'La La Land,' 'Moonlight' cap Dann Gire's top 10 for 2016
Two movies deserve be named the best English language feature film of 2016: Damien Chazelle's musical “La La Land” and Barry Jenkins' coming-of-age drama “Moonlight.”
Both works qualify as groundbreaking, for they redefine their genres with visionary execution.
So, it's a tough call between “Moonlight” and “La La Land.” The winner is:
<b>1. “La La Land”</b> - Chazelle's bold and brilliant work marks a remastering of the great American movie musical, a collision of romance and dreams, cliché and innovation, realism and fantasy, culminating in a stunning segment re-imagining the problematic relationship between Sebastian and Mia (Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone) as a typical, happily-ever-after movie musical.
But that's not how things operate. Without realizing it, our decisions impact our lives and relationships down life's road. Through fantasy, “La La Land” reminds us of this harsh reality. Hence its misty-eyed bittersweet final scene.
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2. “Moonlight”</b> - The evolution of a gay, African-American boy in 1980s Florida through three stages in his life sets up Jenkins' moving pitch for empathy, tolerance and patience as we all search for identity on our own journeys.
“Moonlight” also touts the importance and power of forgiveness in one of the most sensitive and specific (yet curiously universal) movies I have ever seen.
<b>3. “Hidden Figures”</b> - The lively and insightful true story of the African-American women (as played by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe) who used their advanced science and math skills to launch NASA's space program in the 1950s and 1960s. Funny in parts. Inspiring in others. Upsetting in its treatment of nonwhites. Henson's superb rendering of her nerdy genius mixes humor, sympathy and grit.
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4. “Zootopia”</b> - This wild and comic political twist on “Animal Farm” works for both kids and adults as a reaffirmation of equal justice and opportunity while rejecting racial and gender stereotyping. “Zootopia” wraps a Sunday school lesson in a mystery pumped with smartly observed jokes and dense, layered visuals as rural bunny Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) achieves her dream to be Zootopia's first rabbit cop.
But when a terrible crime occurs, will she hop to it?
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5. “Eye in the Sky”</b> - Gavin Hood's political spy drone thriller takes what could easily be a static, one-set, one-act, real-time chamber drama and expands it into a crackling conversation about wartime ethics. It's a tight, twisty, high-tech morality tale teeming with tragedy and tension.
In Nairobi, British and American forces are about to bomb a house full of terrorists, until an adorable little girl sets up a bread stand inside the kill zone. Politics and practicality face off with personal morality in a film so sharp and smart and sly that it skirts the realm of black comedy.
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6. “The Jungle Book”</b> - Jon Favreau's wowie-pazzowie, eye-popping “Jungle Book” gives us an exhilarating motion picture experience that kerplops us into a Campbellian adventure in the middle of an authentic Indian jungle right out of a Rudyard Kipling storybook.
Young Neel Sethi beat out more than 2,000 boys to play Mowgli. He's the perfect choice, transparently boyish with a gangly pre-adolescent physicality that would give the Energizer Bunny a run for his batteries.
<b>7. “Manchester By the Sea”</b> - I bumped up my original three-star rating of Kenneth Lonergan's drama by half-a-star after a second viewing. Casey Affleck's perfect, understated performance propels this optimistic look at how lost souls eventually adjust and adapt to loss, confusion and loneliness. A slice of honest drama steeped in the ambiguity and unpredictability of real life.
<b>8. “A Monster Calls”</b> - Like Scrooge and his three ghosts, 12-year-old Conor (a raw, empathetic Lewis MacDougall) receives a visit from a Groot-like creature (Liam Neeson) who tells him three metaphorical stories, each designed to help him cope with bullies at school and his dying mother (Felicity Jones).
A rich, thoughtful fantasy from J.A. Bayona, director of the riveting disaster thriller “The Impossible” and the scariest movie of the 21st century so far, the Spanish production of “The Orphanage.”
<b>9. “Hunt for the Wilderpeople”</b> - A joyously humanistic, delightfully sweet and absurdly unlikely buddy road comedy about a preteen city orphan (Julian Dennison) and his crusty foster-dad (Sam Neill) surviving in the New Zealand bush while cops, hunters and social service workers give chase.
A glorious, single moment of awkward affection reveals the comedy's poignant message - that holding onto families, whatever form they take, requires a little effort and sacrifice.
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10. “The Witch”</b> - A stylish, meticulously crafted first feature from Robert Eggers and starring luminous new actress Anya Taylor-Joy. Not much on plot, but it's freakishly scary, building up an ominous atmosphere in lieu of cheap shock effects.
In 1630 New England, a Christian farm family moves next to a remote, dark woods harboring a witch who begins a campaign to destroy the invaders, using their own weaknesses and sins against them. The Chicago Film Critics named Eggers 2016's “Most Promising Filmmaker.”