As we draw near the end of the decade, I’ve been looking back at the past ten years of cinema and gathering my thoughts on each film released within each of them. In the leadup to my Best Films of the Decade list, I will also be sharing a Top 10 for every year this decade that I didn’t get a chance to before starting this blog. So here are my top 10 films of 2016!
2010|2011|2012|2013|2014|2015|2016|2017|2018|2019
Honorable Mentions: Hacksaw Ridge, Captain Fantastic, Hail Caesar!, Swiss Army Man, Paterson
I often determine the strength of a year in cinema by the quality of films OUTSIDE my top 10. 2016 is chock-full of fantastic films that didn’t quite make the cut, and as such I consider it one of the strongest years of the entire decade. Any one of these films might have made my Top 10 list any other year surrounding it, but alas, they fall here.
10. Silence
Scorsese is no stranger to exploring religion in his films throughout his long career. But this might just be the most poignant and affecting work he’s made to that end: an immersive, deeply impactful tale of two 17th-century missionaries travelling covertly through closed-border Japan in search of their missing mentor. It’s an extremely heavy film that spares no hardship; everything that can go wrong DOES go wrong for our protagonists. Through it all we yearn for their faith to persist, even if everything they come across flies in the face of the grace and goodness they believe about the world. Scorsese intends to break these characters down and examine their baser selves, to see if religion is truly as ingrained and essential as we claim it to be. It’s a bit overlong and heavy-handed at times, but when it works, it works just as well as any Scorsese classic, if not better.
9. The Edge of Seventeen
I knew from the opening line of the movie (“Here is why I’m going to kill myself.”) that I was in good hands for a darkly comedic spin on the classic coming-of-age high school tale. Our protagonist (played by the fabulous Hailee Steinfeld) is not your typical high school girl hero – she’s foul-mouthed, unstylish, and unafraid to speak her mind. And her teacher/mentor, the equally-hilarious Woody Harrelson, is no perfect peach himself – he’s just as foul-mouthed and blunt when speaking to this girl, saying things that would surely get him fired if overheard but bounce perfectly off of her personality. I loved every scene of theirs together, and individually they also have some great moments that set this apart from the typical high school melodrama fare.
8. 10 Cloverfield Lane
It’s rare for sequels to rival the original in quality, and even though I really dug Cloverfield back in 2008, this film handily exceeded its predecessor in my estimation. Even though the Cloververse would take a sharp nosedive a couple years later with Paradox, this is a film that works just as well without the franchise tag on it, and in fact is enhanced by it. The mystery surrounding the project means that it was never truly confirmed whether it was set in the same universe as Cloverfield, which makes it that much more impactful when we are forced to determine whether John Goodman’s character (an Oscar-worthy role) is telling the truth or not. The script (co-written by Damien Chazelle, as I learned later) is endlessly-clever and entertaining at every step, with plenty of twists and turns despite the limited set and cast list. The final ten minutes are unfortunately what does the film in for me, as without it this could have appeared much, much higher on my list as a simple but effective contained thriller.
7. La La Land
Speaking of Damien Chazelle, here we have his breakout hit musical that put him on the map! Chazelle is responsible for one of my favorite films of all-time, but it was his follow-up that earned him the big industry respect. A whimsical, ambitious musical with an original soundtrack must have been a nightmare to get funded, but thank god it did, because this film is just a delight from beginning to end. The stunning cinematography, the catchy tunes, the chemistry between Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, and the flawless way with which Chazelle integrates the natural beauty of Los Angeles add up to a memorable experience. Yeah, the writing isn’t the greatest, and I actually disliked this movie the first time I saw it because of it. But subsequent rewatches paper over such problems and allow you to just drink in the visuals and the music, which are stellar (no pun intended).
6. Nocturnal Animals
It’s pretty rare for novel adaptations to surpass the original in quality, but this is one such example. Tom Ford’s crime thriller has some on-the-nose symbolism and troubling depiction of the female characters that detracts from the experience, but it’s nonetheless a compelling ride from beginning to end. I don’t generally enjoy stories that feature writers as primary characters, but this is an example of the trope done right, as we see Jake Gyllenhaal’s character not directly but through his latest work, thus inviting us to infer his motivations, fears and desires by proxy. The twist ending is a chilling moment (one absent from the book entirely!) that adds an additional layer of intrigue to the preceding film, a rare feat. Add in some top-tier performances from the likes of Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Michael Shannon, and this is a memorable film that I’m still sad was glossed over in (admittedly) a very strong year.
