It was an outstanding year for Indy films and international cinema, but most of the big budget Hollywood movies and franchise films lacked the spark of genius. I saw fewer films in commercial theatres or critic’s screenings this year, but I caught many of the ones I missed on Netflix or DVD while I was recovering from surgery. At least one of the direct to Netflix films, Mudbound was as good as or better than most of the big Hollywood big theatre release films
I only included movies that opened in Chicago in 2017, so a few films appear here that were on the 2016 lists of other critics. I always thought it was cheating when a film plays a few months early in New York or LA to qualify for awards and then it opens everywhere else in February. It’s possible that The Post, The Other Side of Hope or The Phantom Thread (or as I call it Daniel Day Lewis plays a difficult husband for two hours) will appear on my next year’s top 10 list.
As it is I still missed many critics’ favorites such as Call Me by Your Name, All the Money in the World, Downsizing, Dawson City, BPM, The Square, Zama, Lady Macbeth, and Blade of the Immortal, God’s Own Country, After the Storm, and Wonderstruck.
I also did not put in any TV shows. I did not bend the rules to include Twin Peaks: The Return even though I think Lynch is a complete genius, and his films are right up there with Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Emily Dickinson’s because I could Not Stop for Death, John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, and Michelangelo’s David.) Ok so I am exaggerating but only slightly.
This year’s big news story in film was the disturbing sexual harassment allegations. After the justified fall of Harvey Weinstein, Jeremy Pevin, Kevin Spacey, and James Franco were all accused of harassment, and their careers suffered to varying degrees (some were accused online in the metoo movement.) Of the three Franco did the best work this year, and he probably did his finest role ever as an incompetent but inspiring director in “The Disaster Artist. He did not get an Oscar nomination but most of the judge’s probably voted before the scandal broke,
I considered leaving their works off the list, but decided the courts or the industry itself was better qualified to determine their fates. Readers can decide on a case by case basis whether they want to support their projects.
I hope that in the media frenzy, people don’t overlook that this year probably had more fine films directed by female film makers than any year I can recall. I was most impressed with Greta Gerwig who knocked the ball out of the park with her first film, Ladybird. And I can’t forget Patty Jenkins who made perhaps the best ever DC origin film, Wonder Woman; Sofia Coppola (her The Beguiled rivaled the first classic version for quality); Niko Caro (for the Zookeeper’s Wife), Dee Rees (for Mudbound); and the gutsy Agnieszka Smoczyńska, who made The Lure, perhaps the best ever Polish killer mermaid disco musical (I loved it up until the end.)
I left out Agnes Varda’s terrific, Faces Places which might have made my top 10 in a less remarkable year, because the movie did not open in Chicago’s Music Box until January. Oh and Wonder Woman was the highest grossing film by a female director ever.
The new Star Wars and Alien films did not make the cut. I thought they were among the weakest films in their franchises (The Last Jedi had no interesting characters or surprises,) but the Blade Runner sequel was a total triumph. It also had perhaps the year’s best cinematography (Roger Deakins is a visual genius.)
Now here’s my top ten list with a few dozen honorable mentions ranked in quality (I will probably change my ranking again in about 2 minutes.)
1.) Endless Poetry (Poesia Sin Fin)-An visually impressive semi-autobiographical surrealist film by the always inventive poet/performance artist/comic creator/film maker Alejandro Jodorowsy has some of the year’s most memorable dialogue and most mind blowing images. Jodorowsky and his own son shine playing himself at different stages in his life. Oh and the same actress (Sandra Flores) plays the poet’s spontaneous controlling man and muse/girlfriend and controlling mom (she won’t sleep with him because she is saving herself for a god that will come down from the mountain.) This is the second film in a trippy, mind blowing trilogy. Emily Dickinson once write that she knows when she has read a real poem because it makes her feel like it blew the top off her head. This is the only film that did this to me this year. In Spanish with English sub-titles.
2.) The Salesman-Emotionally volatile melodrama from Iran about a well-meaning professor (he’s directing a version of Death of a Salesman) whose life begins to fall apart after his wife is sexually assaulted. With this film and “A Separation,” director, Asgahar Farhadi proved he is one of the most vital film makers in the universe. He did not bother to show up for the Oscars for his best foreign film win to protest American immigration policies. In Persian with English sub-titles.
3.) The Florida Project-An irresponsible and immature mom causes countless problems for a sympathetic paternal land lord (played by Willem Dafoe) and his tenants. The latest films by Sean Baker proves he can work well with a bigger budget (his film, Tangerine was shot on a cell phone and it is better than Star Wars.)
