Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin) [106 points/12 votes]
"I didn't see a lot of movies in 2011.
As some of you know, I spent the year bouncing around the country, working on more films than I actually saw. When you spend a lot of time traveling, quite often you don't want to bother to figure out where the closest movie theater is, nor can you get screeners in the mail or any of the other methods we have of seeing movies. By the time October rolled around, I'd seen a grand total of 2 films -- Your Highness and The Lincoln Lawyer. I saw both of those on the same day.
And then, finally, I got to Austin.
I'd never been to Austin, which means I'd never been to the Alamo Drafthouse. Can you truly be a cinephile in America without having been to the Drafthouse? No. No, you cannot.
Maybe it's the beer, maybe it's the food, maybe it's the strict no-talking policy, or maybe it's it's the 2K projection, but it's probably a combination of all of the above. Watching a movie at the Drafthouse is awesome. If filmmakers think of the cinema as their church, then the Drafthouse is the Sistine Chapel. So it might be unfair to judge the film I saw there against, say, a film I watched on a plane between Chicago and Salt Lake City or a film I got out of a Redbox machine and watched on my parent's standard definition TV Christmas Eve.
It'd be nice if I could separate my top pick from the surroundings in which I saw it, but that isn't possible. Just as films aren't made in a vacuum, they aren't experienced in a vacuum. Then again, nothing is.
Which brings me (finally) to Sean Durkin's Martha Marcy May Marlene. In no way a flashy film, MMMM lives on the fine line of mistrust and unease, the calm of the camera work masking the turmoil underneath. In his debut, Durkin has created an actor's showcase and filled it with the always reliable John Hawkes and a breakthrough performance by Elizabeth Olsen.
Essentially, this is Olsen's debut as well. Her and Durkin are a powerful combination. Honestly, I'm not sure there's been a better dual debut in a long, long time. I can't say I enjoyed MMMM in the traditional sense, but it grabbed me from the first frame and never let go, all the way to a final frame that's more or less perfect (despite what the idiot sitting next to me thought).
I'd write more, but my brain isn't really working at the moment. I've had a really strange weekend so far.
Most years, when cramming for the Muriels, I go nearly to the deadline wondering if I'll even find a film worthy of the number 1 slot. This year it took all of three films. Sure, I saw that third film in late October, but still. Will it hold up to a second viewing separated from the charms of the Drafthouse? I hope so, because I really loved this film." - Lucas McNelly
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