I have to curtail these lists to the movies that I actually watch and the ones I actually liked. There have been years that I saw a bunch of animated films, others where I saw a ton of documentaries. Some of this just has to do with more or less of those types of films being released in a given year, but other times it's just what I happened to see or was attracted to. For some reason I watched a lot of really good independent dramas this year, thus this list. Again, I'm trying to highlight the movies that didn't get recognized for the big awards. Here's my Top 5 Favorite Independent Dramas of 2012...
5) Take This Waltz
This isn't an easy movie to watch but it certainly does a good job documenting how desire affects relationships. The movie presents a protagonist that is extremely unlikable, one that you actively rot against the whole film, which makes the film a difficult watch but the film makers did such a good job with the story that you need to keep watching to see how things end. The acting is amazing. Michelle Williams should have been nominated for an award over either the 5 year old, who couldn't possible know what she was doing, or the 80 year old, who really didn't do much in Amour. Seth Rogan also puts in a surprisingly good dramatic performance as the super nice but nondescript husband. If you're looking for something light and uplifting, this isn't the movie for you, but if you want to see a well written, well acted documentation of the down fall of relationships, check this one out.
4) Your Sister's Sister
This is another movie that isn't really uplifting, but then again, there really aren't that many independent dramas that are. What makes this movie so interesting is the odd situation that develops and the wonderful performances by the actors as they sort through the tangled emotions it creates. I'm not the biggest Emily Blunt fan, she seems to be everyone's sweet heart along with Anne Hathaway, I just don't get it, but she is great in this movie as someone who has her gay sister mess up her potential relationship. Rosemarie Dewitt and Mark Duplass are just as good as the sister and love interest respectively. This is a movie that uses it's limited setting to pull you into the story and characters. It can get uncomfortable at times but that is just more of a complement to the writing and acting.
3) Liberal Arts
This is the writing and directing debut for Josh Radnor, Ted from How I Met Your Mother. I won't lie, my affection for this movie might have a little to do with the fact that it feels a lot like Garden State, one of my all time favorite movies which was also the writing and directing debut of a sitcom star. It doesn't really share story or plot, in that regard it is very much it's own movie, but there is something about the feel of the movie that brought Garden State to mind. I never saw Martha Marcy May Marlene, so Elizabeth Olsen was a total revelation for me in the movie. She tackled a roll with all the emotions need well beyond her years. She hit every note perfect and really made the relationship between her and Radnor pop on screen in all the inappropriate ways.
2) Safety Not Guaranteed
I was thinking of doing a Top 5 Movies Mark Duplass Was Involved In, but I only came up with 5 and I feel that I need at least six options to make a top 5 list valid. This was a awesome quirky little movie about a guy who is supposedly building a time machine to go back and save his love from dying. Duplass is perfect as the oddball recluse who may or may not have a time machine in his garage that the government is trying to get a hold of. This movie isn't so much about time travel, in fact there isn't any actual time travel in the movie or special effects or complex butterfly effect plotlines, it's a movie about relationships. You're never really sure how crazy Duplass is, which is a credit to his performance as much as the writing, and that is really the heart of the movie. It doesn't hurt that Aubrey Plaza is also in the movie playing a reporter who is trying to figure out if there really is a time machine and ends up falling for Duplass. Nick from New Girl also plays a fun character. This is a fun cute movie that should have gotten a lot more attention for how entertaining it is.
1) Compliance
As I mentioned in yesterday's Top 5, I didn't really see enough horror movies to make that a Top 5 list of its own so I lumped them in to other categories, mostly Action movies. This is a horror movie that really didn't fit into the action genre because it doesn't have a crazy killer running around or a violent ghost haunting everyone. This is a movie, supposedly based on real events, set in a very real world. It begins with a phone call supposedly from the police to a fast food restaurant accusing the cashier of stealing and asking the restaurant manager to do the police work for them. It sounds a little preposterous but as you watch the events happen it totally makes sense. And it's amazingly horrifying! To think that this could happen to any of us is crazy and disturbing. The movie took some knocks for being over the top, but it never really felt that way to me. Everything that happened worked with the story and didn't feel out of place. This isn't an easy movie to watch and is disturbing not in a graphic but psychological way, but is well worth watching
Honorable Mention: Friends With Kids
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