A year ago, the Hollywood film industry was largely excoriated for failing to recognize the work of minorities (primarily African-Americans) in the Academy Awards. None of the major acting nominees, for example, were black actors.
The nominations this year make up for that problem and then some. Six of the twenty acting nominations are for African-Americans, and three of the nine nominated films are about African-Americans. And in each instance, the nominations are richly deserved, so perhaps more credit goes to the industry for getting those films made (and for creating the roles for those actors to play) than to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for recognizing the quality of the end results.
In any event, my purpose in this column is to identify the best films of the year just past, and, as always, the annual presentation of the Oscars (this Sunday on ABC starting at 5:30pm PST) allows me to judge the nominated films as part of the process. Six of the nine nominated films make my top ten list. I liked all nine, but the three that don’t make my list were of lesser overall quality (or had lesser overall impact) in my entirely subjective opinion. And let’s remember that when it comes to artistic evaluations, objectivity is always secondary to personal reactions and impressions.
So, to start, here are the three nominated films that don’t make my top ten:
“Hell or High Water” works for what it is: a small film with an indie feel that presents a view of America that may be far more representative than anything that would be considered “mainstream.” The Robin Hood storyline is only partly successful, however, and the resolution, while intriguing, isn’t meaningful enough to have great impact.
“Arrival” presents a fascinating metaphysical perspective on the value of knowing the future, but the sci-fi backdrop for that perspective never really comes together or makes sense. Why, to be specific, are the pods necessary to the story? What do they add to the real question that the film seeks to raise?
“Lion” is a great story, but it is little more than a feel-good movie that telegraphs its resolution in its trailers and in the first scenes of the Dev Patel character. A better film would have focused on the years following his re-discovery of his birth family instead of ending with the happy reunion. Some true stories are better told in full, than with a happily-ever-after ending.
Other films that I liked but didn’t have room on my list for include “Nocturnal Animals,” “Where to Invade Next,” “Hail, Caesar!,” “Café Society,” “Sully,” and “Queen of Katwe.”
My choices for the ten best films of the year follow. An asterisk (*) indicates the film was nominated for best picture.
10. “Silence” is Martin Scorsese’s latest epic, and it is another masterful accomplishment by this superb film-maker. The subject is Catholic missionary work in seventeenth century Japan that was violently opposed by the Buddhist government. The film, heavily laden with graphic depictions of violence, is very hard to watch, despite its intrinsic beauty and the power of its story. But it is a great achievement, eminently worthy of more critical praise than it received.
*9. “Hacksaw Ridge” is another exceedingly violent film that is also a great achievement. This one is Director Mel Gibson’s claim for redemption (after being essentially shunned by the Academy for highly offensive homophobic and racist comments he had made over the years. But if redemption is to be had, it will be for the superb depiction of the assault on Okinawa in World War II that is the focus of the film. Andrew Garfield stars as the conscientious objector who serves as a medic in the battles while refusing to carry a weapon.
*8. “Jackie” is the Camelot tale of JFK’s presidency as told by his widow in the days following his assassination. It’s a fascinating subjective look at history from the eyes of the woman who experienced all of it as intimately as possible. The scenes of the actual assassination are shocking, even in recreation. The film only falters in its closing scene, when a schmaltzy Hollywood ending subverts the opportunity to go deeper into the widow’s psyche. Natalie Portman richly deserves the Oscar nomination she received for her portrayal of Jackie.
*7. “La La Land” is the old-fashioned kind of movie that celebrates the innate drive to realize one’s dreams. For that reason alone, it’s a near-certain Oscar winner for best picture and a bunch of other awards. And it is deserving of praise as a very good musical with two strong production numbers and a story that tugs at the heartstrings just a tad. I liked the film, but it is all too typical of the kind of film the Academy loves to love. It’s professionally solid in every respect. But, in all candor, compared with the other films on my list, it’s more trivial than special.
*6. “Fences” is the movie version of the Pulitzer Prize winning play by August Wilson about an African-American family in Pittsburgh in the 1950s. Denzel Washington and Viola Davis (both nominated for acting awards) are the husband and wife around whom the story unfolds. The film successfully conveys the playwright’s intent of showing how human drama exists in the ordinary lives of everyday people struggling to overcome the adversities and vagaries of life.
5. “Loving” is a small film that tells a big story. The title refers to the title characters, Richard and Mildred Loving, a white man and a black woman who fell in love and married in Virginia in 1958 in violation of the state’s anti-miscegenation law. Committed to their marriage and to each other, they appealed their conviction all the way to the Supreme Court, where, in 1967, the law was declared unconstitutional. The film focuses on the human side of the drama, with minimal necessary attention paid to the legal proceedings. It’s a lovely movie.
4. “Eye in the Sky” was released about a year ago and so was long forgotten by the time the Oscar nominations were announced. But it’s an excellent film, depicting in a fictionalized story the reality of drone attacks on terror suspects in the middle of a street market in a Muslim country. The film is expertly filmed with fine performances by Helen Mirren and the late Alan Rickman. While painful to watch, the film packs a wallop right up to its closing scene.
*3. “Manchester by the Sea” is such a beautiful film that in many years, it would be at the top of my list. It contains perhaps the most painful revelatory scene of the year, which I dare not reveal. Suffice it to say that the film takes a decided turn at mid-point, thereby giving full meaning to the central character’s malaise. Casey Affleck fully embodies the character and should receive the Oscar for his portrayal. And Cindy Williams fully merits her supporting actress nod for the marvelous scene she has with Affleck late in the film.
*2. “Hidden Figures” tells the tale of the black women who helped make the early years of the manned space program work. From a historical perspective, it depicts the struggle to keep up with the Soviet Union in the late 1950s, but it is more significant for highlighting the bigotry that existed within NASA and in the South in those years. While the film paints the bigotry more broadly than the facts would indicate (the women were fully integrated into NASA before the Apollo program began), it serves well as a reminder of the times and events it depicts.
*1. “Moonlight” chronicles in three separate segments the struggles of a young boy (he is depicted as an eight-year old, as a high school student, and as a 30-year old) who grows up in poverty as a bullied youth, is raised by a drug-addicted mother, and is “rescued” by a dope dealer surrogate father. The film is harsh in showing the bullying but is sensitive in depicting his awakening as a teen to his homosexuality. It is forthright in revealing the destructive effect of drugs and in suggesting why many young black men find themselves on the wrong side of the legal system. It’s a great film, brilliantly conceived and produced: the best film of the year.