Top 10 Films of 2017

Another year down, another top 10 list. I don’t know if I just love too many films or if it was a great year for cinema but there are plenty of movies that will be talked about from 2017 in the future. While Hollywood had returned to some familiar genres (war, romance, people trying to make in Hollywood, and crime) they managed to explore new territory in terms of thematic approach both technically and story-wise.

This year I made approximately 53 trips to the cinemas this year but more so than previous years I rewatched several films and had the opportunity to see some classics on the big screen. So excluding rewatches and classics I only saw approximately 35 new films this year (compared to last years ~70). Fourtantley of the 35 I saw it managed to a really strong and diverse set of films.

All films on this list will be tied to 2017 (or 2016 if they were released in the USA there first) for their unique approach to the world around us. There are other films that do that didn't make my list but still are films worth seeing.

For the list this year I have decided to do films that were released in Australia in 2017. So films like The Post, Lady Bird and The Shape of Water will have to wait for my 2018 list. Films like Jackie and Manchester by the Sea, that were released in 2017 but included on my 2016 list will be excluded.

Honorable Mentions: The Disaster Artist, Graduation, The Florida Project, Personal Shopper, It Comes at Night, Logan Lucky and John Wick 2.

Click on the film title to get to the IMDb page

10. The Big Sick (Dir. Michael Showalter)

A.K.A. the American ‘Ali’s Wedding’. Easily one of the finest rom-com of recent memory, this film is based on Pakistani actor/writer Kumail Nanjiani’s own experiences of dating a caucasian girl while his parents try to set him up with a girl of their choice. Kumail and his girlfriend, Emily, breakup but she soon has to go to a hospital and is put in a medically induced coma. Even though they broke up he waits at the hospital and soon meets her parents.

As Kumail gets to know Emily’s parents (Ray Romano and Holly Hunter) we get a deeper insight into a complex character that has several parts of his life to balance, his family (who don’t know of Emily), Emily (who don’t know of his family's expectations), and his life as a standup comedian. The interactions between characters feel genuine and real. We see characters stress eat, freak out over not having a burger with four slices of cheese and perform the worse stand-up routine in their life.

The source of laughter in this film is diverse. There’s human interaction, cheesy flirtation, and even race. Subverting expectations is the game here as each of these sources is shown in a fresh light to create something that is both truly funny and heartfelt.

How it ties to 2017: Interracial relationships won't be easy but if you try hard it's worth it.

Best Scene: "I want four slices of cheese on a burger"

9. I Am Not Your Negro (Dir. Raoul Peck)

When it comes to tackling race in art, especially in a documentary, you run the risk of coming off as someone just listing statistics. James Baldwin is not such a man and Raoul Peck knows this. Peck gained access to all of Baldwin’s unpublished work and archival footage about a decade ago. The back catalogue also includes an unpublished manuscript which serves as the main thesis for the film.

The archival footage used highlights the finesse of Baldwin’s articulation of his ideas. The film is also driven by narration from Samuel L Jackson, and even when Baldwin’s ideas are presented in his they manage to shine through as I continually asked myself if it actually was Jackson doing the narration.

Baldwin's work has stood the test of time and is even more relevant in ways than when he was alive. For most this is unfortunate. Peck knows this by making those connections to delve deeper into an area that has come to define a nation.

How it ties to 2017: That racism is woven into the fabric of American society.

Best Scene: This is tough because it's a documentary but whenever we see old interview footage of Baldwin it's as if he's singing.

8. Call Me By Your Name (Dir. Luca Guadagnino)

Call Me By Your Name is a story of ‘forbidden love’ but it’s no different to ones that have become before it. It’s camera work often imitates golden age Hollywood and the European classics by letting its stars (Armie Hammer and Timothee Chalamet) play scenes out in the wide shots but Luca Guadagnino uses today’s modern, lighter camera to move the camera in unique ways. Part of the charm of this film is the way that actors move across the screen, and in particular, the dolly shot across the northern Italy town which covers a whole scene.

Hammer and Chalamet’s performances show the delicacies of young love and discovery. The film doesn't get in the way of their story by getting caught up with in taboo of their relationship in the 1980s. Compared to recent LGBTQI films such as Carol and Moonlight this film simply is.

Armie Hammer is one of the few actors working today who has a charisma that carries from film to film, much the way the stars of the 30s, 40s, and 50s did (Bogart, Dean, Fonda, Stewart). Chalamet shows great promise here too, as I'm sure he's one to keep an eye out for throughout awards season.

How it ties to 2017: Love who you love and don't shut yourself off because you can't.

Best Scene: "Why can't you play it the way Bach played it"?

