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Best of 2013: Mark Olsen picks ‘Spring Breakers,’ ‘Her’

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In this time when news is disseminated ever more quickly, we asked our critics to list the best of culture in 2013 in tweet form:

SPRING BREAKERS loops between raging party & spaced-out bummer, fun & its consequences. Smart about being dumb, it’s of & for our times.

If any film this year pointed to a future cinema, UPSTREAM COLOR was it. An innovative marvel from how it was made to how it was released.

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COMPUTER CHESS comes on as a jokey goof, then slyly finds the spiritual in new machines. Not the revenge of the nerds, but their triumph.

FRANCES HA brings out best in Noah Baumbach & Greta Gerwig, collaborating on a warm, wise movie about the struggle of growing into yourself.

A bittersweet take on intimacy, technology & the loneliness of modern life, HER also feels like a near-perfect vision of near-future LA.

GRAPHIC: Best of 2013 | Entertainment and culture

A prismatic death-bed reverie on what makes a life, POST TENEBRAS LUX tumbles from one haunting image to the next. Challenging & worth it.

Heartbreaking & eye-opening, doc AFTER TILLER looks at the four US doctors doing third-trimester abortions, bypassing issues for people.

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The year’s scariest movie, the flash-trash true crime satire of THE BLING RING is a blank stare at identity, celebrity & obsession.

The swooning romance of AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS, steeped in twilight Americana, touches the struggle & sacrifice of love at its purest.

A TOUCH OF SIN examines matrix of societal & economic pressures that burst into violence. Bracing & touching, angry & sad: a modern tragedy.

Twitter: @IndieFocus

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