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Films that I loved/hated this year
To wrap up my cultural highs and lows of 2013 I’ve put together a short list of my least and most favorite films of this year.
Please keep in mind that I am just writing a few spontaneous sentences here and don’t try to analyze or review anything in detail. I just want to reflect a bit on what I saw and why and how I liked it or not.
Five films that I loved this year:
Berberian Sound Studio (Peter Strickland)
Although this was technically a film from 2012, it’s official release in Germany was in 2013 and that’s why I am making an exception here. Rarely has a film surprised me like „Berberian Sound Studio“ did. I knew little going into it and actually was expecting more of a sleazefest I must admit but it’s not just an excellent hommage to the italian gorefests of the sixties and seventies, it’s also a very lynchian descent into madness that has a very concise handwriting of it’s own. Not showing the audience a single frame of the obvious gorefest that our protagonist Gilderoy has to dub in the very dark and daunting studio is a very clever stylistic choice and helps to let the viewers imagination roam free. The recording studio becomes a microcosm with lots of allegoric and expressionistic potential since our protagonist becomes a more and more unreliable narrator. It’s a film about being subjected in many ways and it makes an interesting statement about the power of the art of cinema via it’s beyond excellent sound design and moody images.
Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
„Gravitiy“ has been criticized for it’s very esotheric and cliché ridden plot about being born again and being able to let go, for not really being anything of value but I think that in this case it’s journey is the destination. There never has been a film about space that made me actually feel like being in space and that feeling was addicting to me. It’s plot might not be something special but it managed to be an emotional rollercoaster with many highpoints that still worked over repeated viewing. It’s on the spot, fast moving yet very calm and made me want to experience it over and over again.
Only God forgives (Nicholas Winding Refn)
Probably one of the most difficult and anticlimatic films of 2013. This one is not about being concrete but more about abstraction. „Only God forgives“ isn’t the probably by most people expected follow up to the previous „Drive“, it’s more or less a „f**k you“ to everyone who was expecting another crowd pleaser (if you can call „Drive“ that) at this point. Refn isn’t out to repeat himself and doesn’t want to be pleasant, yet still he manages to keep the distinctive stylistic features that give his films an unmistakable signature. He seems to be constantly moving towards abstraction while reducing everything tangible constantly. The metonymy of his characters and an eye to the visual storytelling that is being done here are the keys to finding access to his work and that is especially true with this one.
Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine)
Probably the most subversive fun that I had all year. Korine’s „Spring Breakers“ is a film about the emptiness of a degenerate hedonistic culture that has become a oversexualized, repetitive and sensless nightmare of escapism tinted in neon colours. From it’s first to it’s last frame this film acts as a mirror for everyone who recognizes himself in these self-destructive actions of escapism and people that seek confirmation of this lifestyle and expect to find it here will be disappointed. Korine woos you with attractive female lolita-types and promises lots of mindless excess. But instead he tells the story of an incorporated and commercialized revolution that is suggesting being nonconformist while in truth being the most conform.
The World’s End (Edgar Wright)
Another hit by Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. This is a more than worthy followup to the first parts of the Cornetto trilogy and one of the most entertaining films I saw all year. Where films like the awful „This is the End“ stick to a very classic formular while pretending to be more, Wright and his crew take these formulars out for a spin and that’s why their works feel authentic and wholeheartedly. Wright is a brilliant director with an nearlessly flawless feeling for good timing and his attention to detail is beyond amazing. There’s lots to discover, fun to be had and lots of ideological criticism. This one might seem stupid on the outisde but it’s smart on the inside.
Three films that I hated this year:
Evil Dead (Fede Alvarez)
Pointless, stupid, soulless, not atmospheric in the slightest …
The Lords of Salem (Rob Zombie)
Citing your idols only works if you understand them and quit casting your wife because she’s hot.
Elysium (Neill Blomkamp)
Lazy, uninspired, ugly and poorly written.
My favorite Games of 2013
As I already did with my favorite Albums of 2013, I also put together a short list of the games that managed to impress and engage me the most this year. These are those titles why I still seem to keep being a gamer and why this medium still has so much potential beyond the yearly wave of boring military shooters and sequels and unimaginative bulls**t. Please keep in mind that the following passages are not meant as „professional“ reviews and instead just are some more or less spontaneous thoughts that I had while thinking back to my experiences with these personal highlights.
