The Revenant (Leo gets an Oscar).
Breath-taking. The cinematography alone is worth the admission fee; I actually felt chilled to the bone multiple times because the panoramic scenery shots are so gorgeously barren and majestic in the way that only a silent, tundra-clad landscape can be. The crunching footfalls in the snow. Misting breath before the eyes. Even the almost profane whispering creaks of timeless trees looming stoically in their perennial vigil over the desolation was captured. The narrative itself is familiar, touching on the vicissitudes of frontier life in a world and era that we likely will never see or know again (for some a positive, surely). I've seen survival movies before, but the care and almost meditative character of The Revenant was profound, moving, and quite stirring to my heart. Every scene, every frame even (as far as I am concerned) served a purpose, nothing was wasted, and it was free from bloating or clunky dialogue. To that end the brevity of the dialogue itself was warranted, and served the film incredibly well; cultivating a pervasive sense of isolation, of weariness, and yet, paradoxically, an inexorable sense of something more than conscious sentience can offer. There's an inherent quality in films like this that resonate and remain long after the first (and subsequent viewings) - the stark allure of the primal world, a sense of the innately spiritual, even the notion that man need not be as gregarious and convivial (or murderously opportunistic and ruthless) as the modern world would have you believe.
It touched on aspects of post-colonial/expansion and cultural conflict, but without heavy-handed allegory or judgement. And it's one of the best slow-burn films I think I've ever seen, and I'd not anticipated such a thoroughly engrossing, heartfelt, and rewarding experience. It's a bit artsy and all that, likely not one for the popcorn supplication crowd, but a fine example of what movies can (and should) be doing in this era. Reminiscent in some ways of Ravenous, or Jarmusch's Dead Man; so I'm curious to see The Hateful Eight and see how it compares (as they can both be seen to represent aspects of post-colonial American culture and identity).
In short, it warrants an attentive viewing. Rug up too, it got damn cold in that cinema (or my imagination).