Films of 2015: Criminally Overlooked Movies

Beyond the Lights

Dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood
Why it's one of our overlooked movies of 2015: it went straight to DVD in the UK

In a more sensible film culture Beyond the Lights would have been a surefire mainstream crowdpleaser, but this year it was barely given a chance to find a crowd to please. Until it was rescued by London film curators The Bechdel Test Fest, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s romantic drama was heading straight for DVD, but this is a film that deserves to be seen on a big screen and with an audience.

It’s an old-fashioned Hollywood melodrama delivered with conviction and passion, and it features a central couple, in Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Nate Parker, whose palpable chemistry is the kind that filmmakers dream of capturing. In particular, Mbatha-Raw’s performance as a conflicted pop star is a revelation, and one wishes it had been visible enough to catch the attention of awards voters. [Phillip Concannon]

Blackhat

Dir. Michael Mann
Why it's one of our overlooked movies of 2015: it has a measly 34% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Typical quote: “It's not very good. Some of it, in fact, is downright awful.” – Kevin Mahr, The Times

Few American directors regularly given access to considerable budgets for theoretically mainstream projects have taken quite the plunge in critical and commercial circles as Michael Mann in the last decade. Post-Collateral, he’s gone head-first into stylistic experimentation with the possibilities of digital cinema, making an alienating period gangster film (Public Enemies) and an impressionistic big-screen take on Miami Vice that turned off those who probably watched the show for the wrong reasons.

Cyber terrorism thriller Blackhat is firmly in this mode, though thematic DNA from earlier works like Heat and Manhunter bleed their way in. The vocal minority of new century Mann fans naturally latched onto this one, but there are enough broader thrills in this slow-burning box office bomb for the more casual viewer inclined to give it a chance. [Josh Slater-Williams]

Crimson Peak

Dir. Guillermo del Toro
Why it's one of our overlooked movies of 2015: it has an undeserved 69% approval on Rotten Tomatoes
Typical quote: “The film is too busy, and in some ways too gross, to sustain an effective atmosphere of dread.” – A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Most negative reviews of Crimson Peak praised the craft of the production design but deemed the apparent genre intent to be sorely lacking. Some misleading marketing certainly didn’t help. When the trailers present the film’s various ghostly apparitions as antagonistic threats rather than messengers of warning (not a spoiler, that card is dealt very early on), it’s hard for some to adjust their expectations of what type of horror film they’re actually seeing.

You can also sympathise with Universal regarding how to market such an odd hybrid of so many disparate influences – Hitchcock, Shirley Jackson, Jane Eyre, Roger Corman, Henry James and Mario Bava, to name just a few. If any of those tickle your fancy, and you don’t need all horror films to shout “boo” from the shadows, give this gorgeous opus a gander. [JS-W]

The Falling

Dir. Carol Morley
Why it's one of our overlooked movies of 2015: its approval is only 78% on Rotten Tomatoes
Typical quote: “Carol Morley follows up the mesmerising Dreams of a Life with a tedious period drama.” – David Jenkins, Little White Lies

You fall for some films while you’re watching them. Carol Morley’s beguiling The Falling is one that sneaks up on you. It tells the story of a mysterious fainting epidemic that breaks out at an all-girls school in 1960s Britain. Agnès Godard’s tactile visuals and Tracey Thorn’s deeply weird soundtrack lend the film a heady atmosphere, one so suffocating and insidious that watching the film is not all that pleasurable; its rewards come later.

Like Taxi Driver or Red Desert, the film feels toxic and alienating, but once seen its textures and sounds stay with you. The reviews were middling. Some critics hated it, but I’m willing to bet its indelible images are still haunting everyone who saw it back in the spring, even its biggest detractors. [Jamie Dunn]

Read our interview with director Carol Morley

Love at First Fight

Dir. Thomas Cailley, Rami Danon
Why it's one of our overlooked movies of 2015: it opened in only 18 cinemas in the UK

UK viewers would be forgiven for assuming that France only had a handful of actors (an ouroboros rotation of Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu and Audrey Tautou) churning out the same gentle, middlebrow, mildly-diverting dramas, such is the homogeneity of the gallic fare picked up for distribution in this country. It’s such a shame, then, that when a fresh and joyous French film such as Love at First Fight does slip past unimaginative distributors it makes such little impact.

At first glance it looks like a kooky rom-com – the kind of thing that would go down a storm at Sundance if it was made in America – but the film proves as spiky as its female lead (Adèle Haenel), a high school dropout with her heart set on joining the army. She’s followed to basic training by the soft-hearted lad (Kévin Azaïs) who’s fallen for her thuggish charms – the cheesy English title refers to the couple's first encounter (more meet-brute than meet-cute), where she kicks his arse.

