Late last year, Talkhouse Film contributors and a select few friends of the site voted on their favorite theatrical releases of 2016; you can see the aggregated results here. Below is each individual ballot from the more than 50 filmmakers who took part in the voting process.
Rodney Ascher
10. Uncle Kent 2
09. The Nice Guys
08. The Secret Life of Pets / Wiener-Dog / Weiner
07. Pete’s Dragon
06. I Am Not Your Negro / HyperNormalisation
05. The Love Witch
04. Elle
03. Tower
02. The Neon Demon
01. Green Room
Comments
I would’ve squeezed The Witch in there someplace, but I listed it last year after seeing it a festival.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
My Wild Lunch with John C. Lilly, the Scientist Who Inspired Arrival
Sean Baker
I still have a bunch of films to see from this year so I can’t yet form a Top 10 list, but there is one film that moved me like no other: Roberto Minervini’s The Other Side. This film defines 2016 for me – an incredibly eye-opening documentary that was a clear warning and a prediction of the Trump election. Roberto Minervini is the filmmaker I’m most excited about at this moment.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
How can Sarah Gertrude Shapiro (UnREAL) Talks Sean Baker’s Tangerine not be my favorite!
Stephanie Barber
1. Losing Ground (Kathleen Collins)
2. Selma (Ava DuVernay)
3. Viceroy’s House (Gurinder Chadha)
4. The Rehearsal (Alison Maclean)
5. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
6. A United Kingdom (Amma Asante)
7. American Honey (Andrea Arnold)
8. Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt)
9. Things To Come (Mia Hansen-Løve)
10. Bridget Jones’ Baby (Sharon Maguire)
Comments
I know that you all know a clear and obvious reason white men are able to make more and better work is they are afforded the ability to learn and fail and consequently succeed in public. It is their birthright. They are the default person, unhindered by giant chips of historical abuse and neglect weighing down weirdly shaped or colored shoulders. Think of all the support given to Bob Dylan which allowed him to make so many very bad albums and the very few moderately good ones. “OK, we know he is a middle-class hetero white male genius with a not overwhelmingly threatening sexuality and an admirable dedication to nursery familiar rhyming schemes, let’s cut him some slack and enable him to make three albums this year!” Imagine if such continued support and praise were regularly heaped on women and all others not falling into the default western personhood descriptor which represents “artist” (or “human”)? Trump’s cabinet of horrors, Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize (Stevie Wonder? Joni Mitchell? Joan Armatrading? There are some seriously talented writers working in pop music) and me here in sad angry Baltimore reading a ton of Sylvia Federici are all begging me ask the question “Just what does BEST mean in a ‘best films of 2016 list’?” I have not seen any 2016 theatrical releases. (Is this true? True or very near to true.) I know I should not admit this. It’s just that I am working on a film myself and have been for the whole year … I spend every day staring at screens editing or viewing films with students for my other job and I rarely want to watch anything when I am not working. Perhaps a more self-restrained person would gracefully decline the invitation to put in her two cents but, in thinking about just what I think is BEST it has occurred to me that a very logically sound argument could be made for thinking that any woman who has directed a feature-length film with a theatrical release has done the very best thing. Regardless of the quality of the final piece, or perhaps, entwined necessarily with the quality of the piece. The best. Because it’s so hard, y’all. Here are ten people that did the BEST (which is to say that, against all odds they manifested their vision and served as a leader in the often aggressively sexist space of cinema).
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Why Trump’s Victory Made Me Decide to Go Make Movies in Mexico
Patrick Brice
1. Moonlight (Jenkins)
2. Sand Storm (Zexer)
3. O.J.: Made in America (Edelman)
4. Antonia (Filomarino)
5. Little Men (Sachs)
6. Before the Streets (Leriche)
7. De Palma (Baumbach & Paltrow)
8. Krisha (Shults)
9. Songs My Brother Taught Me (Zhao)
10. Hail, Caesar! (Coens)
Comments
This list is far from comprehensive or complete, there is so much I haven’t seen this year. Though I can say I learned something watching each of the films on this list.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Caveh Zahedi on Bowie
Bernardo Britto
Can’t rank these but here are 10 of the movies I really liked this year in alphabetical order. Could easily list 10 more.
