Films I Loved in 2017

… and if I’ve written about them, I’ll include links. My “Top 10′ is included over at Ebert but I’m honestly not into rankings. Silly to do with art. Here are some of the films I’ve loved. And I missed a couple of releases. I’ll catch up. For now:

I wrote about Personal Shopper for Rogerebert.com’s Ten Best Films of 2017 list. I wrote about Kristen Stewart here.

Sylvio is hard to find right now. Wait for VOD. I am so captivated by this movie. I wrote about it in one of my Viewing Diaries. It’s a beautiful and completely unique film. My kinda movie.

Wrote about Mudbound here. It’s included in my Ebert Top 10. Wrote about Garrett Hedlund’s performance for Ebert.

Because Silence had a short qualifying run in 2016, a lot of critics put it on last year’s list. But it was released into theatres in a proper limited run in 2017 so I’m including it here. A grueling masterpiece, it may be one of Scorsese’s most personal films. I saw it in a nearly empty theatre on a rainy morning and I left somewhat … altered. It took me the rest of the day to re-adjust to the regular world, to contemporary life. Included in my Top 10 on Ebert.

I wanted it to go on forever. I want to join them on their travels. See it. Included in my Ebert Top 10.

I reviewed Lady Bird for Film Comment. Also included in my Ebert Top 10.

Wrote a little bit about Florida Project here. Included in my Ebert Top 10.

What a movie. I reviewed for Ebert.

Included in my Ebert Top 10. Also wrote a little bit about it here.

I love Ingrid Goes West so much. I reviewed for Ebert.

Get Out is included in my Ebert Top 10.

My friend Dan Callahan’s in-depth and observant essay on Call Me By Your Name is the one to read.

A great newspaper movie, a clarion call for the importance of freedom of the press. Wonderful performances. Meryl Streep in a caftan. I don’t care how many newspaper movies I see, I thrill to the obligatory shot of the newspaper starting its “run,” the blaring headlines swooping through the machinery, about to go out into the world to the millions of readers. It gets me every time. Cliche shlmiche. Why do you think it IS a cliche? Because it works, dumb-dumb.

Fabulous and emotional film about the impacts of Vatican II on one “class” of novitiates. This is personal: I’ve got nuns in my family who went through that tumultuous time. The stories they tell! I wrote a little bit about it here.

I reviewed Kedi for Ebert. It’s also on my Ebert Top 10.

Wrote a little bit about this great and shattering film here.

Yet another great documentary, School Life shows a year in the life of a boarding school in Ireland. Adored it. I reviewed for Ebert.

Cynthia Nixon gives the best performance of the year as Emily Dickinson in Terrence Davies’ extraordinary film. Her performance SLAYED me. Everyone’s good in this.

A shattering film about a little girl in Afghanistan who is forced to dress up like a boy once the Taliban take over, so she can go out into the town and get food, otherwise her family will starve. Not for kids. Stunning animation.

Two tour de forces from the leads. What more can you ask for? I reviewed for Ebert.

I wrote an enormous essay on Phantom Thread, which hasn’t been published yet, so I’ll just leave one thought here: I cannot stop thinking about this film. I swoon for this film.

The Insult is an intricate and tense story about an “insult” – about fixing a drain pipe – which leads to major hostilities which then leads to a court case. Two communities (Lebanese, and Palestinian immigrants to Lebanon) convulse with anger and recriminations. Such an environment has long long memories. A tiny insult becomes the stand-in for the atrocities suffered in the past. Terrific film about memory, perception, justice.

Such an important film and so beautifully done. Powerful.

I was fascinated and repelled by this documentary about the rat infestations plaguing Baltimore. I reviewed Rat Film for Ebert. There’s nothing else like this film.

This intense and brilliantly acted film from Georgia was a last-minute viewing. I crammed it in because of Bilge Ebiri’s review in The Village Voice. The urgency in Bilge’s tone lit a fire under me (good writers can do this). So I watched it (it’s streaming on Netflix as we speak). It is absolutely incredible. I watched it just in time to include it on my Individual Top 10 on Ebert.

I love Stephen Cone’s films. I love what he’s ABOUT. I love his concerns, his outlook, his attitudes. I love his work with ensembles. He’s a wonderful writer. Last year, I reviewed his Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party for Ebert, and also interviewed him. This year comes the extraordinary Princess Cyd. I reviewed for Ebert.

I loved it. Doesn’t quite have the existential despair of the original, but I loved it.

Wrote about The Meyerowitz Stories here. I love the ensemble.

Another great documentary I saw this year. Very good year for documentaries. I reviewed Strong Island for Ebert.

It was a year filled with amazing directorial debuts (Get Out, Columbus, to name just a couple. American Fable is another one. I reviewed for Ebert.

The Beguiled is dreamy and sexy-tormented and seething with hormones. No wonder I loved it. I reviewed for Ebert.

Loved every cheeseball showbiz moment. My review for Ebert.

I’m biased. The mere thought of that fleet of civilian boats crossing the Channel brings tears to my eyes. And I am in no way British (perish the thought. Sláinte!) But the bravery of ordinary citizens, the willingness to sacrifice, the inherent value of human life in such a deed … it gets to me. I’ve had my issues with Nolan in the past. But here, he is working full throttle. The scrambled asymmetrical time-frame is typical Nolan but I felt it worked gorgeously here, as the three separate stories merged in one gigantic whole. Seeing it in the IMAX was, frankly, overwhelming.

Cristian Mungiu’s latest film, Graduation, is powerful and brutal. I kept wanting to step into the movie and sort everything out for everyone, one of the clear signs (for me as an audience member) that I’m watching a very well-made tragedy.