Hotline Miami (PS3)
„Do you like hurting other people? Who is leaving messages on your answering machine? Where are you right now? Why are we having this conversation?“
„Hotline Miami“ isn’t just an über violent pixelated nightmare and killing simulator, it’s a reflection on violence as well as a bold and stylish statement about gaming and being a gamer in it’s entirety. It’s addicting and spot on mechanics combined with the oversaturated visuals and the excellent pumping soundtrack are engaging in a way that most of the overblown, overexpensive triple A titles fail to achieve. It’s trick lies in suggesting a story and asking certain questions that have the potential to catalyse a certain form of reflection on the side of the player but it never bothers to answer them. Thus showing that the narrative borders don’t need to be expanded further to make for a satisfying and unique gaming experience and creating a sense of mysticism that makes your train of thought play the game even further after finishing it… Highly recommended game that need to be experienced!
The last of us (PS3)
„Everyone I have cared for has either died or left me. Everyone — fucking except for you! So don’t tell me I would be safer with somebody else, because the truth is I would just be more scared.“
Probably one of the most anticipated and hyped games of 2013 next to „GTA V“ but that alone doesn’t really say anything if we’re being honest. I am always a bit careful when it comes to certain hypes that are created artifically to raise certain expectations. Even a studio with a flawless record is able to deliver a disappointing product for various reasons and we’ve all witnessed something like that before. But „The last of us“ isn’t a disappointment at all, it delivers on all levels as promised and probably tells one of the most mature stories that I’ve seen in a blockbuster for a long time. It’s characters are fleshed out and beyond the amazing cutscenes it manages to expand it’s story through certain details of enviromental storytelling. It’s compelling, creates a sense of dread and desperation that really gives it’s atmosphere and narration a sense of weight and seriousness that other games should learn from. I know that certain critics thought of the game’s way of storytelling and the player’s limited influence on the story as conservative and I can understand this point very much in fact but expecting a complete 180 from this industry at a moment’s notice would be asking to much. It’s important to keep in mind that this game’s twists wouldn’t work if there was too much decisionmaking involved. It’s a specific study of certain characters and if you accept that you’lI love the gameplay, the story, the sense of exploration and it’s emotional highlights and weight very much!
Rayman Legends (PS3)
„Rayman Origins“ already was one of those beautiful, fresh and addicting timekillers and „Legends“ expands the original formula by putting in a few nice tweaks here and there and managing to surpass an already excellent game on almost every level. Getting into it is easy and mastering becomes an art. It’s multiplayer is chaotic but fun and the game always manages to awake the feeling of just giving it one more try. Before you know it’s 4am and you have to fight that urge of just playing one more level since you still have two or three hours before you need to get up.
Papers Please (Mac)
„You no like passport, I understand. I come back again with better one.“
If playing a customs officer in a dystopian communist state doesn’t sound like fun then you’re right and this game isn’t really supposed to be fun at all. It’s hard on the eyes, constantly makes struggle for the survival of your loved ones and yourself and also gives you the heavy burden of having to send people to their certain doom or actively kill them yourself. But you know what? It’s supposed to play out like this since „Papers Please“ doesn’t want to be fun, it wants to be an intense, engaging and almost kafkaesque experience and handles just that brilliantly. It puts you into a place of responsibility that is beyond managable but yet you may try to give it your best shot and keep hope alive, while the desolation around you and the field of unresolved moral tension gain more and more weight. It’s a brilliant story with many unexpected waypoints that are influenced by your way of playing the game and thus it gives you a feeling of consequence most other games do not achieve.
Gone Home (Mac)
„Gone Home“ is one of those titles that you best go into without knowing anything about it. It’s a game (or is it?) about exploring and letting your own curiosity roam free to create a sense of causality and purpose. It’s way of enviromental storytelling is unique and the game is beautiful, mysterious, highly emotional and one of the few titles that actually made me cry! Don’t read about, don’t spoil it for yourself and just PLAY IT!