20th Century Women
Aquarius
Cameraperson
Everybody Wants Some!!
Jackie
La La Land
Love & Friendship
Moonlight
Swiss Army Man
Weiner
Comments
Love watching movies, hope people keep making them. I saw 75 or so new releases this year and only like five were actually bad. Shout out to everyone who watched these movies with me! 🙂
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Why I Stopped Wanting to Make Serious Art Films and Came to Believe Movies Should Be Fun
Yung Chang
Decided to focus on my favorite East Asian and Southeast Asian films that I’ve seen, released in the US theatrically in 2016. These include old and new. In no particular order.
The Terrorizers (Edward Yang) [1986]
I am Not Madame Bovary (Feng Xiaogang)
Old Stone (Johnny Ma)
Hooligan Sparrow (Nanfu Wang)
Kaili Blues (Bi Gan)
Tharlo (Pema Tseden)
Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)
‘Til Madness Do Us Part (Wang Bing)
Cemetery of Splendor (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
The Mermaid (Stephen Chow)
Comments
This year was an acute awakening amongst the Asian community as we rallied against Hollywood’s ignorant demoralizing white-washing and yellow-facing. As the shape of cinema reflects the changing world, now, more than ever, do we need critics and filmmakers who see through the eyes of representation. It’s our reality. It reflects our world.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Rose McGowan’s Open Letter to Scott Baio and Those Like Him
Zach Clark
1. The Love Witch
2. Horace and Pete
3. Elle
4. American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson
5. The Lobster
6. Uncle Kent 2
7. The Witch
8. Cemetery of Splendor
9. Lemonade
10. Men Go to Battle
Comments
So many movies I still haven’t seen this year!
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
This is selfish, but I’m still pretty overjoyed that I got to chat with John Waters about Multiple Maniacs.
Brandon Colvin
1. Only Yesterday
2. Things to Come
3. The Treasure
4. The Wailing
5. Chevalier
6. Cemetery of Splendor
7. The Handmaiden
8. For the Plasma
9. Louder Than Bombs
10. The Childhood of a Leader
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Nathan Silver’s The Essence of Agony
Stephen Cone
1. Everybody Wants Some!!
2. Cemetery of Splendor
3. Louder Than Bombs
4. Being 17
5. The Witch
6. 13th
7. Manchester by the Sea
8. Moonlight
9. Krisha
10. Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids
Comments
So many more to see (Paterson, Toni Erdmann, Things to Come, Cameraperson, etc.), but what a late-year surprise I found in Louder Than Bombs, a film every bit as finely, movingly observed as Manchester by the Sea.
Scott Cummings
1. Cemetery of Splendor
2. MUBI online Lav Diaz retrospective
3. Moonlight
4. Dark Night
5. The Other Side
6. American Honey
7. Kate Plays Christine
8. No Home Movie
9. How Heavy This Hammer
10. Lil Yachty “1Night”
Comments
I didn’t get out to see much this year beyond festivals, but MUBI’s online Lav Diaz retrospective has been taking up almost all my movie-watching time. It’s hard enough seeing his films in the U.S., but having a child and having to shill out for a babysitter for an 11 hour runtime makes it virtually impossible at this point in my life. Totally the most essential cinema experience of the year.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
How Filmmaker and Street Photographer Jay Giampietro Saw Trump’s New York on Election Day 2016
David Dastmalchian
1. Arrival
2. Moonlight
3. Krisha
4. Embrace of the Serpent
5. Don’t Breathe
6. Manchester by the Sea
7. The Alchemists Cookbook (Potrykus)
8. The Lobster
9. Captain America: Civil War
10. Miles (Adloff)
Lance Edmands
1. HyperNormalisation
2. Paterson
3. Elle
4. Toni Erdmann
5. Certain Women
6. Moonlight
7. World Series Game 7
8. Manchester by the Sea
9. The Fits
10. The Witch
Comments
If other non-films like the OJ TV doc and Lemonade can be included on these lists, then so should Game 7 of the World Series. Pound-for-pound the most riveting, engaging unscripted narrative event of the year. Baseball is the epitome of slow cinema, if such a thing exists – and unlike 99% of other mainstream entertainment, you never knew how it was going to end.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Alex Ross Perry on The Neon Demon
Jeanie Finlay
1. Under the Shadow
2. O.J.: Made in America
3. Moonlight
4. Mustang
5. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
6. Where You’re Meant to Be
7. Swiss Army Man
8. Our Little Sister
9. Weiner
10. Lemonade
Comments
I watched surprisingly few documentaries in 2016, through more circumstance than choice. O.J.: Made in America blew me away. Watched alongside the fictional OJ drama, it demonstrated time and again the power of non-fiction to get to the heart of a story in a decade-spanning, meticulous and emotional film. So much more than O.J., it told the story of America. Where You’re Meant to Be couldn’t be smaller in focus or ambition, Aidan Moffat going in search of the folk music of Scotland, but it packs a huge emotional wallop that I couldn’t stop thinking about.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
I’m partial, but I really appreciated Steven articulating the way that grief and horror are linked for him.
