Any year that features a new movie by Alejandro Jodorowsky is sure to be a banner year in cinematic weirdness, and 2014 certainly qualifies. It was also a banner year for the British Isles, which gave us four weird movies (three made by Englishmen and one by an Irishman, with one set entirely in Scotland and one in England in the 17th century). France chipped in two surreal movies, while Spain, Chile and Canada gave us one apiece.  An Israeli director helmed the last weird movie. For the first time since we’ve been keeping this yearly list, no American movie made the list, although big name Hollywood actors— Jake Gyllenhaal, Jesse Eisenberg, Robin Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Fassbender—did dominate the slate, giving a false impression that the state of American strangeness is better than it actually is. In reality, in 2104 domestic producers shied away from surreality. In short, gentlemen, I am afraid we have a weirdness gap. America needs to start weirding it up once more, so we can return to being the weirdest nation on Earth (with apologies to the Japanese, who remain the weirdest populace on a per capita basis).

Besides the invasion of foreign surreality, the other big weird story of the year was the sudden increase in doppelganger sightings. These rare creatures inexplicably showed up in two of the year’s weirdest movies, as well as in three lesser films (+1, Coherence and The One I Love).

Besides the invasion of foreign surreality, the other big weird story of the year was the sudden increase in doppelganger sightings… oh wait.

Without further ado, here is our list of the ten weirdest movies of 2014, presented, as always, in random order—the weirdest of orders.

9. Under the Skin – Scarlett Johansson stars (and, yes, disrobes) as an alien sent to Scotland to pick up lonely men and take them to her loft, where she sinks them into a pit of black goo for reasons only space aliens understand (makes as much sense as anal probes, at least). She (it) gradually, and reluctantly, learns what it means to be human. In April Alex Kittle commented “the action moves slowly, but is filled with wonderfully bizarre imagery and powerful space-y scoundscapes” and said it was “easily among the best of 2014, and may well turn out to be the weirdest.” It certainly does end the year among both the best and the weirdest.

10. Witching & Bitching [Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi] – Alex de la Iglesia must have been drinking henbane infusion when he came up with Continue reading 10 WEIRDEST MOVIES OF 2014 →

As I wrote in my rundown on the Online Film Critics Society Awards, I found 2014 to be a year of many very good movies, but no clear masterpieces. Although I saw nothing in 2014 I would qualify as a general must-see, the positive side of that lots-of-good-no-great equation means that there were so many worthy top ten contenders that I had to leave many worthwhile films off my final list. It was a very good year, as it turns out, for science fiction, and for British films, and so I’ll kick off my list of honorable mentions with Jonathan Glazer‘s quiet Scottish movie about undercover space aliens, Under the Skin. I also wish I could have found room for the year’s best thriller, Gone Girl; Wes Anderson‘s typically great Grand Budapest Hotel; Coherence, the best microbudget film of the year; and the crazy train that was Joon-ho Bong‘s Snowpiercer. With those out of the way, let’s get down to the ten films that did make the cut (three of which we also added to the 366 Best Weird Movies of All Time):

10. The Double:  Certified Weird! A timid clerk (Jesse Eisenberg) named Simon James finds his vocational and romantic opportunities are being seized by a confident co-worker named James Simon, who looks exactly like him. Based on Dostovevsky, but the mood of this unsettling existential black comedy is much closer to Kafka (with plenty of nods to Brazil). The dystopia feels familiar, but hauntingly so. I’m not ashamed to make the obvious joke: this would make a great “double feature” with Enemy.

9. The Dance of Reality: Certified Weird! Alejandro Jodorowsky begins his imaginary autobiography with a bare-knuckle boxing match against an effeminate circus clown dressed as a carrot, a father who’s the spitting image of Joseph Stalin, and a mother who only communicates through operatic singing, and it only gets stranger from there. Jodorowsky’s unexpected late-season movie has all of the weirdness and occult spirituality of his cult hits El Topo, The Holy Mountain and Santa Sangre, but there’s something different, too. He’s lightened up in his old age, and now brings a consistent sense of humor and playfulness to ciname. If this is the 85-year old director’s last film, it’s a beautiful swan song that sits comfortably alongside his best work.

8. Guardians of the Galaxy: “Star Lord” (a buffed-up Chris Pratt) recruits a crew of galactic riff-raff, including a wisecracking racoon and a tree with a limited vocabulary, to stop an evil villain or two from acquiring a futuristic MacGuffin. A crowd-pleasing mix of action, spectacle, and comedy. Although they are always high quality, this is my favorite Marvel movie, probably because it takes place in a “galaxy far away” rather than the Marvel Universe per se (yes, I am aware an Avengers crossover is being discussed). Great fun; it’s no surprise it comes from James Gunn (co-writer of the Certified Weird Shakespearean classic Tromeo and Juliet).

7. Boyhood: Watch Mason Jr. (Ellar Coltrane) survive a bratty sister, first love, and a succession of stepfathers as he grows from a boy to a man in this narrative experiment shot over 12 years with the same actors. Even though nothing out of the ordinary happens, it’s Continue reading TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2014: THE MAINSTREAM EDITION →