There were times when I thought all 10 of these films would make my top 10 list. Alas, it was not to be for them, but all are great and deserve your attention.
20.
Suspira (Luca Guadanino)
I certainly understand those people who hated Luca
Guadanino’s Suspiria – either because it is really the polar opposite of Dario
Argento’s dreamy, ultraviolent, technicolor 1977 original, or just because they
found the nearly two and half hour horror film more pretentious than scary. But
while I’m still not sure if some of the surviving mystery in the film is
because of deliberate ambiguity, or just sloppy storytelling, I will say that
Suspiria is a truly haunting film – expertly crafted by Guadanino, with some of
the most memorable set pieces of the year (especially that dance/death sequence
– you know the one) – with a great score by Thom Yorke to boot. The film takes
the time and place of the original seriously, and expands its subject matter to
include the entire patriarchy. No, I’m still not sure if you could actually
call the film feminist – but I’m not sure it matters much. The film dives
headlong into its ideas, and drags you there too. A fascinating, ambitious
film.
19.
The Other Side of the Wind (Orson Welles)
It took decades to finally see the final project of
the great Orson Welles – and while it is impossible to know just how close the
end result is to what Welles himself would have come up with, the end result is
endlessly fascinating, and adds another dimension to Welles’ already massive
legacy. The Other Side of the Wind is a startlingly modern film for Welles – a
film that both pokes fun at what was then the European Art House films
(particularly Michelangelo Antonioni) – but also outdoes some of them in terms
of its scenes in the movie within the movie (the sex scene is already
legendary). The film itself – about an aging director working on a new style of
film, who is celebrated and pitied, and eventually has himself lain bare and
cannot take it – is chaotic and confounding, bitter and petty, and once you get
on its wavelength, moving. The end result shows that Welles was ahead of his
time right to the end.
18.
Mandy (Panos Cosmatos)
I will never not have a soft spot for a film that
knows precisely how to use Nicolas Cage – especially if said film involves Cage
fighting a band of demon, outlaw bikers with a chainsaw, as Mandy does. But
that is in the truly insane second half of the film, which wouldn’t work nearly
as well without the first half of the film – which involves Cage’s character
being grounded into a tragic reality so that the second half of the film
actually makes sense. Yes, Cage goes over the top – nowhere more so than in the
famous drinking in the bathroom sequence (unfortunately, taken out of context
too often for the purpose of memes) – but that’s the right level to go for in
Panos Cosmatos’ strange, hypnotic, metal horror film. The score by the late
Johan Johansson is the best of the year – and the filmmaking chops on display
by Cosmatos are truly insane and great. This is one of the few future “cult
classics” that actually deserve that label.
17.
Sorry to Bother You (Boots Riley)
Boots Riley’s debut film is one of the most
original, daring and ambitious films of the year – so much so that even though
it probably comes up slightly short of its massive ambitions, it’s still a
great film. Riley’s surreal, dystopian film looks into the near future, with
capitalism run amok, and the workers either literally selling themselves into
slavery, or else selling others out to get just slightly ahead – all while the
corporate overlords get richer and richer. Oh, and the film is hilarious. And
the low-key special effects are ingenious. And the performances – especially by
Laketih Stanfield in the lead, who grounds the film in a way that makes it
truly relatable – are all brilliant. Riley goes for broke pretty much from the
start – and while there is a bump or two along the way that keep the film from
“perfection” – perfection isn’t really what he’s going for here. This is a
messy, thoughtful, incendiary film – that announces Riley’s presence as a
filmmaker to watch.
16.
Leave No Trace (Debra Granik)
As with Granik’s last film – Winter’s Bone (which
still contains Jennifer Lawrence’s best performance), Leave No Trace is the
type of film that sneaks up on you a little, and then won’t leave you alone in
the days, weeks, months after seeing it. The film, about a military veteran,
living alone in the forest with his teenage daughter, because he cannot bare to
be around other people, is quiet, subtle and heartbreaking. Ben Foster gives
the best performance of his impressive career as the father – a man who will not
talk about what haunts him and also finds it impossible to let them go.
Newcomer Thomasin Mackenzie is really the heart of the movie though – she’s in
nearly every scene, and the film is really about her journey to independence – separating
from her father, so she can become her own person. Granik makes these quiet,
subtle, beautiful little films – they aren’t as flashy as many, but they are
effective, and get your skin, and into your head, and then stay there.