Ryan Fleck
1. American Honey
2. Moonlight
3. 20th Century Women
4. Loving
5. O.J.: Made in America
6. Manchester by the Sea
7. 13th
8. Everybody Wants Some!!
9. Hell or High Water
10. La La Land / Deadpool / Captain Fantastic / Little Men / The Witch / Hidden Figures / White Girl / Christine
Ted Geoghegan
1. Green Room
2. Train to Busan
3. Sing Street
4. The Autopsy of Jane Doe
5. Zootopia
6. Don’t Breathe
7. In a Valley of Violence
8. The Jungle Book
9. Captain America: Civil War
10. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Nelson George
1. Moonlight
2. Fences
3. I Am Not Your Negro
4. Hell or High Water
5. The Handmaiden
6. Elle
7. La La Land
8. Don’t Breathe
9. Doctor Strange
10. The Purge: Election Year
Comments
My first three picks reflect that 2016 was a remarkable year in black American cinema that was laced with controversy, struggle and great thematic ambition. Hell or High Water confirms that Taylor Sheridan is one amazing roll as a screenwriter, facing the brutality of the modern economy with the honesty our politicians do not. Economic uncertainly, class warfare and a thirst for vengeance make my favorite B movies of the year (Don’t Breathe, The Purge: Election Year) better social commentary that lots of A list cinema. Plus Don’t Breathe is just a great haunted house movie except the ghost is a MMA blind man.
Chris Goodwin
1. O.J.: Made in America
2. Moonlight
3. Manchester by the Sea
4. Jackie
5. Barry
6. Elle
7. Fences
8. 20th Century Women
9. Deadpool
10. Hacksaw Ridge
Vincent Grashaw
1. The Witch
2. Hell or High Water
3. Arrival
4. Jackie
5. Green Room
6. Live By Night
7. Manchester by the Sea
8. Moonlight
9. Edge of Seventeen
10. The Neon Demon
Megan Griffiths
1. Moonlight
2. American Honey
3. Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell
4. Uncle Kent 2
5. Free In Deed
6. 13th
7. Captain Fantastic
8. Manchester by the Sea
9. Lamb
10. The Lobster
Comments
I haven’t seen all the movies I want to see, and I’m actually not sure if Free in Deed got a release this year. But I saw it at a festival and I wasn’t sure what other chance I’d get to call it out. Such a powerful film.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
How Volunteering for Hillary Taught Me to Take Action Against Impending Doom
Chadd Harbold
1. O.J.: Made in America (Ezra Edelman)
2. Elle (Paul Verhoeven)
3. Everybody Wants Some!! (Richard Linklater)
4. No Home Movie (Chantal Akerman)
5. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
6. The Witch (Robert Eggers)
7. Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan)
8. Krisha (Trey Edward Shults)
9. De Palma (Noah Baumbach/Jake Paltrow)
10. The Edge of Seventeen (Kelly Fremon Craig)
Comments
Honorable Mention: The BFG, Cemetery of Splendor, Certain Women, Dog Eat Dog, Hacksaw Ridge, Hail, Caesar!, The Handmaiden, Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party, The Jungle Book, Mountains May Depart, Moonlight, The Nice Guys, Paterson, Sunset Song, Sully. Have not yet seen American Honey, Cameraperson, Embrace of the Serpent, The Fits, Silence, and many others.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Underrated/Overlooked: Joe Swanberg on The Show About the Show
Ian Harnarine
In alphabetical order:
Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson)
The House on Coco Road (Damani Baker)
I Am Not Your Negro (Raoul Peck)
Krisha (Trey Edward Shults)
Lion (Garth Davis)
Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
Nuts! (Penny Lane)
O.J.: Made in America (Ezra Edelman)
Other People (Chris Kelly)
Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
The Man in the Ring: With Derek Cianfrance in Venice for the Premiere of The Light Between Oceans
Chad Hartigan
1. Swiss Army Man
2. Moonlight
3. La La Land
4. Toni Erdmann
5. Hunter Gatherer
6. Jackie
7. Finding Dory
8. Always Shine
9. The Witch
10. The Treasure
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Zach Clark Talks With John Waters
Simon Hawkins
1. Don’t Think Twice
2. Sing Street
3. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
4. La La Land
5. Arrival
6. Moonlight
7. Swiss Army Man
8. Manchester by the Sea
9. The Edge of Seventeen
10. The Jungle Book
Pat Healy
1. O.J.: Made in America
2. Elle
3. Manchester by the Sea
4. La La Land
5. Florence Foster Jenkins
6. Don’t Breathe
7. Sing Street
8. Toni Erdmann
9. Weiner
10. The Edge of Seventeen
Jim Hemphill
1. La La Land
2. Elle
3. Everybody Wants Some!!
4. Allied
5. Wiener-Dog
6. Silence
7. Arrival
8. Hell or High Water
9. The Brothers Grimsby
10. Paterson
Jim Hosking
1. Helmut Berger, Actor (Andreas Horvath)
2. Right Now, Wrong Then (Hong Sang-soo)
3. Cemetery of Splendor (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
4. Afternoon (Tsai Ming-liang)
5. Graduation (Cristian Mungiu)
6. Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra)
7. Dheepan (Jacques Audiard)
8. White Girl (Elizabeth Wood)
9. Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Koreeda)
10. The Wailing (Na Hong-jin)
Comments
Watch the Helmut Berger film if you haven’t seen it. The most remarkable film I saw this year. And then wind down afterwards by watching Afternoon for some calming relief.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Looking Back on Bowie: My Dinner with David, and His Lazarus Video by James Marsh
Aaron Katz
1. Jackie
2. Moonlight
3. Embrace of the Serpent
4. Our Little Sister
5. Love & Friendship
6. Cemetery of Splendor
7. La La Land
8. Morris From America
9. The Neon Demon
10. Certain Women
Eugene Kotlyarenko
New
1. The Wailing
2. Elle
3. Love & Friendship
4. Sully
5. Silence
Old
1. The Insect Woman (1963)
2. The Grim Reaper (1962)
3. The Eiger Sanction (1975)
4. The Roaring Twenties (1939)
5. Full Frontal (2002)
Comments
All movies are political.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Andrew Matthews’ Plotblocking critique of Stranger Things, which got to the heart of television’s innate and insidious qualities LOL
Wayne Kramer
1. Hell or High Water
2. Hacksaw Ridge
3. Hidden Figures
4. La La Land
5. Live By Night
6. Jackie
7. High Rise
8. Patriots Day
9. Doctor Strange
10. Lion
Bruce LaBruce
1. Julieta
2. The Ornithologist
3. The War Show
4. Fire at Sea
5. Creepy
6. The Neon Demon
7. Love & Friendship
8. Other People
9. Staying Vertical
10. Pamilya Ordinaryo
Comments
The Neon Demon is also on my top 10 worst films of the year.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Why I Stopped Wanting to Make Serious Art Films and Came to Believe Movies Should Be Fun
Lucas Leyva
1. Moonlight
2. Swiss Army Man
3. Shin Godzilla
4. Jacqueline (Argentine)
5. American Honey
6. Nasty Baby
7. San Junipero
8. Elle
9. Weiner
10. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Clay Liford
1. The Greasy Strangler
2. Moonlight
3. Green Room
4. Hunt for Wilderpeople
5. The Love Witch
6. The Fits
7. Little Sister
8. The Handmaiden
9. Pete’s Dragon
10. Arrival
Comments
Favorite criminally unreleased movie of the year: Chris Brown’s The Other Kids. Why the hell is this film not released? I blame the 2016 curse.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Zach Clark and John Waters!
