The Five Best Films of 2015

Scott Wallace
28th Dec 2015

It's surprisingly easy to narrow down the best films of 2015 to only five. There are so many films coming out constantly, but when you find a special one, you tend to know it straight away. 2015 was a fantastic year for film, but these five are the best of the special, groundbreaking, and just plain stunning things that happened on-screen this year.

Amy

Asif Kapadia’s documentary about the life of the late Amy Winehouse seemed to touch a nerve for just about everyone who saw it. Undoing the popular perception of Winehouse as a privileged, attention-seeking party girl, Amy is a confronting and often heartbreaking portrait of a bright young mind torn apart by addiction. More than the eventual tragedy, what shines through in this film is the fun, supremely talented jazz-loving singer who was lost long before her time. Consider Amy a vital and urgent warning about how people (especially young women) are affected by the spotlight of fame.

Dope

With this bright and energetic take on the “hood” genre, director Rick Famuyiwa took the zeitgeist by the horns. 90’s hip-hop comes together with pervasive Internet culture and geek culture in the story of Malcolm, Diggy and Jib. Trying to survive their final year of high school in Inglewood, California when they inadvertently come to possess a mountain of illicit drugs, the trio are thrown into a difficult and trying situation. Full of finely drawn characters and with genuine performances from its three leads, Dope is a fresh and bold take on an old genre that demands to be seen.

Inside Out

Who would have thought that the famous philosophical theory of Cartesian Theatre would make for one of the finest and most inventive animated movies of all time? In Inside Out, personified emotions Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear and Anger must adjust to some shifts in their routine as the young girl in whose head they reside enters her tricky adolescent years. Featuring wonderful voice acting from a cast that includes Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling, Bill Hader and more, as well as a gorgeous and detailed animation style, Inside Out is a frank and fun coming-of-age story like no other.

It Follows

Perhaps all a successful horror movie needs to do is scare you, and then its job is done. It Follows cements its place as one of the best horror movies in years by going above and beyond. Like the malignant curse that drives its story, it gets under your skin and haunts you long after the movie has finished rolling. Oscillating between the tone of a dream and a nightmare, you never know quite where you stand with It Follows, and that’s why it’s so unsettling. This movie will take hold of you and refuse to let go.

Slow West

The Western, for all its mystique, has largely faded from popularity. Standing apart from other movies of its genre, Slow West refuses to even be lumped in with the self-consciously dark and gritty revisionist Western movement. The film, the debut for director John Maclean is a small and quiet film, characterised by a European-style sense of playfulness as it explores the bizarre wilderness of old, old, old America. Part love story, part crime saga, made up of beautiful, tender moments contrasted with moments of sudden and explosive violence, Slow West is a remarkable and unforgettable film experience.