The Best Films of 2017

Best Musical: La La Land

From the soul-soaring opening sequence with dozens of young hopefuls singing and dancing right in the middle of a traffic jam on an L.A. freeway to the heart-wrenching final encounter between its ambitious star-crossed lovers, played by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, La La Land is the definition of charm. And an unabashed love letter to old-fashioned cinematic magic from director Damien Chazelle.

We said: 'where the Coen brothers and Woody Allen aimed to somewhat deconstruct the magic [of Hollywood], Chazelle embraces it fully, delivering a glorious extravaganza that proudly wears its heart on its sleeve. They truly don’t make them like this anymore.'

Best Drama: Moonlight

Deserved winner of Best Picture at the Oscars in February, Moonlight is a beautifully shot, superbly acted and achingly tender coming-of-age story. It follows Chiron at three different stages of his life as he deals with an abusive mother, burgeoning sexuality and gang culture. Incredibly moving and unexpectedly life-affirming, this is a unique cinematic triumph by director Barry Jenkins.

We said: 'Moonlight, in its gentle scrutiny of the many and varied issues at the heart of American society and the black community, is the best film about unsettled Masculinity yet.'

Best Performances: Manchester By The Sea

There was so much hype surrounding Kenneth Lonergan's heart-wrenching drama in the months leading up to its release that it's easy to forget that it actually came out this year. Though unsavoury harassment allegations against Casey Affleck make it uncomfortable to be gushing about the lead actor, it's undeniable that his performance as a deeply troubled man, Lee, who becomes his nephew's guardian will go down as one of the best of the decade. Michelle Williams, who plays Lee's ex wife, and newcomer Lucas Hedges, who stars as the adopted teen, are also nothing short of outstanding.

We said: ' Manchester by the Sea is a complex drama of loss and the process of grief; with its well-constructed and compelling narrative, the film runs through an impressive range of emotions, managing to be humorous, utterly gripping, and absolutely heart-breaking all at the same time'.

Best Romance: Call Me By Your Name

Call Me By Your Name is a sensitive look at the heady highs and lows of first love, from the hand of Luca Guadagnino, director of the sumptuous A Bigger Splash. Set in Italy, the story centres on 17-year-old Elio who strikes up a relationship with a 24-year-old academic while on holiday with his parents. Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer give dazzling performances in the lead roles – their chemistry is never anything but convincing.

We said: 'What will be truly be controversial is if Call Me By Your Name doesn’t make it onto every ‘Best of 2017’ list. It ranks among the very best coming-of-age dramas of the decade'.

Best Comedy: The Party

Sally Potter's black-and-white firecracker of a social satire is a kind of chamber play made for the big screen. It gives us a wickedly funny peek into the messy web of hypocrisies at the heart of ostensibly stable relationships, all while offering a riotous send-up of the middle-class intelligentsia. Kristin Scott Thomas leads an all-star cast including Cillian Murphy, Bruno Ganz and Timothy Spall, but it is Patricia Clarskon who steals every scene as the acerbic voice of reason amdist the chaos.

We said: 'Coming in at 71 minutes this is an exemplar of taut, controlled filmmaking which achieves more in just over an hour than most films do in double that time.'

Best Thriller: The Handmaiden

A tale of bluffs, double bluffs, romance, deception and an octopus which will haunt your nightmares, The Handmaiden is a strange, intoxicating and exceptionally well-plotted thriller. It centres around con-artist Sook-hee who is hired by her patron to swindle the rich Japanese heiress Hideko. Soon, the two develop a deeply sensual lesbian relationship which is shown in a graphic, but never gratuitous manner. To say much more would be to ruin the fun of what is an endlessly surprising and wholly engrossing watch.

We said: 'Buoyed by a strong cast and even stronger cinematography, The Handmaiden is a saucy, heady and lethal cinematic cocktail that merits all the excitement'.

Best Rom-Com: The Big Sick

Have you heard the one about the man who is shunned by his strict Muslim family for dating a white girl who also happens to be in a coma? The Big Sick doesn't sound like a barrel of laughs but this true story account of its writers' (Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon) relationship is heartwarming and very, very funny. Taking method acting to a level that Daniel Day-Lewis could only ever dream of, Kumail Nanjiani plays himself and is well supported by Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter and Ray Romano.

We said: 'The Big Sick feels like a perfect balance between sincerity and snarkiness, a modern example of superior romantic comedy'.

Best Horror: Get Out

Don't be fooled by the fact that this film is directed by one half of the sketch comedy duo Key and Peele; Get Out is one scary film. It's also a fantastic bit of social satire as it skewers the prejudices held by the self-described 'liberal' white middle-classes. As Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) goes with his girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) to visit her monied parents (Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener), he soon discovers that their seemingly progressive ideals are just a front for their murderous racism.

