Items25The creator’s order
  1. 1The Master (2012)The Master (2012) 7.1/10 on IMDbReleased 14 Sept 2012Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman make the bond between restless follower and assured leader physically unpredictable. Paul Thomas Anderson's images give belief a seductive social texture. Its strength is the continuing friction between bodies and explanations, with neither man's apparent…0
  2. 2Amour (2012)Amour (2012) 7.9/10 on IMDbReleased 20 Sept 2012Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva make the practical work of caring for another person increasingly difficult to separate from love. Michael Haneke's fixed rooms give each changed routine a severe weight. This is painful viewing, rewarded by the precision with which intimacy is allowed to…0
  3. 3Holy Motors (2012)Holy Motors (2012) 7.0/10 on IMDbReleased 2 Jul 2012Denis Lavant makes each abrupt change of role feel like a complete bodily commitment. Leos Carax turns the travelling performance into an unruly enquiry about what images and gestures are for. Its exuberance earns the place because even the most bizarre passages retain the energy and melancholy of…0
  4. 4Moonrise Kingdom (2012)Moonrise Kingdom (2012) 7.7/10 on IMDbReleased 16 May 2012Wes Anderson's carefully arranged island gives the young runaways a world both inviting and resistant to their plans. The ensemble's controlled comic timing leaves room for sincere feeling. Its best passages make the desire to build a private refuge moving precisely because the miniature world…0
  5. 5Zero Dark Thirty (2012)Zero Dark Thirty (2012) 7.4/10 on IMDbReleased 19 Dec 2012Kathryn Bigelow makes the investigation's accumulated information, frustration and professional routines part of the suspense. Jessica Chastain gives the pursuit a concentrated, increasingly isolated centre. The film's representation of torture remains contentious; its dramatic authority should be…0
  6. 6Lincoln (2012)Lincoln (2012) 7.3/10 on IMDbReleased 9 Nov 2012Daniel Day-Lewis makes the president's storytelling a practical instrument inside a difficult political negotiation. Steven Spielberg gives committee rooms and private conversations distinct rhythms of power. The film is most rewarding where a large historical decision depends on contingent…0
  7. 7Django Unchained (2012)Django Unchained (2012) 8.5/10 on IMDbReleased 25 Dec 2012Quentin Tarantino makes the western's familiar poses change meaning through the central character's growing control of them. Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz give the partnership an effective contrast. The graphic violence and racial language are substantial, with the film strongest when theatrical…0
  8. 8Life of Pi (2012)Life of Pi (2012) 7.9/10 on IMDbReleased 20 Nov 2012Ang Lee makes the lifeboat a legible physical space before enlarging it through extraordinary digital images. Suraj Sharma supplies a vulnerable practical centre. The film earns its visual ambition where wonder remains tied to the daily work of survival, with a good 3D presentation adding to the…0
  9. 9The Act of Killing (2012)The Act of Killing (2012) 8.2/10 on IMDbReleased 1 Nov 2012Joshua Oppenheimer lets perpetrators' staged performances expose the stories through which they continue to inhabit their violence. The resulting images are disturbing in ways a straightforward interview could not reproduce. Its 2012 festival debut puts it here before wider release, with the…0
  10. 10Stories We Tell (2012)Stories We Tell (2012) 7.5/10 on IMDbReleased 12 Oct 2012Sarah Polley lets family recollections become competing performances without making affection disappear into scepticism. The different visual materials keep changing what appears to count as evidence. Its formal play is rewarding because the question of how a story is made remains attached to…0