My Best Films of 2014

I have been more privileged than normal with the sheer number of films I have been able to see this year. I ventured across the world to attend the Toronto Film Festival, and made an effort to see at least one film at each of the festivals that run in Australia. It has been a terrific year, and I think what is notable is the incredible depth of excellent films.

There were a number of titles that had a theatrical release in early 2014, but I saw in 2013 and were considered for last year’s list. They include Nebraska, The Wolf of Wall Street, Inside Llewyn Davis, Her, 12 Years A Slave, The Great Beauty and Blue is the Warmest Colour. The first four films listed here would have made this short list, had I considered them.

So, with them exempt, the chosen films have been sourced from everything else I saw in 2014, whether they had a theatrical release in Australian cinemas in 2014 (or 2013 internationally), are set to have one in 2015, screened at a festival or went straight to VOD/DVD.

I didn’t get the chance to see some of the best-received films internationally, like Citizen Four, Goodbye to Language, Obvious Child and Listen Up Phillip, or some of the films receiving Oscar buzz like Inherent Vice, Selma, A Most Violent Year and The Theory of Everything.

But, before you say “Where’s ….” here are some honourable mentions (#35-26) that just missed the cut:  Jodorowsky’s Dune (Frank Pavich), Of Horses and Men (Benedikt Erlingsson), The Double (Richard Ayoade), Starred Up (David Mackenzie), Tokyo Tribe (Sion Sono), Boyhood (Richard Linklater), Calvary (John Michael McDonagh), Virunga (Orlando von Einsiedel), The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her (Ned Benson) and Beyond the Lights (Gina Prince-Bythewood).

Continue to the Top 25 at An Online Universe.