5. Lumière! (dir. Thierry Frémaux)
Thierry Frémaux is the director of the Lumière Institute, the Lumière Film Festival, and the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2017, he organized more than a hundred films made by the Lumière brothers and their team, making a feature film where he explores the beginning of cinema and the many traces of Auguste and Louis Lumière’s filmography.
It is truly singular to hear someone who knows so much about cinema talking about the early stages of the seventh art. “Lumière!” is a film that is a tribute to not only Auguste and Louis Lumière, but to cinema itself.
A mandatory movie from 2017 for any cinephile.
4. Little Wing (dir. Selma Vilhunen)
Written and directed by Finnish filmmaker Selma Vilhunen, “Little Wing” is a very intriguing and greatly written coming-of-age movie.
The film follows the story of Varpu (Linnea Skog), a 12-year-old girl who is rapidly growing up. She lives with her mother, Siru (Paula Vesala), a woman who is just the opposite of her – not wanting to grow up. Having never met her father, one day the girl steals a car and travels north to search for her father. Not finding exactly what she was expecting, this is just the beginning of a journey that will change their lives forever.
With this apparently uncomplicated plot, Vilhunen is able to explore the characters psyche in a very singular way, making one of the most delicate movies of the year. With strong dialogue and very well-written character arcs, “Little Wing” is a movie from 2017 that is definitely worth watching.
3. Glory (dir. Kristina Grozeva & Petar Valchanov)
“Glory” is one of the best movies of the year. Its political and social approach allied with the powerful performance of Stefan Denolyubov in the leading role makes it a movie every cinephile should watch.
Directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, and written by Grozeva, Valchanov and Decho Taralezhkov, “Glory” is truly a 2017 movie you can’t miss.
The film follows the story of Tzanko Petrov (Denolyubov), a man who works on the railroads who, one day, finds a great amount of money on the tracks and returns the cash to the police. From that moment on, his life will change completely when Julia Staikova (Margita Gosheva), the transport ministry’s head of public relations, decides to use him as a deviation while trying to hide a corruption scandal.
This somber approach Grozeva and Valchanov have on this story of a working man that goes down in a spiral of bureaucracy, while being able to approach many different themes, makes it a very intriguing film that should definitely be checked out.
“Glory” is another amazing movie in the career of Grozeva and Valchanov and one of the best films from 2017.
2. Custody (dir. Xavier Legrand)
The first feature film in the career of director Xavier Legrand, an actor who worked on films such as “Everyday Lovers” (2005; dir. Philippe Garrel) and “Free Hands” (2010; dir. Brigitte Sy), is one of the best of 2017.
Written and directed by Legrand, the movie follows a custody battle after a very complicated divorce. Scene after scene, we are able to see that who appeared to be a sad husband, suffering because of his divorce, was actually a very violent man.
This is a movie that should definitely be watched and is truly one of the best of the year. The way things happen and the dreadful atmosphere that appears on the screen is something truly terrifying, especially for the way we are able to see in one scene after another that everything is not what it seemed at first.
“Custody” is one of this decade’s best directorial debuts in feature film, and a movie that without a doubt should be checked out by every cinephile.
1. Pororoca (dir. Constantin Popescu)
Written and directed by Constantin Popescu, “Pororoca” is one of the most impressive films from 2017.
Following the story of Tudor (Bogdan Dumitrache), a man whose life is destroyed and whose family splits up after his daughter disappears during a walk in the park, “Pororoca” explores, in more than two and a half hours, this man’s life being shattered.
With many thriller elements used to produce an atmosphere where the audience can, scene after scene, feel the misery of this man, this film has superb cinematography that uses very complex long shots to build this narrative.
“Pororoca” is an amazing film from Romania and one of the best movies from 2017. Definitely worth watching.
Author bio: Vítor Guima is a filmmaker, writer and musician from São Paulo, Brazil. Every day he watches a movie, reads a few pages from a book, listens to an album and freaks out with the feeling of not having enough time to see everything. You can follow him on Instagram on @ovitorguima.