Best Films of 2016

Jan 12. I`m crying of joy! Can`t stop my tears... A very serious candidate for the Best Film of the 21st century!

Jan 15. Still can`t stop my tears. All i can think is that revue. Humming the melodies and feeling lovestruck. What have you done?!

Short-listed for an Oscar, Maren Ade`s bittersweet dramedy on father/daughter relationship is without any hesitation best film of the year. Though she had previously proven her work as producer with Miguel Gomes magnum opus trilogy The Arabian Nights and as director with All Anderen, she transcends herself as the best female director of the world in this three-hour enchanting metaphor of declining old world.

Ines (played dashingly by Sandra Hüller) a vicious business consultant and reluctant woman must spend time with her estranged father (the Grand Guignol moppy-head Peter Simonischek) when he comes for a surprise visit for her holiday. Toni`s odd manners and prank-prober habits forces herself to sent him back while still graying and bleeding. But he comes back in a persona, say a goofy alter ego, as Toni Erdmann, a consultant and life coach. From there she surprisingly manage to accompany Ines in her business meetings and eventually shows up in her melt-down point, in an old-fashioned German Freikörperkultur. Where he appears dressed up as an all-hairy gruesome ape-like monster, and see her team-building exercise - rather her life - so empty and unpopular.

You can either cry out your eyes or laugh your heart out in every scene, but one thing is for granted. After watching this masterpiece you are going to walk through your feelings again and think more and more about your mood swings. You are now "Toni Erdmanned"

In a year everybody is dazed and crazy for the grandeur and inventiveness of La La Land, it is hard to point your fingers to something else to describe the new definition of movie musical. But at the end of London Road your keen eye for the go-betweens of Opera, Film, and Stage Musical would be stoned. Truth to be told, I have never encountered with something more subtle, brilliant. It is exquisitely outperforming to the extent that gives this genre a whole new richness, profundity and meaning.

A cine-opera by magical numbers such as “It Could Be Him,” “Cellular Material,” and a documentary in the style of verbatim reportage, you just need a chameleon like Olivia Coleman (and of course Tom Hardy) the new-coming director Rufus Norris is already claiming his reign for the realm that was ruled by Clio Barnard in The Arbor or Andrea Arnold in Fish Tank . The New British Cinema!

P.S. that The Musical Is Back!

1- Arnold Desplechin & Terrence Malick. What these two masters have in common? if you look at this films you might not find it, but if you dig more about them you see they both consider themselves as the pupils of a master philosopher: Stanely Cavell. The effect is not about how they make movies about philosophical problems or rather filming philosophy, but in away they both inherit their own way of thinking about movies from Cavell. They make movies which many
"bear in their experience as memorable public events, segments of the experience,the memories,of a common life. So that the difficulty of assessing them is the same as the difficulty of assessing everyday experience,the difficulty of...making oneself find the words for what one is specifically interested to say, which comes to the difficulty of finding the right to be thus interested....This poses...the specific difficulty of philosophy and calls upon its particular strength, to receive inspiration for taking thought from the very conditions that oppose thought."

2- My Golden Days is a movie about ordinary life. And it takes us to bear witness of such segments of experience, and its lead character, ironically named Paul Deadalus - played by the vibrant Mathew Amaleric - difficulties of finding words to narrate what he is specifically interested to say about it, and surprisingly his fights and struggles among his friends and circumstances to find the right to be thus interested. The story which should be presented as ordinary as " A middle-aged anthropologist reminisces about family, school adventures, a student trip to the USSR and the love of his life" turns into a contemplation on the difference of Showable/Sayable. The difficulty which is highly crafted and decorated in Desplechin`s portrayal of France in the 80s and told by the love affair of Paul with Esther (Lou Roy-Lecollinet). So it got presented like an ill-fated long distance affair, in which the affinity and intimacy of the relationship mostly filled by letters rather than presence of the opposite sexes and their togetherness. A new revision of -or an addendum to- the so-called genre of "Melodrama of Unknown Women" and an hommage to its flagship movie "Letter from the unknown woman". Plus it is a prequel to "My Sex Life… or or How I Got into an Argument".