Girls Trip is – to quote my friend Allison – “bananas” (a compliment), with hilarious and great ensemble work by the four leads. But it is Tiffany Haddish who rules the day, Haddish who cannot walk across a room without making a spectacle of herself. I wrote about her insane talent here.

Ignore the terrible poster. I was surprised by how deeply moving I found Heal the Living. I reviewed for Ebert.

Not only is Quest another of the great 2017 documentaries, it’s also part of the great first films of 2017. I reviewed for Ebert.

What a good movie, with a mood of pure strangeness suffusing every frame. You think you know what it will be. And it kind of IS that, but the WAY it’s told is something else altogether. I reviewed for Ebert.

Diane Kruger is so damn good. Have you seen Disorder yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Here, she plays a woman who loses her husband and son in a bomb explosion which was – probably – politically motivated. But who? Islamic terrorism is the automatic assumption, but Kruger’s character is convinced it was Nazis. The film, taking us through the court case, and the aftermath of the court case, is excruciating at times – Kruger’s grief is so visceral it hurts to even look at her. I would say, if you feel like seeing it – avoid spoilers. What I’ve said isn’t a spoiler, it’s just the basic plot. How it ends … I did not see it coming.

Megan Leavey won’t make it onto too many Top 10 lists. I loved it. I saw it twice. It’s completely successful in what could have been a landmine (horrible pun) of sentimentality. Important story too, well told. I reviewed for Ebert.

Quite a divisive movie, even among Malick diehards. I consider myself a diehard, but I did not really care for Knight of Cups or To the Wonder (even though his imagery pierces my freakin’ soul every time). For whatever reason, Song to Song really really got to me. It’s a “portrait of the artist” – as a young woman and man, aimless, yearning, hopeful. Patti Smith has a small cameo – one of my favorite moments in 2017 movies. I was tremendously emotional watching this hallucinatory gentle film.

Ah, Little Hours, where have you been all my life? I loved every second. This one got me a hilarious piece of mail, where a guy scolded me for allowing my “nether regions” to get the better of me. Dude. I always “lead” with my “nether regions.” So much good art comes from the “nether regions.” If you read more of me, you’d know that. Aubrey Plaza is killing it. I reviewed for Ebert.

Coco made me so emotional I was afraid my outright weeping would disturb Matt Seitz, sitting next to me. But he was swept away by it too. My GOD it was intense.

It was a great privilege to interview director Eliza Hittman at Lincoln Center about her beautiful film Beach Rats. I reviewed for Ebert.

What a stunning film, with four great performances from Lois Smith, Jon Hamm, Geena Davis, and Tim Robbins.

Great ensemble work from all, but this is Salma Hayek’s and John Lithgow’s film. Hayek is as good as she has ever been, and this film allows her to explore shadings and depths she hasn’t been asked to do before. There’s a heaviness to her, a weight, the weight of grief and pain. It dulls her features, dulls her eyes. I loved so much how challenging the film was, how at times I cringed at Beatriz’s behavior. It made me go, “Sheila, why on earth are you siding with those snobby people? Beatriz is the only one who’s in touch with REALITY here.” This would make a great stage play.

Pure joy. I saw this twice, in the movie theatres. Almost unheard of now. It was great seeing it in a crowded movie theatre, as opposed to alone in my apartment. It played like a bat out of hell for a live audience.

Harry Dean Stanton’s swan song. I hadn’t seen it when I wrote my tribute to Stanton and I’m sad about that. David Lynch shows up in a cameo here. The whole film is centered on Stanton, and much of his dialogue comes from his own life. He doesn’t “act.” He IS. That’s why he’s so great.

I thought it was very good (although maybe not as good as as the guy sitting behind me).

The trailers did Brad’s Status no favors. This film surprised me with its depth (and makes a good counterpoint to Lady Bird). I’ve been reading John Cheever’s short stories this year and it occurs to me – time and time again – that Cheever is one of the great poets/observers of what is now called “male privilege.” His male characters are baffled that the world hasn’t been easier for them, that their futures haven’t been increasingly bright. Without even realizing it – because much of it is unconscious – they have been raised to believe that the world is made for them. It’s not their fault. It’s the fault of the culture we live in. And so what you get is a bunch of disappointed men, resentful but unable to point to the source of the resentment. This is what Cheever writes about, like almost no other author. Brad’s Status reminded me a lot of Cheever. Ben Stiller is great in Meyerowitz Stories but here he’s at the center of the film. He’s superb.

Melanie Lynskey gives one of my favorite performances of the year. I love unlikely leading ladies. The ’70s were full of them. Lynskey fits right in with that pantheon, and I Don’t Feel at Home In This World Anymore has the free-wheeling road-trip-gone-awry energy of the dissipated ’70s. Elijah Wood is HILARIOUS.

Any movie that makes me laugh out loud gets an automatic spot on a list such as this one. Serious is easier than comedic. Get up in front of a crowded deadpan room and tell a joke. Listen to the deafening silence when the audience does not laugh. Feel the white-hot shame. It’s the only way you can fully understand just how hard it is to be funny. Colossal is hilarious. It’s a monster movie about narcissism. Or narcissism creating monsters. Whatever. I loved it.

I wrote a little bit about Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool here.

The Big Sick is personal, you can feel it. It’s eccentric, and all over the place (it can’t be labeled as one “genre” – this is in its favor), it’s detailed and spontaneous, and the characters are all complex.

An extraordinary film from Angelina Jolie. Matt Seitz’s review really gets at what makes it so special (and what makes it so harrowing).