10. “The Lost City Of Z”
James Gray’s adaptation of David Grann’s seminal tale of adventure and obsession in the mystical jungles of South America had a decent shot at making this list since it was first announced, but the finished product is even more impressive: Gray’s most epic and traditional film is also his most intimate and whole. Based on the life of Percy Fawcett, the famed British explorer who became obsessed with the Amazon jungle and with finding a mythical city, “The Lost City Of Z” [our review] is stacked with an incredible cast; not only did it totally change our minds about Charlie Hunnam — who before was essentially a nice cut of meat for dull action films — but it also featured a quiet and deeply moving performance from Robert Pattinson, who has had the best year of his career. With such an expansive story to tell, it’s a feat of magic that ‘Lost City’ feels so evenly paced — its 141 minutes fly by. The cherry on top is the rich cinematography that is as grand and sweeping as anything else this year (or maybe even this decade). “The Lost City Of Z” is a hauntingly good film with a surprisingly complex heart. – Gary Garrison
9. “Call Me By Your Name”
Just as sweet as the ripest peach, “Call Me By Your Name” is succulent, sublime and extraordinary. What director Luca Guadagnino achieves with this film reflects young love in such a way that it transcends the bounds of sex and gender, making it relatable for nearly everyone and yet simultaneously intimate. Timothée Chalamet in his breakout performance as Elio is astonishing, displaying a level of talent that is well beyond his years. Opposite Chalamet is Armie Hammer who is cementing his reputation as a talent to be reckoned with in his portrayal of Oliver, his father’s doctoral student. In addition to the criminally overlooked Michael Stuhlbarg as Elio’s father, the entire cast stuns with a marvellous adapted screenplay by James Ivory. The cinematography of Sayombhu Mukdeeprom beautifully embraces the stunning Italian landscape of Crema, which subtly helps Guadagnino create a visceral world you’ll desperately wish you could live in. A film interwoven with a palpable sense of seduction and delicacy, “Call Me By Your Name” [our review] resonates and casts a spell you’ll wish never to be released from. — Martine Oliver
8. “Good Time”
It’s no surprise that the first name on the “Special Thanks” list in the end credits of “Good Time” is Martin Scorsese. There is a mixture of “After Hours” (dark comedy-of-errors that takes place over the course of one evening) and “Mean Streets” (New York crime tale centered on low-level hoods) at play here, but to simply refer to Josh and Benny Safdie as being heirs to Scorsese would diminish their fresh, original take on this kind of material. By applying their ground-level, docu-realistic style to a chase film, they manage to take the usual crime movie romanticism out while still creating a breakneck, tightly-paced thriller and a fascinating character study. Robert Pattinson does his absolute best work to date as Connie Nikas, a scrappy and not-so-intelligent criminal who somehow can manipulate those around him to get whatever he needs. Those people tend to be minorities which, in 2017 when white male privilege is rightfully being put under a microscope, gives “Good Time“ [our review] an extratextual layer and an urgency, in what is ostensibly a streamlined heist-gone-wrong film. Genre films with both purpose and entertainment value are the kind of we prize most. — Ryan Oliver
7. “A Ghost Story”
In his W Magazine interview, the great Daniel Day-Lewis quips, “There is nothing more beautiful in all the arts than something that appears simple.” And if we take DDL’s definition of beauty as sacrosanct (because why wouldn’t we?) then it’s not hard to argue that writer-director David Lowery has created the most beautiful art piece of the year. “A Ghost Story” [our review] hovers over familiar thematic ground – love, loss, moving on – but the story’s apparent simplicity is like the film’s primary image; a white bedsheet. What lies underneath is a tiny, star-studded, cosmos of emotional transcendence, turning the film into a hushed whisper with the power to move mountains. Embracing the microscopically somber acting tones of his two “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” stars Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck, Lowery shows how a deep love dissolves into the ether after a tragedy; through the original, at-times whimsical, POV of Affleck’s ghost. Andrew Droz Palermo’s cozy cinematography wraps the entire piece in blanket-warm glows and sleight dances of mesmeric light, and Daniel Hart’s nostalgic compositions are so integral to the experience that the film morphs into a symphony on more than one occasion, deepening its enduring qualities forevermore. Taking inspirational cues from a melange of films gone by, with traces of “Spirited Away,” “Under the Skin,” “Poltergeist” and “Jeanne Dielman,” Lowery has created an ethereal tale bursting with enchanted mystery without an ounce of treacle. — Nikola Grozdanovic
6. “Get Out”
To make a feature length film inspired by a stand-up bit sounds audacious, if nearly impossible. That is, unless you are Jordan Peele. One of the most woke movies of the year, “Get Out” [our review] explores and expands the elements of horror in a thoughtful, reflexive manner. When Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his white girlfriend, Rose (Alison Williams), take a weekend to meet her family, the idyllic estate turns out to be home to a mind-numbing nightmare. Capable of rendering audiences laughing and gasping at the same time, “Get Out” has a fearlessness about it, running stright at the screen with direct social commentary, contextualized by a sense of social history that underlies the traditional genre elements. Using symbolic subtlety and intense visuals, Peele takes audiences into their own “sunken place.” The blend of racial satire and horror makes for a film that shocks while you watch it, but also haunts as you sit with it after the credits roll — really it’s just under the guise of a horror/thriller that Peele’s directorial debut portrays society-wide psychological conflict in a way that proves inescapable even after we leave the theatre. Enlightening and entertaining, creepy and well-crafted, “Get Out” stares us down, daring us to look away.—Julia Teti