Jonathan Lisecki
1. Moonlight
2. O.J.: Made in America
3. 13th
4. Little Sister
5. Spa Night
6. Always Shine
7. (thematic tie) Christine / Kate Plays Christine
8. Morris from America
9. Little Men
10. Being 17 / Pete’s Dragon / Hunter Gatherer / Hello, My Name Is Doris
Comments
I quite liked the film about the sad, straight, white guy who finally has to grow up but since it’s now 2017 can I beg everyone to stop making variations of that film. Thanks! Also, The People v. O.J. Simpson should be in the above list but it was on TV so I’ll obey the rules just this once.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Clay Liford’s Fanboys, Hollywood Owes You Nothing
David Lowery
9. The Childhood of a Leader
8. The Conjuring 2
7. Elle
6. The Fits
5. Jackie
4. The Love Witch
3. Moonlight
2. Neon Bull
1. The Witch
Comments
I love all of the movies I listed above, but I love Horace and Pete even more. It depressed me for weeks and inspired me all year long. So even though there were plenty of great movies I could have finished out my list with (Manchester by the Sea, Silence), I’m leaving an honorary spot open for this bit of long form expression.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Anything by Terence Nance.
Melanie Lynskey
1. Moonlight
2. The Lobster
3. Under The Shadow
4. 13th
5. Don’t Think Twice
6. Free in Deed
7. Captain Fantastic
8. Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story)
9. Hello, My Name Is Doris
10. Krisha
Comments
I don’t know if Free in Deed was released this year but it was nominated for Spirit Awards, so maybe? It was so powerful and features one of the all-time great child performances, from newcomer RaJay Chandler. Another great child performance I saw this year is by Avin Manshadi in Under the Shadow, another movie on my list.
I just went with instinctive feelings and made my list very quickly! I feel like so much is being left off. I was so excited by and incredibly moved by Hunt for the Wilderpeople which has ANOTHER amazing child performance, from Julian Dennison, who is just perfection. And I can’t believe I didn’t have room for The Meddler, which made me weep with laughter and with heartbreak.
I also loved the beautiful and meticulous Paterson, filled with poetry and light and humanity.
I’m so bummed I had to make this list before getting to see Toni Erdmann, The Bad Kids, or ANY of the three films this year starring my favourite actress of all time, Isabelle Huppert.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
My favorite Talkhouse piece this year was Lou Pepe’s essay about what he loves about documentary filmmaking – I think he’s a master and just uncommonly sensitive and thoughtful, and I loved reading that (and I’m still mad at the flu I had for two months that ensured I couldn’t go to any screenings of The Bad Kids).
James Marsh
1. Embrace of the Serpent
2. O.J.: Made in America
3. Cemetery of Splendor
4. The Lobster
5. Hell or High Water
6. The Club
7. Arrival
8. Dheepan
9. Midnight Special
10. The Witch
Comments
It’s worth a quick comment on the omissions. La La Land, Manchester by the Sea and Eagle Huntress, all likely award winners, left me cold and disgruntled. Each film in its own way seemed phoney and overwrought, over-processed, dishonest. La La Land had the simultaneously redeeming and damning virtue of being pure escapism in a year when we probably needed it but didn’t deserve it.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Luke Haines (the Auteurs, Blackbox Recorder) Was Not Thrilled When He Heard the Pixies Had a New Record
Michael Mohan
1. Pass Thru (Neil Breen)
2. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
3. La La Land (Damien Chazelle)
4. Arrival (Denis Villeneuve)
5. The Witch (Robert Eggers)
6. Swiss Army Man (DANIELS)
7. 10 Cloverfield Lane (Dan Trachtenberg)
8. Green Room (Jeremy Saulnier)
9. Louder Than Bombs (Joachim Trier)
10. Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (Jake Szymanski)
Adam Egypt Mortimer
1. Kicks
2. American Honey
3. One More Time With Feeling
4. Lemonade
5. Knight of Cups
6. The Birth of a Nation
7. Green Room
8. Fences
9. Arrival
10. The Invitation
Comments
One More Time With Feeling was somehow able to be a brilliant music performance film, a devastating emotional documentary, a transcendent metaphysical experience, and the best use of 3D I’ve seen – while also somehow being the second of two incredible documentaries about the same subject (Nick Cave). When I saw it in the theater I noticed more people coming in to watch it by themselves than is usual for a Friday night movie, and by the end of it I felt as if we’d all gone to church together.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
How I Wrote Arrival (and What I Learned Doing It) by Eric Heisserer
Terence Nance
1. Moonlight
2. Embrace of the Serpent
3. The Fits
4. Aquarius
5. Daughters of the Dust (re-release)
6. Lemonade
7. Queen of Katwe
8. 13th
9. Dheepan
10. Arrival
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Protesting HBO’s Mogadishu, Minnesota and Why Filmmakers Must Not Take Ownership of Others’ Stories
Victoria Negri
1. Certain Women
2. No Home Movie
3. Moonlight
4. O.J.: Made in America
5. The Fits
6. Cameraperson
7. Paterson
8. Fire at Sea
9. Jackie
10. 20th Century Women
Comments
Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women is the antithesis of an emotionally manipulative film, and yet, I sat through the credits, unable to move and sobbing.
