignations the pair attends lectures on lepidoptery, the study of butterflies and moths. It’s all very peculiar, as you’d perhaps expect from Peter Strickland, the director of Berberian Sound Studio, but also warm, funny, mischievous and playful. The relationship between the two women is beautifully told – the sub/dom element defines their relationship to a certain extent but also becomes a bone of contention between them – and the film exudes an odd charm that is difficult to resist. All in all, it’s 50 Shades of Grey for people with a sense of humour and a soul. 

Five more...
Cobain: Montage of Heck (VSS) Intriguing documentary about the life and times of the late Nirvana frontman from director Brett Morgan (The Kid Stays in the Picture).
The Knife That Killed Me (VSS) Experimental British drama about a dying boy looking back over the events that led to his fatal stabbing. 
I Am Ali (Netflix, from Tuesday) Legendary boxing champ Muhammad Ali’s life story told by his nearest and dearest. 
The Emperor’s New Clothes (VSS) Russell Brand channels Mark Thomas as he investigates increasing inequality in the UK in a documentary directed by Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, 9 Songs). Also in cinemas. 
Canopy (VSS) An Aussie fighter pilot is shot down in Singapore during WWII and must make his way to safety through a dangerous jungle in this taut, minimalist drama.

Please note: Films starting after midnight are always considered part of the previous day's schedule, e.g. Cop Land begins at 00:15 - technically Saturday morning - but is still part of Friday's listings. All times in 24-hour clock.

The Duke of Burgundy: An S&M love story to perplex and beguile

Review

The Duke of Burgundy

Director: Peter Strickland

Starring: Sidse Babett Knudsen, Chiara D’anna

Running time: 104mins

Writer/director Strickland’s follow-up to Berberian Sound Studio is an S&M love story done in the style of low-budget ’70s Euro smut – dream-like, soft focus, lesbians (obviously), all a bit kinky. The sort of thing you’d have, ahem, accidentally stumbled across on the sparsely-stocked shelves of a dodgy corner shop 25 years ago. Unlike the majority of ’70s Euro smut, however, the Duke of Burgundy is full of atmosphere, humour and oddness, looks stunning and contains no nudity whatsoever.

Knudsen (who you’ll immediately recognise as the Danish Prime Minister from Borgen) is Cynthia, Berberian’s D’anna her partner Evelyn. The pair lives in opulent surroundings in an unnamed bit of Europe and regularly role-plays a tightly-scripted scenario in which Cynthia is a haughty lady of the manor, Evelyn her put upon house maid. Evelyn fails to do her chores in a timely manner, Cynthia “punishes” her. Despite the S&M styling – complete with eye-catching, tight-fitting outfits – there’s a cosiness to their unconventional relationship which Strickland himself has even compared to ’70s sitcom Terry and June.

The rituals and role-play are just the way the pair shows their love for each other although it quickly becomes clear their relationship is in something of a slump. Cynthia is less enthusiastic about the whole dom/sub situation than Evelyn – she seems to crave something a little more “straightforward”. Things come to a head when the former puts her back out and insists on wearing unflattering pyjamas rather than one of the many figure-squeezing ensembles her lover has bought for her. The small power struggles that go on within their partnership are one of the film’s most satisfying elements with the pendulum of control first swinging one way then the other.

Evelyn and Cynthia seemingly live in a world (or maybe just a country, region or town) from which men are totally absent, where their lifestyle is the norm and discussing the purchase of a “human toilet” is about as controversial as a trip to Lidl.

To heap eccentricity upon eccentricity, the pair’s main area of interest beyond each other is lepidoptery – the study of butterflies and moths. Cynthia is an expert in the field, her lover a keen amateur. They regularly travel to a local institute and sit in an audience made up entirely of women (apart from a couple of mischievously – and hilariously – placed mannequins) listening to lectures about the subject. It’s all rather baffling and you could spend days trying to work out the significance of a motif that runs throughout the film. Perhaps it speaks to the fragility of the pair’s relationship and even predicts its end – the titular Duke of Burgundy being a butterfly found in the UK, whose numbers are in sharp decline. Or maybe Cynthia and Evelyn’s partnership is simply changing; in a kind of chrysalis state, waiting to emerge as something new and different.

The film’s wilful strangeness shouldn’t disguise the fact it’s also very funny. Knudsen – a comedy veteran in her native Denmark – and D’anna are actually an entirely believable couple and much of the humour springs from the nuances and niggles of their relationship. There’s a great moment when Cynthia accuses Evelyn of cleaning another woman’s leather boots that cleverly and amusingly subverts every on-screen row about unfaithfulness you’ve ever seen.

Further, British director Strickland’s third movie is a very seductive one and not just because of its sexual content. Images, scenes and lines continue to flit about your head for days after you first see it (perhaps that’s where the lepidoptery motif comes in). In fact, my memory of the film might now actually be better than the picture itself. I’m smiling just thinking about the non-sequitur sight of the mannequins in the lecture room, and the credit for the fictional perfume “Je Suis Gizella” at the start of the movie. There’s an element of joyful mucking about in play here that is hard to resist.

Some would dismiss the Duke of Burgundy – and Strickland’s films in general – as painfully pretentious and wilfully confusing, but they’re almost certainly the same sort of imbecile who walked out of Inherent Vice then boasted about it on Twitter. If you allow yourself to step over the threshold into Cynthia and Evelyn’s strange embrace you’ll quickly find yourself smitten. We can even agree a safe word if it all gets too much.

Rating: WWWW

The Duke of Burgundy is available now on VOD, and is also in select cinemas

Ratings

WWWW = Wonderful

WWW = Worthy

WW = Watchable

W = Woeful