Sometimes life gets in the way, and sometimes you just forget to take care of the things you mean to. Sometimes it’s both. I was putting together my Best Of list for 2017 when I realised that I had never written up my top picks of cinema for 2016 (is it too late to blame post-election depression?). I had, however, drawn up the list, and rather than skip 2016 like I did some previous years, I’m here publishing my Best of 2016 as an amuse-bouche for the upcoming 2017 write-up.
All of these films are where they were on my personal list at the end of 2016, so while some may have shifted with deeper consideration, and while I may have caught some other great 2016 releases since, I have chosen to keep this list as if I had published it back in January as planned. To save time, I have edited the brief comments from reviews I wrote on Twitter immediately after seeing each film.
Oh, and don’t worry, I’ve totally included the Worst Of 2016 too…
20. Weiner
This political documentary-cum-tragicomedy is astonishing for Anthony Weiner’s candidness, and insights it offers into campaign management. It’s edited with great verve. The way 2016 unfolded would give the film an additional punch long after it had left cinemas.
19. Moana
Disney’s colourful adventure makes terrific use of Polynesian mythology. It’s littered with great characters and songs, and the animation is as splendid as anything in the digital era. Some story beats, most notably an excisable adventure with coconut monsters, stumble.
18. Green Room
The claustrophic thriller has found new horror in the resurgence of ultra-nationalism. The director of Blue Ruin returns with a smartly produced, witty, loud, and gruesome nail-biter.
17. Things to Come
Mia Hansen-Løve’s emotionally layered drama comfortably manages to be intellectual without pretention, while demonstrating extraordinary attention to detail (few movie moments drew more laughs from me than the Ikea bag scene) and graceful camerawork.
16. Certain Women
A tender triptych of female isolation, that reveals a variety of strengths and weaknesses in its heroines. A deep and mellow drama.
15. Swiss Army Man
A one-of-a-kind survival farce that holds a mirror up to contemporary mores. The daft, often scatological comedy, draws many big laughs. Despite its weak ending, it proves a truly memorable film.
14. Loving
Simple yet powerful, this unremittingly tasteful historical drama is carried by an unshowy script and two exceptionally tender lead performances.
13. The Red Turtle
A life in animation. A wordless tale created with a painterly eye and a humanist tenderness. The score and visuals are haunting.
12. Dheepan
A superbly shot drama of immigrant alienation. The actors carry a familiar story to its genre-flipping (but cathartically earned) ending.
11. The Lobster
Yorgos Lanthimos’s surrealist farce assaults human fears of loneliness. The wry, stilted performances and a greyed colour palette forge a unique beast.
10. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Delightful odd couple comedy shot in lush, widescreen wilderness. It’s sweet and hilariously silly, with a pitch-perfect acting.
9. Toni Erdmann
Bittersweet comedy about familial drift and the healing power of silliness. Its two amazing stars have extaordinary fun with its riotously oddball script.
8. Jackie
Portrait of a lady in mourning. Splendid narrative crosscutting and a thunderous star turn forge an engrossing tale of legacy-making.
7. Moonlight
The agony and ecstasy of gay adolescence, written and acted with an intimate honesty, and shot so as to deify the black male body.
6. O.J.: Made in America
Grandiose doc applies tremendous sociological context to the “Trial of the Century”. It’s an astoundingly researched and edited feat.
5. Cemetery of Splendour
Reflections on life in stasis told through gentle magical realism. A beautiful, elegiac work, powerful in its simplicity.
4. Cameraperson
A life in B-roll. Superb assemblage of politically charged outtakes gets behind the cinematographer’s lens and inside her head.
3. Elle
Psychological thriller-cum-dark comedy of manners that tackles a difficult subject in a unique, twisted way. Crisply shot and sublimely acted.
2. Embrace of the Serpent
Amazonian spiritual crusade examines man’s place in nature while critiquing white historicity. Visually captivating from the first frame to the last.
1. The Handmaiden
This Eastern twist on the gothic thriller is a glorious, grotesque tale of sapphic lust and treachery. It’s lusciously shot, wittily cut, and never short on surprises.
Sexual thimbleism
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And now the worst of 2016; films so bad they made Batman V Superman look “fine, I guess”.
5. X-Men: Apocalypse
Overextended sequel raises the stakes too high for any real drama to exist outside the margins. Despite the risible dialogue, it’s not utterly unenjoyable, but always pointless.
4. London Has Fallen
A paint-by-numbers sequel with unpleasant right-wing undertones. The action is decently handled but escalates too quickly before becoming tiresome.
3. Suicide Squad
DC’s supervillain adventure is a cheerful, glossy mess. The action is dull, and it’s scripted and edited with frightening incompetence.
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
Bewilderingly hectic, incoherent action film. It’s incompetently plotted (Krang’s first appearance should go down in history as one of cinema’s worst character introductions) and tirelessly humourless.
1. Zoolander 2
This mindless comedy is oblivious to what made the original a hit. Swaps actual gags for dull non-sequiturs and a tiresome cavalcade of cameos. Pure insult cinema.
The Diary of a Film Cricket 