“Lemon”
“Lemon” is not for everyone. It comes wrapped in a tired “indie-quirk” facade, with a cast full of alt-comedy figures and their associates (Brett Gelman, Michael Cera, Gillian Jacobs, Megan Mullally, Jon Daly, Martin Starr, and more) and an aggressively affected visual style. But Janicza Bravo’s feature debut is even less accessible than that description might make it out to be, utilizing its Wes Anderson-ian formalism to examine a particularly unpleasant example of familial psychosis. “Lemon” is an undiluted expression of Bravo’s voice as a filmmaker, and it’s not often that a filmmaker with as unique and deserving a voice as Bravo hits the scene with a film this fully-formed and confident. Plus, “Lemon” contains one of the single best scenes of 2017. — Eli Fine [our full review]
“Menashe”
“Menashe” is a movie that by all rights should not exist. It is set within the confines of a religious community that not only disdains film as an artform, but strictly forbids its adherents to have any association with what they perceive as being the “secular” culture of the outside world. This includes literature, music, and of course, movies. Yet director Joshua Z Weinstein managed to shoot a whole movie — and a pretty great movie at that — in one of the Hasidic world’s most tightly-maintained insular communities: Boro Park, New York. It’s a monumental achievement that would deserve attention even if the movie itself wasn’t especially good. Luckily, the film — which features a cast full of first-time actors and is told entirely in Yiddish — is a terrifically sad, thoughtful meditation on conformity and individualism which sheds light on a segment of our population that most people never think twice about. Menashe Lustig, the first-time actor who plays the lead role (and whose life story was the basis of the film’s script) gives one of the best performances of the year: restrained, tortured, aspirational. There really is so much to recommend about “Menashe”; it’s worth seeking out. — EF [our full review]
“Patti Cake$”
The lack of acknowledgement on Film Twitter and among various critics’ associations of the delightful “Patti Cake$” (my review) has been one of the more befuddling things about awards season. It’s a heartwarming film that has, for one reason or another, been mislabeled a simple “crowdpleaser;” in truth, it’s as divisive and confrontational as anything else 2017 produced (and yet its purpose is not simply to provoke, as opposed to something like “mother!”). “Patti Cake$” has a cast full of underrepresented figures, from its heroine played by the amazing Danielle Macdonald to her sidekicks (the otherworldly charismatic Siddharth Dhananjay and the sometimes-terrifying Mamoudou Athie). These are unconventional leads for so many reasons, making the cultural disappearance of “Patti Cake$” all the more upsetting. Geremy Jasper, who wrote, directed, and composed the music of the film, did an all-around great job crafting an unusually life-affirming, defiantly unconventional coming-of-age picture. He deserves more credit and recognition than he has received. Also, someone should cast Siddharth Dhananjay as the lead in an HBO or Netflix-style sitcom because he would be amazing. — EF [our full review]
“Columbus”
This exquisite, architectural story of human connection by master supercut auteur Kogonada follows young librarian Casey (Haley Lu Richardson) and the disillusioned Jin (John Cho) as fate brings them into each other’s lives in Columbus, Indiana. Tethered by complex parental relationships, smoking habits, and a love of architecture, the two help each other outgrow their intransigence. With unique, logical dialogue, editing and breathtakingly geometric visuals, “Columbus” isn’t so much a movie about architecture as it is a work of architecture itself. Easily one of the most unique and underappreciated films of 2017, “Columbus” offers a cinematic perspective unlike any other. The film’s paint-by-the-numbers approach to emotion somehow evokes warmth and empathy despite its left-brained attitude. That singular perspective, coupled with countless gorgeous visuals of Columbus’ architectural riches and stellar performances from Richardson and Cho, make “Columbus” a dreamy, alluring, altogether irreplaceable film. — LW [our full review]
“Nocturama”
Like its characters, “Nocturama” exists in a constant state of unease. Each minute of the film grows with trepidation as our ten young adults put their plan for a bombing into motion and slowly realize the grim effect it will have on their country. “Nocturama” isn’t concerned with backstories, but instead offers an intriguing look at how people deal with the consequences of their actions on a minute-to-minute basis, showing feelings of accomplishment turning into guilt and eventual panic. Heart-pounding suspense is created naturally through witnessing the bombers’ clumsy, arrogance-induced mistakes inside their chosen hideout destination (a shopping mall) as well as their abrupt realizations that their plan may not be foolproof after all. The picture is a great example of how characters do not have to be sympathetic or even likable for viewers to care about what happens to them. — Jack Siegel [our full review]