It is amazing how a filmmaker can achieve such a huge aesthetic endeavors after his second Film. “Aquarius” is one of the rallying points for today`s embattled left, but eventually everybody will be aware of the film’s timeliness - It doesn't`t feel right, It`s gonna pass!
We can argue that Clara’s fight, and the artistic vision that supports it, has a conservative dimension. Clara represents values that look, in the current climate, decidedly old-fashioned. Envisioned by glamorous - Sonia Braga - Clara is a warrior for aesthetic distinction, for critical thought, for sexual and creative liberty — for things that cannot be bought, sold or indexed (maybe, inspired and inherited by her aunt, passed to her niece`s girlfriend).
One thing is for sure, she is not someone you want to go up against in a fight. she is the cinematic portrayal Dilma.

How could i never got interested in Koreada`s work? I think it was because i was a child and not mature enough. This is my most beloved Asian film so far, has a long-forgotten touch once every cinephile had known as Ozu touch. Although you can easily trace Kore-eda`s mastery to Ozu, He has always confessed that he is more obsessed with Naruse style. The Film itself is breathtakingly sweet, heartrendingly subtle, and amazingly perfect in gathering an ensemble to draw a picture of the concept of a modern Family in the contemporary Japan. Those four sisters just shine upon my heart.

Still shocked about the Chan-Wook Park`s latest; Somehow the master of violence became a narrator of romance and ...
"The Handmaiden", which is far from everything we remember from him, is a free adaptation of "Sarah Waters"` acclaimed Victorian novel "Fingersmith", relocating the setting and characters from England to Japan and Korea, 1930s. It tells the story of Con man Count Fujiwara (Jung-woo Ha) who hires a pickpocket named Sook-hee (Min-hee Kim) to became the maid of the mysterious and fragile heiress Lady Hideko (Kim Tae-ri), in an attempt to seize her wealth. But the story takes a twist when the lady falls in love with her maid.

As his aficionado, you still can`t​ imagine how Park`s perfectly crafted historical images would freeze your eyes (courtesy of the usual wizard Chung-hoon Chung),or guess how his subtle adaptation and perverted eroticism would faze you out again, or be surprised about why there is not enough of Yeong-wook Jo on the soundtrack and those immortal gorey/bloody sequences of Park all over the screen. This all can get you bored or confused, or gives you the reason to criticize the length, or not-so-attractive flashbacks of the movie, or even worse force you to laugh at the some-how funny atmosphere of the most violent sequences of its ending. But you can not deny the exemplary love story a maestro told you all along, and how that story make you feel. That is the definition of beauty.

A female feminist auteur at the conjunction of Eric Rohmer literal cinema an Western, Kelly Reichardt adds some signature eurasian silence to solve her puzzle of avoidances while envying the questions. she does that with a surprising subtlety in her style that you can get tempted here and there to revise the whole idea of minimalism; The triptych stories are not not woven, not leading you to believe they will have a “get-together” at the end, they are just there swaying one another with the minimum overlap possible, laying side by side without any sense of confusion.

Laura Dern is used greatly as a fatigueous lawyer and Michelle Williams is brilliant in here smoking breaks, Kristen stewart proves her other-wordliness skills of acting in less shots you can even imagine and Lily Gladstone is a ray of hope for next generation of stars. This is a christmas wish wrapped in a movie by Santa called Certain Women.

It took me a while to find my connection with Andrea Arnold after "Wuthering Heights". Still, not as gripping as "Fish Tank", the "American Honey" has the best elements of that New British Realism movement Arnold and her pals mastered . It is amazingly bittersweet, powerfully undiscovered and hideously alive. Special thanks to Sasha Blane.

