The best movies of 2017
NO YEAR is complete without a “best of” list. It’s been a very good year for films that made us laugh, cry and feel all kinds of feels. Did you see ’em all?
THIS year has been an embarrassment of riches when it comes to brilliant movies, films that made us laugh, made us cry and made us appreciate the full spectrum of what it means to be human and, sometimes, to be more than human.
There were incredible stories told through various perspectives and experiences, taking us into a different world for two hours at a time.
The movies on this list were released in Australia in 2017, which is why you won’t see the likes of Lady Bird or The Shape Of Water on here and why Moonlight still made the list even though it was part of the last “Oscar season”.
From big budget blockbusters to indie gems, if you haven’t seen these films yet, seek them out and let yourself be intoxicated.
One of the year’s best movies was also one of the last. A tender, sensual and emotionally charged story set in 1983 Italy, Call Me By Your Name is about Elio and his sexual awakening when he meets Oliver.
So many coming-of-age stories deal with exactly this time, the transition between childhood and adulthood, when whatever happens doesn’t seem quite real. Few films handle it with as much grace and humanity as Call Me By Your Name and the audience is as transformed by the experience as the characters.
Dunkirk is not an easy battle to capture on film, it being mostly about a successful retreat rather than some prosaic hero moment. But, somehow, Christopher Nolan pulls it off. It’s a return to true form for the director and it may well be his best film yet.
It combines the clever structure of Memento, the scale and ambition of The Dark Knight and the amazing cinematography of Inception. There is not a single wasted moment in this film — everything has a purpose. Nor is it dripping in sentiment, a rarity for a war film. Dunkirk is nothing short of a five-star masterpiece.
Moonlight is a perfect film, from its transcendent performances to its beautiful cinematography to its thoughtful writing. It’s no wonder it was the real winner of this year’s Oscar race. It is a visceral cinematic experience like no other.
Character-driven rather than plot-driven, this quiet film is the story of Chiron, a gay African-American boy from the Miami projects told through three chapters in his life, as a child, a teenager and then as a young man.
The best romantic comedy in years, The Big Sick will hopefully revitalise a genre that more often gets it wrong than right. Based on the real-life story of Pakistani-American comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V Gordon, the film has humour and humanity.
The Big Sick follows the story of Kumail and Emily who meet when she heckles his stand-up act. The two start dating but the obstacles in their way are many, including his traditional parents and her medically induced coma.
It’s difficult describing a movie that isn’t really driven by a plot, especially when it’s barely driven by characters. As pretentious as this sounds, A Ghost Story is more about a feeling — an emotional response to a singular cinematic experience.
Made on the cheap for $100,000, this Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara film will mostly be remembered for Affleck’s garb — a bedsheet with two eyeholes cut out. While the film traffics in lofty concepts like time, legacy, grief and love, it still manages to make everything feel intimate. This is not a film you’ll forget in a hurry.
With The Florida Project, director Sean Baker’s humanist approach sees him aiming his camera at the marginalised underclass a stone’s throw from the happiest place on Earth, Disney World. Six-year-old Moonee lives in the cheap motel Magic Castle and spends her summer running rampant and causing havoc, but for all the bratty screaming, you will not fail to empathise with her. That’s quite an achievement.
The world captured by Sean Baker’s lens is colourful and bright, despite its impoverished inhabitants, and he never, ever judges or pities them for their choices, even if you might. Here is a movie that shows, not tells.
Comedian Jordan Peele says there is much in common between comedy and horror — both are about pacing and reveals. So we shouldn’t be surprised that Peele’s first feature as director is such an accomplished horror-comedy with more than a touch of biting social commentary. It manages to both embrace its genre and inject fresh blood with its cerebral but unpretentious approach.
Chris, an African-American man, joins his caucasian girlfriend and her middle-class, progressive parents for a weekend at their country estate. Obviously, everything is not as it seems. If you’re usually someone who avoids horror like an “Instagram star” avoids a real job, make an exception for Get Out. You won’t regret it.
It may be a potent examination of grief, family and self-imposed solitude, but Manchester By The Sea is also oddly life-affirming. Powered by an extraordinarily raw and restrained performance from Casey Affleck, Kenneth Lonergan’s movie allows the writing and acting to take centre stage with a sparse filmmaking approach.
It’s a deeply affecting film and the kind of character-led storytelling everyone should be making their first priority to see.
Living up to the legacy of Ridley Scott’s original was always going to be hard, but Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer Roger Deakins have crafted one of the year’s most visually stunning films. It may come in at over two-and-a-half hours but it’s well-paced and manages to earn its long run time. There’s not a single superfluous shot as you sit there, drinking it in, staring in awe at every magnificent detail.
It’s rare to feature a superhero movie in a top 10 movies list and, arguably, Wonder Woman had the bigger social impact while Logan was objectively “better”. But Thor: Ragnarok earns its spot because it was the funnest two hours you could’ve spent in the cinema in 2017.
In the deft hands of Kiwi director Taika Waititi, the staid franchise is fresh again, injected with his trademark blend of droll humour and heart. Waititi’s instinct for getting the best out of his performers, including coaxing Hemsworth’s funny bone and impeccable timing, is key to why Thor: Ragnarok works so well.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Wonder Woman, Logan, 20th Century Women, Ingrid Goes West, Baby Driver, Girls Trip, The Killing Of A Sacred Deer, Mudbound, The Meyerowitz Stories, Loving, Toni Erdmann, Lion, The Disaster Artist, It, Atomic Blonde , A Man Called Ove and Jackie.
What was on your best movies of 2017 list? Share with @wenleima on Twitter.
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