We said: 'It’s not just that there’s a social critique buried somewhere in Get Out – the critique is front-and-centre from the beginning, and Peele derives delirious, delicious horror out of it'.

Best Action: Dunkirk

Interestingly, Dunkirk was a bit of divergence for director Christopher Nolan. Instead of bringing us a mind-bending sci-fi of inter-dimensional travel – à la Inception and Interstellar – he brought us an epic old-fashioned war movie. And he didn’t disappoint. Telling the story of the heroic evacuation of thousands of soldiers of the French coast in 1940, Dunkirk is awash with touching performances, nerve-rattling battle scenes and a sweeping score. But most striking of all is its grand cinematography which displays the horror of war in all its terrible beauty.

We said: 'If Nolan's film were merely a loud barrage of chaotic sound and visuals, it would quickly go from tiring to tiresome. But Dunkirk overwhelmed us with more than sheer noise and light. It's an affecting story of courage and fear.'

Best Biopic: Jackie

Chilean director Pablo Larraín's first English language film slightly flew under the radar when it first came out back in January. A stylish, unconventionally detached portrait of the most famous First Lady, Jackie is a rarity among biopics in the way that maintains a critical distance from its subject throughout. That said, Natalie Portman gives a career-best performance of a conflicted woman who is simultaneously vulnerable and calculating. It's still a little galling that the Academy overlooked her in favour of Emma Stone for the Best Actress prize at the Oscars.

We said: 'The most unlikely pairing of filmmaker and star has generated one of the year’s most thrilling, thought-provoking pictures.'

Best Family Film: Paddington 2

Paddington 2 is a joyous triumph of a family film that will charm both younger and grown up viewers. Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins and co. all return, but it's Hugh Grant who steals every scene as the hilarious self-parodying villain, Phoenix Buchanan.

We said: 'It’s hard not to be effusive about this disarmingly enjoyable film which is genuinely able to live up to that promotional cliche of fun for all the family.'

Best Weird One: mother!

The word 'controversial' doesn't quite cut it when it comes to mother! Starring Javier Bardem and Jennifer Lawrence as a couple whose tranquil life at a remote country house is disturbed when another couple turns up on their doorstep, this film takes the term 'horror-thriller' to its most uncomfortable extreme. mother! may not be to everyone's taste but there's no denying the intense lingering effects of Black Swan director Darren Aronfsky's unflinchingly brutal graphics and script.

We said: 'mother! won’t necessarily make you feel good, but it will definitely make you sit up and pay attention. And it may just move you.'

Best British: God's Own Country

Here is a romance done properly, with all the blood, sweat, and tears – as well as mud, spit, vomit, and all other kinds of excrescence and effluence – needed to tell a real, pungent love story. Boasting complex, captivating performances, God's Own Country is more than just the Yorkshire Dales' Brokeback Mountain.

We said: 'At 47, writer/director Francis Lee has made his feature debut. It would have been worth it if he’d waited to be 100. God’s Own Country is a superb evocation of first love, and a smart dissection of the hearts we love with.'

Best Documentary: Cameraperson

Kirsten Johnson is a cinematographer who has worked on a wide range of documentaries, and Cameraperson is a montage of footage that was shot for other people's films but never used in the final cut. In a way, then, Cameraperson is the opposite of a ‘best of’ compilation. It's a ‘worst of’, complete with errors. But it’s a testament to Johnson’s abilities that her film is also an extraordinary document of the 21st century. It defies summary and explanation, and demands to be watched on its own terms – even as it redefines those terms.

We said: 'Cameraperson is a perfect one-off: an arrangement of hoarded shards, all of them glittering, all of them minutely lacerating'.

Best Cinematography: Thelma

In most ways Thelma is just your average shy fresher negotiating those awkward first weeks of university. Unlike your average first year student, however, Thelma also happens to possess a telekinetic mind. Norwegian director Joachim Trier's psycho-sexual thriller is richly atmospheric, cinematographically stunning and more chilling than a long winter night.

We said: 'It may disappoint a little as a narrative film, but as a purely visual spectacle Thelma is something of a small masterpiece.'

Best Soundtrack: Baby Driver

Baby Driver is a visual spectacular with a soundtrack sampling funk, soul and classic rock. It even takes its title from the name of a Simon & Garfunkel song. The protagonist, Baby, is a reluctant getaway driver with tinnitus but put the right song on and his manoeuvres are pure magic. Director Edgar Wright (Shawn of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) seamlessly merges the action with the music. Baby lives to a beat: whether he's part of a car chase or bouncing around town after meeting the pretty waitress Debora (Lily James). This film is pure fun and unexpectedly warm-hearted. Sing it together now: "B-A-B-Y baby".