30. Oneohtrix Point Never/Daniel Lopatin
There’s almost nthing we dislike about the Safdie Brothers‘ pulsating, exciting, witty but also melancholic “Good Time,” with Robert Pattinson‘s standout turn and Taliah Webster‘s breakthrough debut both particular standouts. But Pattinson is too big a name and Webster’s part, though crucial, is a little small for this list, and since we’d already raved about the Safdies’ last film, “Heaven Knows What” we felt we could give this slot to one of the film’s most crucial ingredients, the score. Musician Daniel Lopatin (who trades as Oneohtrix Point Never) first pinged on our radar when he composed the music for Sofia Coppola‘s muted “The Bling Ring,” and then went on to score Ariel Kleiman‘s underseen but terrific “Partisan” with Vincent Cassel. However “Good Time” sees his talents used to unimistakable, integral effect, with his particular brand of woozy electronica and ability to accelerate and decelerate seemingly at will providing the pumping heist-gone-wrong/chase movie narrative with a lot of its staticky propulsive energy.
29. Liz Hannah
It’s fair to say that almost every screenwriter has dreamed of the spec that they’ve been slaving over ending up in the hands of Steven Spielberg, who decides to change his plans and make it his next movie immediately. For 99.9% of them, it’ll never come true, but for Liz Hannah, it did. A year ago, Hannah’s most high-profile movie experience was as an intern on forgotten Adam Sandler 9/11 drama “Reign Over Me,” but then she sold her script “The Papers,” a dramatization over The Washington Post’s battle over The Pentagon Papers, to Sony. And then, less than six months later, Spielberg came on to direct an impeccable cast led by Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Carrie Coon, Alison Brie, Tracy Letts, Sarah Paulson, Matthew Rhys and Michael Stuhlbarg. Given its topicality and pedigree, it’s very possible that it’s going to be a major awards player, and Hannah with it.
28. Francis Lee
One of the heartening things about 2017 — perhaps the only heartening thing — has been the emergence of several critically-lauded queer-themed films. In the wake of the Best Picture win for “Moonlight,” Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me By Your Name,” Sebastian Lelio‘s “A Fantastic Woman” and Eliza Hittman‘s “Beach Rats” have all been drawing admiring reviews. But while the debate over which is “best” is probably pretty moot, for some of the the finest of the crop is “God’s Own Country,” inescapably billed as “the British ‘Brokeback’” but actually a lot more than that reductive summary would suggest. The story of an isolated young farmer (a stunning turn from Josh O’Connor) developing a tender and touching relationship with a Romanian migrant worker (Alec Secareanu), the film represents an astonishingly assured and heartfelt debut from writer/director Francis Lee (to whom we spoke here), who went back to his own Yorshire farming background for the lived-in insights he brings to his touching story of redemptive, brave love. Lee told us he has a couple of new projects cooking at the moment, so hopefully we’ll hear official word on one of them very soon.
27. Letitia Wright
After she starred in his little-seen film “Urban Hymn” in 2015, director Michael Caton-Jones said that 23-year-old Guyanese-born British actress Letitia Wright was “the most exciting young screen acting talent that I’ve had the pleasure of working with since Leonardo DiCaprio,” and given that Caton-Jones more or less discovered DiCaprio with “This Boy’s Life,” that’s a hell of a recommendation, and one that Wright’s already living up to. The actress has popped up on UK TV shows like “Top Boy,” “Cucumber,” “Doctor Who” and, most notably, “Humans,” but she’s set to explode on the big screen next year, with three big movies in the first three months of 2018. First, she’ll star with Liam Neeson in Jaume Collet-Serra’s thriller “The Commuter,” then she’ll play the title character’s gadget-creating little sister in “Black Panther,” capped off with a turn in Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One.” Her 2018 is already basically guaranteed to be better than yours.
26. Hiro Murai
This list is officially agonising to draw up and then whittle down to just 50 names, especially when we consider all the behind-camera professions we’re trying to cover in addition to actors, and then remember those are all doubled or trebled if we add in the explosion of quality TV. But one small-screen (so far) talent we couldn’t ignore is Hiro Murai, who directed the lions’ share of the best TV show of last year, “Atlanta.” While the show is obviously more associated with star and creator Donald Glover than anyone else, there’s a reason Murai was drafted in to helm 7 of its 10 episodes, including the particularly memorable celebrity basketball game episode with “Justin Bieber” and the gorgeously low-key and oddly wise season finale “The Jacket.’ Not only has he a long-standing relationship with Glover having directed several videos for Glover’s musical alter ego Childish Gambino (he’s also done videos for Flying Lotus, Chet Faker and David Guetta Ft. Sia), but Murai’s facility with how the humdrum can become beautiful or borderline surreal at times is a lot of what gives “Atlanta” its unique texture. He directed an episode of “Legion” and one of “Snowfall‘ since but we’re really looking forward to seeing his work on season 2 of “Atlanta,” due to air in 2018.
