It’s award season, and Film Inquiry, of course, cannot stay behind. Thusly, we’ve decided to do our very first Film Inquiry Best Movie of the Year!  

To determine which movie would be awarded this prestigious title, our team members sent in their lists of top 5 movies of 2014. We would then mark each of their entries with a score: number 5 would get one point, number 4 two points, and so on, until number 1, which would get five points. Then, adding all the points for all lists, the grand sum would decide, democratically, which is Film Inquiry’s Best Movie of 2014. We hope that makes sense.

Finally, when Film Inquiry’s Best Movie of 2014 is declared, we will soon after organize a giveaway of this movie to celebrate! Now, without any further ado, our top fives:

Alistair Ryder

5. The Double

4. The Guest

3. Snowpiercer

2. Birdman

1. Boyhood

Every year, my best-of list is essentially just a work in progress. However, even as I wait impatiently for the big awards season contenders to make their way to the UK and wonder where they’d be ranked in my list (Birdman and Snowpiercer aren’t actually out in the UK, but I’ve seen them at festivals), they will definitely not become my favourite film of 2014. Boyhood is quite simply one of the best films I’ve ever seen, even if it is what Jerry Seinfeld would dub a “show about nothing”. Over the course of eleven years, we see Mason Jr. (Ellar Coltrane) grow from a mischievous six year old getting told off at school to a laid-back, perpetually stoned eighteen year old starting college and staring out into the distance wondering what life has in store for him. That’s it- one of my friends seemed bemused why I loved a film where nothing happens as much as I did. Yet the concept of anybody watching this film and not having profound emotional reactions (it’s equally about the rest of the family, as much as the title suggests it skews male) is alien to me.

Over the course of the movie (which director Richard Linklater filmed partially every year for over a decade) Mason Jr. is exactly a year younger than I was at each given time. Many viewers will obviously see Boyhood as a masterpiece, but will probably not have the same emotional reaction I had to it – dated pop culture references and parallels with my own childhood (sorry, boyhood) firstly gave me a sense of nostalgia, before making me fight back the tears as I realised how much time had passed. Case in point: I assumed the film was nearing the end as we arrived in 2008 with the family going around local neighbourhoods asking to put “Obama 2008” posters in people’s gardens. It then dawned on me that this took place six years ago – which is almost a third of my own life. Boyhood is almost three hours long, yet feels very short when watching it; like in life, you only realize how much time has passed when you stop to think about it.

Thomas Winward

5. The Grand Budapest Hotel

4. Chef

3. Edge of Tomorrow

2. The Lego Movie

1. Boyhood

Shooting a film over twelve years must be really hard. Shooting a film over twelve years that comes out being really good is an incredible achievement. With Boyhood, Richard Linklater has captured a fascinating snapshot of a young man’s life and presented it beautifully. It is poignant, poetic, funny, terrifying – twelve turbulent years condensed into two and a half hours that nip by in a flash. I can’t remember the last time I was so invested in the lives of characters, the last time a story of such enormous scope was so masterfully told, or the last time I had so much fun in the cinema. Bravo, Linklater. Bravo.

Chris Worrall

5. Interstellar

4. The Grand Budapest Hotel

3. The Lego Movie

2. X-Men: Days of Future Past

1. Nightcrawler

For me, Nightcrawler is nothing less than a modern masterpiece. The best cinema works on an intellectual and primal level simultaneously and this managed this dual act effortlessly. On the one hand, it was ferociously entertaining thanks to sublime performances, smart dialogue and a car chase that ranks up with the very best ever put to film. On the other, it was a completely necessary film that was a sharp and biting discussion of the morality of modern media and the nature of mass public information distribution. Not many films can be either this smart or this spectacular – the fact it manages both so well is just extraordinary.

Sam Kelly

5. The Double

4. Gone Girl

3. The Babadook

2. Under the Skin

1. Boyhood

The year’s most acclaimed film is hardly an original choice for my favourite film of the year, but it’s been received so well for a reason. For decades coming of age movies have taught us that the transition from childhood to adulthood can be defined by a single moment in a single day. Boyhood showed us the truth: that becoming an adult is a process that takes place over many long years, in collections of tiny moments. Richard Linklater‘s idea to film a story over 12 years was dazzlingly ambitious, but it rises above being a gimmick. Its honesty, intimacy, scale and simplicity remind us that everyone shares the human experience, that growing up is somehow the same for all children, and completely unique. I thought about it for weeks.

Manon de Reeper

5. A Most Wanted Man

4. Boyhood

3. Calvary

2. The Grand Budapest Hotel

1. Interstellar

Interstallar – when the credits started rolling over the screen, all I could think was “wtf”. And I mean that in all the best ways possible. I wasn’t the only one, too – the entire audience I was with kept staring at the screen, just entirely, totally flabbergasted. At 169 minutes, it’s a long movie (it appears 2014 was the year of the long movie), yet, when it was over, I still wanted more. I needed more, in fact, had to read all about it the next few days, due to its admirably complex and challenging story with implications that are entirely incomprehensible to a simple (yet educated) moviegoer like me. I even dreamed about the movie – it truly stuck with me, and I can’t wait until it’s released on BluRay.

Ambitious, extremely well-directed and with a revolutionary soundtrack, Interstellar is destined to become a science fiction classic like 2001: A Space Oddysey, that it so clearly pays homage to. And considering Gravity got the recognition it did last year, there is no reason not to give this infinitely smarter and equally (if not more so) technologically advanced movie similar credit.

