The 2013 Monsieur Oscars

This is a clearly well overdue appraisal of my favourite stuff in motion pictures from 2013. The Monsieur Oscars. I've adapted the categories as the year in film called for it. Each year has to be pliable or I risk not meeting the films on their own terms.



Favourite Fiction Film of the Year

1. The Immigrant
2. Inside Llewyn Davis
3. Dormant Beauty
4. The Past
5. You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet
6. Computer Chess
7. The Wolf of Wall Street
8. 12 Years A Slave
9. A Touch of Sin
10. A Field In England
 11. The Congress


Favourite Non-Fiction Film of the Year

1. Leviathan
2. The Act of Killing
3. Traveling Light
4. Let The Fire Burn
5. Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy?
6. A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness
7. White Epilepsy
8. An Oversimplification of Her Beauty
9. The Last Time I Saw Macao
10. The Jeffrey Dahmer Files 
 11. The Source Family


Favourite Performance by a Director

 1. Marco Bellocchio - Dormant Beauty
2. James Gray - The Immigrant
3. Andrew Bujalski - Computer Chess
4. Ben Wheatley - A Field In England / Sightseers
5. Chantal Akerman - Almayer's Folly
6. Raúl Ruiz - la Noche de Enfrente
7. Sofia Coppola - The Bling Ring
8. Ari Folman - The Congress
9. Pablo Larraín - No
10. Rob Zombie - The Lords of Salem
 11. Jia Zhangke - A Touch of Sin



Favourite Screenplay

1. Computer Chess - Andrew Bujalski   
 2. Dormant Beauty - Stefano Rulli, Veronica Raimo, Marco Bellocchio
3. It's A Disaster - Todd Berger
4. A Field In England - Amy Jump
5. Moebius - Kim Ki-Duk
6. The Congress - Ari Folman
7. The Immigrant - James Gray & Ric Menello
8. Wadjda - Haifaa Al-Mansou
9. Alpha Papa - Peter Baynham, Steve Coogan, Neil & Rob Gibbons & Armando Iannucci
10. Drug War - Wa Ka Fai, Yau Nai Hoi, Ryker Chan, Yu Xi


Favourite Cinematography

1. Darius Khondji - The Immigrant
2. Renato Berta - Gebo & The Shadow
3. Antonio Riestra - Mama
4. Daniele Ciprì - Dormant Beauty 
5. Chung-hoon Chung - Stoker
6. Lucian Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel, and the crew of a boat - Leviathan
7. Steven Soderbergh - Side Effects
8. Bruno Delbonnel - Inside Llewyn Davis
9. Philippe Le Sourd - The Grandmaster
10. Anthony Dod Mantle - Rush / Trance
11. Luca Bigazzi - The Great Beauty
12. Emmanuel Lubezki - To The Wonder
13. Oleg Mutu - In The Fog
14. Rob Hardy - Shadow Dancer
 15. Feliksas Abrukauskas - Vanishing Waves



Favourite Performance by an Actress in a Lead Role

1. Jessica Chastain & Megan Charpentier - Mama
2. Barbara Sukowa - Hannah Arendt
3. Jane Levy - Evil Dead
4. Elizabeth Moss - Top of the Lake
5. Marion Cotillard - The Immigrant
6. Missy Keating - Dark Touch
7. Juliet Binoche - Camille Claudel 1915
8. Jeong Eun-Chae - Nobody's Daughter Haewon
9. Waad Mohammed - Wadjda
10. Andrea Riseborough - Shadow Dancer
11. Abigal Breslin - Haunter



Favourite Performance by an Actor in a Lead Role

1. Oscar Isaac - Inside Llewin Davis
2. Leonardo DiCaprio - Wolf of Wall Street
3. Michel Lonsdale - Gebo & The Shadow 
4. Johan Philip Asbæk - A Hijacking
5. Toni Servillo - Dormant Beauty
6. Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years A Slave
7. Ben Affleck - To The Wonder
8. Reece Shearsmith - A Field in England 
9. Vincent Gallo - The Legend of Kaspar Hauser
10. Robert Redford - All Is Lost


Favourite Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

1. Isabelle Nélisse - Mama
2. Lupita Nyong'o, Adepero Oduye & Alfre Woodard  - 12 Years A Slave
3. Jeanne Moreau - Gebo & The Shadow
4. Rachel McAdams - To The Wonder
5. Debbie Reynolds - Behind The Candelabra 
6. Emma Watson - The Bling Ring
7. Daniella Kertesz - World War Z
8. Noomi Rapace - Dead Man Down
9. Alexandra Maria Lara - Rush
10. Joey Lauren Adams - Blue Caprice


Favourite Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

1. Forest Whitaker - Out of the Furnace
2. Pier Giorgio Bellochio - Dormant Beauty 
3. Sharlto Copley - Elysium / Oldboy / Europa Report
4. James Franco - Spring Breakers
5. Javier Bardem - To The Wonder / The Counselor
6. Martin Landau & Adam Goldberg - Anna Nicole
7. Jeremy Renner - American Hustle / The Immigrant
8. Stacey Keach - Nebraska
9. Jim Caviezel - Escape Plan
10. Paul Dano - 12 Years A Slave
11. Michael Parks & Bill Sage - We Are What We Are
12. David Wenham - Top of the Lake

Special mention for actors I'm always happy to see who didn't get much screentime: Ralph Brown - Stoker, Kyle Chandler - The Spectacular Now, Mark Rappaport - Kiss of the Damned, Oliver Platt & Timothy Spall - Ginger & Rosa


Favourite Performance by an Ensemble

1. You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet
2. A Hijacking
3. It's A Disaster
4. 12 Years A Slave
5. Wolf of Wall Street
6. The Counselor
7. Gold
8. In A World...
9. Blondie
10. Out of the Furnace
11. Drug War
12. Last Days On Mars
13. A Touch of Sin
14. McCanick
15. For Love's Sake

Special mention to Dario Argento's Dracula, which had a perfect cast, directed terribly. 


