Here we go, my attempt to extract a bit of positivity out of The Year of the Dumpster Fire in the form of the movies officially released in the UK this year.* Now bear in mind, this is only of the movies I saw, I didn't catch everything, so this list may change a bit when I finally get round to seeing Swiss Army Man, I Daniel Blake, When Marnie Was There, Hell or High Water, Set the Thames on Fire, and quite a few others. I will say that this was a tough call, there was A LOT of good stuff out this year, so much so that I could have done a top twenty if I wasn't so lazy. I've had to do quite a bit of soul searching over the last few weeks, if I gave it another day's thought this may turn out completely different, but at this moment, here are my top ten favourite films of 2016.
First, the honourable mentions (not counting stuff I highlighted last time).
Now for the list itself, starting with...
10. Train to Busan
This has been quite an exceptional year for horror overall, as the three of you who read my October Challenge Blog Post could probably tell. (There's an obvious gag I could make, but someone on YouTube beat me to it). From siege thriller Green Room, to smart YA adaptation I am NOT a Serial Killer, there's been a lot of great material for scares, and a lot of it has been good enough to make my top ten. To start my list, I'm going with this Korean production that's proven to be a massive box office success over there. This does what the World War Z movie failed to do and make a huge scope disaster movie out zombies. The clever thing about this one is that by having the zombie infested train, we have a way to make the story play out across a large landscape, while at the same time keep a lot of the claustrophobia and siege narrative from the best of undead movies. This ticks all the boxes of disaster movies, the characters may be archetypes, but well done archetypes, it's like a Roland Emmerich movie when he's on point. It manages to have big crowd pleasing action, while also genuinely unnerving and threatening zombies, along with a lot of pure "ohshitohshitohshit..." tension building scenes. The Girl With All the Gifts might be the better made, deeper film overall, but this takes the spot because it took me by surprise, I went in without many expectations, and had a blast! Go see this before the proposed American remake (how will that work, they barely have any trains?) 9. Under the Shadow
You may be surprised to know that despite appearances, this is actually a UK production, in that most of the funding and such came from here. This is truly an international work, British funded, set in Tehran, filmed in Jordan, performed in Farsi. Babak Anvari (in his feature debut!) has produced a superb tale of living under oppression, in terms of a highly controlling government, strict religious law, family expectations, living in a war zone, and even worse. Hell, it successfully recreates a time & place when having a Jane Fonda workout VHS was a small act of rebellion! This ghost story (OK, technically the force at work is implied to be a Djinn) succeeds at making the supernatural a strong metaphor for being trapped by powerful abstract concepts you have no control over. There are touches akin to say Guillermo Del Toro's work in the premise, but this is absolutely it's own story, and a damn effective one too. The overtly supernatural takes its time getting there, as the lead character is in more than enough danger already before the demonic enters the picture. A few weeks ago, the film was aired by Picturehouse cinemas as part of a season of ghost stories in the vein of M.R. James, and it's an apt comparison; this even manages to make the traditional "figure in a sheet" ghost terrifying again! A powerful tale, and an out-&-proud genre flick, this has been submitted to be the UK's nomination for the Best Feature in a Foreign Language Oscar. Good Luck with that Under the Shadow!
8. The VVitch: A New-England Folktale
Folk horror has been a favourite little sub-genre of mine for many years, but it has been very much a distinctly British one in all that time. Finally there's an American film that can join the tradition of Blood on Satan's Claw and The Wicker Man. This powerful tale of paranoia in the days of the early settlers takes an interesting route in that it makes clear early on there is an external, supernatural threat at work, yet as the pressure builds the characters ultimately turn inwards, upon each other. It asks the question "why would someone become a witch?", and suggests, given the oppressive nature of society at the time, a pretty obvious answer. The second feature film debut in here, writer/director Robert Eggers has made an astonishing piece of work, with excellent period dialogue, pitch-perfect period settings, and tension dripping from the screen. Even little details like filming in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio, slightly more narrow than we're used to modern films being, adds to the claustrophobia. Also, no cheap jump-scares, the closest thing there is plays it silently, and is based on the sudden absence of something. Some people have actually questioned whether this is a horror film as a result; I say to them you are idiots who haven't seen any real horror films! Black Phillip alone makes this a horror!
