#mithlomi

(also i hope it’s ok that i’ve included tamil and hindi films)

2016 was a fantastic year movies-wise. here are some of my faves (not in any order, chronological or otherwise):

Irudhi Suttru (’Saala Khadoos’ in Hindi)

A fairly generic underdog sports film on the face of it, but so wonderfully executed. Ritika Singh is one hundred percent the find of the year--she is so natural in front of the camera. I loved the way it was shot--from the fish market to the slums to the run-down training centre to the boxing competitions on the beach--a sort of honest but familiar and affectionate thing that is entirely removed from the poverty-porn that comes from hollywood portrayals of this corner of the world.

Tamasha

(This was technically released late 2015, but I watched it in Jan ‘16, so.) It takes its time to grow on you, but once it does it never goes away. I have issues with the plot but the editing and the music and finally the chemistry between the leads makes it one of the more memorable things of the last year.

Aandavan Kattalai

Another Ritika Singh movie! I say it a lot, but this is the film that actually had me fall out of my seat with laughter in the theatre. Like, literally. I was on the floor. Gasping for breath. Hubby would’ve been concerned, but he was too busy laughing too. Basically: this film is how you make a ‘movie with a message’ that’s also wildly entertaining.

Iraivi

Ah. The ‘feminist’ movie, that was really more about masculinity--or our society’s toxic version of it. I wrote a post about it here, but it bears repeating: the kind of stuff that leads to these guys’ downfall is the kind of macho shit that’s practically venerated in every movie that we churn out every year. It’s so disquieting and filled with moments that feel genuine and unstaged. One of the little touches I loved and that I didn’t mention in my original review is this scene where SJ Suryah’s character (SJS was a revelation in this movie!) is lying in a dirty bathtub, drunk out of his mind, and Five Hundred Miles from Inside Llewyn Davis is playing in the background. His movie that he’d worked so hard to write and direct, his magnum opus, is being held ransom by a terrible producer, who plans to release it cutting him out. When I realised how appropriate it was that they played Five Hundred Miles over that scene I squealed out loud.

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

This was so good! My love/interest in Harry Potter has waned considerably in recent years, and I wasn’t sure that a film that included none of the characters I originally fell in love with was going to revive my interest, but I am on tenterhooks waiting for the next installment. It took a familiar universe and made something new and fascinating out of it--plus, the setting, costumes and visual effects were fucking out of this world.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

I wasn’t sure how any future Star Wars installment was going to top The Force Awakens in terms of pure entertainment, and I was right: Rogue One wasn’t nearly as funny, or charming, or filled with warm nostalgia. But I loved the texture of it, the memorable characters, the grit and grime over the perfect whiteness, and of course, my man Bodhi Rook. I love how this film furthered this new Star Wars wave of exploring the individuals in the movement--how you didn’t need to be a Jedi or a Sith or a princess to be conflicted or make sacrifices for your principles. I mean. Watching A New Hope right after this is surreal.

Moana

This was really fun! Particularly notable for how Disney subverted my ‘adorable sidekick’ expectations--I had my money on that pig being Moana’s trusty sidekick, a little confused when it looked like it was going to be the survival-challenged chicken, then a bit blindsided when they made the whole frickin ocean her adorable sidekick. That was pretty awesome.

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil

So it was filled with cliches and filthily rich, purposeless people. It still fucking made me laugh and openly cry, and was a surprisingly mature exploration of unrequited love, unmet expectations and Nice Guy-ism. Plus, the songs are fucking addictive. I’ve made my fellow residents SICK of Channa Mereya because I hum it at every possible opportunity. 

Honourable Mentions:

Kabali, Chennai 600028-II, T3en, Doctor Strange.

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Fucking lush? You haven't been in Bristol that long have you? :p

Haah ‘lush’ has been in my vocabulary since school :P

I NEED THAT SHIRT!

Honestly so many people were impressed with them haha. I know Will got them online but it was last year D:

hippity-hoppity-brigade

So cute!!!!!

never watched Twin Peaks @ rebel-scurn WATCH TWIN PEAKS!

But the hero is white as well Leah which means things have gone Badly Wrong somewhere and this is a Dystopia.

poeandfinnandtheboyfriendjacket replied to your post:dad’s just put Elysium on and I’m like this is...

Crap movie.