What follows are lists of films and performances from this and last year (but which I only saw this year) that touched me, moved me, changed me in some way--more an enumeration of favorites than a best-of proclamation pretending to be definitive. I've spent most of my time in Iloilo now, where the film festival circuit, except the MMFF, is unheard of, hence the noticeable dip in the number of local films I saw. Also not included: the ancients, such as "Paris Is Burning," which is fundamental viewing.
1. Arrival (dir. Denis Villeneuve)
By no means a perfect movie, but a masterclass in thrilling storytelling through and through. This New Yorker review by Anthony Lane perfectly sums up my sentiments.
2. 20th Century Women (dir. Mike Mills)
A specific (i.e. non-Developing World) story in itself, but nonetheless precisely captures the universal pains and pleasures, confusions and convolutions of coming of age.
3. La La Land (dir. Damien Chazelle)
No other film was a more joyful experience than this; saw it twice in the cinema, and emerged brimming with pure happiness both times.
4. Kiko Boksingero (dir. Thop Nazareno)
Small tale packing a mighty emotional punch.
5. Manchester by the Sea (dir. Kenneth Lonergan)
A masterpiece on sadness.
6. Things to Come (dir. Mia Hansen-Løve)
Elegant, subtly wrenching portrait of First World love breaking apart and blooming anew.
7. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (dir. Noah Baumbach)
Am a sucker for father-and-son stories, and seeing this just days after we buried my dad made it all the more poignant and resonant.
8. Beach Rats (dir. Eliza Hittman)
The bodies! The longing! The incertitude of self in a mean, judgmental world.
9. The Big Sick (dir. Michael Showalter)
Film reviewer Oggs Cruz on Twitter: "Everybody... should see it, not to copy it but to see how romcoms can feel both fresh and familiar at the same time."
10. Dunkirk (dir. Christopher Nolan)
Nolan deftly alternates between the epic and the intimate, and, in the fewest possible words, plants his viewer right in the midst of ancient fear and uncertainty.
And here are eleven additional titles worth remembering, in alphabetical order: Alien: Covenant (dir. Ridley Scott); American Honey (dir. Andrea Arnold); Bad Genius (dir. Nattawut Poonpiriya); Get Out (dir. Jordan Peele); Hidden Figures (dir. Theodore Melfi); Jackie (dir. Pablo Larraín); Okja (dir. Bong Joon-ho); Paterson (dir. Jim Jarmusch); Respeto (dir. Treb Monteras II); Silence (dir. Martin Scorsese); Zootopia (dirs. Byron Howard and Rich Moore).
* * * * *
My favorite performance of the year is the drop-dead fabulous, Violet-Chachki-come-through villainous turn of CATE BLANCHETT in "Thor: Ragnarok." If Marvel gives her a spinoff movie, I will support it fully. Below, a list of 19 other pieces of acting that really stuck with me:
- Naomi Ackie (Lady Macbeth)
- Amy Adams (Arrival)
- Joanna Ampil (Ang Larawan)
- Sônia Braga (Aquarius)
- Noel Comia Jr. (Kiko Boksingero)
- Dido de la Paz (Respeto)
- Harris Dickinson (Beach Rats)
- Michael Fassbender (Alien: Covenant)
- Betty Gabriel (Get Out)
- Lily Gladstone (Certain Women)
- Jake Gyllenhaal (Okja)
- Salma Hayek (Beatriz at Dinner)
- Holly Hunter (The Big Sick)
- Sasha Lane (American Honey)
- Robert Pattinson (Good Time)
- Maja Salvador (I'm Drunk, I Love You)
- Adam Sandler (The Meyerowitz Stories [New and Selected])
- Emma Stone (La La Land)
- Tilda Swinton (Okja)
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