Anyone who says there aren't enough good movies isn't looking very hard. This year saw a distribution boom from nontraditional companies, including Netflix (13th), Amazon (Manchester by the Sea), and ESPN, which was responsible for releasing the No. 1 film on my Top 10.
In short, good movies are everywhere.
There's always an arbitrary element to these lists, due mostly to the range of quality film released on a regular basis. At a certain point the task becomes a comparison between pineapples to kumquats. But that level of quality is undeniable. If you limit your viewing to what plays over the summer at the multiplex, you're bound to be disappointed. Go beyond that shiny surface, cast your net wide, and you'll come up with all manner of treasure.
1. O.J.: Made in America — The fastest eight hours you'll ever spend. This ESPN documentary, which premiered at the Sundance film Festival, goes way beyond the murder trial and into the history of race relations in Los Angeles (and America), the cult of personality and celebrity, and thick layers of irony worthy of Greek tragedy. It's a towering documentary achievement.
2. Manchester by the Sea — Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count on Me, Margaret) shows his gift for finding rough, prickly humor in the saddest of situations, in this case the plight of a New Englander (Casey Affleck) reeling from tragedy as he takes care of his surly teen nephew (Lucas Hedges, also superb). This is American realism imbued with heart and big-boned literary heft.
3. Moonlight — Barry Jenkins' deeply personal coming-of-age character study of a young black man in Miami hits every emotional mark it seeks. But it also feels boldly experimental in a way that few mass-market films do. That combination makes it a rare jewel. Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris and Trevante Rhodes lead a stellar cast.
4. Silence — For Martin Scorsese, cinema and spirituality are inextricable. Here he explores themes of faith and doubt through the story of two Portuguese priests (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) searching for their teacher and battling persecution in 17th-century Japan. This is a movie that wounds and redeems in mysterious ways. Only Scorsese could have pulled it off on this grand scale.
5. La La Land — This candy-colored valentine to Los Angeles also marks a rejuvenation of the Hollywood musical — not the typical Broadway adaptation transferred to the screen, but the made-for-movies kinetic joy conjured by the old masters of the genre. Emma Stone is electric in a movie that brought blissful escapism to a year badly needing it.
6. Arrival — Brainy, patient sci-fi with a heart. Arrival takes nonlinear time as its operating premise, then weaves a narrative that bends chronology in near-invisible fashion. It owes as much to the Russian master Andrei Tarkovsky as it does Steven Spielberg. It also delivers an artful shot of hope.
7. Nocturnal Animals — It's no surprise that fashion giant Tom Ford has an eye for composition and design. But the jolt of Nocturnal Animals, which toggles between West Texas nightmare and Los Angeles ennui, has as much to do with command of storytelling as visual stimulation. It's also a showcase for Amy Adams, who, with this movie and Arrival, showed an uncanny knack for picking winners (and made them even better with her presence).
8. Tower — Keith Maitland's searing documentary on the 1966 University of Texas sniper attack is a marvel of innovation. It uses animation, testimony and archival footage to re-create the terror, mourn the victims, and magically collapse the space between past and present (which is sadly weighed down by mass shootings). A bracing reminder that nonfiction film can be as imaginative as any other genre.
9. The Lobster — Let's hear it for deadpan absurdity, especially the kind that lets you decide what kind of animal you want to be. In the imagination of writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos, the inability to fall in love and pair off accordingly leads to unique putative measures. Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz and John C. Reilly are among the actors who get to sell the premise; their performances are key to making its comic dystopia feel like a fully realized universe.
10. The Witch - You could spend plenty of time connecting the dots and theorizing on this enigmatic tale of early New England black magic. But you'd be better served embracing its unexplainable qualities and admiring its self-assured commitment to frighten and beguile. You have to love a horror movie that makes a breakout star out of a goat. Take a bow, Black Phillip.
