Recently, a friend told me he felt that 2017 was a bad year for movies. I see a fraction of the films I used to see as a full-time critic, but even within that fraction, this year, I'd have to disagree. Whether emboldened by an oppressive political climate, Moonlight's path to Oscar glory, a fatigue of intolerance, or any of the above, the movies I saw in the past 12 months showed me a growing wealth of diversity being poured out into our culture.
From the surprise of female-led box-office hits like Wonder Woman and Girls Trip to the satisfaction of queer critical smashes like Call Me by Your Name, I saw hope for what Hollywood (and cinema at large) might just be: A medium and a machine that actually has the guts to make risky art that can change minds--and even change the future. Maybe that's not just a film projector behind you; maybe it's a light shining toward the end of a tunnel.
HONORABLE MENTION:
Videography and Editing by Saskia de Borchgrave
Assistant: Tove Byrne
Clips courtesy of films / YouTube
Featured article image: Sony Pictures Classics (A Fantastic Woman)
