Looking back on 2012, I can recall fifteen films that I saw in the cinema. Looking back at my blog for the last year, I see that I twice expressed doubts about he length of forthcoming films. Using IMBd, I see that only five of those films I saw had a running time under two-hours; six of the remaining ten were over two-and-a half hours.
My favourite film of 2012, which I saw early in the year was one of the few short films – The Artist. Another of the shorter movies, was Cabin in the Woods, which also stood out among the year’s best.
There is an outlier, Cloud Atlas, the longest film I saw all year – although it did not seem that way as I watched it. I left the screening with a strong desire to purchase another ticket and see it again. I acknowledge that my appreciation of this film was not universal, for I have seen it on some critics’ list of worst movies. I found the separate, but thematically linked, narratives compelling, and liked the manner in which the film moved back and forth between them.
It is the rare film which leaves the viewer wishing to see it again. I haven’t yet watched it but need to work it onto my wish list.