The Top 10 Films of 2017

As the year draws to a close,  it seems as if every magazine and newspaper is replete with 'best/worst X of 2017' lists on every facet of pop culture and lifestyle. In a year of singular villainy, we've even felt the need to call out the 'best people', if only to remind ourselves of the few bright sparks in an otherwise lacking moral landscape. I, for one, love a good list and naturally the only lists I really care about have been this year's 'best movie' lists. But I have to admit that as I was reflecting on the year I actually found 2017 to be a year of slim pickings, box office bombs and critical nose-dives.

Liberty, guilt and morality in The Battle of Algiers

Watching Michael Haneke’s Hidden / Cache (2005), a film that deftly probes the guilt of France’s bloody colonial past, I was reminded of the power of Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1966 masterpiece The Battle of Algiers.  The film portrays the brutal real-life struggle for liberty between the French colonial government and the indigenous Algerian National Liberation Front (FNL) that raged in the capital city of French Algeria between 1954 and 1962 when Algeria won independence.

Seduction, sensationalism and the Femme Fatale in American Film Noir

Film Noir is often regarded as a quintessentially American genre defined by enduring Hollywood classics such as The Postman Always Rings Twice, Murder My Sweet  and Double Indemnity and the glamorous stars they created. Characterised by sharp, unembellished dialogue and punctuated with slang and sexual innuendo, the genre eschewed the constraints of respectable literary sources and instead took inspiration from the disreputable popular crime fiction of the day.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: Delusion and Distortion in 1920s Germany

The 1920 silent horror classic, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, embodies many of the artistic achievements of the golden age of German Expressionist cinema. At the heart of this short-lived movement was a sense of the importance of conveying emotion and subjective psychological states rather than objective reality. Influenced by psychology, the earliest filmmakers used the new medium of cinema as a visual expression of the mind, designed to mirror the discontinuity and disorder of the individual thought process. It is this rejection of psychological realism that lends the films of this period such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu (1922) and The Golem (1920) a surreal, dreamlike quality. In the 1920s, distortion, asymmetry and non-linear narratives became the hallmark of German Expressionist cinema.

Reel life terror: Horror and hysteria at the movies

Rumour, hearsay and gossip have long been friends of the film marketing machine. Whether it’s stories about on-set romances, banned scenes or ‘cursed’ sets, it goes without saying that the more a film is discussed prior to release  (preferably with a high degree of polarised opinion) the easier it is to market and distribute  to an eager and receptive audience. Marketing people would be using words like “viral” at this point to explain the mysterious attraction of a film that is talked about precisely because it is being talked about.

Universal Horror: How fear came to the movies

Bela Lugosi pounces in Dracula (1931)

The 1930s were a watershed era for cinema, defined by seismic change on screen and beyond; from the dawn of the ‘talkies’ to the Great Depression and rise of Totalitarian regimes in Europe, which fuelled an influx of fresh talent to Hollywood. One of the greatest beneficiaries of the new ‘talkies’ was the horror picture. Synchronised sound provided a multitude of opportunities to shock, excite and terrify so it is unsurprising that this period gave birth to some of the most enduring villains and monsters in cinematic history, in horror classics like Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933) and The Mummy (1933). Many of these works came from Universal Pictures a second-tier studio that came to shape the horror genre, casting glamorous damsels in distress and suave, charming villains while pushing creative and technological boundaries.  

Film Review: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Oscar-nominated The Tale of Princess Kaguya is the latest offering from cult Japanese animators Studio Gibli, creators of Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), and the recent The Wind Rises (2013) among others. The story is based on a Japanese folktale about an old, poor bamboo cutter and his wife who discover a magical being in the form of a small girl (Princess Kaguya) and raise her as their daughter.

Film Review: Blackhat

Blackhat, a tale of global cyber terrorism played out on the streets of Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Jakarta stars Chris Hemsworth as Nicholas Hathaway, a hacker serving time in prison who is offered an early release in exchange for helping the FBI bring down a cyber-terrorist hell-bent on global destruction.

Film Review: Selma

In the spring of 1965 Civil Rights activists took part in a series of marches from Selma to Montgomery – both in Alabama – to protest racist voter registration practices. The first march – subsequently known as ‘Bloody Sunday’ – was brutally suppressed, but the events attracted media coverage, publishing images of state troopers beating unarmed civilians with clubs, chains and whips. It cast a light on the brutal programme of racial terror faced by African Americans in the staunchly segregated South, and attracted followers to the Civil Rights movement. By honing in on these seminal events, Selma director Ava Du Vernay and screenwriter Paul Webb create a prism through which to explore the key figures and complex political machinations of the broader Civil Rights movement.

Selma expertly intersperses expansive historical scale with intimate vignettes, bringing the Civil Rights movement to life from multiple perspectives and grounding the events in real, individual experiences. David Oyelowo’s portrayal of Martin Luther King manages to be epic, provocative and angry yet vulnerable and also deeply human. We see the forceful orator capable of spellbinding crowds and commanding respect in the highest corridors of power, broken by fear, sorrow and marital strife – but King is neither deified nor romanticised. Supporting roles are illuminated with detail and skill; Tim Roth is notable as the caustic Alabama Governor George Wallace who refuses to protect protesters from racist mobs, as is Tom Wilkinson asq the prevaricating, indecisive President Lyndon B. Johnson, unable to keep pace with the changing tide of history. Finally, newcomer Carmen Ejogo turns in a poignant performance as Coretta Scott King, a woman living in the shadow of violent threats and besieged by the spectre of death and loss.

Oscar snub aside, Ava Du Vernay’s direction is effortless, confident and masterful. Not a single frame is wasted here; the pace is tense and a sense of imminent, visceral danger hangs over the entire film. Weaving in newsreel footage of the Selma march sparingly but evocatively, interspersing brooding violence with light humour, Selma achieves the rare accolade of being a powerful period piece with stark contemporary resonance.

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BFI London Film Festival - New African Cinema

Quirky and unpredictable, the short film is often sees as the feature film’s poor relation - especially on the international film festival circuit. Short films rarely attract big-name directors let alone established screen talent, but what they lack in glamour they substitute for flair, originality and genuine creativity.