In theaters this week, I caught The Great Gatsby as well as a number of films over at the Seattle International Film Festival. While I already wrote up reviews for What Maisie Knew, which is arguably the best movie of the year so far, and Mistaken for Strangers, the quasi-documentary on The National, I also caught Frances Ha and We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks although they are still embargoed so you’ll have to wait a little longer for reviews on those ones. Other than those, here’s a trio from 2012 that have been lingering on my to-watch list.

Rust and Bone (2012)

Rust and Bone is a difficult film that’s something of an emotional endurance test. While the themes and approach couldn’t be more European, there’s universality to the complexity of people on screen here and both Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts give stirring performances.

Director Jacques Audiard deals exclusively in shades of grey and even when the audience is led to be down on someone, Audiard never abandons them to the wolves and pulls them by the bootstraps out of their own emotional mires. Without revealing any of the critical plot points, Rust and Bone deals not only with loss but with recovery proposing that maybe it’s not the fall that matters but how we choose to pick ourselves up afterwards.

A-

John Dies at the End (2012)

Is ita spoiler if I tell you that John doesn’t die at the end? He dies pretty early on…but not really because he comes back to life…or maybe he didn’t die at all. It’s all very confusing, as is the entirety of this mindfuck of a film. Between talking on bratwurst cellphone, fighting meat demons and a driving dog, John Dies at the End is all about independence from the norm and breaking out of traditional elements of narrative…and time…and space. The gooey puppet-driven effects are amiably reminiscent of 80’s David Cronenberg and as a huge Cronenberg fan, you can definitely say it worked for me.

As as absurdist low-budg genre-bender in spirit and execution, John Dies at the End is also crassly comic, endlessly strange and downright fun. Like when you try to make a milkshake and forget to put the lid on, stuff goes just about everywhere and results in one hell of a mess but, hey, it’s still kinda tasty. This is the final product that is JDatE. In time, this daring original film could be something of an underground favorite as it has all the makings of a cult film but cult classic or not, it’s still super weird.

C+

Searching for Sugarman (2012)

In the process of discovering Sixto Rodriquez, who here is given the moniker of Sugarman, a fascinating tale of ill-conceived serendipity in the era of rock rebellion emerges. As an artist, Rodriguez is a mystery, never afforded any semblance of fandom or commercial popularity in the US even though his records were a surging anti-establishment force for the whole of South Africa. Somehow though, Rodriguez never heard tell of his international fame nor did he see one penny of the profit. Thus begins the story of a man who seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet.

Filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul does an acceptable job of tracking the history of Rodriguez, both in historical terms and accompanying rumors, but when it comes to the hard-hitting questions, he’s happy playing softball. He leaves the corporate corruption and music industry undercuts alone and instead focuses solely on this man of mystery. But when all is said and done, the film presents a fascinating man’s mind-blowing experience of rock’n’roll over four decades and the true story is interesting enough to make the film more than worthwhile. What sticks with you most of all though is Rodriguez’s fantastic songs off of his album ‘Cold Fact’ that are amiably peppered throughout.