It sounds like I'm making up every single detail of this exceptionally odd film, and that's a big part of what makes it so special: the sense that one of the oldest stories in the world has been stripped down to its essence and imagined all over again. And they can communicate with other ghosts seemingly through telepathy (though their conversations are indicated in subtitles). We quickly learn that not only do ghosts perceive time differently than we do-as in, barely at all: a day to us might feel like a second to one of them-they seem to have unfettered access to time.
Best movies 2017 cinema plus#
The obstruction standing between us and the hero's face has a Kabuki-like effect, reducing him to a series of gestures plus whatever props and setting happen to be around.
Best movies 2017 cinema movie#
It's an inherently comical image, but the movie plays it straight, and somehow this one-joke premise doesn't feel like a joke, or even as especially funny. This is more or less the starting point of Jerry Zucker's " Ghost," but "A Ghost Story" immediately goes in its own strange direction by visualizing the hero not as a transparent person or one surrounded by shimmering animated effects, but as a guy in a plain bedsheet with little eyeholes cut out, like a trick-or-treating child. A man ( Casey Affleck) dies suddenly, leaving his girlfriend ( Rooney Mara) bereft he lingers in the house in non-corporeal form, observing her grief but incapable of consoling her. We’ll publish all of our individual lists, along with many more by our regular contributors and some with detailed entries, tomorrow. (Also make sure to check out Chaz Ebert's lists of the year's best films and documentaries here and here).ĭavid Lowery's supernatural drama, if that's indeed the best thing to call it, feels like something that was dreamt up and then hastily written down moments after awakening before the details faded. It’s reflective of the unpredictable array of voices in film and at this site, and a beautiful snapshot of the year in cinema.Ībout the rankings: We asked our ten regular film critics and two assistant editors to submit top ten lists from this great year, and then consolidated them with a traditional points system-10 points for #1, 9 points for #2, etc.-resulting in the list below, with a new entry for each awarded film. Our joint top ten list reflects the range of filmmaking of 2017, including both unforgettable debuts and the works of masters like Paul Thomas Anderson and Terence Davies. The arthouse circuit delivered the kind of movies that set social media buzzing while even the blockbuster films of 2017 felt smarter and more accomplished, from “ Wonder Woman” to “ Dunkirk” to “ Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” There was a sense this year that film’s power to unite different types of people was more essential and more accomplished than usual, helped in part by two debut films from clearly prodigious talents, or maybe it was just a greater need to believe that's true. From all types of filmmaking, there were stories worth celebrating. As the world grew more divisive in everyday life than it has in generations, people went to the movies in 2017 to escape, and found different ways to do so throughout the year.