“Thelma”
As it is with the rest of the films on this list, “Thelma” was woefully underseen despite seemingly targeting a niche audience (if coming of age stories with female protagonists with science fiction leanings is considered “niche”). Director Joachim Trier stunned with “Oslo, August 31st” one of the best films of the decade and after hitting something of a bump with “Louder Than Bombs” has returned with a film less polished but equally as intriguing. There’s something gleeful in the way Trier melds genres together, not caring just how well one goes with the other as long as the end result is magnetic. Luckily for him, it is, with a leading performance from Eili Harboe that is one of the most interesting of the year. Playing with themes of growing up, the loss of innocence and gaining of independence, the film is mostly focused on one young woman’s journey of self-discovery, manifesting the turbulence of such a period into physical acts. It’s visually daring and a treat to take in, no matter the more serious or sorrowful subject matter at times. – AJ [our full review]
“The Lovers”
Lost in a hurly-burly of a movie season where even many indie releases featured boldfaced hooks of murder and mayhem, Azazel Jacobs’ clever and understated romantic comedy, “The Lovers,” is about as unsexy a concept as you could imagine for a movie about infidelity. Starring Tracey Letts and Debra Winger as a placid older couple whose drifting-apart lives feel about as beige as the anonymous California street they live on. They’re each having affairs with younger people, a fact they want to keep secret from the other and their son, visiting from college. The mood is surface-quiet, but the understated irony of the characters’ increasingly tangled love lives, the lampooning of married couple mores, and Letts and Winger’s deft performances practically smolder with frustrated desire. – Chris Barsanti [our full review]
“Raw”
“Desires of the flesh” takes on a new meaning in Julia Ducournau’s stylish debut that mingles the carnal and the cannibal. Vegetarian Justine (Garance Marillier, all hungry eyes and mouth) arrives for her first year at veterinary school, where she discovers an insatiable craving for human meat thanks to a disgusting hazing ritual. “Lady Bird” is getting much of the attention for female coming-of-age stories this season, partially for the universality of its experiences, but “Raw” is (hopefully) at opposite end of the spectrum while covering a similar period in its protagonist’s life. Each scene in this French horror film threatens to put viewers off in a new way, with cannibalism present as only one of its sins. This is not a movie for the faint of heart – or faint of stomach – but “Raw” doesn’t just evoke visceral feelings. It engages the brain with its exploration of sexuality, virginity and college life while offering a complex sibling relationship unlike what is often seen on screen. “Bold” doesn’t begin to describe Ducournau’s work here, and she deftly balances the extreme gore with surprising depth and gorgeous visuals from Ruben Impens. It’s all worth the resulting nausea. – Kimber Myers [our full review]
“God’s Own Country”
It’s easy to lose one’s breath when talking about the magic that takes place in Francis Lee’s “God’s Own Country.” A tremendously moving film that refuses to fall victim to any of the tropes that have befallen many LGBTQ film of this ilk where the characters stories always seem to end in loss, pain or grief, it’s a masterpiece in melding the external and internal worlds of the characters. The way in which the two characters interact with the nature around them informs us of who they are outside of their interactions. Josh O’Connor is superb in the leading role, reacting to tenderness with such naked vulnerability that it’s impossible not to care for him and root for his happiness. It’s gorgeously made and demonstrates a keen understanding for visual language, signifying that Lee will be a director to eagerly watch in the years to come. — AJ [our full review]
Honorable Mention
OK, Playlist, christ, enough already, you’ve mentioned all the 2017 films, no? Well, to be fair there’s Noah Baumbach‘s “The Meyerowitz Stories” which didn’t make our Best Of list nor this list and is somewhere in limbo in between, but is actually quite good and you should catch up with it. Other contenders that the Playlist crowd shouted at the rooftops about included “Staying Vertical,” “The Void,” “My Life As A Zucchini,” “Their Finest,” “Band Aid,” “The Little Hours,” “The Villainess” and “Dave Made a Maze.” You could toss in most of the films in our Best Horror Movies Of The Year, The Best Documentaries Of The Year and some of the Best Animated Films Of The Year and they’d probably all apply to some degree under “films you didn’t, or might not have seen.”
Click here for our full coverage of the best of 2017.