7. The Invitation
I actually saw this last year at LFF, but it's been stuck in my head thoroughly since then, and with it being launched onto Netflix and Streaming services this year, now is the time to discuss this. I say discuss, because the annoying thing about this being so good is that it's damnably hard to explain why without giving too much of the game away, but here goes. The Invitation is a powerful story about grief, about what it can do to you over time if it's not processed in the right way. We see multiple examples of this throughout the story, with the common thread being that if you cut yourself away from those who care about you at that time, just because of the related memories, that is one of the worst things you can do. This point though is wrapped up in a tale that I'd definitely more classify as a horror rather than a thriller, in the sense of dread and uncertainty created. The whole point of horror is to be unnerving, and a good way of achieving that is keeping the audience wondering "where is this going?". What's really going on here, is it one character being paranoid, are there others with a hidden agenda? I can't say much more, except to praise an exceptional cast bringing very well created characters to life. Boot up Netflix, watch this for yourself for the answers, and go with it for the whole ride; the final shot of this film is one that will leave you winded.
6. Tickled
This is the favourite of the documentaries I've seen this year (in a year when a new Werner Herzog one came out; that's saying something!). Now My Scientology Movie was a pretty close runner up to this prize, but one big reason this one has the edge was due to the fact that this was a story I previously knew nothing about, but I was absolutely fascinated in by the end. This tale tells of New Zealand journalist David Farrier, who finds some odd videos online about a "competitive tickling league", thinks "oh, this might make an interesting little segment on one of the shows", only to be surprised by where this takes him. In short, what seems like an odd, but harmless pastime, turns out to be anything but, revealing what can only described as an empire of control, coercion, blackmail, intimidation and more. The film wisely takes time to make clear it is in no way kink-shaming, this is how this particular group of videos is part of a shocking, long running scam. Again, I don't want to give much away, this is something you have to see for yourself for the truly jawdropping places this thing goes, and the sheer scale of it. You may get angry by the end of this, at the revelation that someone has gotten away with despicable acts for so long; that is entirely the point. Oh, also one of the many co-funders of this film was Stephen Fry, who's been championing it for a while too. Now I know more of you are interested in seeing it!
5. High Rise
This is by far the most divisive film on this list, some have loved it, some have truly hated it (at the time of writing it's at 5.7 on IMDb, which fits that profile). I personally loved this (obviously because it's on here) as this gets to the heart of the J.G. Ballard novel perfectly, showing how when all the classes are forced together into one building, all the familiar conflicts get turned up to 11. Ben Wheatley's works often have veins of dark humour running through them, and this is no exception, finding the morbidly funny side of society eating itself, and everyone's reactions, a post-modern Masque of the Red Death. It was a smart move having the sort-of seventies setting (sort of in that it's implied that this is the eighties if certain 70s trends hadn't stopped), as not only does it fit the story to a T, it allows for some great visuals based on location filming around actual tasteless architecture (filmed in an old community centre in Northern Ireland). What a cast to bring it to life too, including Tom Hiddleston, a big fan of Ballard's work, making an ideal eye of the storm in the centre of the crazy, and Jeremy Irons as the architect, who really does seem to be turning into Boris Karloff (only not as charming). A dazzling, challenging piece of work, with plenty of not-at-all subtle satire. Plus, one of the best ABBA covers ever and indirectly, this movie has made me reassess Zardoz of all things! That's quite the achievement.
4. Zootropolis/Zootopia
Sometimes a film becomes so much more than it would have been purely as a result of timing. This is a superb piece of work by Disney already (who let's face it have done the best out this year by a long way), superbly made, with likeable characters, fun gags, a lot of style, and a genuinely well made mystery storyline. But one of the most remarkable things is that it has a truly powerful and heartfelt message of understanding between different peoples and walks of life. In fact, it directly parallels incidents such as (of all the things to feature in a Disney film) the crack epidemic! Now some have said that the allegory the film is making is a tad confused when one considers the ins and outs of the whole animal city thing, but I think the overall message is a vitally important one to teach kids, told exceptionally well, and now is the right time for it. This very much on purpose tackles issues going on today, and only likely to continue as time goes on, so this earns its spot for helping a new generation to learn about how to not judge based on someone's genetics or anything like that, but by their true character. Also, a Disney film that has an extended Breaking Bad gag, how cool is that?
