Top 5 Great Films I Don't Want to See Again

5. Black Swan 

(Darren Aronofsky, 2010)

It's hard to say exactly why this makes the list, but it just does. There's something haunting about this one.

4. Chained
(Jennifer Chambers Lynch, 2012)

David Lynch's daughter certainly inherited some of the directorial chops from her Dad, but she has a different vision that isn't necessarily bad... just different. Vincent D'Onofrio is good (like always), and also more warped than his serial killer character in the under-rated The Cell.

3. Requiem for a Dream 
(Darren Aronofsky, 2000)

A film likely to be on most people's lists. A film that can't be UNSEEN. There are a handful of scenes in this one that quite often pop up in my mind.

2. Irreversible 
(Gaspar Noe, 2002)

Gaspar Noe's best work. So good. But so disturbing.

1. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father 
(Kurt Kuenne, 2008)

It's a really moving piece. Directed by Kurt Kuenne, the film is an ode to his murdered friend after his ex-girlfriend announces she is expecting his son. Although filled with heartbreak, it's ultimately one of the most gripping documentaries you'll ever see. You need to make the time for this one if you haven't seen it. And of course, once you see it... you won't want to see it again.


Honorable Mentions:

The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky, 2008)
Shame (Steve McQueen, 2011)
Leaving Las Vegas (Mike Figgis, 1995)
Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood, 2004)

12 Years a Slave

Steve McQueen, 2013

4/5

Solomon Nothrup is a free man living in Saratoga. A skilled fiddle player, he is convinced by a couple pf men to travel to Washington to perform. Soon after he arrives, he is Shanghaied and sold into slavery. His requests to be freed on the account of being a free man from the north fall on deaf ears.

McQueen's adaptation of the Solomon Northrup memoir is an honest one. A true account of a tragic story. A very raw display of one of the true American horrors. McQueen is a skilled filmmaker and the technique involved in this picture is very deliberate. A lot of close to medium shots. Long takes, a lot of hanging on a shot, longer than one would expect. It's all intentional. He wants to enslave the audience, and he is effective at that. The tendency to cringe at what you are seeing, amd you do. The urge to look away, and you try to. It is also a film that wants to be heard, with Hans Zimmer providing the score. And so the pieces come together and the result is an ominous construct of deception. And the film is not over-stylized like Tarantino's very popular Django Unchained. That makes it feel more personal. While there is plenty of disturbing imagery in the film (possibly some of the worst you'll ever see), what makes the film truly upsetting is the truth behind it. You are seeing what your fellow man is capable of doing. What humanity is capable of. That's what makes it truly horrific. Manipulation, deception, betrayal, heartache, loneliness, theft. And not just theft of a person's livelihood. Not only a theft of a man's name. Theft of the human spirit. Northrup is living an honest life in Saratoga. A threat to no one but a set of fiddle strings. A family man, one who pays his taxes, has an honest job. The separation of North of South feels quite skewed when there is a threat of a southerner making their way up only to double-cross an honest man only because of his skin color. And so he is Shanghaied. He is not stripped of his freedom but his existence.

Great performances throughout. Chiwetel Ejiofor is well equipped to play Northrup. He will likely earn an Oscar nomination, and the praise is well-earned. Paul Dano plays the chilling Tibeats. Avenging after being undermined, he holds a grudge and doesn't value any real principles. Paul Giamatti plays a horrible slave trader Freeman, pawning off humans as if they are livestock, even if it involves separating mother from child. McQueen once again works with Michael Fassbender, who has appeared in all three of his feature films. Fassbender is so wonderfully despicable here. Hidden under the false charm of his Southern regalia, he puts the slaves in strict competition over cotton volume and on lonely nights forces them to dance to his own amusement while he stands around in bare-feet and loose garments. His temper is short and can be triggered by his repellent wife (played by the great Sarah Paulson). 

A story of perseverance, personal fortitude, but also one of shame. Germany may have the scar of Nazism on its face but we will always have slavery on ours. While the title of the film may give the ending away, it's not only about whether or not Solomon Northrup is eventually freed. There is no happy Hollywood ending to this piece. Taking 12 years away from a man not only strips him of time he cannot get back, it strips him of a certain freedom for the rest of his life. And what justice can be made for such time? Hard to quantify it. That's what makes it such a true American tragedy.

Shame

Steve McQueen, 2011


3/5

          Brandon (Michael Fassbender) is a man living in New York in his mid-thirties. During the day he has a sleek office job. At night he scours the darker side of New York looking to feed his sex addiction. His all-consuming proclivity spills into every facet of his life. His steady routine becomes disjointed when his unstable sister shows up, unannounced and uninvited, to his small apartment to crash on the couch to try and get over a recent breakup.
          It's probably the most courageous role seen from Fassbender, who figuratively and literally exposes himself quite a bit in the film. His character Brandon is heavily flawed, but effectively draws sympathy as you see there is nothing fun about his disease and that its a ever-going struggle. Brandon is vulnerable, presumably dealing with issues that go back to his childhood. The tension between the two siblings is so evident you could cut it with a knife. Sissy (Carey Mulligan), Brandon's sister, clearly has issues of her own but doesn't have the domestic comforts that Brandon can escape to. Instead, her escape is to run to him but it's not well-received. You get the feeling that Brandon is not able to associate any interpersonal relationship with anything other than a lack of a control of his sexual impulses - therefore, he keeps his distance when it comes to anything else.
          McQueen has a seemingly mature and experienced approach to his film-making. Even though the film is very bleak and disturbing at times, it's very nice looking. McQueen relies on a lot of beautifully glowy night-lit shots of New York juxtaposed with the not-so-nice features. Some gorgeous modern-decor martini bars but contrasted with cold fluorescent lit steel subway cars. The day-time scenes are very deliberately overcast. This is not a film where you will see blue skies and sunshine, people holding hands while joyfully singing in the middle of Times Square.