At its best, cinema is a medium of visual poetry, and the challenge of a critic is to express thoughts and feelings about those works of art through words…and numbered lists. I’ve somehow managed to make the process of rating and ranking the films of 2017 even more prosaic by tracking the 200+ movies I watched in a spreadsheet, turning the magic of the images on screen into rows of data.
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More than two dozen films earned an A or an A- from me in their appointed cells, but I keep coming back to the movies below in my own thoughts as well as recommendations to others and repeat viewings. These are the ones that move beyond that letter grade: the films that I won’t shut up about when I arrive home from a screening, where I get breathless at parties telling people “if you see just one movie,” or where I try to distill their value in a brief text message or a tweet, often with the help of gifs and emojis because words alone aren’t enough, to say nothing of a single letter in a column.
READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2018.
Click here for our full coverage of the best of 2017.
10. “The Lovers”
Along with Michael Stuhlbarg, Tracy Letts is a 2017 MVP, appearing in multiple movies likely headed for Oscar nominations with “The Post” and “Lady Bird.” However, this small, bittersweet drama isn’t receiving the attention of his other 2017 credits and you’re all missing out on a warm film about about a marriage in its final days. Letts stars alongside Debra Winger, and the pair play a middle-aged couple enmeshed in affairs with other people but whose own relationship begins to spark again. Writer-director Azazel Jacobs peppers the film with tiny, perfect moments, including Letts’ attempts at sexiness with a toothbrush in his mouth and Winger’s nodding off during a conversation with her lover. It likely wouldn’t have worked without Mandy Hoffman‘s classical, swooning score, but the best musical moment belongs to Lett’s simple – and simply heartrending – rendition of Madness‘ “It Must Be Love.”
9. “I, Tonya”
I was more of a Summer Olympics fan (Kerri Strug forever), but it’s impossible to deny the draw of anything Tonya Harding–Nancy Kerrigan related for ’80s and ’90s kids, and I’m no exception. However, Craig Gillespie’s tragicomedy refuses to tell the standard narrative of the rivalry in a standard way. It never lets Margot Robbie’s Tonya off the hook, but it clearly doesn’t condemn her either. In her pursuit of gold, she makes terrible choices at every turn, but watching “I, Tonya” leads audiences to wonder what her life might have been like had she not been surrounded by an abusive mother (Allison Janney) and abusive husband (Sebastian Stan). It’s painful at times, but there’s such energy and dark humor that you can’t help but laugh through the real-life drama.
8. “Thelma”
Striking moments from Joachim Trier‘s masterful “Thelma” lodge in your brain, staying for days after watching the Norwegian supernatural drama. The film lingers like a nightmare past waking, edging into your consciousness. With its offering of thought-provoking ideas and unforgettable images, there’s a lot to unpack and absorb, including an unusual coming-of-age narrative, a nature vs. nurture debate and a tender romance between two young women. Thelma (Eili Harboe) explores – and represses – her feelings for Anja (Kaya Wilkins), while she discovers she has an unusual gift. With this, “Thelma” also digs into the suppression of female desire and power in a way that feels essential for right now but never didactic or preachy.