The joy of the film is its sharp morbid humor, the knockout performances by Azaïs and Haenel as the young lovers and the subtle way in which a social commentary (youth unemployment, gender roles, environmental concerns) unspools quietly as an undercurrent to this fresh and charming romance. [JD]

Mia Madre

Dir. Nanni Moretti
Why it's one of our overlooked movies of 2015: it opened in only 27 cinemas

Mia Madre received a limited release but Nanni Moretti's introspective meditation on art, love and bereavement is one of the most affecting films of the year. Margherita Buy plays a film director helming a worthy tome about factory workers struggling to unionise as a new American owner (John Turturro) arrives. Meanwhile, in the humdrum of her own life, she has to deal with her mother's declining health and impending mortality. As her mother slips away, the rest of her life is thrown into relief – her artistic struggles, her childhood, and her relationship with her own daughter. This is deep, emotional filmmaking – Moretti at his best. [Sam Lewis]

Miss Julie

Dir. Liv Ullmann
Why it's one of our overlooked movies of 2015: its approval is only 46% on Rotten Tomatoes
Typical quote: “A ponderous, stately affair that lacks relevance and only acquires intermittent power.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

Perhaps it’s easy to see why Liv Ullman’s adaptation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie failed to catch fire with critics or audiences. A classic play – three actors, minimal sets – this has the whiff of filmed theatre about it from a distance, but get closer and you’ll see how mistaken that prejudice is. The way Ullman uses the space available to her and positions her actors within it, and the way those actors express so much through their body language, makes this a thrillingly cinematic work.

This is a tough and intelligent take on the play by Ullman, who keeps the emotions under wraps and simmering nicely until the explosive climax. She also draws sensational work from Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell and Samantha Morton, whose finely detailed performances are perfectly in tune with one another throughout. [Philip Concannon]

Song of the Sea

Dir. Tomm Moore
Why it's one of our overlooked movies of 2015: critically loved but underseen – it took £72,172 on its opening week. Minions, which opened the week before, took £11,558,946.

Irish studio Cartoon Saloon has spent the last few years developing a warm and gentle voice that sounds a bit like animation legend Hayao Miyazaki with a melodic Irish accent. Critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination weren’t enough to draw the spotlight to their latest film Song of the Sea and that’s a great shame because, by mixing its lush hand-drawn visual with the rich mythology of Irish lore and a lilting folk score, it’s one of the most charming animated films in recent memory and a definitive announcement of a major new player in the game. [Ross McIndoe]

Slow West

Dir. John Maclean
Why it's one of our overlooked movies of 2015: it was well liked by critics, but deserved more praise.

Michael Fassbender signed up to star in writer-director John Maclean’s first feature before the script even existed – let alone its off-putting name and terrible poster. Slow West vindicates his decision. Maclean, the former Beta Band member, has something. It was apparent in his occasional videos for Fife’s finest folktronica outfit, and it’s definitely on show here, in his debut feature.

Nothing turns out quite as you expect it will at every twist and turn of this Coen-esque tale of a young Scot travelling across Civil War-era America, to reunite with his wanted true love. It is a bow-tight 84-minute journey that richly deserved its Sundance Grand Jury Prize and will delight even haters of the Western genre. [Danny Scott]

Read our interview with John Maclean

Spy

Dir. Paul Feig
Why it's one of our overlooked movies of 2015: comedies don’t make end of year lists.

Genre cinema is rarely rewarded with accolades when critics compile their end-of-year lists, despite its dominant presence within the cultural landscape. Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy have cultivated a cinematic partnership built on a playful relationship with genre cinema, be it The Heat’s feminist appropriation of buddy movie tropes, to next year’s Ghostbusters reboot. Spy isn’t a straight forward parody of James Bond or similar espionage narratives but rather a subtly intelligent satire of the industry served up in a palatable and genuinely hilarious manner. [Patrick Gamble]

Stray Dogs

Dir. Tsai Ming-liang
Why it's one of our overlooked movies of 2015: it was garnered with five star reviews, but opened in just one UK cinema

A requiem for a career, the release of Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang’s swansong Stray Dogs should have been received by cinephiles with the kind of fervent ardour reserved for farewell tours and award ceremonies. Instead Tsai Ming-liang’s final feature slipped in-and-out of the listings, only spared the ignominy of straight-to-DVD release thanks to a last-minute re-think from its distributors.

A fiercely humanistic film of contemplative long shots and poetic ruminations of the definition of home, and by extension, the value of life. Tsai is a director who truly believes in the power of art to incite change, and Stray Dogs is the culmination of a career devoted to giving a voice to marginalised lives. [PG]

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Tell us your most overlooked movies of the year in the comments below, and check out our Top Ten Films of 2015 in the December issue of The Skinny.