Favourite Duet Performances

1. Jean-Nicolas Dafflon & Hélène Rocheteau - White Epiliepsy
2. Tom Hanks & Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips
3. Will Forte & Bruce Dern - Nebraska
4. Daniel Bruhl & Chris Hemsworth - Rush
5. Frank Langella & Christopher Plummer - Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight
6. Isaiah Washington & Tequan Richmond - Blue Caprice
7. Matt Damon & Michael Douglas - Behind The Candelabra 
8. Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy - Before Midnight
9. James Gandolfini & Julia Louis Dreyfus - Enough Said
10. Noam Chomsky & Michel Gondry - Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy?
 11. Helena Bonham Carter & Dominic West - Burton & Taylor


Achievement in Sound Design


1. Leviathan
2. White Epilepsy
3. Stoker
4. The Wolf of Wall Street
5. To The Wonder
6. A Field In England
7. The World's End
8. The Immigrant
9. Inside Llewyn Davis
10. The Lone Ranger


Favourite Original Score


1. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - West of Memphis
2. Frankie Chan - The Grandmaster
3. Roque Baños - The Evil Dead
4. James Williams - A Field In England
5. Cliff Martinez - Only God Forgives
6. Alex Ebert - All is Lost
7. Christopher Spelman - The Immigrant
8. Carlo Crivelli - Dormant Beauty
9. Arcade Fire & Owen Pallett - Her
10. Sara Neufeld & Owen Pallett - Blue Caprice
11. Hans Zimmer - The Lone Ranger


Achievement in Art Direction

1. The Congress
2. Dormant Beauty
3. Vanishing Waves
4. The Immigrant
5. Trance
6. 12 Years A Slave
7. Inside Llewyn Davis
8. The Lone Ranger
9. For Love's Sake
10. The Bling Ring
 11. A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III

Achievement in Production Design

1. The Grandmaster

2. Stoker

3. Evil Dead

4. Trance

5. Inside Llewyn Davis

6. Mud

7. No

8. The Immigrant

9. Drug War

10. The Lone Ranger

Hardest I Laughed

1. It's A Disaster

2. The Wolf of Wall Street

3. Hellbaby

4. Alpha Papa

5. The Bling Ring

6. Frances Ha

7. Moebius

8. Nebraska

9. In A World...

10. White House Down

 11. Paradise: Faith

I cried during...

1. Vanishing Waves

2. Inside Llewyn Davis

3. Frozen

4. Her

5. Me & You

Special mention...

Tactile old-fashioned Action films

1. Riddick

2. Elysium

3. Drug War

4. Outrage Beyond

5. Shield of Straw

6. White House Down

7. Bullet To The Head

8. The Lone Ranger

9. The Wolverine

Satisfying arthouse headtrips

1. Vanishing Waves

2. The Congress

3. The Legend of Kaspar Hauser

4. Stranger By The Lake

5. The Wall

6. A Field In England

7. Computer Chess

8. Stranger By The Lake

9. Gold

10. In The Fog

I hardly saw any animated films but loved The Congress and Frozen. 

The Best Songs of 2013

The Black Angels - "Don't Play With Guns"

The killer stand out from an album that made a step toward crowd-pleasing rowdiness, I was already singing along with it before I'd heard it all the way through.


Kanye West - "Black Skinhead"

Blame The Wolf of Wall Street, whose trailer used this song to unimaginable rhythmic effect. It brings out the wolf in everyone. 

 Arcade Fire - "Reflektor"

   

The album was a little too spacey for me, but there's simply no denying the effect this song has on me. Win Butler's just got that delivery. The way he says "See you on the other side" sends a shiver down my spine and fills my stomach with fever. 

Melvins - "Station to Station"

   

This whole record of covers was excellent, but the crunchy bass tone and towering drums make this the one to blast. 

Grizzly Bear - "Will Calls"

   

I think this should have made it onto Shields over a few of the cuts on there now. Ed Droste's voice screaming under all that racket is one of my favourite sounds. 

Cliff Martinez - "Wanna Fight" 

Cliff Martinez was the single most important contribution to Nic Refn's Only God Forgives and listening to this satanic paean to both the synthesizer and the Thai underworld, it's easy to understand why this film so bewitched some people.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - "Swim & Sleep (Like a Shark)" 

Sweet and busy, the noise rockers prove adept at pop songs as well as crunch, 8 bit garage. 


Martha's Vineyard Ferries - "She's a Fucking Angel (from Fucking Heaven)" 
Couldn't get this to embed so follow the link here, because this is the kind of thing that keeps rock'n'roll alive. Simple, raw music by three guys. 


Tindersticks - "Put Your Love In Me" 

A slinky, sexy cover of a forgotten disco footnote kissed back to life by Stuart Staples. The highlight of Claire Denis' latest journey to the darkside. 


Cass McCombs & Karen Black - "Brighter!"  
Poor, wonderful Karen Black. Her final recording hints at a great sadness in her soul. She's never sounded so achingly human. 

Kendra Morris - "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" 

It's better than the original. 

 Destroyer - "El Rito"

 

Dan Bejar takes another hard left turn and proves no matter where he ends up he's on firm ground. The catchiest thing he's done outside The New Pornographers.