4.) Silence-Two 17th century missionaries travel to Japan to find their missing mentor. Are the priests saintly figures trying to help others find heaven or are they cultural imperialists? You decide. Director Martin (Taxi Driver) Scorsese is still not quite at the top of his game but he is still better than almost everyone else. In English and Japanese with English sub-titles.
5.) Paterson– Jim Jarmusch (like Scorsese he’s another veteran New York director) tells a marvelous tale full of simple pleasures of a charming bus driver who wants to be a poet (his verse seems like it was inspired by William Carlos Williams who wrote the great epic poem “Paterson”.) Jarmusch also put out “Gimmie Danger,” a terrific rockumentary about one of my favorite proto punks, Iggy Pop. Adam Driver (he’s excellent as the poet) is cropping up in more and more of the best films (he was also in The Silence and Hacksaw Ridge.)
6.) Personal Shopper– A tormented woman is haunted by the spirit of her deceased sister. Kristen Stewart (in her second masterpiece in a row with director Oscar Assayas) shows that she is capable of terrific acting once she gets away from that Twilight shit. This would make a great double feature with Ghost Story. In French with English sub-titles.
7.) Baby Driver-Fast moving and infectiously energetic tale of an eccentric young man who lives mostly in his head and drives for robbery jobs. This film uses music brilliantly (the main character is always listening to tunes so he has the soundtrack on his head) but it may get overlooked because of the Kevin Spacey backlash (For what it’s worth he’s marvelous as a quasi-sympathetic gangster.) Oh the film gets bonus points for using The Damned on the wonderful soundtrack.
8.) I, Daniel Blake– David Johns (in one of the year’s best performances) struggles to keep his dignity when he pleads with the inhuman British welfare system to get the money that is due to him. A powerful critique of the dehumanizing aspects of government and modern society. Another gritty, pro working class film by British film maker (and former angry young man), Ken Loach.
9.) Get Out-A young, African American male goes through hell after he agrees to meet his white girlfriend’s family. This film kept me guessing, and in suspense every moment, and it plays like a horror version of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.
10.) 20th Century Women-An eccentric mom (played by Annette Benning) enlists the help of two very different women (Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning) to help/mentor her depressed son. The film convincingly recreates the 80s punk scene when Greta Gerwig who initiates the protagonist and introduces him to the mileau.
11.) The Disaster Artist
12.) Three Billboards Ouside Ebbing Missouri
13.) Maudie
14.) Wind River
15.) Ladybird
16.) Colossal
17.) Beatriz at Dinner
18.) A Quiet Passion
19.) Their Finest
20.) Wonder Woman
21.) Blade Runner 2046
22.) The Shape of Water
23.) Frantz ((In French and German with English sub-tiles)
24.) Graduation (In Romanian with English sub-titles)
25.) Dark Times
26.) Suntan (in Greek with English sub-titles)
27.) The Big Hurt
28.) Molly’s Game
29.) Noctorama (In French with English sub-titles)
30.) Staying Vertical (In French with English sub-titles)
31.) I Tonya
32.) Norman: The Rise and fall of a New York Fixer
33.) Mudbound
34.) Chasing Train
35.) The Red Turtle (no dialogue)
36.) Ingrid Goes west
37.) Coco
38.) The Lure (In Polish with English sub-titles)
39.) The Beguiled
40.) Okja (In English and Korean with English sub-tiles)
41.) Bad Lucky Goat (In Creole with English sub-tiles)
42.) Ghost Story
43.) Logan
44.) Victoria and Abdul
45.) Darkest Hour
46.) My Entire High School Sinking to the Bottom of the Ocean
47.) Manifesto
48.) I Don’t Feel at Home Anymore
49.) It Stains the Sands Red
50.) Whose Streets?
