2014 Retrospective: The Best Films of 2014

Before I compile my 2024 best of the year list, I wanted to include my retrospective list for 2014. This will be final retrospective list of the year as I plan on publishing lists next year for 1990, 1995, 2005, and 2010. For the last 30 years now, I have been making lists. So often, my lists don’t change drastically over the time I make them in December. My ten films most of the time stay identical, but the ordering and shuffling of them is what changes. I recall in 2014 having “Leviathan” much higher and The Grand Budapest Hotel lower, but over the years it’s fascinating to see how they get re-ordered by how you remember and process them years later up revisiting them. Also, you only have ten slots, and I have been for tiebreakers as I consider it cheating. So, while my retrospectives follow the same criteria, one thing is for certain–Boyhood and Birdman certainly live on and remain my absolute favorite films released that year. Like every year, there is always loud cynicism from film people at the time proclaiming 2014 as a minor year, only for most of these movies to be revered and treasured years to come. 2014 was, in fact, a superb year for filmmaking from many movies across the globe. It was the year where both Linklater and revisiting took cinema to new heights with their methods and approaches. It was also a year of first-time directors and veterans, and it was just a joy revisiting these titles once again.

1. Boyhood (d. Richard Linklater)

Less gimmicky than it initially sounds, casting the same actors in what began as a discreet passion project over the course of 14 years, “Boyhood” is the most ambitious and visionary film of Linklater’s filmography. Restrained and understated with its observational study of boyhood up until young adulthood, the episodic structure, Linklater’s signature style of philosophizing, and the richly written exchanges and monologues are all on display. Linklater’s scope deepens, and the emotion rises as he never slips and stumbles through his groundbreaking methods that result from extraordinary attention and care. A magical and all-around-seamlessly intimate portrait and celebration of childhood, coming-of-age, parenting, and the cycles of life.

2. Birdman (d. Alejandro G. Iñárritu)

Birdman is one of the most revelatory films of the new century. The film that ushered in the energetic, theatrical, and stylized tracking shots and unbroken takes that many filmmakers are now trying to top in terms of visual technique and grandeur, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s and Cinematographer “Che” Emmanuel Lubezki’s visual boldness here reaches truly innovative terrain, and Birdman truly pushed the limits of what cinema could do. Outside of the dazzling visuals, Birdman at its core has a lot of human depth as it’s about a struggling actor and aspiring artist attempting to re-invent himself against tabloid and general public projections of him being a washed-up superhero movie actor attempting to be something more relevant and substantial in the cutthroat world of show business.

3. Under the Skin (d. Jonathan Glazer)

By blending horror movie tropes with the moods of Andrei Tarkovsky and Stanley Kubrick, the part-time British auteur Jonathan Glazer delivered a sensory and hypnotic sci-fi horror art-house film about a brooding extraterrestrial (Scarlett Johansson) that strangely and sexily studies the tension of her male victims. Under the Skin can be viewed as a feminist film that has a lot to say about the female body and male desire, but at its core it’s an abstract exploration of the human experience. Johansson is very magnetic and otherworldly here: observant, unusual, alluring, and deploying her secret weapon: seduction that can easily lure any man in. Glazer’s artistry and rich abstractions here surely reign supreme, and they are one of a kind.

4. Foxcatcher (d. Bennett Miller)

Foxcatcher is a film that was billed as a “true story” movie; however, it doesn’t fall into the typical true story trappings and clichés. What’s brilliant about the film is how Bennett Miller doesn’t play into the typical formulas; in fact, he builds the story up with imagery and visuals and internalizes the characters mindsets. The story is a devastating chapter in American sports history. It’s a very chilling and shattering film that doesn’t leave you with simple conclusions. It just unravels with deep ambiguity, and the framing and visuals build up a brooding atmosphere that echoes the style of a European art-house dramatic thriller. Bennett Miller’s finest accomplishment to date, this is a tragic film that masterfully studies desire, the class system, and the co-opting of the American dream and American institutions.sd

5. The Grand Budapest Hotel (d. Wes Anderson)

Wes Anderson’s most colorful live action film actually ended up being one of his darkest. With uncomfortable truths about war and oppression, this is one of Wes Anderson’s greatest achievements to date. Visually sublime with Anderson’s deadpan comedy reigning supreme, the true gem in this is film is Ralph Fiennes’ comedic flair. He’s very amusing here as the movie flows with so much clever comedic invention, while Anderson maintains his artificial and offbeat style with much quirky humor. The film ends on an emotionally charged moment that ranks it right up there with The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Isle of Dogs as being one of Wes Anderson’s highlights.

