For a film to effectively evoke 19th century gothic, literary horror, it must be unified visually and tonally. The Sonata, the debut feature film by director Andrew Desmond, also manages to evoke the narrative sensibilities and structure as well.
Rose Fisher, a prodigy violinist, successful but unfulfilled, inherits the estate of her late father, who was also a world-renowned musician. Her relation to the legendary composer had been intentionally kept a secret, even from her displaced and curious agent, until his passing prompts a reclusive retreat for her to spend time figuring out what she wants from her future. What she doesn’t know (at least at first) is that her father killed himself rather violently and that he left behind a strange sonata, which would surely ignite the composing world but may also bring about the literal antichrist.
Building a top ten list encompassing an entire decade in film (particularly one as dynamic as the 2010s) is remarkably daunting. My approach to this list abandoned considerations of objective quality, or even of personal favoritism.
I wanted to assess the films that have come to affect me the most, either personally or creatively: the films which have most frequently populated my conversations and arrested my imagination. So, in that spirit, ranked by degree of impact, here are the ten most important films of the decade to me, and why they matter to me…
