2016’s top flicks
From Spotlight to The Salesman – picks out her favourite films from the past year.
It’s that time again. Time to look back over one’s top picks of the year, complain about how few masterpieces there were, how much ‘‘the franchise movie’’ seems to be taking over Hollywood, and wonder what on Earth Spotlight was about (that film from early 2016, which received five stars from me and rave reviews all around).
Here are the best films of 2016 as rated by one reviewer in one newspaper in one small country of the filmviewing world. Having been lambasted occasionally for ‘‘simply giving her opinion’’, it may be timely to remind readers that yes, film criticism is just one person’s view, but that the role entails watching hundreds of films every year and thus building a fairly solid context for judgment.
I’ve tried to counter my gut-reaction (Did I feel something? Did I start thinking about dinner? Could the film have done anything better?) with more objective musings about quality of performances/diligence of production aspects/socio-political relevance of narrative.
One of my critics (we all have them) pointed out he knows he’s going to think the polar-opposite of any opinion I give – but the critic’s role as barometer against which the viewer can make his own decisions is arguably what it’s all about. So whether you take them with a pinch of salt, or queue these up on Netflix: here are my top 20 flicks of 2016.
1. Green Room
A bunch of punk-rock musicians take on the murderous might of a skinhead gang led by a disarming Patrick Stewart. So well-written! So breathholding! So violent! So good, I saw it twice just to check my initial proclamations that it would wind up being my film of the year. It did.
2. The Revenant
Actually, until Green Room, I thought Leo DiCaprio’s dedicated performance (snow-trekking, bear-mauling, beardgrowing) as a fur trapper caught up in Alejandro Inarritu’s long tracking shots was going to take top prize. It’s still the most visually stunning and viscerally compelling film of 2016, and deservedly won three of the year’s top Oscars.
3. Room Sarah Watt
Harrowing and mesmerising in equal measure, Brie Larson indisputably earned her Oscar alongside a preternaturally talented 9-year old, playing a mother and son held captive in one room for several years. As well as being a terrific thriller, the story provoked some fascinating thoughts about how we take our understanding of the world around us for granted.
4. Zootopia
This animated children’s movie proved far too clever for adults to avoid, with its brilliantly-written subtext of racial profiling and human intolerance. An amazing script, great characterisation (including a plucky bunny who becomes the first female police officer in the titular city), and more cinematic in-jokes than you could spill your popcorn at, Zootopia delivered a timely message with great wit.
5. Doctor Strange
Initially wary that Marvel would simply churn out another elongated fight scene of a movie, I should, of course, have known that Doctor Strange would have me at ‘‘Benedict Cumberbatch’’. As the misanthropic uber-surgeon brought to his knees by his own hubris, the Brit went subtly American and considerably more spiritual to fight the evils of the dark world. A fabulous supporting cast, enormous wit, an excitingly elongated final fight scene – who could ask for anything more?
6. Spotlight
An awfully long time ago (February, in fact), Spotlight also won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Screenplay of its depiction of the Boston Globe’s investigation into child abuse allegations, which overturned the Catholic Church. This wasn’t just a ‘‘worthy’’ movie – it was lauded for doing what the paper’s award-winning journalists achieved by telling an important story with strong performances and a gripping script.
7. Paterson
Proving that fantastic films don’t need to be flashy, director Jim Jarmusch’s gentle love story of a bus-driving poet (the chameleonic Adam Driver) and his dream-seeking girlfriend living the simple life in New Jersey, won accolades and proved that, after a helluva year like 2016, sometimes all we need is love.
8. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
One of only two films this year I have unreservedly recommended to everyone I know, Wilderpeople unconditionally delighted New Zealand audiences with its odd-couple story of a foster child (break-out star Julian Dennison) and his reluctant guardian (a hilariously gruff Sam Neill) who go on the run from authorities through native bush. Scored to perfection by the Phoenix Foundation and a host of classic pop hits, and directed by Godzone’s beloved Taika ‘‘Thor’’ Waititi, we fell in love with local cinema all over again.
9. Tickled
The only other ‘‘You have to see . . . ’’ film on my list was David Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s startling documentary that began as an investigation into competitive endurance tickling (yes, that’s a thing), and descended into a bone-chilling commentary on bullying. Not many films can take you from laugh-inducing to adrenaline-pumping, but the Kiwi film-makers nailed it, before garnering critical acclaim all over the world. If you haven’t already, ‘‘you have to see . . . ’’
10. Train to Busan
I’m going to round out my Top 10 with one of the few movies I didn’t review, but went to see just for kicks: a Korean zombie movie, no less, whose plot is as straightforward as its cliched characters are endearing. Imagine you’re setting off on a long-awaited family visit, only to find a contagious member of the walking dead has managed to mind the gap between train and platform. Amidst the chaos that ensued, Train to Busan emerged as one of the most fun movies of the year.
11. The BFG
I was quite unprepared for how inveigled I would be by Steven Spielberg’s retelling of the Roald Dahl classic from my long-ago childhood. It was thanks, no doubt, to a stunning performance by thespian Mark Rylance who nailed the voice and parlance, and managed to imbue a not-entirely-CGI character with extraordinary humanity. Definitely one for children aged 4 to 104.
12. The Salesman
Asghar ‘‘A Separation’’ Farhadi has no equal when it comes to situating heavy emotional drama in the most domestic of contexts. In The Salesman, the Iranian writer-director’s latest perfectly-pitched offering saw a couple torn apart in the wake of a mysterious assault. Keeping the audience as much in the dark as his protagonists, he yet again excelled at tightening a noose around the well-observed narrative until a third act in which we couldn’t breathe.