SPECIAL CITATION for a film awaiting American distribution: Sieranevada (Romania) Cristi Puiu
FILM HERITAGE AWARD: Kino Lorber’s 5-disc collection “Pioneers of African-American Cinema”
BEST ACTOR
*1. Casey Affleck (65) – Manchester by the Sea
2. Denzel Washington (21) – Fences
3. Adam Driver (20) – Paterson
BEST ACTRESS
*1. Isabelle Huppert (55) – Elle and Things to Come
2. Annette Bening (26) – 20th Century Women
2. Sandra Hüller (26) – Toni Erdmann [tied with Bening]
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
*1. Mahershala Ali (72) – Moonlight
2. Jeff Bridges (18) – Hell or High Water
3. Michael Shannon (14) – Nocturnal Animals
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
*1. Michelle Williams (58) – Manchester by the Sea
2. Lily Gladstone (45) – Certain Women
3. Naomie Harris (25) – Moonlight
BEST SCREENPLAY
*1. Manchester by the Sea (61) – Kenneth Lonergan
2. Moonlight (39) – Barry Jenkins
3. Hell or High Water (16) – Taylor Sheridan
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
*1. Moonlight (52) – James Laxton
2. La La Land (27) – Linus Sandgren
3. Silence (23) – Rodrigo Prieto
BEST PICTURE
*1. Moonlight (54)
2. Manchester by the Sea (39)
3. La La Land (31)
BEST DIRECTOR
*1. Barry Jenkins (53) – Moonlight
2.… Read more »
Included in Sight and Sound‘s January 2017 issue and on its web site. — J.R.
1. Best Films
The Day Before the End
Year: 2016
Director(s): Lav Diaz
Everybody Wants Some!!
Year: 2016
Director(s): Richard Linklater
Aragane
Year: 2016
Director(s): Oda Kaori
Paterson
Year: 2016
Director(s): Jim Jarmusch
La Mort de Louis XIV
Year: 2016
Director(s): Albert Serra
The first on my list, a short, I caught at the estimable Filmadrid; the third, a documentary by a former FilmFactory student of mine, I saw via a Vimeo link. Worthy runners-up would include João Nicolau’s John From, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, Whit Stillman’s Love & Friendship, and Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s Journey to the Shore — and perhaps certain other contenders I haven’t yet caught up with.
2. Best DVDs and Blu-Rays
Nico Papatakis Box Set (France, 1963-92) (Gaumont Vidéo, DVD).
I Want to Live! (U.S., 1958) (Twilight Time, Blu-Ray)
Electra, My Love (U.K., 1974) (Second Run Features, Blu-Ray).
Early Murnau (U.K., 1921-1925) (Masters of Cinema, Blu-Ray box set)
Marcel Hanoun: Les Saisons (France, 1968-1972) (Re:Voir, DVD)
Five exemplary releases condemned to obscurity by their resistance to being summarized in sound bites:
A comprehensive portrait of a singular filmmaker from Ethiopia and Greece (not simply a Greek, any more than Barack Obama is simply black), with excellent extras subtitled in English; a powerful piece of melodramatic filmmaking from Robert Wise that justifies its opening endorsement by Albert Camus; the first Miklós Jancsó Blu-Ray accorded to an exhilarating, colorful Hungarian musical pageant that unfolds in just a dozen shots; an essential package of five beautiful silent German features with many clarifying extras; and a neglected cycle of films by a major French independent.… Read more »
Please go here for all of the listings. — J. R.
Top Blu-ray Releases of 2016
1. Early Murnau (F.W. Murnau, 1921-26), Masters of Cinema, RB, UK)
2. Muriel (Alain Resnais, 1963) (Criterion, RA, US)
3. I Want to Live! (Robert Wise, 1958) (Twilight Time, RA, US)
4. Electra, My Love (Miklós Jancsó, 1974) (Second Run Features, RB, UK)
5. The Driller Killer (Abel Ferrara, 1979) (Arrow, RA & RB, US & UK)
6. His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) + The Front Page (Lewis Milestone, 1931) (Criterion, RA, US)
7. Napoleon (Abel Gance, 1927) (BFI, RB, UK)
8. The Magic Box: The Films of Shirley Clarke, 1927-1986: Project Shirley, Volume 4 (Milestone Films, RA, US)
9. Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes, 2015) (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, RA, US)
10. Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street (Samuel Fuller, 1973) (Olive Films, RA, US)
Top 10 SD-DVD Releases OF 2016
1. Coffret Nico Papatakis (1963-2004) (Gaumont Vidéo, PAL, France)
2. Les Saisons (Marcel Hanoun, 1968-72) (RE:VOIR, PAL, France)
3. Tricked (Paul Verhoeven, 2012) (Kino Lorber, US)
4. Something Different + A Bagful of Fleas (Vera Chytilová, 1963 & 1962) (Second Run Features, PAL, UK)
5. … Read more »