25. Nathan Silver
In the Brooklyn, NY indie world, Nathan Silver is practically a veteran (he’s a regular in the pages of Filmmaker Magazine), having directed critically acclaimed micro-budgeted indies like “Uncertain Terms,” “Stinking Heaven” and “Exit Elena”, and he’s part of a small scene of filmmakers that includes people like Alex Ross Perry, Dustin Guy Defa and Lauren Wolkstein to name a few. But his latest, the Tribeca Film Festival-debuting “Thirst Street” is a major breakout film. Starring another up-and-comer of the indie scene Lindsay Burdge, the delirious “Thirst Street” centers on stalker-y obsessiveness through a slyly comedic and artful tone: Rainer Werner Fassbinder meets Roman Polanski when in full impish mode. A bit of an erotic paean to the aforementioned Fassbinder, the colorful, delicious indie—featuring a devilishly wry voice over narration by Anjelica Huston—is an accomplished piece of filmmaking and perhaps moreover, a wicked little treat. Nathan’s clearly always been talented, but “Thirst Street” is some next level shit.
24. Zazie Beetz
Not many shows like “Atlanta” would have a female lead as complex and well-written as Van, but then again not many shows would be as lucky to have someone as talented as Zazie Beetz to play them. Raised between Berlin and Washington Heights (her father is German, her mother American), Beetz had only racked up a horror movie called “Applesauce” before she starred in Donald Glover’s show, but she made a monumental impression as Glover’s ex-girlfriend, not least in the episode “Value,” a showcase for the character. She also impressed in Joe Swanberg’s anthology show “Easy,” but she’s about to go supernova after beating out the likes of Mackenzie Davis, Lizzy Caplan and Mary Elizabeth Winstead to play fan-favorite Domino in “Deadpool 2,” and images released of the character already make her look iconic.
23. Haley Lu Richardson
Having bubbled under for a while in TV shows and through bit-parts in movies, Haley Lu Richardson had a good 2016. Her role as the ex-best friend who starts dating the Hailee Steinfeld character’s brother in “The Edge of Seventeen” and then her turn as the more resourceful and plucky prisoner of James McAvoy‘s many-faced psycho in M. Night Shyamalan’s “Split” proved she could run the teen gamut from high-school comedy to scream queen (though both films are above-average exemplars of their genres). But it is 2017’s gorgeous “Columbus” from supercut pioneer Kogonada that cements her as the real deal who is so much more than a pretty face: beautifully playing against John Cho‘s similarly revelatory turn, Richardson is simply luminous. As the bright young woman who forms a gentle attachment to Cho’s visitor in her hometown of Columbus Indiana, Richardson negotiates the unapologetically cerebral rhythms of the architecture-obsessed film with such a spark of life and mercurial, merry wit, that she completely enlivens what could otherwise be too stately an affair. This girl is the real deal — look for her on an Oscar podium near you in the coming years.
22. Michaela Coel
Outspoken, brash and prone to dressing in eye-popping neons and primary colors, the character Michaela Coel plays in her self-penned arch, profane and hilarious TV comedy series “Chewing Gum” basically explodes onto the screen. After two seasons she appears to have only gained in confidence and idiosyncratic energy, so much so that our only worry for her is whether she’ll be able to find strong enough material to serve her outside of her own writing. She has appeared in an episode of “Black Mirror” as well as 2016 UK sci-fi series “The Aliens” but the most intriguing upcoming title on her resume is “Been So Long” in which she’s joined by fellow UK breakout actor George McKay in a musical about life and love in Camden Town. However that turns out, her future is blazingly, neon-bright and if you haven’t already you can get a concentrated dose of her irrepressible self-deprecating energy on Netflix where both seasons of “Chewing Gum” are now available, and highly recommended.
21. Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein
It would be unfair to attribute the smash-hit success of “Stranger Things,” the jewel in the Netflix crown, to any one element. But its instantly iconic throbbing synth theme tune, and the terrific score across the show, was undoubtedly a part of its appeal, and Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein are the people responsible for it. The pair were key members of the Austin-based band S U R V I V E, whose John Carpenter-ish horror-tinged music had already made it into movies like “The Guest,” but one can’t overstate the impact that their terrific work on the Duffer Brothers’ breakout sci-fi hit had in creating the show’s tone. This year has seen them work on a “multi-dimensional immersive restaurant experience” in Australia, but they’ll be back in October for “Stranger Things” season 2, and we can’t wait to see what they cook up.