2016 IN FILM

Of the 800+ titles I saw this year, these were my most favourite. A Top 30 & many many honorables. Also, my 2016 film ballot at the Wandering Image, highlighting the year's best in film by category. 






30.                   13TH

..

.

29.          TRAIN TO BUSAN

.

.

.

28.          THE LOVE WITCH

.

27.           SUNSET SONG

.

26.              AQUARIUS

.

25.       MY GOLDEN DAYS

.

24.       MIDNIGHT SPECIAL

.

23.      UNDER THE SHADOW

.

22.       OUR LITTLE SISTER

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21.     MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI

.

20.                SILENCE

.

19.             EVOLUTION

.

18.                   ELLE

.

17.          HOMO SAPIENS

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16.                 DEMON

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15.           TONI ERDMANN

.
                   ONE MORE
14.     TIME WITH FEELING 3D

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13.           GREEN ROOM

.

12.            HAIL, CAESAR!

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11.          CERTAIN WOMEN

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10.          CAMERAPERSON

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9.      KATE PLAYS CHRISTINE

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8.           THE MERMAID 3D

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               VOYAGE OF TIME
7.      [IMAX + LIFE'S JOURNEY]

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6.               THE WITCH

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5.             MOONLIGHT

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4.              HAPPY HOUR

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3.           THE HANDMAIDEN

.
         O.J.: MADE IN AMERICA

2.         [Roadshow version]

.

1.                PATERSON

*****

ALSO ESSENTIAL. NOT RANKED. 
(the other titles of 2016 I loved that could've placed) 

HELL OR HIGH WATER

.

LOVING

.

KILL ZONE 2
[S.P.L. II: A TIME FOR CONSEQUENCES]

APRIL AND 

THE EXTRAORDINARY WORLD

SING STREET

THE WAILING

HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE

THREE

CHEVALIER

THE RED TURTLE

LOVE & FRIENDSHIP

THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE

HIGH-RISE

THE SHALLOWS

KNIGHT OF CUPS

.

THINGS TO COME

HYPERNORMALISATION

CREEPY

.

LONG WAY NORTH

.

THE STRESSFUL ADVENTURES OF BOXHEAD & ROUNDHEAD

LITTLE SISTER

10 CLOVERFIELD LANE

KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS

TALE OF TALES

M.O.P.Z.

HARDCORE HENRY

THE ALCHEMIST COOKBOOK

PIPER

MORRIS FROM AMERICA

SLASH

TOWER

MICROBE & GASOLINE

THE LOBSTER

THE BFG

ARRIVAL

IXCANUL

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

THE NICE GUYS

THE LITTLE PRINCE

THE INVITATION

SHIN GODZILLA

.

.

THE THOUGHTS 

THAT ONCE WE HAD

.

SEASONS

CLOWN

IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE

SWEATY BETTY

THE EYES OF MY MOTHER

CEMETERY OF SPLENDOR

NERUDA

QUEEN OF KATWE

MY BIG NIGHT

.

.

.

THE FINEST HOURS

GIMME DANGER

MY BEAUTIFUL BROKEN BRAIN

COLLECTIVE: UNCONSCIOUS

LOVE & PEACE

INTO THE INFERNO

THE WAVE

UNCLE KENT 2

LO AND BEHOLD: REVERIES OF THE CONNECTED WORLD

SLEEPING GIANT

LITTLE MEN

KRISHA

A BIGGER SPLASH

EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!

FREE STATE OF JONES

THE FITS

EMBERS

DE PALMA

WIENER-DOG

TIKKUN

STANDBY FOR TAPE BACK-UP

****

recap

2016

1. PATERSON (Jarmusch)
2. O.J.: MADE IN AMERICA  (Edelman)
3. THE HANDMAIDEN (Park Chan-wook)
4. HAPPY HOUR (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
5. MOONLIGHT (B.Jenkins)
6. THE WITCH (R.Eggers)
7. VOYAGE OF TIME: LIFE'S JOURNEY (Malick)
8. THE MERMAID (Chow)
9. KATE PLAYS CHRISTINE (R.Greene)
10. +CAMERAPERSON (Kirsten Johnson)
11. CERTAIN WOMEN (Kelly Reichardt)
12. GREEN ROOM (Saulnier)
13. HAIL, CAESAR! (Coen bros.)
14. ONE MORE TIME WITH FEELING 3D (Dominik)
15. TONI ERDMANN (Ade)
16. DEMON (Wrona)
17. HOMO SAPIENS (Geyrhalter)
18. ELLE (Verhoeven)
19. EVOLUTION (Hadzihalilovic)
20. SILENCE (Scorsese)
21. +MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI (Barras)
22. OUR LITTLE SISTER (Koreeda)
23. UNDER THE SHADOW (Anvari)
24. MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (J.Nichols)
25. MY GOLDEN DAYS (Desplechin)
26. AQUARIUS (Filho)
27. SUNSET SONG (Davies)
28. THE LOVE WITCH (Anna Biller)
29. TRAIN TO BUSAN (Sang-ho Yeon)
30. 13TH (DuVernay)

RUNNER-UP:

