Good Films Were Hard to Find in 2016

Watchinga season’s worth of “The Wire” over the holidays and comparing its well-writtencharacters and plot lines—and even its visual composition—with most of thefeature films I witnessed in 2016, I can only conclude: creativity has migratedfrom big screen to small. But then I remember: the distinction between big andsmall has gotten meaningless in an era when people are watching movies on theirphones.

Andthat brings me to contemplate the year just ending. Composing a Top Films ofthe Year list has long been an annual obligation for critics, but I have alwaysbeen troubled when it comes time to compile the roster. For one thing, some ofthe Oscar-bait movies from the year in question won’t trickle into Milwaukee cinemasuntil February or March. Some will never brighten the screens at a local moviehouse.

Thenthere is the problem of ranking—like somehow number 7 is demonstrably betterthan number 8. Explain why!

Andfinally, whenever I look back on my Top-10s from previous years, I find I canbarely recall some of the films on the bottom half of the list. It’s not memorythat’s failing, it’s the filmmakers!

Buthere I go again, another look back at a year that seemed especially depressing.I’m going to make it a Top-6 list this time, plus some honorable mentions.

La La Land

Once,many of the best movies were magical in their power to lift us into worlds ofimagination. Writer-director Damien Chazelle conjures up that magic in La La Land. It’s the best musical in recentyears, both for the original music and for capturing the towering elation ofromantic love and a bittersweet nostalgia for an age when romance flourished.

Hell or High Water

Setin Texas, the anti-heroes rob a chain of banks in revenge for foreclosing ontheir mother’s home. An archetypal outlaw story featuring brothers opposite intemperament but tied by fraternal devotion, Hellor High Water is a motorized present-day western with faster steeds anddeadlier weaponry than anything imagined by Wyatt Earp.

Moonlight

Writer-directorBarry Jenkins tells the emotionally complicated story of a gay African Americanboy. Picked on for being “soft,” he runs the bullying gauntlet until strikingback lands him in prison. He emerges tough—a drug dealer like the man whomentored him in this elliptical thoughtful film.

The Witch

The Witch is the most remarkable horror film in years. First-time writer-director RobertEggers composed a visually poetic, haunting portrayal of the crushing burden ofan unbearable faith—and its satanic flipside. Seldom has the intimacy of prayerbeen presented so well in film, or the disconcerting intrusion of pure evilinto the human sphere.

Francis Foster Jenkins

WithMeryl Streep in the title role, FlorenceFoster Jenkins is a comedy that conceals atragedy; Madame Florence’s heavily guarded secrets are gradually revealed,showing a woman of remarkable spirit. Director Stephen Frears recreates 1940sManhattan and slowly builds the film’s pace, adding pathos and touchingsentiment.

The Man Who KnewInfinity

Althoughwriter-director Matthew Brown trims reality to fit a two-hour format and allowsthe orchestral score to swell in key with the emotions, he has done fine workgetting at the essence of Indian math genius Srinivasa Ramanujan and hisoutstanding insights. He is aided in every scene by a great cast led by DevPatel.

Amongthe honorable mentions: a pair of family comedies that were (and this wasunusual in 2016) actually funny, TheMeddler and The Hollars; a coupleof low-key contemporary comical anxiety dramas, Chronicand If There’s a Hell Below; and abunch of decent music biographies including Elvis& Nixon, Miles Ahead and I Saw the Light; and a science-fiction film interesting for what it says about language and miscommunication, Arrival.

Read more I Hate Hollywood posts from Dave Luhrssen.