7. Silence (Dir. Martin Scorsese)

Silence is also the name of the sound of when the credits start rolling for this film. This slow-moving three-hour long movie on religion certainly doesn’t move at the same speed of any Marvel film. It’s pacing is nonetheless effective. The long periods of isolation that characters face as they practice Christianity in feudal Japan where it’s outlawed goes hand in hand with the speed of the film. When some villagers are hung up for practising the outlawed religion next to shore, their slow demise is made even more painful by its length.

Spiritual awakening (or change) doesn’t happen overnight, no matter what religion (well, maybe pseudo-religions). When Andrew Garfield’s Jesuit Priest ‘Rodrigues’ gets captured in Japan while searching for Liam Neeson’s ‘Ferreria’ he’s captured by the authorities. They try to get him to renounce his faith and this certainly isn’t brushed over. It’s a time of great turmoil for Rodrigues and Scorsese’s skill in visual literacy, which he’s built up over 50 years is put to great use here.

Along with the stellar performances from Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson, and Scorsese’s direction, the film also features some finely tuned cinematography from Rodrigo Prieto. He perfectly captures the harshness of the Japanese landscape and the films spiritual themes.

Hot it ties to 2017: The films religious conflict is still a major source of conflict and that it's been happening way too long.

Best Scene: When Rodrigues has a vision of God or the last shot.

6. Dunkirk (Dir. Christoper Nolan)

Fuck Virtual Reality (VR). Seriously VR can go fuck itself. It will never be the same as seeing a movie in a cinema with dozens of other people let alone seeing a movie in 70mm. Except Christopher Nolan simulated VR to create his own VR movie and his best to date. Here, Nolan strips back his grandiose scale that he has become known for to bring us a more intimate film yet keeping his unique fingerprint on it.

All the expositional dialogue is gone and it’s replaced with the best camera work of his career, even if he’s working with a heavy, huge, loud 70mm camera. The camera is put in small places that haven’t been possible before such as the cockpit of a fighter plane, a small leisure boat, and in a sinking boat full of water. Sound design compliments images by putting us in the point of view of our characters. This could be the unexpected gunshot coming from the enemies or Hans Zimmer’s use of shepherd-risset glissando which will leave you gripping onto the edge of your seat if you see it in cinemas. We never see the Axis powers as they push the allies out of France and into retreat but they are never forgotten. This goes to show that Nolan knows how to use his tools as a filmmaker and that he’s also been pushing his skills as a filmmaker to exciting new areas.

Fractured and non-linear storytelling has been a staple of Nolan's work ever since his debut with The Following and he knows he can't repeat himself. So he gives his most daring and experimental story structure yet. We follow three different stories set over three different time periods and we see them cross over. This makes the repeat viewings more satisfying as your put together the pieces that you may have missed the first time.

How it ties to 2017: The issues in other films aren't relevant here but the film's ability to let the male characters express their feelings and fears in war is under recognised. Also, the sense of community and looking out for one another in a time of need is on show here.

Best Scene: When the bombs get closer to the screen on the beach.

5. Good Time (Dir. Ben and Josh Safdie)

Original Review Here

Did you ever want to commit a crime but never did because it’s illegal? Did you even want to do acid because that too is illegal? Well, Good Time offers an experience that offers both. This neon-lit story of Connie (a career-best Robert Pattinson) and his attempts to get his brother Nick (co-director Ben) out of prison after a bank robbery gone wrong flows flawlessly. Pattinson's actions always lead him onto to new situations where he has to do something and the pattern continues.

For a small indie crime film, it sure does have plenty of kinetic flow of a big well made blockbuster. Even when the film takes a detour in the form a monologue it's energy is never lost and in a way, the detours the film takes only adds to the film.

I also highly recommend seeking out interviews with the directors of this film as it's quite clear that they are natural born storytellers. When they talk about their experiences on set or in pre-production trying to get this film made it somehow manages to be as exciting as the film itself. If the brothers can follow this film up with another strong film worth discussing, I think we might have a new set of Coen Brothers.

How it ties to 2017: The relationship between two brothers represented here isn't a 2017 thing but it's sympathetic view of the struggling lower class is something that is needed.

Best Scene: When Connie has to take someone's attention away from the TV and then he has to attend to his brother.

4. Song to Song (Dir. Terrence Malick)

"They heard me singing and they told me to stop,

Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock,

These days, my life, I feel it has no purpose,

But late at night the feelings swim to the surface.

'Cause on the suburbs the city lights shine,

They're calling at me, 'come and find your kind.'”