5. Raw
I was shocked to learn after watching this French indie that it was director Julia Ducournau’s debut feature, because it’s the work of a master! The tale of a vegetarian student who attends a veterinary college and is introduced to meat for the first time is a brilliant metaphor for sexual repression that had me thinking for a while. In addition to strong thematic content and writing, it boasts impressive cinematography and strong attention to detail that only a director with a specific vision could create. It also features some truly gut-wrenching scenes and mesmerizing images that set this film apart from the standard fare and left it festering in my mind for months afterward. And yet its shock value is not empty, its most outrageous and squirm-inducing moments still tie into the central themes and develop character, which is the mark of a well-considered film.
4. Manchester by the Sea
I’ve written at length about this movie’s subtle brilliance and lament the fact that it was released in such a strong year (2016), robbing it of some much-deserved awards. Yeah yeah, it took home two Oscars, but it deserved much more love than it got and I have no doubt that if it was released a year earlier or later, it would be a Best Picture winner. The heartbreaking story is a masterclass in nonlinear storytelling to generate maximum emotional impact. Casey Affleck is not one of my favorite actors out there, but he delivers an incredible performance as a broken man that had me in shambles. Add that to a brilliant screenplay from Kenneth Lonergan and this is not one to be missed.
3. Hell or High Water
Taylor Sheridan is almost certainly the breakout screenwriter of the decade. How rare is it for a film to be known more for its writer than its director? And this is his best work by far, taking the traditional Western cops-and-robbers formula that we’ve grown accustomed to and re-appropriating it for the modern day. It’s a story that could have taken place a hundred years ago on horseback, but it has good reason for existing in the 2010’s, with themes of public disillusionment with the establishment and the rise of paranoia surrounding predatory banking practices in the Bush/Obama administrations. Sheridan uses some brilliant techniques to characterize our main characters and sympathize us to everyone involved. This isn’t your typical good guys vs. bad guys story: it’s ambiguous who the real villains are, and that’s a testament to strong writing.
2. Arrival
Arrival is the epitome of a film you have to see twice to fully appreciate. The script is incredibly well-written; I love when a film delivers a twist ending that I never saw coming, especially when the film didn’t seem to be a mystery to begin with. Amy Adams was robbed of an Oscar nod for her performance, one of her best ever. Denis Villeneuve is arguably THE breakout director of the decade, and to me this is his best work. A seemingly-complex film that delivers a very simple and impactful message of cooperation and trust, while also exploring whether it is better to have loved and lost or to have never loved at all. Everything delivers in spades: the sweeping visuals, the haunting score by the late Johan Johansson, the acting, and most importantly, the brilliant screenplay by Eric Heisserer that should have won the Oscar.
1. Moonlight
I’m a pretty emotionally-calloused guy, and I’ve only cried in a movie theater twice in my life. The first was for some stupid talking dog movie when I was eight years old. The second was during Moonlight, which managed to toy with my emotions more than any film in recent memory. Barry Jenkins’s heartbreaking tale of young Chiron has everything: a fantastic ensemble cast, a clever story structure that does not feel like a gimmick (as Boyhood did for me), compelling characters and scenarios in spite of a simple plot, thematic complexity that lingers in the mind long after, and gorgeous eye candy to keep me entertained at all times. The film’s greatest achievement is the way it takes a singular, specific story and makes it relatable and universal in its appeal, such that almost everybody can see an aspect of themselves reflected in Chiron. I can’t point to any flaws in this film and am blown away by the film every time I watch it: an emotional roller-coaster that demonstrates film mastery like we haven’t seen in arthouse cinema in quite some time.
Thanks for reading! Check back soon as I fill out the rest of the decade with my Top 10 lists this month, leading up to my Top 100 Films of the Decade ranking! Check out the home page for more Top 10’s, reviews, and film musings…I’m willing to bet you’ll find something you like!
-Austin Daniel
Scriptophile 