With the end of the year rolling ever closer, we asked our ushers to vote for their favourite films of the year. We’ve screened over 250 titles in 2014 so far, so whittling down the top 10 was a tough task. Nonetheless, Jonathan Glazer’s sci-fi fable Under the Skin proved a runaway winner, topping the vote by a huge margin. A few great films narrowly missed the cut, namely ’71, Nightcrawler, Pride and Leviathan. We’ll be screening a selection of the usher’s choices over the festive season in our Play it Again strand, but in the meantime, take a look at our list and the reviews from the people who take your tickets, show you to your seats and sit at the back of each screening.
1. Under the Skin
Half a year after Under the Skin first screened at Cornerhouse, the film’s title has taken on new resonance. This is an unmissable, unquestionable masterpiece with an aura of quiet dread that’s impossible to shake off once seen. Director Jonathan Glazer has crafted an impressively terrifying piece of sci-fi, a rallying cry for British cinema and an instant classic. Under the Skin is undoubtedly the best film of the year.
– Andy Livingstone
Under the Skin screens again on Friday 19 December.
2. 12 Years A Slave
12 Years a Slave pulls no punches in its telling of Solomon Northup’s enforced captivity to white slavers in mid-nineteenth-century America. Steve McQueen’s direction will be familiar to those who have seen his previous films, but here it is used to devastating effect. Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o provide committed and brave performances, but for me this is Chiwetel Ejiofor’s film. His portrayal of Northup is utterly believable and heartbreaking throughout. It’s an astounding effort when you consider that the camera’s gaze rarely strays from his world-weary eyes.
– Matt Aistrup
12 Years a Slave screens again on Thursday 18 December.
3. The Golden Dream
The Golden Dream follows three teenagers as they journey from Guatemalan slums towards the Mexican border, in the hope of entering the United States. This beautifully shot, intense and poetic story is underpinned by the harsh reality of millions of migrants worldwide, who attempt to cross borders illegally, risking their lives in the hope of overcoming dire poverty. Director Diego Quemada-Díez, who has previously worked with Ken Loach, pulls us in close to the characters of Juan, Sara and Chauk, who are played stunningly by non-professional actors. On their journey, the teenagers face shockingly dangerous scenarios, as well as moments of peace, hope and joy.
– Mary Stark
The Golden Dream screens again on Tuesday 16 December.
4. Gone Girl
Gone Girl took me by surprise. Having not read the novel by Gillian Flynn, I had little notion of what to expect. Typically of David Fincher, it was always going to be dark and somewhat humorous. But what I wasn’t expecting was the rate in which the film escalated into sheer madness. Gone Girl takes a somewhat morbid look at how glitches in modern relationships can be exacerbated with terrible consequence. It’s wonderfully shot and features fantastically witty performances, particularly from Rosamund Pike. A must see.
– Kieran Healy
5. Calvary
The main thing to note in a review of Calvary is Brendan Gleeson. He is an absolute tour de force. Gleeson plays Father James, a priest in a rural Irish community who, in the film’s first, stunning scene, has his life threatened during a confessional, with the camera focusing only the character’s reaction. From there, the film follows Father James over the course of a week. He knows who has threatened his life, but the audience doesn’t, leaving you waiting with anticipation to find out who’s going to do it. Some of the peripheral characters aren’t that convincing and some attempts at comedy are perhaps misplaced, but this is immaterial as Gleeson is so good. The first scene alone is worth the price of a cinema ticket, but as you get embroiled in the community and Father James’s interactions, it becomes compelling viewing.
– Hannah Dalby
5. Ida
Ida is a beautiful film. Captured in black and white, each scene is exquisitely composed like a series of perfectly considered photographs. There is a lot of silence, giving power to the weight of the things that 18-year-old Anna is discovering. A feeling of trying on a life pervades. Anna is trying on a life outside the convent: a life that comes with the devastating knowledge of her family history and her previously unknown aunt Wanda, who herself is attempting to exist with the knowledge of incomprehensible atrocities and inconsolable loss. The film has two exceptionally strong female leads; both Agata Trzebuchowska as Anna (our Ida), and Agata Kulesza as her aunt Wanda, are compelling. Trzebuchowska transfixes with her calm, unearthly presence and eyes like black pools that give nothing away. Kulesza’s performance, however, completely steals the show.
– Claire Dorsett
7. Stranger by the Lake
You could compare Stranger by the Lake to Under the Skin. In both films, a mysterious predator uses sexual intimacy to treat and discard willing men like meat, but this film is set on a secluded French gay cruising spot, it has an all male cast, and probably no wardrobe department, either. Alain Guiraudie’s feature innovates with atmospheric sound design and suitably seductive cinematography, with a gaze that is unashamedly sexual and explicit, but unflinchingly interrogates the willingness of the film’s protagonists who frequently forfeit safety in the pursuit of desire. This film has more to say than Steve McQueen’s Shame on the cat-and-mouse psychology of sexual hunting grounds, and like this year’s box office hit, Pride, and Andrew Haigh’s 2011 film, Weekend, it rides a wave of critically acclaimed titles that successfully reached wide audiences, not just those pigeon-holed as ‘gay interest’. It’s a seminal thriller, in more ways than one.
– Chris Paul Daniels
8. The Wolf of Wall Street
The Wolf of Wall Street is based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, a former Long Island stockbroker. In his own words, Belfort describes his rise and fall, from becoming a successful and unthinkably rich stock broker living the high life, to a world of crime, corruption and a run in with the federal government. This black comedy pairs the fruitful combination of Scorsese and DiCaprio, who come together again in a controversial tale of excess, drugs, sex and moral ambiguity. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable watch.
– Aidan Sheehan
9. Boyhood
Boyhood is a groundbreaking coming-of-age story told through the eyes of a child named Mason. Filmed with the same cast over the course of 12 years, it offers a completely unique cinematic experience: Mason and the rest of the cast literally grow up before your eyes. The film reflects situations in adolescence with such authenticity, creating a time capsule of nostalgia for all who watch it. Boyhood is an amazing film with outstanding performances and is definitely worthy of all the critical acclaim it received.
– Aidan Sheehan
10. Citizenfour
Citizenfour is a real-life espionage thriller that’s as gripping as Enemy of the State and as paranoia-filled as The Lives of Others. There were points in this documentary about Edward Snowden and his evidence of the NSA’s mass surveillance techniques where I had to remind myself I wasn’t watching a fiction film. One such moment comes when Snowden answers a telephone call in his Hong Kong hotel room and then disconnects the phone due to fears of bugs. This extraordinary scene typifies Laura Poitras’s understated yet stylish film, which reveals the extent to which privacy is dead. Put down your smartphone. It’s time we talked about this.
Citizenfour screens again on Saturday 20 December.
– Michael Lyons