13) Martyrs
To box in Martyrs as an extreme slice of torture porn would be too reductive, as this is a morally sticky, fearlessly horrifying, and unrelentingly gripping Gallic horror film about human trauma and suffering.
Pleasant, right? Not exactly, but it packs a visceral and emotional punch as we follow two female friends, one of whom sees a physically scarred specter and falls even deeper into madness. On more than one occasion, the film is brutal and painfully shocking, making you cringe and wince.
Oh, and the climax is a true jaw-dropper that will burn into your brain.
14) 12 Years a Slave
Raw and unflinching without being gratuitous, 12 Years a Slave makes all other race-based films look like Disney specials. Who would want to watch a bogus, cowardly depiction of such an ugly, shameful time in American history anyway? If Quentin Tarantino took free artistic license with last year’s Django Unchained, director Steve McQueen and screenwriter John Ridley adapted the 1853 memoir of Solomon Northrup for 2013’s feel-bad movie of the year with only a twinkle of hopeful but unsentimental relief in the end.
A searing work of art that passes more as a historical horror film than preachy eat-your-broccoli cinema, it’s certainly a must-see, which, perhaps, only needs to be seen once. Even if it’s for the most demanding, tough-skinned viewer, 12 Years a Slave is unshakably harrowing, worth the effort, and too indispensable to ignore.
15) Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Despite the rather unwieldy title, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire is unsparing, harsh, and genuinely gut-wrenching. A morbidly obese, illiterate 16-year-old African American girl from Harlem named Clareece, “Precious” Jones is moody and damaged, and for good reason: she’s been molested by her skeezy father, pregnant with two of his children, treated cruelly at home by her layabout mother (Mo’Nique), and to top it all off, she’s HIV-positive.
Newcomer Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe towers with her powerful and courageous performance as a withdrawn shell of a human being overcoming her downtrodden, abusive homelife. Screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher doesn’t whitewash the miseries of Saphire’s 1996 novel, nor is it just one hard knock after another, but it’s alternately upsetting and uplifting.
Painful in Precious’ miseries and triumphant in her fantasies, Precious is heartbreaking but hopefully told with raw honesty, emotions, and a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. The biggest surprise is caricatured comedian Mo’Nique, who turns in an ever-believable, shattering, ferociously intense performance as Precious’s abusive, despicable monster of a mother, Mary; her final key scene shows this pathetic character full-through.
Though the film is not an easy watch, it’s not meant to be. Even if it had nothing else to offer than Sidibe’s sympathetic powerhouse performance, Precious is something special and hard to shake off.