The Best Movies of Fall 2013

AUTUMN’S FINEST: LOOKING BACK ON A SATISFACTORY SEASON
by Bennett Campbell Ferguson

 Above: a celebratory moment for the cast and crew of "Gravity"

 

Fall is a funny film time.  Just as the “movie summer” defies the calendar by beginning in Spring, the “movie Fall” illogically delivers its last salvo long before Winter arrives.  As such, the Fall film season never really feels like a complete, stand-alone period.  And yet it is still considered to be separate from the rest of the awards season, making it essentially a teaser—a time when studios get their Oscar bait on the market early to avoid being crushed on the bloody box office battlefield of December.

            Floating amidst this chaos is the uncomfortable truth that “great filmmaking” and “Oscar-worthy” are entirely different concepts.  But these past months have still seen some wonderful movies debut, many of which possessed a shuddering intensity that put a year’s worth of summer spectacles to shame.  And indeed, there’s the rub—while this past summer saw a number of great filmmakers fall flat on their faces (really, what angsty madness inspired Sofia Coppola to make “The Bling Ring”?), Fall has been all about spirit-boosting success.  Not only did the season see established directors exceeding expectations, but it also included the arrival of some surprising gems that burst seemingly out of nowhere (or at least the festival circuit). 

Each week brought new ideas and excitement and so I present, with increased buoyancy, my favorite films of Fall 2013. 

4. ALL IS LOST (J.C. Chandor) Between “Captain Phillips” and “Gravity,” survival stories have been the season’s surest recipe for critical and commercial success.  Of that genre, “All is Lost” has yielded slightly more modest blitz, but that’s the price of being a bolder film.  And so, working from his original screenplay, director J.C. Chandor crafts a grueling but fascinating tale of an aging yachtsman (Robert Redford) who finds himself trapped in the Indian Ocean after a storm leaves him with nothing left but a tiny yellow raft full of survival supplies.    

Considering that the movie’s lone protagonist barely speaks, you might expect the film to fight for your attention.  But it doesn’t need to.  Watching Mr. Redford’s wrinkled, stoic everyman proves irresistible, whether he’s dangling off the side of the boat to repair storm damage or just donning a pair of orange rain pants.  His journey is a bleak one but it never loses you, even as you begin to feel that all hope truly is lost.

3.  SHORT TERM 12 (Destin Daniel Cretton) In September, reviews for this bruising drama were so ecstatic that it seemed like an inevitable Oscar contender, despite its lack of star power.  Since then, the movie’s visibility has diminished and I’m not surprised—while I loved it, I have no intention of seeing it again.  Why?  Simply put, it’s painful.  The protagonist is Grace (Brie Larson), a young woman who works at a home for kids whose troubles range from abusive parents to suicidal tendencies—horrifying realities that are only compounded by the fact of Grace’s own traumatic childhood.  Somehow, the movie finds hope in the mess, ending with an ecstatic, slow motion charge across an expansive field.  And while it’s not enough to lure you back, it is enough to make the trip both eye-opening and cathartic. 

2. “GRAVITY” (Alfonso Cuarón) Of all the attributes that make Sandra Bullock one of the most dependable and prolific actresses in America, her ability to transcend both story and character is perhaps her most valuable gift.  To that end, she’s starred in a gaggle of likably ridiculous films (“The Proposal,” for instance), but without ever treating them as throwaway gigs-for-profit.  But in “Gravity,” Ms. Bullock has a role that’s as satisfyingly nuanced as she is—Ryan Stone, an astronaut stranded in Earth’s orbit after her space shuttle’s shattered by debris.  From panic to submission to defiance to exuberance (I’ve already waxed cine-poetic about the scene in which she impersonates a wolf), Ms. Bullock takes Ryan on a nerves-haunting journey that defies the film’s straightforward premise.  It’s a remarkable performance in what is one of the most visually cohesive and graceful films of the year.

1. ENDER’S GAME (Gavin Hood) There are many things I ought to write about “Ender’s Game.”  I should mention Steve Jablonsky’s darkly heavy score, which infuses the proceedings with both wonder and dread; Asa Butterfield’s performance as Ender, which makes the character a masterwork of both cool conniving and tender conviction; and above all, the movie’s devastating final scenes when its anti-war ethos strike you with brutally sharp focus.  But I’ll save it.  I’ll be writing much more about “Ender’s Game” as the year closes, and I don’t want to spoil it by saying all there is to say here.  So for now, I’ll let this one film speak for itself, because it is an instance where two hours of acting, editing, and digital cinematography really are worth a thousand words.