15.
Madeline’s Madeline (Josephine Decker)
The wonderfully strange Madeline’s Madeline marks a
giant leap forward for director Josephine Decker – who previous films Thou Wast
Lovely and Mild and Butter on the Latch – were odd, idiosyncratic experiments.
Madeline’s Madeline maintains the strangeness of Decker’s style, while marrying
it to a deeper story, and richer characters than before. One of the great
performances of the year is by newcomer Helena Howard – a bi-racial teenager,
struggling with her own mental illness, and a complicated relationship with her
mother, who finds herself in a drama class run by another mother like figure,
who both supports and exploits her, for her own gain. The movie really is about
Howard finding herself – defining herself, and breaking free from the two
mother figures in her life, as we all must. It’s also quite a technical
achievement – with expert editing, sound design, and intimate, immediate
cinematography. This is a challenging film – and well worth it.
14.
Widows (Steve McQueen)
Steve McQueen’s Widows should have been the big box
office hit for adults of the fall – but the studio didn’t quite know how to
market it, so while it didn’t fall through the cracks per se, it certainly
didn’t get the attention it deserves (it will mystify us all in 5 years, when
we’re watching it for the 20th time on cable that it wasn’t a
monster hit). Widows is a heist film, in which three widows of thieves killed
in a job at the beginning of the film, are forced to try and pull off a daring
robbery themselves. Led by Viola Davis, they do just that. The film works as a
great genre film in the style of Michael Mann – but it’s got more its mind than
that as well, painting a picture of a diverse, complex, violent Chicago, in
which drug dealers and politicians have equally dirty hands. It also has one of
the best ensemble casts of the year. That this is the film that McQueen chose
to follow-up the Oscar winning 12 Years a Slave is odd – but certainly shows
his range, and also how meticulously crafted all his films are. A great genre
film that, like all great genre films, has something more on its mind.
13.
The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)
I may prefer the ice cold, deadpan Yorgos Lanthimos
films like Dogtooth, The Lobster or The Killing of a Sacred Deer – but there’s
something immensely satisfying about seeing the Greek master turn his attention
to a different genre and style of filmmaking, and still watching his jaundiced
view of humanity shine through. The Favourite is about the court of Queen Anne
(Olivia Colman), who starts out as little more than a petulant child, but
gradually takes on more depth throughout the film. Two younger women – her longtime
friend Lady Sara (Rachel Weisz), and Sara’s cousin (Emma Stone) start to
compete for the queen’s attention and affection – this jockeying for position
being cruel, crude and cynical. And yet, it’s also born out of real world
misogyny – a time and place where women had few options. Lanthimos lets loose a
little bit – for him – and indulges in high style, and lets his actors perform
without a net. The result is a hilarious, disturbing and extremely entertaining
film – Lanthimos for the mainstream.
12.
Mission Impossible - Fallout (Christopher McQuarrie)
The Mission Impossible franchise has always been
great – one of the best action franchises in history – but it became something
truly special with the fourth installment (Ghost Protocol) – and has just kept
getting better since then. The sixth installment, Fallout, is the best yet –
with Tom Cruise running, jumping, shooting, fighting and just about everything
thing his way through the behemoth two and half hour runtime of pure action
movie bliss. Director McQuarrie (becoming he first director to helm two in this
series) outdoes himself – and everyone else really – in terms of the giant
scale of the movie, and its action set pieces. Truly one of the great action
movies of the century so far (second perhaps only to Mad Max: Fury Road).
11.
Paddington 2 (Paul King)
No film filled me with purer joy this year than
Paddington 2 – the most delightful children’s film in years, and a visually
inventive and hilarious comedy to boot. The original Paddington was fun – I was
shocked by just how much fun it was when it came out a few years ago when I
took my daughter, and we both adored it. This film is leaps and bounds better
than that one in every respect. Freed from the setup, this sequel could just
imagine Paddington in London, the victim of cruel lies and crimes committed by
Hugh Grant – giving the best performance of his career as a vain, washed up has
been of an actor – and still never giving in to pettiness or anger. As a film,
the film is full of visual jokes and nods – including tributes to Chaplin and
Keaton, and more detailed and precious production design and costuming this
side of Wes Anderson. Paddington 2 was the feel good movie we all needed this
year – and so much more.
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