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.
