2017 had a lot of unpleasantness. The following movies helped make it a far more digestible year.
5. Dunkirk
Christopher Nolan may occasionally struggle with the some of the lighter aspects of humanity in storytelling but his artistic mastery of the technical aspects of filmmaking have never been more refined.
Playing with editing and perspective from 3 different viewpoints of the World War II Allied retreat of Dunkirk and the chasm wide differences in sensory experience the sides of royal air force pilots, ground soldiers, and civilian sailors would experience to evoke the war as a faceless force of nature, Nolan manages to relay a human experience beyond the scope of what could be told from a single character’s point of view and has carved out an entirely new way to tell a war story at a point that the genre’s conventions are more or less taken for granted.
“Dunkirk” is the type of rare experimentation in narrative structure that you’re lucky to come across on its original run in your life time and it will be a while before anything else like it lands with the same level of success and impact.
4. The Shape of Water
Only the bizarre yet wonderfully enlightening mind of Guillermo Del Toro could take an idea as conceptually satirical as a Cold War era romance between a woman and the Creature from the Black Lagoon and make it one of the most raw and introspective films of the year.
Mute Governmental facility custodian Elisa and her romance with the sea creature referred to as the asset reveals a beauty in the simplicity of understanding and acceptance gained through broadening perceptions that few can ever have while highlighting the traps that we all fall into as a society in our desire to believe what we want as opposed to opening ourselves to the reality in front of us and the dangers brewed by sociological toxicity that this line of thinking could lead to.
“The Shape of Water” thrills, enlightens, humors, and even arouses all without losing sight of a self awareness regarding how out of the ordinary its concept is, especially when played with an undeniably blatant level of eroticism in mind, and that there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of regarding it.
The biggest tragedy of this romance is how little it appears to be doing at the box office despite how restrained its budget was.
3. Logan
As of the writing of this article, the X-Men Film Franchise along with the rights to cinematic adaptations of the Fantastic Four are on the verge of returning to Marvel Studios with Disney’s acquisition of the assets of Twentieth Century Fox’s film and television divisions. While a bulk of geek culture celebrates the completion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the return of its 2 highest profile missing assets, I weep for the loss of their only viable competition in the cinematic superhero landscape that was actually producing results beneficial to the genre, business, and the property itself.
“Logan” is the culmination of every twist and turn that the superhero genre has taken over the 17 year history of the X-Men franchise’s revitalization of it and the finest hour for acting legends Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart as the iconic Wolverine and Professor X respectively.
Having run the gamut of subdued reinvention based in the language of science fiction action cinema to more source reverent shows of spectacle before rounding the corner to bold expansionary takes on the spirit of the source material in question, the “X-Men” franchise lands on Wolverine’s final solo outing with a harsh but very real thesis on the realistic tragedy that a superhero universe would be doomed to reach while asserting that its tragedy doesn’t negate the powerful worth of its individual’s sacrifices.
“Logan” is a Western infused drama that just so happens to be set within a superhero setting and manages to remain authentic to both sides of the equation in ways rarely put to film. There are few like it and considering that it worked out that way because it’s finally cashing in a pile of chips almost 2 decades in the making in an era of knee jerk reaction reboots, we’re unlikely to see anything else like it anytime soon.
2. War for the Planet of the Apes
Looking exclusively at the scope of Hollywood films across the course of the last decade, this is the single best blockbuster that Hollywood has produced this decade thus far, full stop, no qualifiers.
As an emotionally powerful conclusion to a trilogy of thematically powerful features exploring the nature of humanity and its relationship to life, intelligence, xenophobia and the evolution of a budding new species’ culture, “War for the Planet of the Apes” is top notch science fiction storytelling the likes of which you barely saw at the height of a time when the big budget blockbusters actually would take chances.
Beneath its quiet and contemplative nature however, reveals a revolutionary execution of motion capture technology that opens up new possibilities for technology in the craft of filmmaking that have only been hinted at before and all without sacrificing its integrity as a solid spectacular crowd pleaser.
If ever an argument could be made against the Academy Award’s and their bias against high budget genre faire, “War for the Planet of the Apes” could be a strong backbone to a winning case.
1. Colossal
In individual respects, I’d argue that some of the other films on this list are better or even more up my alley in certain regards.
“War for the Planet of the Apes” is a modern crowd pleasing masterpiece while “Logan” manages to successfully cash in on the legacy of a franchise that will near the 20 year mark by the time its initial thread of continuity finally ceases in an age where 3 “Spider-Man” continuities have functioned in less than the span of a decade.
I can’t however, think of a single movie that encapsulates my love of film, genre fiction, character driven narrative, and even kaiju under one banner so effortlessly and nigh flawlessly with no regard towards commerce so much as simply storytelling for the sake of it.
Nacho Vigalondo produces a cringe comedy masterpiece following an alcoholic attempting to piece her life back together after discovering that she has the ability to control giant monsters that materialize over Korea every morning.
Using the giant monster on monster action that ensues as a physical manifestation of the character’s regret and recovery while grappling with the toxicity bred by self loathing coming to a head with her childhood friend who skirts the line between meaning well for her development and meaning well to the end of his own agenda, “Colossal” uses the tenants of genre fiction as a tool to grapple and enlighten us of the darker aspects of the human condition but still works as a compelling drama with unpredictable streaks of dark comedy pillared by outstanding performances that make it a unique watch even if you strip away the layers of subtext.
And the cherry on top? As easy as it would have been to cheap out, the film boasts a modest budget that manages to go miles where it needs to despite being so high concept that it had to have known how little of a chance it stood at actually making its money back.
“Colossal” is a true MVP to the art of original filmmaking at the higher budgeted level in defiance of an age of market driven product production that deserves far more recognition than it will possibly ever receive, not just for what it represents but simultaneously says and does.
Hope you enjoyed taking a look back at 2017’s best because the far, far, far, far worse is yet to come. Agree or Disagree? Don’t be afraid to pitch me your opinion in the comments.
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