Such a grand work on human tolerance and capacity is something everybody expects from Scorsese. He did his passion project about the lost priests of medieval Japan after 30 years. The movie has all the recurring themes of his previous works; Religion, Martyrdom, Christianity and nature of the faith. But it lacks great acting. I am sorry to say i couldn't`t believe Andrew Garfield as a priest all along, nor could Liam Neeson suspend my disbelief.
I think I am more of skeptic now than i was before.

This is a mastery in Long Takes, Right Now, Wrong Then is far from usual pretentious attempts to shove the aesthetics of cinema into peoples mind. You`ll be surprised how much a same incident got carried away just by changing angels and pauses and silences. Let alone how the painter`s heart (played by unbelievable Min-hee Kim - The Handmaiden) would be conquered The very idea you perceive immediately is something like the rebellion speech of director ( the brilliant Jae-yeong Jong) at the end of his movie screening:


"A lot of sounds are running through my head, and if i utter those sounds they become words, But at the end of the day words will remain just words. The films, myself, your experiences, your lives... All of these things have nothing to do with words! Power of words? What a Joke! Why do people keep searching for those words as if they were something special... for me there is no such thing as important words. On the contrary. They are just a hindrance!"

This is the key answer to how you need to understand this masterpiece and or as film suggests "The Definition of Film". Also it is a key to find the answer for the old question of "What is Film?". This is film according to Hong Sang-soo!

What is amazing about the chameleon Kim Jee-woon is that he often goes beyond the norms of Asian Pulp; He proved his mastery in Western (“The Good, the Bad and the Weird”) and horror (“A Tale of Two Sisters,” and the vicious “I Saw the Devil”) alongside his usual action flicks, but in "The Age of Shadows" he goes in depth - with some Carol Reed vibe - into resistance/occupation genre. The movie has to giants standing as protagonists "Song Kang-Ho" and "Gong Yoo" and though it takes goes off-beat sometimes along the two hours, takes you with them to the fascinating story from Korea independence of Japan

I am with the force and force is with me! The latest installment has much greater things to enjoy; a new android called K-2SO, some volatile diverse heroes and heroines, Amazingly crafted battleships and fight scenes, and a very reasonable back story. It is not as breath-taking as The Force Awakens, but it seriously has some forces with it.
Felicity Jones is not as hot as Rey or Lea, but the dynamic works very well with Diego Luna and Riz Ahmed. Forest Whitaker and Mads Mikkelsen are great and the two asian protectors of Jedi Legacy are right out of Wuxia movies. Such a nice collaboration and such a Joy. May the force be with you.

P.S. Find the nearest IMAX, don`t compromise your cinematic experience on anything else with this movie.

Rare jewel in the wilderness of fast-food movies. The classy, elegant and masterful adaptation in Terrence Davies` "Sunset Song" takes your heart and soul to a two hour journey of "Why you have to watch the classics in Cinema". It`s a rare spirit you would hardly find in any places of today`s cinema.

p.s. Terrence Davies retrospect begins...

The best thing has happened to Iranian History so far; Honest, Truthful and Breathtaking.

It`s a quiet rage against injustice, so mildly flourished, so calmly plotted through the movie that you cannot betray yourself by digesting it. I, Daniel Blake is persistently meddling in the failures of the British benefit system with a social realistic nose until it gives you that grim perception of you`re own end of the line. Whether or not you are British, you can absorb that shame and brutality of the food bank sequence. And though you might feel you are stuck with some old lecture from an old commie (Ken Loach), by the shocking death of Daniel Blake (the heartwarming Dave Johns) at the end you feel quite outraged.
It is not my own taste, but i have nothing more than respect for it.

P.S. Oh, that eulogy from Hayley Squires.

Oddly a comedy than a Verite, Richard Linklater`s follow-up to “Dazed & Confused” is something you won`t forget for many years. With a great lovely ensemble who are definitely going to be our next film stars, the film proves that – along with “The Nice Guys” – why you need to put more attention to 70s sub-culture and let go of these 80s nonsense.