Favorite Talkhouse Film pieces of 2016
A lot, of course! To name a few: Why I Stopped Wanting to Make Serious Art Films and Came to Believe Movies Should Be Fun by Jim Hosking, Death, Grief and Why Horror Films Truly Matter by Steven Sheil, Damn You, Hollywood, For These Unrealistic Expectations by Sasha Gordon, Open Up the Gates: Women Want to Direct Action Movies by Jennifer Reeder.
Alex Ross Perry
1. The Neon Demon
2. Zootopia
3. The Witch
4. Rogue One
5. Elle
6. Jackie
7. Sunset Song
8. Manchester by the Sea
9. Green Room
10. Certain Women
Sierra Pettengill
1. Fire at Sea
2. Cameraperson
3. Manchester by the Sea
4. Homeland: Iraq Year Zero
5. Cemetery of Splendor
6. O.J.: Made in America
7. Paterson
8. The Fits
9. Kate Plays Christine
10. Peter and the Farm
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
How Filmmaker and Street Photographer Jay Giampietro Saw Trump’s New York on Election Day 2016
Joel Potrykus
1. The Lobster
2. Rogue One
3. Operation Avalanche
4. Tickled
5. The Greasy Strangler
6. Green Room
7. Weiner
8. Actor Martinez
9. The Alchemist Cookbook
10. Uncle Kent 2
Calvin Reeder
1. The Greasy Strangler
2. Green Room
3. The Lobster
4. Antibirth
5. The Neon Demon
6. Cosmos
7. Uncle Kent 2
8. The Witch
9. Midnight Special
10. The Night Stalker
Jeff Reichert
1. No Home Movie
2. The Illinois Parables
3. Toni Erdmann
4. Knight of Cups
5. Cemetery of Splendor
6. Cameraperson
7. Aquarius
8. Fire at Sea
9. Sunset Song
10. The Other Side
Todd Rohal
1. One More Time With Feeling
2. O.J.: Made In America
3. Weiner
4. Author: The JT LeRoy Story
5. Manchester By the Sea
6. The Lobster
7. Green Room
8. The Little Prince
9. Hunter Gatherer
10. The Greasy Strangler
Dash Shaw
These are in alphabetical order:
13th
The Bad Batch
Don’t Breathe
Fort Buchanan
Godzilla Resurgence
The Itching
The Lobster
The Love Witch
Moonlight
Raw
Comments
I never saw Toni Erdmann… I didn’t see a lot of key movies.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Anna Biller’s Bluebeard at the Movies
Leah Shore
1. The Love Witch
2. The Witch
3. Kubo and the Two Strings
4. The Lobster
5. The Handmaiden
6. Little Sister
7. Krisha
8. Elle
9. Swiss Army Man
10. Moonlight
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Video Essay: The Essence of Agony
Aaron Stewart-Ahn
1. Moonlight
2. Kaili Blues
3. The Fits
4. HyperNormalisation
5. On the Silver Globe (made the same year as Star Wars, almost entirely destroyed by politicians, this restoration finished by Żuławski a week before his death should be canonized for its final moments, which make censorship of art emotionally devastating & allow us to grieve the loss of one of the all time greatest filmmakers)
6. The Wailing
7. The Neon Demon
8. The Love Witch
9. Dheepan
10. American Honey / Arrival
Comments
Extremely difficult to narrow it down to ten this year, had to leave so many films off. It was a particularly strong year for global indie cinema, and for female auteurs. This year gives me an enormous amount of hope for filmmaking, for stories from places we don’t often go. The one film I saw most in theaters this year was Wong Kar-wai’s Happy Together – if you ever get a chance to see it in 35mm, do it.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Musa Syeed’s article on telling someone else’s story, Andrew Ahn’s on making Spa Night, and most of all Nicolas Boukhrief relating to us Żuławski’s advice on filmmaking, which I really should print and frame.