Favorites, Discoveries and Rediscoveries of 2013
As this rollercoaster of a year is slowly coming to an end, I started reflecting on my favorite albums of the last twelve months. Looking back I must say that this was a really good year musicwise and since I started expanding my vinyl collection again from January on, I have given music an even bigger space in my life than it already had before. I rediscovered the dispositif of mindful listening and loved diving into those different worlds of sound again and again, letting my thoughts stray and meditate. This helped me even further with learning to be alone with myself, which is a demanding thing to do and to accept and I now seem to manage quite well. I needed to decelerate everything a bit and realized that deceleration sometimes might be more important than always trying to accelerate and having the fear of missing something. In deceleration lies focus and focus helps us to reach the core of a matter, it’s what the mind is all about for me and I just can’t keep consuming like crazy because I feel that we lose respect for certain matters, if we just percieve them on „fast forward“ to be able to move to the next product and try not to miss anything. Trying not to miss anything is just an illusion anyway, it’s fighting a loosing battle and tilting against windmills. But not to bother you anymore with my train of thought. Here are – in alphabetical order – the releases of this year that really got my attention and seemed well worth my time.
Twenty personal darlings of 2013:
Apparat – Krieg und Frieden (Mute)
It’s impressive that this is one of the rare soundtracks that manages to keep it’s impact even without the accompanying performance. Apparat really is an impressive artist and has come a long way since his first release. The way elements of noise, post-rock and classical instruments are tied together feels bold and elaborated and almost effortless. This one gives me pleasant goosebumps everytime.
New Album – Krieg und Frieden (Music for Theatre) – Out Feb 2013
Cervello Elettronico – Anima Meccanica (Hands)
I can’t deny that I am a sucker for those more technoid styles and this album more than delivers. It’s pumping rhythmic structures are combined with some very psychedelic sounds and it’s dark yet energetic atmosphere never becomes tiring. There is much to be discovered here and it works on and beyond the dancefloor almost flawlessly.
http://handsproductions.com/Artists.asp?A_index=67
Diaphane – Lifeforms (Ant-Zen)
The first album by Diaphane for me was an unexpected surprise and became one of my favorites in 2010. In 2013 Diaphane rewards our patience with an absolutely stunning sonic assault that without any doubt plays in the first league of contemporary electronic music. It’s deep, diverse, powerful, sometimes introverted and then all of the sudden outbursting and raw.
http://ant-zen.bandcamp.com/album/lifeforms
Field Rotation – The Fatalist: Repetition of History (Denovali)
This one is probably one of the most melancholic albums that I’ve heard this year and I mean that in a good way, since the kind of melancholy this album constructs has something very warm and poetic to it. It’s not unnecessarily overwhelming the listener with it’s emotion and doesn’t seem pretentious at all, it kindly invites it’s listener into a world of introspection and opens up the potential for an interesting dialogue. This one should be enjoyed in solitude with a good glass of wine and some flickering candles.
http://www.denovali.com/fieldrotation/
Forest Swords – Engravings (Tri-Angle)
Tri-Angle have proven that they have a good way to keep their specific handwriting without being boring or monotone. This album perfectly suits this label and yet enhanches the „Tri-Angle“ formula yet again. It’s lo-fi style and sample work creates a beautiful and engaging atmosphere with an oldschool vibe that reminds me of those good old days when trip-hop was on the rise.
http://tri-anglerecords.com/?p=684
Greg Haines – Where we were (Denovali)
Greg Haines changes his direction with his latest album and delivers a concept piece that engages you from the first minute. This change isn’t really surprising since he seems to be able to make gold out of everything he touches. „Where we were“ is a very tightly put together album that keeps a very good arc of tension and playfully switches between different styles.
http://denovali.com/greghaines/
Haxan Cloak, The – Excavation (Tri-Angle)
Unbelievably dark and scary! This one really has to be experienced on high volume and in a dark room all by yourself. The Haxan Cloak is propably the best canvas for your worst nightmares. Open yourself up and take a look into the abyss.
http://tri-anglerecords.com/?p=403
Huron – The other Side of Reality (Raumklang Music)
Altough his style reminds me of „Access to Arasaka“ it still offers a handwriting with a very unique touch and being compared with one of the greatest is only meant as a compliment. The soundscapes are complex and tense and I can’t deny that I more than admire the way he approaches working with sounds. Complex rhythms, a dystopian, urban atmosphere with a lot of emotion and an almost introverted feel.
