Few directors challenged the medium of film this year the same way as Shane Carruth. His haunting "Upstream Color" was a beautiful example of how film can be manipulated to become something far above convention. A vague story about a man and woman whose lives are ruined after giving away their possessions under hypnosis, Carruth doesn't spoon feed us a single concept. Images and sounds flow into each other seemingly at random, but with a mysterious clarity to them. This movie is impossible to pitch on paper, but the results are undeniable. Carruth has created one of the most phenomenal pieces of artistic expression of the year. - Nicholas DeNitto
The grey skies over NYC's Greenwich Village bleed into melancholy characters in the Coen Brothers marvelous "Inside Llewyn Davis". This somber, musical odyssey deftly walks the line between heartbreaking and funny, without either of them dogging for lead position. The two simply exist together in harmony, creating a meditative, lived-in world that the Coens fill with their great characters. - Nicholas DeNitto
Much credit has been given to Jonze for his masterful screenplay for "Her", the story of a lonely writer falling in love with his artificially intelligent operating system. But the words would never have been brought to such vivid life without his equally masterful direction. The two-hour film moves at a languid pace that perfectly captures the melancholy lifestyle of its protagonist. If the film had moved any faster, it would have ruined the subdued tone; but if it had been any longer, it may have tipped into monotony (a lesson Scorsese could have learned this year). As it is, Jonze struck a perfect balance, allowing his words plenty of room to breathe without ever risking boredom. And the artistic decisions made by the director -- the near-future set design, the slightly off-kilter costumes, the muted color palette -- all lend themselves perfectly to his vision of a world that is recognizably ours, and yet not...or at least, not yet. In Jonze's capable hands, he manages to turn an unconventional love story into a slightly fanciful and incredibly timely parable of our increasingly technology-obsessed age. - Jefferson Grubbs
Romantic films tend to be rather dry, so how is it that "Blue is the Warmest Color", a three-hour long, French-language romance is so incredible? Much of it is in the performances, but those are also heavily reliant on the direction of Abtellatif Kechiche. Kechiche makes us fall in love with these characters so quickly and deeply that three hours doesn't feel like long enough to be with them. We want to see where they go after the credits roll, and that's a sign of incredible direction. Kechiche crafted a thoughtful, beautiful, sexy, and sad story and wasn't afraid to show us the intimacy and agony that comes with love. - Nicholas DeNitto
Bare, skeletal trees scratching an overcast sky the color of steel. Empty-looking houses lining snow-drenched streets. A rundown motorhome. An abandoned apartment. These are just some of the images Villeneuve uses to conjure up the grim ugliness that lurks just beneath the surface of suburbia. The director of the Oscar-nominated foreign fim "Incendies" knows how to use imagery and camerawork to maxime tension. As the two-and-a-half hours of "Prisoners" wear on, the heavy sky becomes increasingly oppressive. The maddeningly still camera lingers in dark hallways and stares dispassionately across backyards. Villeneuve sadistically exploits our expectations of the thriller genre, refusing to indulge our desire for release. Instead he relentlessly ratchets up the pressure on his characters and on his audience, refusing to let anyone distance themselves from the proceedings. It's as though he's saying that by watching his film, we've become complicit in its events -- just like Keller's neighbors are complicit in his crimes by not reporting them. In submitting ourselves to Villeneuve's bleak film, we've allowed him to show us some ugly truths about human nature. And he won't let us go until he's done. - Jefferson Grubbs
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