Best of the 2010s – 2013 – Pitch Perfect

Okay, if I had any credibility going, this should by rights throw it out the window. And yes, “Pitch Perfect” was a 2012 release in the US – but it’s a 2013 release in Australia, which is where I am. And yes, 2013 was the year of “Gravity” and “12 Years a Slave” and, probably, another dozen films that should in qualitative terms precede this one.

But this is the one that I enjoy the most, and would most eagerly return to watch again. It’s fluffy as hell, it’s silly, occasionally crossing the line into the ridiculous, only blemished by a love plot that doesn’t really work at all (sorry, Skyler Astin, you’re just kinda creepy, and there’s a reason you’re barely in the sequels). It’s a friendly tale of female bonding and finding delight even where you think you’re not going to, as a girl enters into a college campus acapella society, wrestles with its strictures and rituals, before finding ways to find her own voice and stretch her abilities. It’s unashamed to be ridiculous, to be sexual, to be sometimes a little gross  - and it’s unashamed to reach for the pure joy that is pop songs. And a bit of pure joy is always welcome.