My Favorites from 2017 World Cinema

We are at the fag-end of an incredible year of cinematic greatness, where some of the best silver screen was offered to us. There is nothing like walking out of a theatre feeling fulfilled after watching a movie on the big screen. But it takes a great movie to make such feel worth every anaa (equal to a penny) of your money, and year 2017 has done it in so many ways. That sometimes it felt like something out of “Vivekam”, where one couldn’t believe the weird thing that was going to happen next. And others carried us away with weirdly fulfilling Arjun Reddy into a beautiful world of characters.

As Manjari Phadnis intoned in “Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai”, “Kayi baar off-beat cheezein logon ko beat pe laati hai.” Sounds like 2017 in a nutshell. Also, off-beat or regular we cannot really substitute a feeling that ‘real‘ creation gives us on a large screen.

The list of movies below is the one where makers took risks, showcased originality, blew minds, and mostly importantly highlighted on significant issues while making a  mark.

As usual, let’s start off with Indian Cinema… 

• Hindi: Mukti Bhawan | Shubhashish Bhutiani | 2017
• Telugu: Arjun Reddy | Sandeep Reddy Vanga | 2017
• Malayalam: Angamaly Diaries | Lijo Jose Pellissery | 2017
• Tamil: Vikram Vedha | Pushkar – Gayathri  | 2017
• Kannada: Ondu Motteya Kathe | Raj B Shetty | 2017

Hollywood: (Pending with 18 films)

• A Ghost Story | 2017 | David Lowery | USA
• Blade Runner 2049 | 2017 | Denis Villeneuve | USA & Hungary
• Brawl in Cell Block 99 | 2017 | S Craig Zahler | USA
• Call Me By Your Name | 2017 | Luca Guadagnino | USA & France
• Coco | 2017 | Lee Unkrich & Adrian Molina | USA
• Columbus | 2017 | Kogonada | USA
• Detroit | 2017 | Kathryn Bigelow | USA
• Dunkirk | 2017 | Christopher Nolan | USA & UK
• Get Out | 2017 | Jordan Peele | USA & Japan
• I, Tonya | 2017 | Craig Gillespie | USA
• I Don’t feel at Home in this World Anymore | 2017 | Macon Blair | USA
• Lady Bird | 2017 | Greta Gerwig | USA
• Logan | 2017 | James Mangold | USA & Canada
• Mother! | 2017 | Dareen Aronofsky | USA
• Mudbound | 2017 | Dee Rees | USA
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri | 2017 | Martin McDonagh | USA
• The Disaster Artist | 2017 | James Franco | USA
• The Florida Project | 2017 | Sean Baker | USA
• The Killing of a Scared Deer | 2017 | Yorgos Lanthimos | USA
• The Last Flag Flying | 2017 | Richard Linklater | USA
• War for the Planet of the Apes | 2017 | Matt Reeves | USA & Canada
• Wind River | 2017 | Taylore Sheridan | UK & USA
• Wonder | 2017 | Stephen Chbosky | Hong Kong & USA

World Cinema: (Pending with 36 films..)

• 22-nenme no kokuhaku: Watashi ga satsujinhan desu | 2017 | Yu Irie | Japan
• 24 Frames | 2017 | Abbas Kiarostami | Iran
• A Silent Voice | 2016 | Naoko Yamada | Japan
• Ak-Nyeo | 2017 | Byung-gil Jung | South Korea
• Bad Genius | 2017 | Nattawut Poonpiriya | Thailand
• Bamui Haebyun-Eoseo Honja |2017 | Sang-soo Hong | South Korea
• Better Watch Out | 2016 | Chris Peckover | Australia
• Berlin Syndrome | 2017 | Cate Shortland | Australia
• Colossal | 2017 | Nacho Vigalondo | Canada & South Korea
• Chavela | 2017 | Catherine Gund & Daresha Kyi | USA & Spain
• El Olivo | 2017 | Iciar Bollain | Spain & Germany
• Eshtebak | 2017 | Mohamed Diab | Egypt & France
• Estiu 1993 | 2017 | Carla Simon | Spain
• First They Killed My Father | 2017 | Angelina Jolie | Cambodia
• God’s Own Country |2017| Francis Lee | UK
• Grave | 2017 | Julia Ducournau | France
• Happy Death Day | 2016 | Christopher Landon
• I Am Heath Ledger | 2017 | Adrian Buitenhuis & Derik Murray | Canada
• I Am Not Your Negro | 2017 | Raoul Peck | France & USA
• Los Versos Del Olvido | 2017 | Alireza Khatami | France & Chile
• Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts | 2017 | Mouly Surya | Indonesia
• Nelyubov | 2017 | Andrey Zvyagintsev | Russia
• Okja | 2017 | Joon-ho Bong | South Korea
• Omerta | 2017 | Hansal Mehta | India
• Radiance | 2017 | Naomi Kawase | Japan
• Super Dark Times | 2017 | Kevin Phillips |
• Teströl és lélekröl | 2017 | Ildikó Enyedi | Hungary
• Thelma | 2017 | Joachim Trier |Euro & France
• The Levelling | 2017 | Hope Dickson Leach  | UK
• The Nile Hilton Incident | 2017 | Tarik Saleh | Denmark & France
• Toivon Tuolla Puolen | 2017 | Aki Kaurismaki | Finland
• T2 Trainspotting | 2017 | Danny Boyle | UK
• Unrest | 2017 | Jennifer Brea | UK & USA
• Visages, Villages | 2017 | JR & Agnes Varda | France
• Wszystkie Nieprzespane Noce | 2016 | Michal Marczak | Poland

These are some of the best that could catch up within a busy beast of a year. Hopefully, we have a blast with “Wonderful” cinema in 2018 and many more years to come. Cheers to Cinema.

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