6. Hunger
Genre: Political thriller Whereas Tom Hardy transformed himself into a hulking monster for Bronson, Michael Fassbender went entirely the other way, paring down his physique into the emaciated form of Bobby Sands, the IRA prisoner who went on a hunger strike in 1981. Long before winning the Oscar for Best Picture with 12 Years a Slave at this year's Academy Awards, director Steve McQueen had already established himself as a unique talent to watch with Hunger, which won him the prestigious Camera d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. Less concerned with the wider politics of the Troubles in Northern Ireland than it is with the inhumane conditions the political prisoners were forced to endure, McQueen's camera is an unflinching observer, often taking in long, sustained images which draw the audience in to the scenes. As the hunger strike progresses week after week and more men begin to die, it is McQueen's restrained approach to editing and his formal compositions which renders their plight so darkly compelling. Firmly anchored in Fassbender's incredible, understated performance, Hunger is less a political thriller than a true work of art which left many critics at the time of its release wishing that more contemporary directors went to art school before stepping behind the camera. See also: In the Name of the Father