Raul Marin

5. Gone Girl

4. Interstellar

3. The Imitation Game

2. Whiplash

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel

The latest film from Wes Anderson features a phenomenal cast led by Ralph Fiennes. You’re laughing from start to finish, and the sets, costumes, screenplay, and everything just seems to fit together in the most effortless way.

Kenza Zouari

5. Starred Up

4. Frank

3. Under The Skin

2. Nightcrawler

1. Boyhood

Alexander Miller

5. Snowpiercer

4. The Grand Budapest Hotel

3. Life Itself

2. Inherent Vice

1. Interstellar

Whenever I ask myself what film of the year, I like the most my mind goes immediately to Interstellar. Then when I wonder which title was the best film of the year once again, all signs point to Interstellar. Despite his flawed (yet compelling) 2010 film Inception, Christopher Nolan has proven that his fertile scope of imagination can produce potent and challenging content, and Interstellar is unlike any other sci-fi spectacle ever made.

Christopher Nolan is frequently criticized for his flaws, ( use of exposition, cold characterizations etc.) however, Interstellar is evidence that he is listening to his audience and growing as a director. Interstellar is a visually sumptuous, and emotionally driven film that is equally rewarding as art, as well as entertainment. Years ago, Nolan had established himself as a paramount voice in modern cinema and his consistent evolution as an artist and a filmmaker have given audiences an evolved form of entertainment to enjoy. Let’s hope he continues to outdo himself with his subsequent films.

Jay Ledbetter

5. Enemy

4. Guardians of the Galaxy

3. Snowpiercer

2. Gone Girl

1. Birdman

Birdman was the funniest film of 2014. Birdman was the most poignant film of 2014. Birdman was the most confident film of 2014. It works as both a brilliant takedown of today’s cinematic climate and a darkly comic redemption tale. Alejandro González Iñárritu decided to let loose a bit after a series of woe is me tales of sadness like Babel and 21 Grams and the results were mesmerizing. It doesn’t hurt Michael Keaton and Edward Norton put on two of the best performances of the year, either.

The film is shot to look as though the it is all one long, continuous take, and the cinematographic risk (that was surely agonizingly difficult to choreograph and shoot) paid huge dividends. The camera is always moving and the pacing of the film is lightning quick. Iñárritu and his crew dazzled me with the non-stop, free-flowing story that is appropriately accompanied by the minimalist score of a frenetic jazz percussionist. Just like the drummer, Birdman always made me feel like it had no idea where it is going, but in the end I realized that it is so fine-tuned that it was just tricking me into believing that was the case. It is so calculatedly bold. So incredibly unique. And it was the best film of 2014.

Julia Smith

5. Guardians of the Galaxy

4. Chef

3. The Grand Budapest Hotel

2. The Guest

1. Begin Again

I’m a big believer in a film connecting with its viewer so, to me, the greatest film of 2014 was Begin Again. With this tale of lost love, but most importantly of learning to love and respect yourself, John Carney has created something very special. Keira Knightley is mesmerising as Gretta, a shy musician suddenly alone in the city after her boyfriend cheats on her, while Mark Ruffalo is engaging as the stereotypical but passionate Dan. The bonuses in this film are the supporting cast. Adam Levine tries hard, and is successful in places as the arrogant but ultimately tragic musician: Dave, Hailee Steinfeld is sweet and unimposing as Dan’s daughter, but James Corden is the real treat as Gretta’s old friend, Steve.

Of course, the success of the film ultimately comes down to Carney’s writing and direction. This is no stereotypical story, it’s not even a film about the healing power of music. This film is about connecting, with each other, with music, and even with the film itself. Carney uses music as a way to bring the characters and indeed us as the viewer on to some sort of common ground, where we don’t have to talk about what we’re thinking or about what hurt we might be feeling, we can just enjoy the music, and each other’s company. In this film Carney holds up a mirror to the film viewer and asks us how many times we have escaped into music and film to deal with the hurt of the real world, and lets us know that that’s okay.

David Fontana

5. Guardians of the Galaxy

4. Nightcrawler

3. The Imitation Game

2. Interstellar

1. Boyhood

Boyhood is not only the best film of 2014, it may be one of the best that I have ever seen. It focuses on a genre that will never get old: the coming-of-age story. Filmed over the course of 12 years, the film literally shows a family aging, with an emphasis on the younger son (played by Ellar Coltrane), who begins the film at age 6 and finishes it at 18 just as he goes off to college. As he ages, he goes through family conflicts, heartaches, lifestyle phases, hobbies, deciding on a future career, and much, much more – basically what everyone faces as they grow up. It is, essentially, a movie about life, and what could be more relatable than that?

Richard Linklater, who people may know as the director of the classic Dazed and Confused or the Before trilogy (Sunrise, Sunset, Midnight) has created a truly remarkable film. His characters are real (Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke are especially good), his directing fluid, and even with a nearly 3-hour length, he somehow manages to keep his audience engaged. Boyhood is a classic for the ages, and is, for that reason, the best film of 2014.

And The Winner Is…

It will come as no surprise – with 27 points:

Boyhood

Congratulations! Naturally, the director and entire cast and crew are ecstatic to be awarded Film Inquiry’s Best Movie Of 2014 Award.

Second place, interestingly, is a tie, both having garnered 17 points:

Interstellar and The Grand Budapest Hotel

And in third place, with 11 points…

Nightcrawler

Keep an eye out for our BOYHOOD GIVEAWAY next week, as we’ll be giving away a copy of the film to a lucky winner.

Please share your thoughts about our winners, runners up and the Film Inquiry Best Movie of the Year awards!

(top image source material: The Oscars)