http://raumklangmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-side-of-reality
Lustmord – The Word as Power (Blackest ever Black)
This is a release by Lustmord that just really hit the spot for me. There is a lot to discover in these tracks and any fan of well produced ambient music and droning sounds should give this one a listen. Lustmord’s reputation is justified within the scene and I think that there is no need to say more.
http://blackesteverblack.bigcartel.com/product/lustmord-i-the-word-as-power-i-blackestlp004-2xlp
Machine Code – Under the Sun (Subsistenz)
Sometimes there is the need for some more straightforward and danceable material and Machine Code delivers just that without being to repetitive or stale. This is one of those albums that although it seems to aim more in direction of the dancefloor also has a lot of substance and really shows the wide spectrum of this amazing producer.
http://subdivisionmedia.bandcamp.com/album/under-the-sun
Miles – Faint Hearted (Modern Love)
Oh „Modern Love“ you keep suprising me and so far managed to earn lots of my love. This one is a record that combines industrial and techno elements in a very elaborated way. It reminded me a bit of Orphx’s „Vita Meditativa“ and that probably says all that needs to be said.
http://www.modern-love.co.uk/releases/miles-faint-hearted
Moderat – II (Monkeytown Records)
The first album by Moderat had some material that I really enjoyed very much but didn’t really work as an album for me. „II“ changes that and delivers a more homogenic yet still very experimental experience that combines the signature sounds of Modeselektor and Apparat to produce something new and very enjoyable without hiding the individual roots of the artists.
http://www.monkeytownrecords.com/releases/view/82/monkeytown035-36-ii
Nils Frahm – Spaces (Erased Tapes)
One word: „Says“! The opening track of Frahm’s new record blew me away completely and this different approach to the concept of a live-album is bold and beautiful in it’s entirety.
http://www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP055
Piano Interrupted – The unified Field (Denovali)
Jazz meets IDM on a playground of emotions. „The unified Field“ for me seems to be another step forward for Piano Interrupted and concentrates on the essence of their specific sounds. It’s moving and playful yet complex and academic.
http://denovali.com/pianointerrupted/
Seirom – 1973 (Aurora Borealis)
Technically this one was already released in 2012 but it’s vinyl release was in 2013 so I am lucky there. Seirom reminds me of some of Tim Hecker’s best work and nonetheless stands on it’s own. It doesn’t rely on this parallel and is an unspeakably beautiful and rich in variety with a lot of complex texture and unbelievable climaxes throughout it’s impressive running time of over ninety minutes.
http://auroraborealisrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/1973
Shorai – Interference (Hands)
I am willing to welcome our new robot masters and embrace the reign of the machines if this is their language. Shorai again delivers an amazing album that expands on his trademark style and delivers another step up in remarkable quality!
http://handsproductions.com/Artists.asp?A_index=24
Sigur Rós – Kveikur (XL Recordings)
Although I never was a die hard fan of this icelandic cult band, I enjoyed most of their output very much. ‚Kveikur‘ for me seems like one of their more darker albums and that might be why it really stuck with me. There actually are some elements that could have been taken from the genre of power electronics and those are combined with the typical epic post-rock feel that we have come to love by this band.
http://www.discogs.com/Sigur-R%C3%B3s-Kveikur/master/566165
Tim Hecker – Virgins (Kranky)
Since the press already covered in detail why Hecker’s new record is amazing there isn’t much more that I could add to that. „Virgins“ is or seems much more organic than his previous work, it’s even more demanding and voluminous. Hecker knows what he is doing and not afraid to try something new without losing his core. This one takes time and attention but is so rewarding if you’re willful to give it some of your precious concentration.
http://www.discogs.com/Tim-Hecker-Virgins/release/4947077
Witxes – A Fabric of Believes (Denovali)
This one seems to have come directly from the dark ages to put a captivating spell on you. This record builds tension in an excellent way and really takes it’s time to let go. It’s aggressive, sometimes dreamy, brooding and most important it’s rewarding!
http://witxes.bandcamp.com/album/a-fabric-of-beliefs
Xabec – Closing the Circle (Self-Released)
It’s really sad to see Xabec go but he’s leaving on a high note and his upcoming project Silent Walls already looks and sounds promising! This one is a release with a lot of heart and effort that combines everything that made Xabec an astonishing and diverse act that managed to blow me away since I’ve first seen them live.
http://xabec.bandcamp.com/album/closing-the-circle-2
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