CINEPHILES! TIGHTEN YOUR MONOCLES! Here are my favorite movies that played in Portland in 2014. It was an excellent year for film—while most critics crank out a top 10, I had a hard time whittling it down to 15. Each day I’ll highlight one of those, going alphabetically, because fuck that ranking nonsense.
Under the Skin
dir. Jonathan Glazer
Now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD
From the Mercury‘s review: “Like most directors who came to prominence through music videos, Glazer’s still a better image-maker than a storyteller—this film’s themes are familiar and the third act falters in its ambiguity—but with images this consistently compelling, it’s difficult to fault him.”
I wouldn’t say I enjoyed watching Under the Skin, but I can’t think of any other film this year that planted itself so deeply in the dark, sticky parts of my brain. Ever since I saw it—months ago—I’ll be walking long, doing okay, living life, thinking things are just fine, and then a sequence or an image from the film will flash in front of me, spinning my mood into an entirely different direction. I don’t know if I’ll ever sit down and watch it again, because I’m not sure I need to—I’m pretty sure it’s with me forever.
