Welcome to my first blog post! Took the name of one of my favorite songs and decided to start writing, so here’s my top 10 list of films released in the United States in 2017:
#1 mother! – The year’s most intriguing and polarizing film was simply untouchable, you couldn’t poke at it, or pretend to fully understand it or give its scenes or characters any particular meaning. mother! celebrates the glory of avant-garde filmmaking and its possibilities; Darren Aronofsky’s most personal film to date highlights the undying pursuit of a filmmaker’s life-long quest for the meaning of God.
#2 The Killing of a Sacred Deer – By now, everybody and their mother! knows Yorgos Lanthimos and his brand of twisted, satirical film-making. His latest, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, sinisterly portrays the struggles a family faces after falling under a young man’s dark spell. When Martin (brilliantly played by Barry Keoghan) finds out that his father died on Dr. Steven Murphy’s (Colin Farrell) operating table, he fabricates a wild scheme that involves paralyzing Dr. Murphy’s two children.
#3 Good Time – Robert Pattinson kills as Connie Nikas, a young delinquent who teams up with his mentally-ill brother Nick (an unbelievable performance by co-director Benny Safdie) to rob a bank. The Safdie Brothers have elevated their game on their latest film, from its heart-pounding original score composed by prodigy DJ/Producer Oneohtrix Point Never to its one of a kind unconventional fast-pace shooting style; one thing’s for sure, the New York crime thriller is back!
*If anyone reading this post knows the Safdies, please tell them an origins spin-off film of the guy that gets accidentally broken out of the hospital is imminent; he delivers one of the year’s best performances. The flashback scene where he narrates how he got out of jail, got wasted with his pals, was followed by police into Adventureland and later jumped out of a moving taxi is the reason why I watch films in the first place.
#4 Lady Bird –Greta Gerwig’s first foray as a solo Director aims straight to the heart in this semi-biographical coming of age tale of youth gone weird. Saoirse Ronan deserves an Oscar nomination for her dynamic yet emotional performance as Lady Bird. The film’s heart-warming ending will have you missing that special place you call home and everyone in it.
#5 Call Me by Your Name – Luca Guadagnino’s latest film opened a Pandora’s Box of gender-biased that left audiences debating whether the film was legit LGBTQ or queer eye for the straight guy. Regardless, both Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer deliver the goods in this epic romantic tale set in Italy in the 1980s. There’s a certain scene involving a peach that will have you either craving for fruit or re-watching American Pie.
#6 The Untamed – What would you be willing to give up for the ultimate sexual experience? What if the barriers of gender and role were tossed aside by an erotic octopus-looking alien from outer space? Could you handle the creature’s deadly supernatural urges (tentacles) for your own pleasure? The Untamed answers all of these questions and then some. Masterfully crafted by Cannes Film Festival Best Director winner Amat Escalante, the film resides somewhere between monster movie and alien sci-fi exploit with a twist of social realism.
#7 God’s Own Country – Winner of the Top Prize at Outshine Film Festival Fort Lauderdale a few months ago, Writer/Director Francis Lee conceives a simple love story between two young men who work at a farm; think of Brokeback Mountain but with a little more of a raw edge.
#8 A Quiet Passion –Meryl Streep may get all of the Oscar nods, but don’t sleep on Cynthia Nixon’s performance as reclusive-poet Emily Dickinson in Terence Davies’ latest. Nixon plays the character with such a blazing intensity, the flames will keep burning in your mind.
#9 I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore – Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival in 2017 and available to stream via Netflix soon after, Macon Blair’s directorial debut proved the American Independent film circa 1990s is still alive and kicking. How would I describe this film? Easy, a mix between The Fist Foot Way and Welcome to the Dollhouse, what’s not to love?
#10 The Shape of Water – To queer or not to queer? Guillermo Del Toro pays homage to his heroes a la Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother, but is it a monster movie or a mélange d’amour or both? Either way, the film represents the labor of love between man and film and woman and creature.
Best Documentary Feature – Dawson City: Frozen Time
Best Music Documentary – Long Strange Trip