51,) Wizard of Lies
52) Architects of Denial
53.) I Called him Morgan
54.) The Meyerwitz Stories
55.) Thor Ragnarok
56.) Valerian and the Lost Planets
57.) Crown Heights
58.) The Founder
59.) Camera Person
60.) Slack Bay (In French with French sub-titles)
61.) Wilson
62.) Logan Lucy
63.) Life
64.) Harmonium (In Japanese with English sub-titles)
65.) The Ornithologist (In Portugese, Latin, Mandarin, and Marandese with English sub-tiles)
66.) Gerald’s Game
67,) Dunkirk
68.) Raw (In French with English sub-titles)
69.)The Baby Sitter
70.) Battle of the Sexes
71.) Loving Vincent
72.) Kong Skull Island
73.) Golden Circle The Kingsmen: The Golden Circle
75.) My Journey through French Film (In French with English sub-titles)
76.) War for the Planet of the Apes
77.) John Wick Chapter 2
78.) Mother
79.) Lost in Paris (in English and French with English sub-tiles)
80.) Beach Rats
81.) Spiderman Homecoming
82.) The Commune (In Danish with English sub-titles)
83.) Chavela (in Spanish with English sub-titles)
84.) Loving Vincent
85.) It Comes at Night
86.) The Zookeeper’s Wife
87.) Ghost in the Shell
88.) Guardians of the Galaxy volume 2
89.) Girl with the Gift
90.) Julian Schnabel; A Portrait
91.) Split
92.) Daphne
93.) Freefire
94.) The Bad Batch
** I DON’T KNOW IF THE LAST TWO ARE GOOD OR BAD FILMS BUT THIS WEEK I AM LEANING TOWARDS GOOD.
Best actor: James Franco for The Disaster Artist
Runners Up: David Johns in I, Daniel Blake, Mike Keaton in The Founder, Willem Dafoe in Florida Project, Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour, Adam Driver for Paterson and Silence
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett in Manifesto (playing 13 characters)
Runner Ups: Saorse Ronan for Ladybird, Kristen Stewart for Personal Shopper, Gemma Afterton for Their Finest, Cyntha Nixon for a Quiet Passion, Sally Hawkins for Maudie, Jessica Chastain for Molly’s Game, Frances McDormand for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Misssouri, Margot Robie for I, Tonya
Best Underrated Actress in an Under the Radar Film: Aubrey Plaza for Ingrid Goes West and Melanie Lynskey for I Don’t Have a Place in this World Anymore
Best newcomer: Gail Godot for Wonder Woman
Supporting actress; Alison Williams for Get Out
Runner Ups: Laurie Metcalf for Ladybird, Allison Jenney in I Tonya, Holly Hunter for Big Sick and Golshifteh Farahani
Supporting actor: Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson for Three Billboards (tie)
Runner Ups: Collin Ferrell for The Beguiled, Liam Neeson for Silence, and Ray Ramono for the Big Sick and Kevin Spacey for Baby Driver
Best Director: Asghar Farhadi for the Salesman
Runner Ups: Alejandro Jodrowsky for Endless Poetry, Ken Loach for I Daniel Blake, Martin Scorsese for Silence, Jim Jarmusch for Patterson, and Sean Baker for Florida Project
Most Promising Newer Directors: Edgar Reiss for Baby Driver Greta Gerwig, and Jordan Peele for Get Out
Best Script: Jordan Peele for Get Out
Runner Ups: Olvier Assayas for Personal Shopper, Emily Gordon, Kimaii Nanjiani for The Big Sick, Three Billboards, Francois Ozon and Phillippe Piazzo for Frantz, Aaron Sorkin for Molly’s Game, and Asghar Farhadi for The Salesman
Best Cinematographer: Roger Deakons for Blade Runner 2046
Runner Ups: Ben Richards for Wind River, Toby Oliver for Get Out, Pascal Marti for Frantz, Rodriego Prieto for Silence, Phillip le Sound for The Beguiled, and Rachel Morrison for Mudbound
Special Effects: Okja
Stunts: Atomic Blonde
Horror Film: Get Out
Runner Ups: The Lure, The Babysitter and Raw
Worse ongoing film franchise in the history of the universe: Transformers
Best sci fi: Blade Runner 2046
Runner ups: Life and Marjorie Prime
Best unclassifiable film: Colossal (Is it sci-fi, fantasy or a dream film?)
Best original soundtrack: Nick Cave and Warren Ellis for Wind River (everything they do is gold)
Best compiled soundtrack: Baby Driver
Best Song: Eddie Veddar for Rise in Meagen Leavey
Best animal performance (tie): The German shepards in Meagan Leavey and Gerald’s Game
Most Delightfully Unexpected Cameo: Alicia Silverstone in Killing of a Sacred Deer
Runner Ups: Common in Meagen Leavy and Rhianna and Herbie Hancock in Valerian and the Lost Planets
Best mermaid horror musical from Poland that takes place in discos: The Lure
Best animated Film: Coco
Runner Ups: My Entire High School Sinks to the Bottom of the Ocean, Love of Vincent, and The Red Turtle
Best Short film: 5 films about Technology (it played in between films at Landmark Century)
