The 21 Best Movies Of 2016
EP4PRO, December 16th, 2016, in ep4records
Cries of cinema’s death knell rang out among critics and journalists tracking this year’s poor-performing sequels and reboots. If franchises form Hollywood studios’ bedrock, one might assume American movies are in trouble. Look closer, and you’ll see, as far as quality is concerned, that’s not true at all.
Worthwhile films barreled into theaters left and right, so much so that I dare say 2016 was a fantastic year at the movies, if you knew where to look. Making a best-of list was so difficult that I couldn’t even stop at 20. I want you to see all of these! What are you waiting for?
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Disney
As the summer blockbuster season drew to a close, “Pete’s Dragon” was the
warm blanket needed to shield ourselves from all the explosive mediocrity. Wrap yourself in Disney’s finest live-action reimagining yet,an earnest adventure that pits childlike wonder against greedy profiteering. When townsfolk discover little orphan Pete (Oakes Fegley) in theforest, they decide his colossal green friend should be caged and displayed like a tourist attraction. From the wilderness to the quaint town surrounding it,”Pete’s Dragon” roves with a splendor that opposes the cynical forces working against our heroes.Movies like this one, directed by David Lowery, insistthat sometimes, in the midst of desperation, sweetness prevails.
When the United States raced the Soviet Union to space in the 1960s, it did so with the effortsof three black women who crunched the necessary calculations more proficiently than any of the white men they worked for. “Hidden Figures” tells their story. Amida glut of comic-book mishaps on the big screen this year, these are the superheroes we need. Delightful and affecting, Theodore Melfi’s movie — starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Mone — reminds us that talent too often suffers at the hands of the system. You’ll forgive the filmif it favors blunt summations over risky nuances. When something is this damn watchable, who cares?
Raised in a strict Catholic household, Martin Scorsese has always explored themes of guilt and atonement in his work. “Silence” may be the movie he was born to make. The director first began eyingan adaptation of Shsaku End’s novel of the same name
in 1990. Starring Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver as 17th-century Portuguese priests who travel to a violently anti-Christian part of Japan to locate their mentor (Liam Neeson), “Silence” offers 161 minutes of acute, profound questions about religious conviction.How much persecution can the most devout person handle? Is it worth it? Scorsese grapples with these queries using the utmost serenity.
To realize “The Lobster” is merely the second-best dystopian satire that Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos hasconcocted is to graspthat we are blessed to live in a world withYorgos Lanthimos movies. His finest offering is still 2009’s “Dogtooth,” a weird little story about three teenagers who know nothing of the world beyond their parents’ compound. In “The Lobster,” it’s the near-future, and adults who go 45 days without a partner are transformed into animals. Featuring appropriately droll performances fromColin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, John C. Reilly, Ben Whishaw and La Seydoux, this dark comedy ironizes
modern romance conventions and the idea that partnerships arelife’s game point. It turnsdating into a toleration state, housed in a hotel where peoplegoas a last-ditch attempt to find a matebefore the clock strikes. Captured withgraceful eccentricity, “The Lobster” bends expectations to become one of the year’s most interesting films.
We tend to talk about teen movies in terms of how realistic they are, how well they capture the adolescent experience. Maybe it’sbecause, for so many, that time of life isvolatile. But teen movies rarely get it right.
“The Edge of Seventeen” does. Kelly Fremon Craig, who wrote and directed the film, has created a tart-tongued but infinitely relatable protagonist — fed-up junior Nadine Franklin (a great Hailee Steinfeld) — who too often feels the world has it out for her.When Nadine’s only friend (Haley Lu Richardson) startsdating Nadine’s popular older brother (Blake Jenner), herlimited world comes crashing down. We’re with her every step of the way, recognizing her irascibilities and appreciating her flaws.
There’s nothing more terrifying than the voices that rattle around our heads. For “Krisha,” first-time director Trey Edward Shults cast his 64-year-old aunt, Krisha Fairchild, as the titular addict overcome by the noise of her troubled past. Krisha arrives at her semi-estranged family’s Thanksgiving celebration withan arsenal of nerves and good intentions. Unfortunately, she can’t escape her own neuroses. As Krisha unravels, Shults’
micro-budget psychodrama grows more claustrophobic. We leap inside Krisha’s conflicted head in a manner reminiscent of Ingmar Bergman and John Cassavetes classics. There’s no moral certainty when it comes to Krisha’s demons — there is only the nightmare that she has created.
Morally complicated and relentlessly absorbing, “Elle” doesn’t let you off easy. Its ideas about rape and the power of sexuality will kick around long after the
Isabelle Huppert showcase fades to black. Playing a sexual assault victim who ignitesa sort of cat-and-mouse game with her aggressor, Huppert is the lifeblood of Paul Verhoeven’s film. It’s a master-class performance that nails the movie’s postfeminist tightrope walk.
Even if the title character’s poetry weren’t scrawled across the screen, Jim Jarmusch’s “Paterson” would still unfurllike a cinematic poem. Or maybe it’s better described as a dream set to the tune of quotidian sensitivity. Adam Driver is understated and fantastic as Paterson, a bus driver living in Paterson, New Jersey, who scribbles observationalverse about his daily encounters: overheard conversations, patterns, routines, small-town complacency and the love he shares with his ambitious, quirky wife (Golshifteh Farahani). Oh, andthere’salso Marvin, a scene-stealing bulldog who might wish Paterson dead.
Oscilloscope Laboratories
In a snug 72 minutes, Anna Rose Holmer accomplishes more than some filmmakersdo in two hours. “The Fits” eases into a narrative about Toni (newcomer Royalty Hightower), an 11-year-old whose dance-team cohort begins experiencing violent convulsions.With every passing moment, “The Fits” becomes more surprising. The camera loves Hightower, who makes a captivating guide in a tiny movie so well photographed (by Paul Yee) that it appears to have cost 10 times its reported $170,000 budget. Its final five minutes are some of the best on screen this year.
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div class=”listicle__slide-caption” js-image-caption”>The mere idea that “Weiner” exists is flooring. That its relevance swelled as the year progressed is ghastly and miraculous. In making the documentary,Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg sought to capture Anthony Weiner’s comeback campaign. When another sexting scandal broke, the directors were instead privy to a career combusting in real time. They also witnessed a bona fide narcissist’s flagrancy surgeat the expense ofhis more astutewife.”Weiner” both humanizes and chides its title subject — or maybe he does that all by himself. Either way, this is the most revealing piece of political theater since “The War Room.”
