In choosing the best unrecognized films of 2013, we decided to match the Academy and nominate 9 deserving features. We've picked everything from comedies to thrillers, indie dramas to documentaries. Without further ado, here are our favorite un-nominated movies of the past twelve months:
The sometimes unpleasant truth about real relationships is put on full display in Richard Linklater's magnificent "Before MIdnight". Featuring career-best work from Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, this honest vignette of modern love will hypnotize and astound you. Linklater's long takes and glamorless approach makes you feel as though you are peering in through the window of real lives. In a way, you are. - Nicholas DeNitto
The Academy has never recognized a documentary in its Best Picture field, but if animated features and foreign films are eligible even though they have their own categories, why not docs? This stunningly affecting film's snub in the Best Documentary category was particularly egregious. If the point of film as an art form is to affect hearts and shape minds, then no doc was more successful this year than "Blackfish". The film plays like a captivating thriller, telling the story of one orca's killing of a trainer, and using that violent act to trace the ugly history of orca captivity and the effect that captivity has on the animals and the people who work with them. It's a story that could easily pass for a cynical Hollywood drama about corrupt corporations, and it's all the more chilling for being 100% true. - Jefferson Grubbs
Enchanting, beautiful, and tragic, "Blue Is The Warmest Color" is a rare coming-of-age film that doesn't hide behind Hollywood niceties. Stars Adèle Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux share intense chemistry and form a bond that feels so real you can't help but attach your heart and soul to them. Despite clocking in at three hours, you're never going to want "Blue" to end. This is a brilliant, sexy film that will challenge you in a way that typical cinema won't dare. - Nicholas DeNitto
A movie any millennial will be able to identify with, "Frances Ha" excels at painful realism without resorting to the self-deprecating humor that other products of Generation Y resort to. There are bad decisions, falls, and tears. But there's also an underlying sense of hope to Noah Baumbach's ode to twentysomethings that sets it apart. Frances may not know where she's headed yet, but she's going to figure it out someday. In the meantime, she can fake-fight in Central Park, work as a counselor at her alma mater, and spin her wheels at a dead-end job -- and that's okay because it all completes the portrait of this dynamic, tentative, scared, optimistic young woman. - Jefferson Grubbs
Freshman director Ryan Coogler has a very promising career if he can put out more films the same quality as "Fruitvale Station". This tender account of the last day of Oscar Grant is anchored by Coogler's affectionate treatment of the material without going for easy sympathy. Michael B. Jordan is an absolute revelation as Grant, cementing him as one of the greatest young actors working today. With a handful of terrific performances, a flawed-yet-sympathetic protagonist, and the emotional punch to back it up, "Fruitvale Station" is a complete winner. - Nicholas DeNitto
"I don't see a lot of money here." That's how one manager sums up his opinion of the titular folk musician. Those same words could be applied to the movie as a whole. Those of us who loved the Coen Brothers' entertaining but admittedly bleak film were stung to see it virtually ignored by the Academy -- but we shouldn't have been surprised. Is it really shocking that a film about an artist left out in the cold after refusing to abandon his integrity and go mainstream was, well, left out in the cold? Those willing to look past the film's melancholy tone will be rewarded with a meticulously crafted and emotionally satisfying work of art. A sepia-toned "Odyssey", Llewyn's journey is full of rich themes, colorful characters, daunting obstacles and haunting music. - Jefferson Grubbs
"Kill Your Darlings" proves that beginnings can be both messy and exhilarating. From first-time director John Krokidas, featuring a star-making turn from newcomer Dane DeHaan, about the first steps of the Beat movement, "Darlings" is a jazzy, frenetic, unpredictable thrill ride. Daniel Radcliffe continues to distance himself from his Harry Potter days as the nebbishy, gay Allen Ginsberg. But it's DeHaan who steals the show as the seductive, unbalanced murderer Lucien Carr. It's the kind of biopic that focuses on one formative period in a person's life as a way of illuminating their character rather than try to tell their whole life story in two hours. No one will walk away from "Darlings" feeling like a Ginsberg expert, but audiences will feel like they've experienced his essence distilled into cinematic form. - Jefferson Grubbs
Hands down the most excruciating two-and-a-half hours spent in a movie theater last year, "Prisoners" tells the gut-wrenching story of two kidnapped girls and the father who will go to any lengths necessary to find them. Hugh Jackman burns through the screen with his unbridled rage and Jake Gyllenhaal has never been better as the icy, focused Detective Loki. Drab cinematography, a tense score and ominously still camerawork create an oppressive atmosphere of hopelessness that permeates every frame. "Prisoners" will shake average moviegoers to the core, but it should come with a special warning label attached for those with young children of their own at home. - Jefferson Grubbs
Not everything needs to be so serious all the time, and that's where "Saving Mr. Banks" excels. Despite tackling some heavy subjects like alcoholism, poverty, and generally unpleasant people, there's a dainty sense of whimsy present throughout this old-fashioned Disney flick. Emma Thompson embodies the bitterness of "Mary Poppins" author PL Travers, while finding tenderness that was brought out by none other than Walt Disney (played wonderfully by Tom Hanks). This is a vintage Disney movie that will tug on your heartstrings, make you laugh, and ultimately leave you smiling from ear to ear. - Nicholas DeNitto
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