Behind this never-ending joy of testosterone driven boys and their constant hornieness, immediately you will find a movie which is amazingly crafted, deceptively written ,and masterfully acted by the new best thing that is happening to Hollywood. Loved every second of it. Let`s hear it for the gang:

Blake Jenner

Tyler Hoechlin

Ryan Guzman

Juston Street

Wyatt Russell

Glen Powell

Temple Baker

J. Quinton Johnson

Will Brittain

Zoey Deutch

Austin Amelio

Tanner Kalina

Forrest Vickery

There is a sheer IQ in every Farhadi movie that help you get fascinated, but if you have known him as your teacher from 15 years ago you definitely understand why i`m not surprised here...

P.S. don`t read any reviews before watching it.

Hitchcock + Lynch + Kubrick = Tom Ford`s second feature. It is one of the most promising narrations i`ve heard this year and one of the most amazing rape/revenge rape dramas i`ve set my eyes on after "I spit on your grave". Kneel!

The untouchable novel has finally made it to the silver screen by a visionary director`s craft, and it has certainly broke the myth of great novels are ruined notoriously when they are filmed.

The amazing recap of Marvel`s cinematic magic. It adds another dimension to the expansion of an ever-popularizing universe when it absorbs the mind-teaser concepts of time and geometry. It also establishes Benedict Cumberbatch as yet another portrayal of an arrogant genius of a prick. It is hilariously thrilling, brilliantly narrated and powerfully visualized. It is a total joy to watch. Welcome abroad Doc!

Breath-taking enough, another deconstruction of the sacred traditional idea of Family in the subtle hands of a Koreeda brings out his usual magic. After the Storm successfully captures the great sensei’s humanistic spirit in the stories and the details and reincarnates Ozu`s in the 21st century. Which despite his devotion to Naruse, seems more aptly deserving.
Yōko Maki is dashingly subtle as remarrying ex-wife and Hiroshi Abe outperforms the divroce father/son dynamic with Taiyô Yoshizawa which are all stuck in the rare chance of the occurring typhoon. Shading above them all is the gracious presence of Kirin Kiki as the mother whom you are sorroudning your heart willingly - again and again - in each and everyone of her artistic touchs.

P.S. I was just digesting the magnificient beauty of Our Little Sister for 2016...What a year!

Is Makoto Shinkai a true heir to Myazaki? Are we seeing a movie with both Myazaki and Satoshi Kon`s brilliance in one disguise?
It is undeniable that the film is brilliant and it`s revolves so masterfully and fluidly around all the generic conventions of body-swap, disaster-movie and time-travel that you might even need to see it twice to understand the narration. But eventually what remains with you is that huge momentum of lovestruck feelings that rushes through your vein, as if you were struck by a comet.

Hideously alive, fittingly brave, and socially apt; Those are just few immediate expressions among a long list of reactions you could utter for Houda Benyamina`s debut picture Divines. A soromance/coming-of-age/banlieue flick that robs your heart easily with her sensational heroines and hybrid style of using cellphones and movie cameras.

In a housing estate on the outskirts of Paris, ironically called Roma, Dounia a teenager (played by live-wire Oulaya Amamra) who is hungry for her share of power and success becomes a runner for a drug dealer. When she meets a male dancer Djigui (mesmerizing Kevin Mischel) a window of opportunity offers a different kind of life. The life she thinks she can portrays all by herself.

Déborah Lukumuena as Dounia`s buddy Maimouna is divine and the whole ensemble playing as fit as a fiddle for Amamra`s solo appearance`s. What a jouissance!

John Carney lives the music through his films, he know it and he makes love to it. Sing Street is just another episode of his mastery of making Musicals after Once and Begin Again. He is getting better and better and we are falling slowly.

P.S. This year was a golden comeback for Musicals: La La land, London Road and now Sing Street. Here we have two rising stars to shine Ferdia Walsh-Peelo and of course his diva Lucy Boynton.