Why The Handmaid's Tale Is So Timely

In a dystopian near future, war and infertility have turned America into a totalitarian police state. The few fertile women are bought and sold as breeders for rich families, and are forbidden from working, handling money or even reading. The themes of gender equality, sexual freedom and religious persecution are, worringly, even more relevant in 2017's Hulu adaptation that in Margaret Atwood's original 1985 novel.

Indeed, many conservatives are already vilifying the days-old series as a reaction against the Trump presidency and the subsequent threat to women's rights. But the issues raised within the show go far beyond the United States. The first episode alone features children being torn from the arms of desperate refugees, homosexuals tortured and hanged, and religious despots railing against the evils of birth control and abortion.

The everyday sexism in the show is far more subtle, yet equally chilling. Two women are called 'sluts' by a strange man for no reason, their bank accounts are assigned to male relatives, and even their jobs are given away to less qualified men. It's not just the evil perpetrators who are at fault here; it's the ordinary men, who stand aside and enjoy their privilege, even as the women around them are rounded up and disappear. The truly chilling thing about the story is that there is no one women can trust, from men in power to the ones in their own homes. This is an aspect of life that many women around the world can relate to, and something that will only worsen unless drastic, global changes are made.

The Derivative Pastiche of La La Land

It will come as no surprise to many that there is a formula to winning the coveted prizes of the Academy Awards. Powered simultaneously by nostalgia and a desire to escape these troubling, unsettled times, the Oscars have long been known to honour most the films which flatter and promote the carefully curated history of Hollywood's Golden Age. This year, it is the turn of La La Land, Damien Chazelle's musical romantic drama, to garner a considerable 14 nominations for its colourful dance numbers telling the story of two plucky, aspiring stars.

With more than just echoes of classics from An American in Paris to Singin' In the Rain, there is hardly anything original about La La Land. Like fellow best picture nominee (and winner) The Artist, La La Land borrows its best scenes and ideas from earlier films. The tale it spins is predictable and comforting, coasting on the easy chemistry of leads Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Their reality show-quality singing and dancing is an unintentionally depressing reminder of just how far stardom can get someone with mediocre talent.

The racial politics of the film are also hard to ignore. Here we see a white man claiming, several times, that he will save jazz music, even as the African American musicians play the music they invented behind him, out of focus and ignored. In a film which is so much about jazz music, it is hard to watch so many white characters claim it as their own. Even John Legend's shoehorned cameo as Gosling's only black friend stinks of the 'Oscars so white' controversy of last year, in which an all-white roster of acting nominees was clumsily offset by a host of diverse last-minute presenters.

In a year which has seen so many celebrities make pointed political statements at the awards podium, the draw of the simplicity and escapism provided by La La Land may be stronger than the challenge presented by films such as Moonlight, which tells the story of a black gay man as he grows from an abusive childhood to a drug dealing adulthood. Once again, Hollywood is rewarding a film about itself - specifically, the white, wealthy, creative, joyous version it has created for the world to see.

My Ten Favourite Films of 2016

1. Arrival

Over time I have discovered that Hollywood releases one great science-fiction film every year. Last year, it was Arrival, Dennis Villenueve's moving and contemplative meditation on the nature of time and love, framed by an alien "invasion" that turns out to be much more than it seems.

2. The VVitch

There is no film quite like The VVitch. A menacing, feminist parable, this self described "New England folktale" uses historically accurate costuming and speech to portray the challenges of faith and patriarchy experienced by a banished colonial family. Look out for the devil; he was there all along.

3. The Wave

As the first blockbuster-style disaster film to come out of Scandinavia, this Norwegian epic is as crowd-pleasing as any Roland Emmerich film, and will hopefully lead to increased funding and international recognition for Scandinavian films and filmmakers. See my August review for more.

4. Room

Abduction, isolation and childhood collide in Lenny Abrahamson's powerful drama. Room's modest success at last year's Oscars doesn't quite do justice to the film's wonderful performances and deep emotional core.

5. High-Rise

While Tom Hiddleston's role in The Night Manager has been deemed his most successful of the past year, it is High-Rise which stands as one the most inventive and unusual films of the year. Portraying the strange breakdown of order in a London apartment building, this allegorical vision has a host of famous faces, but will leave you wondering more about yourself.

6. The Lobster

A Divergent-style dystopian romance for adults, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos's English-language debut sees a host of nameless characters navigate a blackly-comic landscape in which it is illegal to be single, saying volumes about our real world, in which sometimes being single seems just that.

7. Moonlight

Golden Globe winner and Oscar favourite Moonlight is a searing exploration of identity, family and masculinity among African-Americans. It's a deeply-felt story, and one which will likely come to have increasing importance with the beginning of the Trump presidency.

8. Train to Busan

Korean cinema is becoming more and more popular with western audiences, and deservedly so. Yeong Sang-ho's film draws inspiration from modern zombie classics, but manages to deliver something new and profound - a philosophy that, rather than fear our fellow man, we should look to each other for help and support.

9. The Birth of a Nation

This historical drama has arrived at a crucial juncture in American history, in which the racist narratives of pre-civil war USA are rearing their ugly heads once again. Nate Parker's much-hyped biopic of Nat Turner and the slave rebellion he led was considered too simplistic by some, but remains an essential film for this era.

10. The Neon Demon

A psychedelic fantasy parable about the perils and rewards of a cutthroat fashion industry, The Neon Demon is full of beauty, though sometimes gets too bogged down in its own philosophising. It is nonetheless a powerful work from Nicholas Winding Refn.