At least among the movies I watched, this was a year dominated by two types of films – slow-burn family dramas and really weird movies. All but a couple of my favorites from this year fall into one of those categories. It was also an exceptionally strong year for foreign films – or maybe I just saw more than usual. But eight of my top fifteen, including five of my top ten, were foreign language films, and only one of those eight was among the five Oscar nominees for foreign film.
It was just a very deep year in general and there are several really good movies that didn’t quite make the cut. After Yang, The Whale, All Quiet on the Western Front, Lost Illusions, and Petite Maman are all films that most years likely would have made my top ten. Ultimately these ten just felt a little more special than the rest for one reason or another.
You can also hear about more movies in my conversation with three other friends in a couple podcast episodes here and here.
10. Mars One – A great family drama out of Brazil, led by a brilliant debut performance from Camillia Damião. If you could invest in actors, I’d invest heavily in her now before she becomes the next Ana de Armas out of Latin America. Everyone in our main family has a secret – the daughter (played by Damião) wants to move out to live with her new girlfriend. The mom gets PTSD after being caught up in an Internet prank. The dad loses his job after putting too much faith in a co-worker. He is obsessed with soccer and is pushing for an opportunity to get the son on an all-star team. But the son is more interested in science than soccer. His goal in life is to be the first person on Mars, a mission that’s already being called Mars One. It’s all just very grounded and well-constructed. You understand where everyone is coming from and share in all their highs and lows.
9. Girl Picture – The title feels like just a poor (or too literal) translation, because it is essentially a portrait or picture of the lives of three teenage girls in Finland. One is a national-caliber figure skater who wants a life outside of skating. One feels out of place in her own family as her mom has remarried and has a much younger daughter now. One is sexually frustrated while also wanting to make a real connection with someone. Ultimately, this is an amazing look at the insecurities we all deal with even beyond our teenage years. We understand why they make the mistakes that they do and are rooting for them to figure it out.
8. Decision to Leave – Of all the movies that missed out on the best foreign film Oscar nominations this is the one that actually surprises me the most. Park Chan Wook is the same director who made the original Oldboy and The Handmaiden (my number three from 2016). So he’s extremely well respected in the industry and this is a top notch production at every level. The plot is complicated and at times convoluted. The main character is a police detective who starts to fall for the wife of the victim. All the mind games and twists typical of Park Chan Wook are on full display. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t confused, but it was a beautiful ride.
7. Compartment No. 6 – This film does a great job of playing with expectations, both those of the characters and of you as the viewer. The majority of it takes place on board a train. Our main character is heading to northern Russia in the late 1990s to see some ancient petroglyphs. It’s a multi-day trip and her assigned cabin mate is a stereotypical young Russian thug. She’s worried about her safety, but there’s nowhere else on the train for her to go. But this isn’t a thriller; it’s another slow-burn drama and maybe, just maybe, this guy isn’t as bad as he seems. Don’t worry, I’m still not giving anything away; I’m just playing with your expectations as well. Check it out.
6. Hustle – This is a pretty formulaic sports movie, but the execution is flawless. I bought all the characters and performances and didn’t want to leave them when it was over. Adam Sandler plays an NBA scout who would rather be coaching from the bench. Instead he finds himself overseas looking to bring back the best players from Europe. One fortuitous night he stumbles across the ultimate diamond in the rough in Spain and the story takes off from there.
5. The Batman – As a huge fan of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight I was very skeptical that this film would be worthwhile and only even saw it because the overwhelmingly positive reviews couldn’t be ignored. At the end of the day it’s a police procedural that just happens to cast Batman as the main detective. This would have still been a very solid movie with brand new, anonymous characters. The fact that it’s set in the Batman world just adds an extra layer of fun. Though fun isn’t really the word to use here; it’s dark and gritty, much like The Dark Knight, but in a completely different way. Zoe Kravitz steals the show as Catwoman.
4. The Banshees of Inisherin – This has some of the most original, delightful dialogue that I have ever heard. Colin Farrell plays a loveable, simple man on the island of Inisherin off the coast of Ireland in the 1920s. For reasons unknown his best mate (played by Brendan Gleeson) no longer wants to have anything to do with him. That’s it. That’s pretty much the film, but it never feels too repetitive. If anything, there’s a charm to its repetition. It feels more original than probably anything from this year and if it weren’t for one or two choices made by writer-director Martin McDonough, it would likely be my top film of the year. I had high expectations going in and it largely met them.
3. Everything, Everywhere, All at Once – The current favorite to win best picture and I’m totally okay with that. It would be the most bizarre best picture winner of all-time. It takes the idea of a multiverse that we’ve seen in Marvel movies and throws it into the world of an ordinary Chinese woman running a laundromat. The story of a struggling immigrant family is transformed into a fast-paced action thriller and back again. It’s as jarring (in a good way) to the viewer as it is to our protagonist, played by Michelle Yeoh, an Oscar favorite in her own right. It beautifully weaves together comedy, action, suspense, and emotion. The film itself is everything, everywhere, all at once.
2. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Everyone is sleeping on this movie. It is an instant classic. It feels like it’s always existed. It’s not just the best version of the Pinocchio story, it might be the best movie del Toro has ever made. And I say that as someone who had no problem with The Shape of Water winning best picture and someone who thinks Pan’s Labyrinth is a work of genius. This is more than just an animated children’s movie. It’s a poignant tale of loss and a look at the world through Pinocchio’s innocent lens. The voice acting is perfect and the animation is unbelievable – literally. I would have swore it was computer animated and just made to look like stop-motion. Nope, it’s just the most beautiful stop-motion film ever made.
1. RRR – Rise. Roar. Revolt. This movie is absolutely ridiculous. You could argue it’s a mess that’s trying to do far too much with cheesy special effects and unrealistic relationships. But that’s not how I see it. The real ridiculousness is how ridiculously awesome it is. This movie is pure fun – with enough true distress to make all the fun that much more enjoyable. With its three-hour runtime I initially sat down to watch just the first half with the intent of finishing later. As I neared the 90-minute mark I knew there was no chance I wasn’t going to finish in one sitting. It seems to never let off the gas, while also not feeling overwhelming. The pacing suits it. At its core it’s a bromance between Raju and Bheem. The two are essentially superheroes or demigods in India in the 1920s. Raju is an ambitious soldier in the British Army who wants nothing more than to rise through the ranks. Bheem is trying to rescue a village girl who was kidnapped by the local British official.
In addition to the jaw-dropping (and laughable) action scenes, there are plenty of twists and turns as the two men meet and aren’t aware of the other’s true mission while becoming immediate BFFs.
Here are a few quotes from IMDb user reviews: “hilariously ridiculous and stupid,” “weirdly spectacular,” and “Rambo meshed with Crouching Tiger + musical… say whaaat?”
I can’t recall a movie that was ever as much fun to watch. RRR had me bouncing off the walls wanting to join Raju and Bheem through all their adventures. It may not be for everyone, but I highly recommend giving it a chance. Just try to watch it in the original language (Telugu) as there are various dubbed versions floating around.