6. The Immigrant (d. James Gray)

James Gray’s The Immigrant is an outstanding American film that echoes the works of Francis Ford Coppola, Elia Kazan, and Roberto Rossellini. A film that beautifully expresses the struggles and hardships American immigrants endured. A seamlessly unified, diverse, and woozy film that gets closer than any other film to depicting the immigrant lifestyle of the early 20th century. It’s a compelling, intelligent, and a sweeping film. The Immigrant is a true work of art that teaches yet never lectures, even as it engages and entertains. Marion Cotillard delivers one of the most shattering performances of the decade about a woman coerced into prostitution for survival. The performance brought so much uncanny and genuine emotion; sadly, the powerfully moving performance was tragically overlooked by the Oscars that year.

7. Winter Sleep (d. Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

The gentle glitches and serene pulses on this intimate, sensual film could sound naive or even simplistic when put next to the complexity of Bilge’s more contemplative works like “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia”, but Winter Sleep remains the Turkish auteur’s defining film that put him at the forefront of world cinema. This was the Ceylan film that was awarded the prestigious Palme D’Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, and it almost plays out like a time capsule of the first chapter of Ceylan’s even greater “The Wild Pear Tree” thanks to the strength of Ceylan’s screenwriting and impeccable directing skills. “Winter Sleep” is a deeply personal film that is also a beautiful tribute to artistry and Ceylan’s condemnation of ego and power.

8. Leviathan (d. Andrey Zvyagintsev)

A shattering tragedy, a political statement and a condemnation on the current political affairs of Russia, “Leviathan” is an astonishing study of the nature of power, and how the new nationalistic Russia is every bit as dictatorial and corrupt as the old Communist Russia, yet never didactic about it. “Leviathan” is an impressive and expertly crafted film that is always engrossing and packed in with rich symbolism.

9. Gone Girl (d. David Fincher)

A frustrated housewife (Rosamund Pike). A dedicated husband (Ben Affleck) trying to prove his innocence. A bizarre abduction and possible attempt at murder. A shower scene filled with confessions and anxieties.  This mystery-thriller screenplay adapted brilliantly by Gillian Flynn that’s based on her own novel, are all the right ingredients that Fincher delivered in this explosively enjoyable thriller that is part satire and part domestic thriller. When it was first released in 2014, it was Fincher’s most commercially successful film of his career. However, it did face a storm of mixed reactions from audiences and critics alike that the felt the ending was too ambiguous and “open-ended”, and the film faced some controversy where many feminist groups felt the female character of Amy Dune (Pike) fell into the stereotype of “the crazy woman” archetype that holds a combination of sex and violence that echoes the misogynistic traits that are found in “Basic Instinct,” “Fatal Attraction,” and other noir vixen archetypes. These controversies have since faded from memory, and the film stands on its own as an expertly stylish and highly pleasing top-notch thriller that holds up extremely well on repeat viewings.

10. Nightcrawler (d. Dan Gilroy)

Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler continues to feel relevant todays in its condemnation and satire on media sensationalism. For me, this nocturnal, haunting film is up there with Network and Natural Born Killers in commentary because it shows just how low the media will go for ratings and distorting perceptions. The performance by Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays the lead of a Los Angeles denizen named Lou Blou, who pivots from his career of petty thief crime to becoming a freelance news cameraman who purchases a camcorder and police scanner and begins to film grisly crime footage to sell to a news producer (Rene Russo). Louis goes to unethical and even unlawful acts to capture the most explicit footage. Between Gilroy’s vision, and the exceptional performances by Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed as Lou’s exploited sidekick, the film’s strong attributes still hold up very well a decade later.

Runners-Up (In Alphabetical Order)

Citizenfour (d. Laura Poitras)

Laura Poitras’ Citizenfour was certainly a politically charged documentary of the moment. It was made discreetly and urgently and directly in response to the NSA surveillance abuse, and the film holds an open disdain for how our personal information is being collected and eventually leaked to big corporations. In addition to exposing significant government abuses by whistleblower and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, this documentary is engrossing and tautly crafted, highlighting the significance of whistleblowers and the need for their immunity and protection in this ominous and revealing work. Perhaps Snowden is controversial and problematic (how he still resides in Russia is questionable), but there is no denying that the government abuses its power, and it should be in everyone’s best interest to expose the abuses of government and corporate institutions.