Stewart Thorndike
In alphabetical order:
Elle
Green Room
I, Daniel Blake
Julieta
Krisha
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
O.J.: Made in America
Women Who Kill
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
Stephen Winter’s Your Non-Stop, No-B.S. Guide to 2016’s Movies (and Other Indignities)
Onur Tukel
I think I may have watched 100 in 2016. Maybe two a week? That’s so sad for a filmmaker.
There are so many brilliant films I didn’t see.
Here are my favorites, in no particular order:
Hello, My Name is Doris – For those who like good old-fashioned comedies with a modern touch. Sally Field is brilliant.)
Morris From America – Craig Robinson, the kid who plays his son, the tutor (who was in Wetlands) … all fantastic. Will be completed ignored during awards season.
13th – Great documentary. Should be shown in high schools.
Slash and Little Sister and Always Shine and Creative Control – Four fantastic movies by filmmakers I know. Wonderful screenplays, performances, direction and entertaining from start to finish.
Don’t Think Twice – Accurately captures the desperation of an artist and the jealousy of others’ success.
Paterson – For the poet/artist in all of us. What it means (or should mean) to be human.
20th Century Women – Reminded me of the smart indie films of the ’90s, the kind that everyone went to see.
Fences – I love movies based on plays. The power of performance and dialogue is a big reason I love movies. But this movie is visually beautiful as well. Denzel Washington is a giant!
The Brothers Grimsby – Critics hate comedies like this. I thought it was so perfectly ribald and went beyond the limits of bad taste.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
The Great Missed Opportunity of Michael Moore in TrumpLand
Michael Tully
1. Moonlight
2. OJ: Made in America
3. Fire at Sea
4. I Am Not Your Negro
5. Cameraperson
6. Manchester by the Sea
7. Aquarius
8. The Fits
9. Elle
10. Toni Erdmann
Comments
In light of the election, the feature film that best encapsulates and expresses the American state-of-mind in the year 2016 is Roberto Minervini’s The Other Side.
Mayuran Tiruchelvam
1. Cameraperson
2. First Girl I Loved
3. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
4. Trapped
5. I Am Not Your Negro
6. City of Gold
7. Queen of Katwe
8. Under the Shadow
9. The Handmaiden
10. Tickled
Michael Tyburski
1. The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)
2. Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan)
3. 20th Century Women (Mike Mills)
4. Arrival (Denis Villeneuve)
5. Christine (Antonio Campos)
6. The Witch (Robert Eggers)
7. Into the Inferno (Werner Herzog)
8. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
9. Jackie (Pablo Larraín)
10. La La Land (Damien Chazelle)
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece of 2016
How I Wrote Arrival (and What I Learned Doing It)
Matthew Wilder
1. Silence
2. The Neon Demon
3. Jackie
4. Neruda
5. Cemetery of Splendor
6. Cosmos
7. No Home Movie
8. Hail, Caesar!
9. Demolition
10. Bleak Street
Stephen Winter
The Conjuring 2 (Wan)
Eye in the Sky (Hood)
The Get Down Episode 1 (Luhrmann)
Green Room (Saulnier)
Jackie (Larraín)
Kubo and the Two Strings (Knight, Laika)
Moonlight (Jenkins)
O.J.: Made in America (Edelman)
Tower (Maitland)
Unarmed Black Male (Jones)
Caveh Zahedi
I saw VERY few of the films that came out this year but here’s my top 10 of the ones I did see:
1. Thank You for Playing
2. Swiss Army Man
3. Fire at Sea
4. O.J.: Made in America
5. Uncle Kent 2
6. The Witch
7. 13th
8. Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru
9. Midnight Special
10. Men Go to Battle
