2015's Favourite Films #1

I'm a huge film fan. 

I'm not sure where this stems from but for the past couple of years, I've had a real love for film. I can't just have a film on in the background anymore, I just need to watch every little detail and fully appreciate what I'm seeing. I can't just watch a film for the plot, I need to soak up everything and watch it fully. I watch films like many people read books; living in that world for a couple of hours and I can't stop thinking about it afterwards. I freaking love film. For some odd reason, I never really talk about film on my blog but that's gonna change right about now. To ease y'all into my film-love, I thought I'd share some of my favourite films that I've seen in 2015 so far, and hopefully you'll share my love for them too. 

About Time's been around for a couple of years now but, for some weird reason, I only just got around to watching it last week. My mum and sister have been telling me to watch it since it came out in 2013, saying that it's amazing and I'll love it but, being the twisted person I am, I brushed it off and decided not to watch it. (WHY, CATRIONA? WHY?) I finally watched it and oh jesus it's wonderful. I'm not the biggest Richard Curtis fan but About Time is beautiful. It's slow and gentle but completely gripping. It sucks you in from the very beginning and makes you live every second as it happens. About Time is, funnily enough, about time. It's essentially a rom-com about time-travel but it somehow makes it seem completely possible and realistic. I was so impressed by this film (and I cried a hell of a lot). 

I watched Palo Alto on a whim a wee while ago, not knowing anything about it at all. All I knew was that it's directed by Gia Coppola, Sofia Coppola's niece. I guess that's all I needed to know. Palo Alto follows the lives and relationships of 4 teenagers (I know, sounds a wee bit shit) in an absolutely stunning, thought-provoking way. It hasn't got any crazy plot but you get completely enthralled in the lives of these kids as they try to work out what the hell they're doing. It has some gorgeous shots and realistic dialogue which is a nice change for a movie with teenagers in it. The acting is brilliant and it just has an overall beautiful aesthetic. Love this film.

This is another film that I watched on a whim with no pre-judgement whatsoever, I just stuck it on when I was cleaning my room but I ended up watching it fully and doing absolutely no cleaning so that kinda backfired. Obvious Child is about a stand-up comedian in her twenties, who is forced to grow up pretty quickly when she becomes pregnant. This film made me laugh to peeing-point whilst still being really emotional and heart-warming. The acting is seriously brilliant (Jenny Slate and Jake Lacy need to be in every film ever), the dialogue is crazy realistic and it's hella empowering. Highly recommend this film to literally everyone.

This film...ohhhh this film. We Need To Talk About Kevin slaps you round the face with style. It's done so well and what really impressed me with this film is the lack of dialogue, yet it somehow manages to say so much. It really shook me up and stayed with me for literally weeks after I watched it. Every single moment is used perfectly. Every shot is stunning. Every word spoken is purposeful. Ohhh my gosh, it's just brilliant. The plot itself is really quite disturbing (essentially evil child and a mother who really struggles to love him) and the film as a whole is incredibly stylish. Go on, watch it.

I'm about to say something pretty out-there...you ready? I do believe that God Help The Girl is my very favourite film. Like, of all the films I've ever seen. Like, overtaking Fame (that's a biiiiig deal). I'm a life-long Belle & Sebastian fan, I love Glasgow and the three main actors (Hannah Murray, Emily Browning and Olly Alexander) are a few of my favourite people so it's kinda inevitable that a Belle & Sebastian musical set in Glasgow with those three actors would be my new love. It's just perfect. The music, the setting, the characters, the fashion, aaaarrgghh I love it all. Get it watched.

Finishing up with a wee bit of a wild-card: Heartbeats is your classic love-triangle story but it's in French and it's directed, written and produced by Xavier Dolan, an insanely talented young director from Quebec. Heartbeats is crazy-beautiful. I'm a huge fan of Xavier Dolan as it is but Heartbeats is probably my favourite of his films. He just has such a distinctive, gorgeous style and this film really showcases it. It may be a wee bit heavy for some people and you have to be in the right mood to watch it but it's totally worth it. 

I think I'll do a part 2 for this post because I have quite a few more films that make the cut. 2015's proving to be a damn good year for films (even though none of these actually came out in 2015). 

Have you seen any of these? What are some of the best films you've seen this year? 

Cat