2017 produced its share of amazing and memorable films.
While it didn’t produce a masterpiece of Manchester by the Sea calibre, it gave us artful and momentous moments of distraction
from a very turbulent and restless year. Without further adieu, here are my top
10 movies of the year, with honourable mentions below.
10. The Beguiled
Director Sofia Coppola is back, winning Best Director at
Cannes Film Festival for her updating of the 1971 Clint Eastwood vehicle. Centred
during the civil war, an injured Colin Farrell tries to evade further fighting
by hiding at an all girls’ school. Lead by headmaster Nicole Kidman, with
teacher Kristen Dunst, the girls’ sheltered lives may make them susceptible to
Farrell’s charms. Coppola’s art design and natural lighting make for an deceptively
gentle schooling environment that gives a lesson in the art of comeuppance. Gently
sledgehammer-like.
Director Oliver Assayas brings us a European centred story
about a medium woman who is trying to communicate with her dead brother.
Assayas strikes gold in his second feature working with Kristen Stewart (2014’s
Clouds of Sils Marie), and the very
personal film displayed here is languid and spooky at times. Featuring a favourite scene of the year, Assayas
keeps things unpredictable, and Stewart is fantastic here, showing off a talent
that’s not even close to its Twilight.
8. Wind River
Writer Taylor Sheridan’s directorial debut is a promising
start for the mind that already typed us Sicario
(my #2 of 2015) and Hell or High Water
(my #9 of 2016). Based on a Wyoming indigenous reservation, wildlife agent
Jeremy Renner and FBI agent Elizabeth Olson work together to solve the murder
of a young woman, while helping the community through the grieving process.
Olson serves as a surrogate for the audience’s introduction to (some of) the
effects of colonialism and present day realities for marginalized societies,
and Sheridan depicts a way of life that competes for justice in equal parts
between nature and man. At times poetic, while trauma informed and possessing
tense action scenes.
Director Martin McDonagh, known for his stage themed works
(as well as 2008’s In Bruges and
2012’s Seven Psychopaths), creates an
intimate look at small town drama based around a community trying to heal after
horrific events happen to innocent victims. As much a study about the
propulsive seduction of revenge as it is about the milieu of healing, the trio
of Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, and Woody Harrellson are as powerful as
they are memorable. Equal parts funny, outrageous, sad, and compelling.
When Director Dennis Villeneuve signed on to create a sequel
to 1982’s iconic science fiction neo noir, there was criticism if there even
needed to be a sequel. Watch 2049 for
an example of how even Hollywood can get it right from time to time. With the
best (Roger Deakins) cinematographer alive showcasing continued deft production
design, sound, and visual effects, Villeneuve creates something both honouring
and diverging from the original, expanding the story as society continues to
grapple with the implications of technology and humans coexisting. The most visually stimulating movie of the year, you can give Deakins his first Oscar (on his 13th nomination) thank you very much.
5. Columbus
Writer/Director Kokonada, known for his video essays on
classic films, composes the most meditative and modernist film of the year. Arranging
a plethora of images and movement that perfectly merge the architectural to the
natural, Kokonada never loses sight of the humans that inhabit the architecturally
modernist mecca of Columbus, Indiana. John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson have
never been better, as we spend time with them healing and growing. A whispery
treat featuring 1 of my favourite scenes of the year.
4. Get Out
Director Jordan Peele’s stunning debut may be the most complicated
and timely film of the year. Expertly straddling the line between horror,
comedy, drama, and science fiction, it is both historical in its themes of entrenched
hatred and oppression, and topical in its veneer of how things may not have
changed that much in present day. Even if you don’t agree, few will quibble
with “the sunken place” as the most helplessly sublime moments of the year.
3. Mudbound
Director Dee Rees’ sprawling tale of 2 families eking out a
living in rural Mississippi during WWII covers a lot of muddy ground, and
delves into a number of character’s lives. Never afraid to get the micro of
character’s lives, while staying objectively macro is no easy task, and Rees’
screenplay stays on target. Cinematographer Rachel Morrison is the first female
cinematographer ever voted for an Academy Award, and she earns the nomination
in this nuanced film based around slavery, featuring both sides of the struggle,
by way of Terrence Malick.
Much like his 2015’s Tangerine,
director Sean Baker’s tale of life on the fringes of America is a naturalistic
study on human behaviour- and a litmus test for each viewer’s empathy. With one
of his best performances, Willem Dafoe does his best to manage the residents of
his employer’s tattered housing complex, while supporting it’s more vulnerable
members (the fantastic Brooklynn Prince and Bria Vinaite). What emerges is a
realistic portrait of the importance of both community and fantasy in the midst
of struggle.
Perpetually underappreciated director James Gray takes real
life adventurer Percy Fawcett and surrounds him in equal measure with the
twisting vines of South America, and twisting politics of early 20th
century Britain. With great performances from Charlie Hunnam as Fawcett, Robert
Pattinson as his running mate, and Sienna Miller as his capable home provider,
it comes together perfectly, including in one of my favourite scenes of the year. Gray’s formalism merges flawlessly
with the spirit of discovery, in this welcome addition to the adventure genre.
Honourable Mentions:
Brawlin Cell Block 99, Okja, Logan, Phantom Thread, It Comes at Night, Lady Bird, Logan Lucky, Good Time, War for the Planet of the Apes, Life, Colossal, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Lego Batman Movie, Don't Think Twice, Wonder Woman, Nocturama, Dunkirk, Mother!, The Disaster Artist, Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi, I, Tanya, Raw, Call Me By Your Name
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