Number of films seen, excluding shorts: 343
Number of films seen for the first time, excluding shorts: 278
Pre-1920s: 1 (1 first time viewing)
1920s: 2 (1)
1930s: 6 (4)
1940s: 10 (8)
1950s: 13 (8)
1960s: 18 (17)
1970s: 18 (11)
1980s: 29 (15)
1990s: 32 (15)
2000s: 18 (9)
2010s: 196 (192)
I didn’t exactly succeed with my resolution with older cinema from the 2012 entry, but I did see enough great films for the first time this year to justify expanding the following list from 50 to 75.
75 best first time viewings of 2013, in alphabetical order
Much of a tentative selection of my favourite 2013 films can be found within. Podcast episodes and relevant writing of mine, where available, are linked.
The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012, Denmark/Norway/UK/Finland)
Ali (Michael Mann, 2001, USA)
Podcast
À nos amours. (Maurice Pialat, 1983, France)
Before Midnight (Richard Linklater, 2013, USA)
The Skinny ‘Films of 2013′ capsule
Podcast
Behind the Candelabra (Steven Soderbergh, 2013, USA)
Beyond the Hills (Cristian Mungiu, 2012, Romania/France/Belgium)
Subtitled Online DVD review
The Skinny ‘Films of 2013′ capsule
The Big City (Satyajit Ray, 1963, India)
Blow Out (Brian De Palma, 1981, USA)
Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen, 2013, USA)
Sound On Sight’s 30 Best Films of 2013 capsule
Podcast
Candyman (Bernard Rose, 1992, USA)
Carnival of Souls (Herc Harvey, 1962, USA)
Podcast
Cold Water (Olivier Assayas, 1994, France)
Podcast
La collectionneuse (Eric Rohmer, 1967, France)
Detour (Edward G. Ulmer, 1945, USA)
Drug War (Johnnie To, 2012, China/Hong Kong)
Sound On Sight’s 30 Best Films of 2013 capsule
Drums Along the Mohawk (John Ford, 1939, USA)
Dust in the Wind (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1987, Taiwan)
Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach, 2012, USA)
Podcast
Gimme the Loot (Adam Leon, 2012, USA)
Review
Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, 2013, USA)
Podcast
The Gunfighter (Henry King, 1950, USA)
Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby, 1971, USA)
Heaven’s Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980, USA)
Podcast
A Hijacking (Tobias Lindholm, 2012, Denmark)
House (Nobuhiko Ôbayashi, 1977, Japan)
How the West Was Won (Henry Hathaway/John Ford/George Marshall, 1962, USA)
In the House (François Ozon, 2012, France)
Intimidation (Koreyoshi Kurahara, 1960, Japan)
I Wish (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2011, Japan)
Je, tu, il, elle (Chantal Akerman, 1976, France/Belgium)
King of New York (Abel Ferrara, 1990, USA/Italy/UK)
Knife in the Water (Roman Polanski, 1962, Poland)
Podcast
Late August, Early September (Olivier Assayas, 1998, France)
The Legend of Kaspar Hauser (Davide Manuli, 2012, Italy)
Leviathan (Lucien Castaing-Taylor/Verena Paravel, 2012, France/UK/USA)
Review
Like Father, Like Son (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2013, Japan)
The Limey (Steven Soderbergh, 1999, USA)
Lola (Jacques Demy, 1961, France/Italy)
Lore (Cate Shortland, 2012, Germany/Australia/UK)
Interview with producer Paul Welsh
Melvin and Howard (Jonathan Demme, 1980, USA)
Midnight (Mitchell Leisen, 1939, USA)
Museum Hours (Jem Cohen, 2012, Austria/USA)
The Skinny DVD review
My Name Is Julia Ross (Joseph H. Lewis, 1945, USA)
The Narrow Margin (Richard Fleischer, 1952, USA)
Nebraska (Alexander Payne, 2013, USA)
Sound On Sight’s 30 Best Films of 2013 capsule
Podcast
Neighbouring Sounds (Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2012, Brazil)
Niagara (Henry Hathaway, 1953, USA)
Nothing But a Man (Michael Roemer, 1964, USA)
Osaka Elegy (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1936, Japan)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928, France)
Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957, USA)
Plein soleil (René Clément, 1960, France/Italy)
Prince of Darkness (John Carpenter, 1987, USA)
Quadrophenia (Franc Roddam, 1979, UK)
Side Effects (Steven Soderbergh, 2013, USA)
Podcast
Something in the Air (Olivier Assayas, 2012, France)
Programme note for Glasgow Film Theatre
Podcast
Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine, 2012, USA)
Sullivan’s Travels (Preston Sturges, 1941, USA)
Terror at the Opera (Dario Argento, 1987, Italy)
That Sinking Feeling (Bill Forsyth, 1979, UK)
There Was a Father (Yasujirô Ozu, 1942, Japan)
Four Frames piece for The Big Picture
This Is Martin Bonner (Chad Hartigan, 2013, USA)
Review
Three Sisters (Wang Bing, 2012, Hong Kong/France)
Review
3:10 to Yuma (Delmer Daves, 1957)
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (Pedro Almodóvar, 1990, Spain)
The Titfield Thunderbolt (Charles Crichton, 1953, UK)
12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013, USA/UK)
Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992, USA)
Upstream Color (Shane Carruth, 2013, USA)
Podcast
Vanishing Point (Richard C. Sarafian, 1971, USA/UK)
Whisky Galore! (Alexander Mackendrick, 1949, UK)
The White Dove (František Vláčil, 1960, Czechoslovakia)
The Skinny DVD review
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (Frank Tashlin, 1957, USA)
Podcast
The World’s End (Edgar Wright, 2013, UK)
Podcast
Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow, 2012, USA)
Notable film culture events of 2013
– Becoming a more regular writer for The Skinny.
– Started a co-host stint for film-focused episodes of the Seen Your Video podcast.
– Sub-editing The Skinny’s daily offshoot The CineSkinny that ran throughout Glasgow Film Festival.
– Becoming Managing Editor for Sound On Sight’s Film section.
– Recorded a lengthy podcast on 2012 discovery Shinji Sômai for They Shot Pictures.
– Wrote a few commissioned programme notes for Glasgow Film Theatre.
– Covering the 2013 installments of the Glasgow and Edinburgh film festivals for The Skinny and Sound On Sight.
– Becoming a contributor for The Big Picture.
– Was a guest on episodes of Mousterpiece Cinema and Almost Arthouse.
– Seeing a number of older films on the big screen in both digitally restored form and 35mm presentation, including The Thin Red Line, The New World, Heaven’s Gate, King of New York, Point Blank (1967), Plein soleil, Alien, Baraka, Nothing But a Man, Blow Out, Knife in the Water, Rear Window, Pulp Fiction, Kiki’s Delivery Service, On the Waterfront, Theorem, Chronicle of a Summer, Quadrophenia, Grave of the Fireflies, My Neighbour Totoro, Dial M for Murder (in 3D), Cleopatra, The Big City, Blue Velvet, A Woman Under the Influence, Harold and Maude, That Sinking Feeling, Deep End, Lola (1961), Cinema Paradiso, and… Death Wish 3.
