Best director

This small-scale, unassuming tale of an NYC folk musician in the early 60s is, for my money, one of the Coen brothers’ very best films ever. The Coens have done a lot of different kinds of films over the years, from tense thrillers to broad comedies, but they’re at their best when they do something a little harder to define, something like this delicate blend of gorgeous music, mundane heartbreak, painful comedy, and enigmatic lyricism. From its muted palette of steel blues and murky grays to its cryptic, seemingly circular chronology, “Inside Llewyn Davis” isn’t a film designed for bombast, but rather a film of rich, human details which are at the same time elusive and evocative, and while the Coen brothers are not used to this style of directing, they have absolutely outdone themselves with this film.

And boy, it was hard to choose between the Coen brothers and Steve McQueen, so I didn’t.  “12 Years a Slave” is McQueen’s third film, and with it, he has shown that he is ready to take on larger projects.  His framing, his apathy regarding sentiment, and his ability to display significant brutality are all unique characteristics that make him a director to watch out for.  McQueen is not interested in a heroic telling of how someone triumphs versus adversity.  He’s interested in the normal man, how easily he is broken and how quickly he reverts to the basics of instincts.  Solomon relinquishes his name, becoming the slave his captors insist he is to spare himself from further punishment. His talent and pleasure, music, is taken out of his control, twisted and distorted into a grotesque minstrelsy for the pleasure of his masters. And in the final indignation, the two most impactful moments of a film that never stops hitting you in the gut, Solomon becomes complicit in his own enslavement and that of those around him, first whipping Patsy then leaving her crying to her fate when he wins his freedom.  I hugely respect McQueen’s ability to present humanity in its darkest and possibly most open form.

Honorable Mentions: Martin Scorsese for “The Wolf of Wall Street”, Spike Jonze for “Her”