My Top 10 Films Of 2016 (And Why They Moved Me)
I saw 63 films this year. The most ever.
(I define a movie-going year as January 1 to the following Oscars, and I go by U.S. theatrical release dates. For the record.)
Top 10 lists are stupid, but I don’t care. I also don’t know if this list will still be true tomorrow, much less a year from now. But it feels right to me at this moment, and the Academy Awards are the best possible excuse to organize my feelings about the previous year in film.
I regret that Oscar Season has become a kind of litmus test: If you prefer one film to another, it says something about you. So many good films are made every year. We should be celebrating each for their individual strengths, not looking for flaws in their fans.
I love each of these movies, in some way. That’s what matters.
JUST MISSED
These films connected with me somehow, but they were just a notch below my 10 favorites.
Now, my 10 favorite films of 2016.
I’m not going to belabor the point. I’ve forced myself to summarize in one or two sentences why I connected with these films the way I did.
10. Moonlight
Why it moved me: Subtlety is not a virtue in and of itself. But I can’t remember a film that said so much, so clearly, with so little.
9. Green Room
Why it moved me: Minute to minute, moment to moment, the most intense and intelligent thriller I saw this year.
8. The Wailing
Why it moved me: You know you’re watching a special film when it makes your heart break while your head spins. The beautiful photography and rich mythology mesmerized me from the start.
7. The Witch
Why it moved me: For a relatively simple 90-minute movie, it gives you so much to think about. As it ended, I knew I liked it; the more I thought about it, the more I loved it.
6. The Handmaiden
Why it moved me: A genuinely erotic thriller, yet one told with such warmth and such moral clarity. As thematically and narratively audacious as any film I saw this year.
5. Love & Friendship
Why it moved me: The funniest film of the year for me. I am a Jane Austen stan, and this was a perfect adaptation.
4. OJ: Made In America
Why it moved me: The pinnacle achievement of documentary filmmaking. I really believe that.
3. Silence
Why it moved me: This is personal for me. As somebody who has moved in and out (and in and out) of faith, I felt like this film captured my experience in profound ways.
2. Arrival
Why it moved me: Aliens. Time paradoxes. The complexities of communication. This checked an absurd number of boxes for me — and even the second time around, I cried.
1. La La Land
Why it moved me: I’ll never apologize for how much I loved this movie. In a crowded theater on a Friday night, it was the definitive theatrical experience for me this year. I left on a high that took days to come down from.
