Great lesser-known 2016 movies

[BakerWilliams]

As the year winds to a close, all the attention seems to be on Manchester, Moonlight, and La La Land. But what were some of your favorite movies of the year that did not get the same amount of attention?

I personally loved Elle, The Future Perfect, Toni Erdmann, and Aquarius. Any others I should check out?

[n2nbaby]

Other People is my favorite of the year but nobody really knows what it is. It's on Netflix now, check it out!

[madbrian]

Eye in the Sky

[ErikJ972]

I loved The Lobster.

[Jordan Catalano]

Hell or High Water

[hork]

Krisha, A Hologram for the King, Eisenstein in Guanajuato, 600 Miles, Tower

[henrikegerman]

Eye in the Sky, Elle, Indignation
I've also heard great things about Things to Come

[BakerWilliams]

I saw Things to Come and didn't love it. Isabelle Huppert was perfect as always, but the movie wasn't really my jam. Stylistically, it's somewhere in between a Hong Sang-Soo movie and an Abbas Kiarostami film without the intellectual element.

Other movies that a lot of people loved that I didn't this year include American Honey (I liked it, but it was too long), The Edge of Seventeen, Captain Fantastic, Hell or High Water, Swiss Army Man.

Forgot to mention Certain Women, which had a great 40 minute short film at the end of it with 2 meh short films before it.

I still need to see Paterson, Personal Shopper, The Salesman, Silence, A Quiet Passion, The Unknown Girl and a few other foreign films before I can finish of 2016 movie watching.

[LarryD2]

Christine

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Viva

A Billy Elliot style story set around the Havana drag scene - longlisted for this year's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, and definitely worth seeking out. I loved it.

Jesus is a young hairdresser working at a Havana nightclub that showcases drag performers, who dreams of being a performer himself. But when his father has different expectations, the men struggle to understand one another and reconcile as a family.

 

 

 

 

[AwesomeDanny]

I found Don't Think Twice to be an expertly-made comedy that tugged at the heartstrings. It's a love letter to all poor, struggling artists who carry on for the love of their art. For me, it achieved best-of-the-year status. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I also found The Meddler to be incredibly enjoyable. Susan Sarandon gives an incredibly believable performance as a woman I certainly recognized. The script is smart and funny and insightful. I was a fan of Lorene Scafaria's previous film, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, and I was amazed at how well she nailed something so different in style and tone.

Maggie's Plan (written and directed by Rebecca Miller, daughter of Arthur Miller) was a fantastic Woody Allen-esque dramedy. Greta Gerwig gave a great leading turn, and it was delightful to see Julianne Moore in a hilariously over-the-top comedic role.

On the documentary side, Weiner was a thrilling look at a familiar story. The whole time, I was thinking "I can't believe they were able to capture this!" No matter what you think of the man, the film is an exciting 90 minutes.

Next on my list to watch are Wiener-Dog, Love and Friendship, Certain Women, Captain Fantastic, Swiss Army Man, and Elle

[AnOrdinarySunday]

First of all, we have of course that marvelous "Toni Erdmann". But I guess that's not really "lesser-known" any more, since it"s now definitely winning the Oscar as best foreign language film.

The Romanian "Graduation" proves that Cristian Mungiu is still at his best. His new film is as well-plotted, -acted and -shot as his previous works and still - sadly - feels relevant.

I also quite loved "The American Honey". Andrea Arnold knows how to incorporate music, esp. pop songs into her narrative. Her characters are depicted with empathy and feeling, which made her film a rather poetic look at the living situations of the younger american generation. Hell, I even liked Shia LaBeouf in it!