HELL OR HIGH WATER (Mackenzie), LOVING (Jeff Nichols), SPL II (Pou-soi Chang), APRIL & EXTRAORDINARY WORLD (Desmares/Ekinci), SING STREET (Carney), THE WAILING (Hong-jin Na), HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE (Waititi), THREE (To), CHEVALIER (Athina Tsangari), RED TURTLE (M.Dudok de Wit), LOVE & FRIENDSHIP (Stillman), AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE (Øvredal), HIGH-RISE (Wheatley), THE SHALLOWS (Collet-serra), KNIGHT OF CUPS (Malick), THINGS TO COME (Hansen-Løve), HYPERNORMALISATION (Curtis), CREEPY (Kiyoshi Kurosawa), LONG WAY NORTH (Chayé), STRESSFUL ADVENTURES OF BOXHEAD & ROUNDHEAD (Cowan), LITTLE SISTER (Z.Clark), 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE (Trachtenberg), KUBO & TWO STRINGS (T.Knight), TALE OF TALES (Garrone), M.O.P.Z. (Rohal), HARDCORE HENRY (Naishuller), ALCHEMIST COOKBOOK (Potrykus), PIPER (Barillaro), MORRIS FROM AMERICA (Hartigan), SLASH (Liford), TOWER (Maitland), MICROBE & GASOLINE (Gondry), THE LOBSTER (Lanthimos), THE BFG (Spielberg), ARRIVAL (Villeneuve), IXCANUL (Bustamante), MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (Lonergan), THE NICE GUYS (S.Black), THE LITTLE PRINCE (Osborne), THE INVITATION (Kusama), SHIN GODZILLA (Hideaki Anno), THE THOUGHTS THAT ONCE WE HAD (Andersen), SEASONS (Perrin/Cluzaud), CLOWN (J.Watts), IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE (West), SWEATY BETTY (Frank/Reed), EYES OF MY MOTHER (Pesce), CEMETERY OF SPLENDOR (Weerasethakul), NERUDA (Larrain), QUEEN OF KATWE (Nair), MY BIG NIGHT (de la Iglesia), FINEST HOURS (Gillespie), GIMME DANGER (Jarmusch), MY BEAUTIFUL BROKEN BRAIN (Sophie Robinson), COLLECTIVE:UNCONSCIOUS (lots of people), LOVE & PEACE (Sono), INTO THE INFERNO (Herzog), THE WAVE (Uthaug), UNCLE KENT 2 (Rohal), LO & BEHOLD (Herzog), SLEEPING GIANT (Cividino), LITTLE MEN (Sachs), KRISHA (Shults), A BIGGER SPLASH (Guadagnino), EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!! (Linklater), FREE STATE OF JONES (G.Ross), THE FITS (A.Rose Holmer), EMBERS (Claire Carré), DE PALMA (Baumbach), WIENER-DOG (Solondz), TIKKUN (Avishai Sivan), STANDBY FOR TAPE BACK-UP (Ross Sutherland)

MY ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL 

SINKING INTO THE SEA (Dash) 2017 release

MISTER UNIVERSO (Covi) 2017 release

MA (Rowlson-Hall) 2017 release

CONTEMPORARY COLOR (Ross bros.) 2017 release

(festival films I loved that got no 2016 theatrical release & no distribution deal. 12/25/16)

MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART (Jia Zhangke), COSMOS (Zulawski), CAMERAPERSON (Kirsten Johnson), SEPULVEDA (Brandon David Wilson), LIVE BY NIGHT (Affleck), NO HOME MOVIE (Ackerman), DON'T THINK TWICE (Birbiglia), MEN & CHICKEN (Anders Thomas Jensen), TANNA (Martin Butler, Bentley Dean), VESSEL (Diana Whitten), TRAPPED (Dawn Porter), JULIETA (Almodovar), FIRE AT SEA (Gianfranco Rosi), BASKIN (Can Evrenol), DESPITE THE NIGHT (Grandrieux), MEURTRIERE (Grandrieux), MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI (Barras), DO NOT RESIST (Craig Atkinson), AFERIM! (Radu Jude), MISS SHARON JONES! (Barbara Kopple), FORT BUCHANAN (Benjamin Crotty), HUNTER GATHERER (Joshua Locy), ANTIBIRTH (Danny Perez), SEA FOG (Sung-bo Shim), THE OTHER SIDE (Roberto Minervini), NEON BULL (Gabriel Mascaro), RIGHT NOW WRONG THEN (Sang-soo Hong), HOMELAND: IRAQ YEAR ZERO (Abbas Fahdel), THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE (André Øvredal), THE ORNITHOLOGIST (João Pedro Rodrigues), GOLD (Stephen Gaghan), PERVERT PARK (Frida Barkfors, Lasse Barkfors), DER BUNKER (Nikias Chryssos), GIRL ASLEEP (Rosemary Myers), THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT (Jaco Van Dormael), IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE (Hans Petter Moland), A MONSTER CALLS (J.A. Bayona), LIFE ANIMATED (Roger Ross Williams), CAPTAIN FANTASTIC (Matt Ross), TOO LATE (Dennis Hauck), BORN TO BE BLUE (Robert Budreau), MAGGIE'S PLAN (Rebecca Miller), EISENSTEIN IN GUANAJUATO (Greenaway), SOUTHSIDE WITH YOU (Richard Tanne), THE GREASY STRANGLER (Jim Hosking), TICKLED (David Farrier, Dylan Reeve)

(I want to hear what your favorite films of 2016 were. do kindly post them below)