2017

The order and the categorization of the movies are very arbitrary. There aren't any linear value systems to judge what's most beautiful so putting all these different movies in one hierarchical order is very much an injustice to them all. Moreover, I saw most of the movies only once and in many cases it's the first time I see that specific director's work so I might be making a lot of hasty judgements. This isn't meant to be a list of the best movies made in 2017, but a list of the new films that are still in the festival circuit or in theatres that I've seen in 2017. I'd like to think of it as a diary of sorts, which is partly why I rarely go back and change my lists for previous years, even if I feel I was completely wrong about it at the time, nor do I add movies to my previous lists. I keep the movies I was involved with out of the list. The movies I don't like are also out of the list. So, here it is, the new movies I liked in 2017:

Sublime
Mrs. Fang / Wang Bing

Great
Un Beau Soleil Interieur / Claire Denis
Mon Rot Fai (Railway Sleepers) / Sompot Chidgasornpongse

Very Good
El mar la mar / Joshua Bonnetta & J.P. Sniadecki
Hermia & Helena / Matías Piñeiro
Beduino / Júlio Bressane

Good
The Lost City of Z / James Gray
Jackie / Pablo Larrain
Ex Libris / Frederick Wiseman
Dieste [Uruguay] / Heinz Emigholz
Estás vendo coisas (You are seeing things) / Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca
Bickels [Socialism] / Heinz Emigholz
somniloquies / Verena Paravel & Lucien Castaing-Taylor

Memorable Screenings of Older Films
Sweetgrass / Lucien Castaing-Taylor (2009)
Nema-ye Nazdik (Close Up) / Abbas Kiarostami (1990)
Lady Lazarus / Sandra Lahire (1991)
Thakirah Arba'at 'Ashar (Mémoire 14) / Ahmed Bouanani (1971)
Al-Manabe' al-Arba'a (Les quatre sources) / Ahmed Bouanani (1977)
La Chambre / Joelle Bouver & Regis Obadia (1988)
Falling Under / Nicola Baldwin (1987)
Al-Boraq (Shining) / Abdelmajid R’chich (1972)
Barrabackslarrabang / Imogen Stidworthy (2010)