 Force Majeure (d. Ruben Ostlund)

2014 was the year where Ruben Ostlund started to make a splash internally. Now considered a polarized filmmaker after his 2022 Cannes Palme D’Or winning masterpiece Triangle of Sadness, it is interesting to reflect back at his earlier work. It was Force Majeure where we started to see a modern Luis Bunuel at work with its satire on the bourgeoise and hilariously flawed characters. The film has so many moments on how materialism and privileged strip away our empathy and strength as humans. While Triangle of Sadness divided critics and art-house film buffs, Force Majeure remains one of Ostlund’s most respected as it remains its cinematic imprint.

 Ida (d. Pawel Pawlikowski)

In twenty years, Paweł Pawlikowski has made sox feature films; I was always a champion of My Summer of Love. but with Ida he reached world renowned status. A black-and-white Polish drama, which is about a nun who discovers she was orphaned as an infant during the SS Occupation of Poland during WWII. She ends up meeting her aunt, a former Soviet Union prosecutor and only surviving relative that reveals her parents were Jewish. The two women end up embarking on a road journey to discover Ida’s past where she ends up discovering her true self along the way. This is a movie that understands self-discovery and how we evolve in the human experience.

 A Most Violent Year (d. J.C. Chandor)

On the surface, J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent could come off as a junior league gangster drama, especially because of the similarities in scope and tone and the obvious marital dynamics that recall Goodfellas and Casino. This is no mere derivative crime saga. This is one of the most mature and refreshing crime dramas, one that taps into the era of the early 80s, which is a very violent period in America due to the recession and an increase in crime. The film, which is about a fuel supplier (Oscar Isaac), ends up building his own moral compass around the upsurge of violent crime that trickles down to cutthroat competition from competing crime families. Meanwhile, the corruption leads to an FBI investigation as he finds his marriage with his wife, Anna (Jessica Chastain), falling apart from the demoralization. This is more than just a chronicle of crime. It’s a more evocative crime drama, one that is sophisticated, greatly scripted, and well-executed all around.

 Mr. Turner (d. Mike Leigh)

The 21st century has offered some amazing biopics, and quite a few have my list over the years, and Mr. Turner ranks up there with At Eternity’s Gate, Priscilla, I’m Not Here, and Control has been one of the most unique. This film would play well with Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate, and it’s also a heartbreaking story about J.M.W. Turner (Timothy Spall). Whereas so many biopics play off the rise and fall and rise again, Leigh taps into an artistic psyche, internalizes Turner, and highlights the joys and pains. IT’s really a study on loneliness, getting closer to the artist, and what inspired his artistry. The biggest heartbreak is how Turner gets involved with a seaside landlady, while her housekeeper develops a love for Turner.

Whiplash (d. Damien Chazelle)

Reflecting back, it was quite an electrifying experience going into a movie like Whiplash by an unknown filmmaker at the time, like Damien Chazelle, and walking out believing you just witnessed the work of a master. It was quite an experience for me and many other audiences, film buffs, and critics. Two years later, Chazelle would go on to win the Best Director Oscar for La La Land, and he went on to direct some inferior titles like First Man and the divisive Babylon. It’s a film about the artistic process and the harrowing agony that comes with it, about an aspiring jazz drummer named Andrew (Miles Teller) who goes to an elite music conservatory and ends up enduring abuse from the terrifying teaching methods of his music instructor Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons). Andrew will go through any means necessary to be at the top of the school and to be as great as his icon, Charlie Parker. Even if it jeopardizes his mental and physical health. While Chazelle condemns Fletcher’s methods, he also raises questions on how we can push someone to greatness by just being “yes men” all the time. Using energetic cutting and truculent sounds and visuals, Chazelle’s Whiplash digs in deep on artistic passion and determination. In the center of it all, J.K. Simmons gives an intense performance, one that rightfully earned him a Best Supporting Oscar that year.

Honorable Mention

The Babadook (d. Jennifer Kent)
Calvary (d. John Michael McDonagh)
Enemy (d. Denis Villeneuve)
Frank (d. Lenny Abrahamson)
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (d. Ana Lily Amirpour)
Guardians of the Galaxy (d. James Gunn)
Inherent Vice (d. Paul Thomas Anderson)
Interstellar (d. Christopher Nolan)
Jodorowsky’s Dune (d. Frank Pavich)
Only Lover’s Left Alive (d. Jim Jarmusch)
The Raid 2 (d. Gareth Evans)
The Rover (d. David Michôd)
The Skeleton Twins (d. Craig Johnson)
Snowpiercer (d. Bong Joon-ho)
Two Days One Night (d. Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne)

**Don’t worry!! Clouds of Sils Maria, The Look of Silence, Maps to the Stars, The Salt of the Earth are featured in the 2015 Top 10!