Messages By Light

Comments on watching and making films.

Showing posts with label Rust and Bone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rust and Bone. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

My favorites of 2013


This is a list of my favorite films I saw, theatrically, in 2013. These are only films I saw in the theater. The first grouping represents as close to a "top films" list as I probably get with Short Term 12 definitely being my favorite film of the year. It is an amazingly, heartbreakingly beautiful film that is that rare thing that truly touches at a lot of what humanity is deep down, and the needs we all have for love and community. Rust and Bone is another heartbreakingly beautiful film, and is easily one of Marion Cotillard's greatest performances (so far). Mud is writer/director Jeff Nichols' meditation on romantic love, and has been one of THREE performances that Matthew McConaughey knocks out of the park this year (all of which are on this list). Don Jon is a hilarious and strikingly poignant look at sex and relationships, The Place Beyond The Pines is a rare feat of filmmaking that covers multiple generations of family and explores the sins of the father and their consequences for the family. Before Midnight, for those of you who have seen the other two films in the "Before" series, is a romantic, but very real, continuation of one of cinema's great (modern) love stories, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a revelatory film about the very condition of the world, as it stands, right now.

These are just my favorites for the year. Please understand that you may not like everything on this list, and that is perfectly okay. We all like different stuff. 


Rust and Bone (technically 2012) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg7skcyYolU
The Place Beyond The Pines - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G07pSbHLXgg
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAzGXqJSDJ8


The Impossible (might be 2012?) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgw394ZKsis
The Wolf of Wall Street - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iszwuX1AK6A

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Monday, January 21, 2013

Rust And Bone

Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) is a brutal and selfish loser, put in charge of his son, and in need of a new start in life. He relocates to an ocean side city in France, where he gets a job as a security guard. It is while he is working the door at a club that he meets Stephanie (Marion Cotillard), a dolphin trainer at a local amusement park who seems at the end of her limit of patience with her own life. When Stephanie is involved in an accident that costs her her legs, she leans on Ali to try and find a way back to the world. Ali's true nature is revealed quickly, though, leaving Stephanie to contend with the emotional roller coaster of being involved with this man.

Directed by Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, The Beat That My Heart Skipped), Rust and Bone is a powerful film about accepting others for who they are, and having to accept your own faults and problems and over coming them. It is not just Stephanie who must overcome her injury. Ali must also come to the realization that his behavior is dangerous to both himself, and those around him. The film moves at a perfect pace, with perfect acting, and perfect cinematography. It is one of my favorites of this year, so far.
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