I don’t know why this verse from Arcade Fire’s “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) came to mind when thinking of what to write about this film but on closer analysis, it conjures up images of the film in my memory. Malick's latest films often do feel like they're firmly based in memory and the past but it feels like we're living this story as if we're there in the moment. Perhaps it's Malick's ability to create and control the emotion of the flow from scene to scene and the moments that are shown. The moments in this film all add up together to represent a defining chapter in our character's lives. The song might have come to mind because it's an album that looks back at the past, the same way Malick's films do.

No other filmmaker can bring energy to a film the way Malick does. This is his third film without a script and structured around improve and it's by far the best of those three films. The only other filmmaker to have reinvented themselves continuously throughout their career without taking away their unique touch is David Lynch. Both directors have made use of newer technologies such as digital cameras.

The combination of unusual camera work, voice over and narrative structure is bound to alienate some. People have walked out the cinema citing "it's editing like a music video". Well, that's a comparison I'm not going to shoot down but upon closer analysis, this film offers much more than a music video. Seeing how images and moments tell the story is something that is unique to Malick as his biggest allergy must be expositional dialogue.

How it ties to 2017: This film doesn't but the philosophy it's influenced by and Adam-Eve-Satan love triangle are timeless.

Best Scene: While there are plenty of moments that stick out to me, it's when Cate Blanchett's necklace falls apart and she struggles to pick up all the pieces.

3. A Ghost Story (Dir. David Lowery)

Admittedly, this film wasn’t in my top 10 after first viewing but that was back in June and I noticed I have thought about this film a lot for a film not in my top 10. So I re-watched and for a film that will bore most of its audience, it manages to provoke some interesting emotions. To feel sympathy for a ghost that looks like a cheap white sheet thrown over an actor goes to show the dexterity of Lowery’s direction and editing.

The jump in the film’s placement on this list can also be attributed to a growth in my understanding of film and in particular editing since I first saw it. The way the film conveys emotion through editing, whether that be grief or loneliness. Two examples are the infamous 9-minute pie eating scene which is exactly what it sounds like, just Rooney Mara, on the floor eating a pie. The length of this scene isn’t edited but tied together with the scenes around it make for a scene that gets its message across to the audience very clearly. The other scene is when Rooney Mara listens to a song her dead husband (Casey Affleck, whose character is the ghost) wrote and it cuts between the memory of her first listening to it and her almost touching the ghost in the present.

PS look out for Kesha’s (yes, the singer) cameo in the film.

How it ties to 2017: Push through the loneliness to mind the meaning. It's worth it.

Best Scene: When Rooney Mara listens to the song.

2. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)

Original Review Here

Somehow, Lanthimos has managed to make one of the best revenge thrillers ever, even if the person doing the revenge is the antagonist. It's somehow both sweet to see Martin's (Barry Keoghan) plan slowly reveal itself and yet you'll feel sympathy or even empathy for Steven' (Colin Farrell's family as they tare themselves apart. I don't want to talk about this film's story anymore as I believe I've already told you too much.

Thanks to the (purposely) flat performances and the use of music this film will get on your nerves. It's an experience that can only really be compared to with Kubrick's 'The Shinning'

An aspect that I liked about the structure of this film is the "Every action has an opposite and equal reaction". I talked about this more in my review but I think it's important enough to highlight once again.

How ties to 2017: The toxic family dynamic?

Best Scene: When someone's spinning in circles...

1. mother! (Dir. Darren Aronofsky)

Original Review Here:

The honour of this film being number one my list, of course, goes to Darren Aronofsky and his cast and crew but it also needs to go to Paramount Studios. They passed up the chance to do another Friday the 13th movie to make mother! possible. Yes, this film is an uncomfortable experience but my god is it effective. The idea that this film isan allegory for mother nature is spot on and audiences seem to have picked up on that. So, why don’t people feel disgusted in the same way we feel it after seeing this film when corporations damage the earth?

I am more than certain that Darren Aronofsky knew what he was doing, after all, his films have never shied away from the controversial. If Spielberg’s intention when making Raiders of the Lost Ark was to tell a thrilling story that captured the audience’s imagination then Aronofsky’s got a reaction from us. And, that’s part of why I consider this the best film of the year. It’s from a filmmaker with a clear and virtuoso vision that succeeded in what it was trying to achieve, even if people left the cinema before it finished.

Aronofsky is an environmentalist but he's concerns are greater here. More than any other film does mother! capture the essence of 2017. It represents the turbulent times we face as a society both socially and politically.

Best Scene: The last act. Never has a film left me shell shocked like the way the last 30 minutes of this one did.

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So those are my favourite films of 2017. What were yours? Do you agree with my picks? Let me know in the comments.