3. The Neon Demon
One of the most gorgeous looking and colourful scare flicks since Dario Argento's works in his glory days, Nicholas Winding Refn's savage look at jealousy, ambition, desire, and more in the high-stakes world of fashion and fame is one that will stick with you for years. The visuals, in their sheer beautiful, their nightmarish horror, the squeamish grotesqueness, and especially the ones that blend all three, make this a must watch on its own, but the smart story and intense performances make it even more. I can't go into too much detail plotwise since again this is one of those films where the less you know going in, the greater the experience. What I can say is that it's an experience you'll not forget in a hurry, especially an amazing soundtrack by Cliff Martinez that's been in regular rotation on my Spotify account for the last six months. This is also a truly shocking experience, one of the most truly transgressive things to appear in multiplexes in many years. How much so? Well, it's pissed off the Daily Mail! Now if that's not a selling point, I don't know what is!
2. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
One of my biggest regrets of doing these lists was not seeing What We Do In The Shadows until after I had just finished 2014's list (in fact, if memory serves, I saw it on New Year's Day 2015). Well, with Taika Waititi's latest, I made sure not to repeat that mistake, and this did not let me down. This tale of a coming of age in New Zealand is all kinds of fun; fun characters, fun set-ups, fun sight gags, fun dialogue, fun references, fun performances, everything is fun. But it also manages the trick of telling a story that's very emotionally true, which makes a real connection, whilst never slipping into (faux) sentimentality. In that, it actively subverts many such trends, like one scene towards the end that leads to a "oh, OK, that makes sense" rather than the "BETRAYAL"act-break moment other lessor films would play it as, and this film's version feels far more appropriate. A nice icing on the cake is the fact that it is very, VERY New Zealand, including major roles for actors of native descent, that's cool to see. This is the sort of thing that's going to age very well, definitely see this and WWDITS before Thor Ragnorok so you can say that you were already a fan of Waititi's work when discussing it.
And my Number 1 Favourite Movie of 2016 is... Arrival
Smart sci-fi is here to stay with this exceptional tale of communication and first contact. How do you make something that's mostly about abstract ideas regarding language in it's use both in connection people and shaping one's worldview, and make it cinematic? Denis Villeneuve managed to do it with Ted Chiang's The Story of Your Life, and in remarkably simple when you explain it ways. It simply shows these characters in each step they take into the truly alien environment that is one of the twelve vessels on Earth, showing us what they bring to communicate with, and what they take with them. This defies cliches all the way, sometimes subverting them, like how the ships are basically like the ones in Independence Day turned 90 degrees vertically. There's only one true scene of "action" occurring, and it's only glimpsed at a distance, with the focuses of the scene being a perfect example of tension building that I'm pretty sure is a direct Alfred Hitchcock shout-out. Amy Adams is a fantastic lead in this, having one hell of a complex character arc to deliver, especially in terms of the big ideas that crop up later in the story. Overall the message is one of the challenge of understanding, that to get anywhere we have to start truly sharing key concepts, and though it takes huge efforts to do so, the benefits of it will change your perception of the whole world. There're even more fascinating ideas at play, but doing so would give away one of the most well thought out film reveals all year, and I am not going to do that. What I will say is that this is The Day The Earth Stood Still for the 21st century (in a way the remake never came close to being), one that's going to be talked about and remembered fondly going forward, and not just my favourite film out this year, but given it's message I think it's one of the most important.
So that was 2016, a particularly good year for cinema, and nothing else. By the way, I'm not doing a "worst of" list, partially because I do this to keep positive, but also since I didn't really see that many truly bad things this year. If I had to though, ones that would make it would be both DC movies, X-Men Apocalypse and Independence Day Resurgence. One last post to do, pop back tomorrow for the final part of the annual trifecta, with my most looked forward to films of 2017...
*I include this because I've been so tired by what exactly counts as a movie "this year" or not in the past, that I had to set a solid rule. What this also means is that previews of stuff I saw at the London Film Festival that didn't have a release before 2017 begins don't count, otherwise this list might have been very different, including stuff like Prevenge, The Autopsy of Jane Doe and Mindhorn.
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