In the heart-pounding horror film “Get Out,” big city African-American photographer Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) finds a visit to his white girlfriend’s parents’ secluded country home complicated by the gnawing sense that he may not be welcome. As in very, very not welcome.
Written and helmed by comedian-turned-director Jordan Peele, "Get Out" has been praised by film critics across the country as a remarkably topical and socially relevant first feature with a plotline that calls to mind the classic 1975 horror film with a feminist twist "The Stepford Wives," but transposed to our own Black Lives Matter present. "Get Out" was also just named the best film of the year by the newly formed Atlanta Film Critics Circle, co-founded by Gwinnett Daily Post critic Michael Clark and myself. In addition to earning AFCC's top award, "Get Out" garnered director Peele the AFCC's Breakthrough Award dedicated to exceptional emerging talent in the film industry.
As anyone who's driven through Atlanta within the past nine years has noticed, thanks to generous 30 percent tax incentives streamlined in 2008 to bring filmmaking to the state, the city's film scene is booming. Georgia currently ranks as No. 1 in feature film production over any other market, according to FilmL.A. Inc., the official film office of the greater Los Angeles area. In an effort to align that booming filmmaking industry with the critical community that supports it and raise the profile of film critics in Atlanta and nationally, the AFCC has released its top 10 films of 2017 to bring attention to its ranks.
1. ‘Get Out’
A disturbing expression of the discomfort and fear that often accompany African-American forays into all-white groups, this eye-opening horror film takes that social reality and runs with it. British actor Daniel Kaluuya is a smart, savvy city dweller who travels to his white girlfriend’s parents’ remote country home and finds that they — and their friends — are not what they seem. For his mastery of an eerie, get-me-out-of-here tone and incisive look at race, AFCC member and New York magazine critic Will Leitch calls Peele “the next Rod Serling.”
2. ‘Dunkirk’
Christopher Nolan’s skillful, drum-tight “Dunkirk,” about the British soldiers trapped on a French beach during WWII and the small flotilla of civilian sailors who attempt to rescue them, is thoughtful and surprisingly subdued. With its absence of gore and its quiet, meditative tone as the trapped soldiers solemnly take in their impossible situation, “Dunkirk” feels like a war film from another era.
3. ‘Lady Bird’
Actress-turned-director Greta Gerwig’s unique coming-of-age story centers on an outspoken, boundary-pushing Saoirse Ronan as a restless Sacramento teenager foiled by her parents’ economic struggles and a mother with her own emotional baggage. Funny and poignant, “Lady Bird” features a memorable performance from “Roseanne” vet Laurie Metcalf, the AFCC’s best supporting actress winner. “Lady Bird” also points to a sea change this year in the number of female directors and stars in meaty, interesting roles. “The emergence of women this year was very powerful,” says AFCC member Gil Robertson. “From Kathryn Bigelow (‘Detroit’) to Dee Rees (‘Mudbound’), women have asserted themselves in a big and meaningful way.”
“This year marked a watershed for female empowerment and industry influence,” agrees AFCC co-founder Michael Clark. “Movies are becoming more of a reflection of our society than ever before.”
4. ‘The Shape of Water’
An enchanting inversion of a classic 1950s monster movie infused with a powerful sense of wonder, in Mexican-born director Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water,” the monster is the hero, and a nefarious government and military complex led by Michael Shannon functions as the villain. Sally Hawkins, AFCC’s winner for best actress in a leading role, stars in this unconventional beauty-and-the-beast tale as a mute housekeeper at a government facility who falls for the captive amphibious creature housed there.
5. ‘Call Me by Your Name’
With a screenplay by James Ivory, this heart-wrenching romance stars AFCC best actor winner Timothée Chalamet as a sophisticated, whip-smart European teenager who falls hard for a visiting American student (Armie Hammer) spending the summer working alongside his scholar father at their gorgeous Italian villa. Steeped in subtle ‘80s detail and gorgeous scenery, at the center of “Call Me by Your Name” is Chalamet’s moving performance of first love and heartbreak supported by a remarkable Armie Hammer as a man of onion peel layers constantly revealing new dimensions to his humanity.
6. ‘The Florida Project’
The children living in shabby motels in the shadow of Disney World may be poor and mischievous, but in director Sean Baker’s fairy-dusted film, they also occupy their own Disney-worthy alternate reality. Surrounded by the garishly painted, outsized tourist traps of Florida, 6-year-old Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) and her friends engage in a variety of misadventures that only serve to show the special, enchanted imagination of small children capable of rising above even the most grim circumstances. Their benevolent Pied Piper is the perpetually exasperated Magic Castle motel manager Bobby (Willem Dafoe, who nabbed AFCC’s best supporting actor honor), who steps in when their chronically irresponsible parents fail them.
7. ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’
Reminiscent of the Coen brothers’ “Fargo” in its blend of wacky comedy and blood-curdling violence, director Martin McDonagh’s film showcases a gritty, no-nonsense performance from Coen regular (and Joel Coen spouse) Frances McDormand as a mother devastated by the murder of her daughter who lashes out at the small-town police force and its chief (Woody Harrelson) over their inaction. The film also won AFCC’s award for best ensemble performance. “It’s one of my favorites of the year,” says AFCC’s Jim Farmer, “fueled by rage and vengeance the first hour and a sense of forgiveness and moving forward the second.”
8. ‘The Big Sick’
A valentine to the soulful millennial mindset, writers Emily V. Gordon and comedian Kumail Nanjiani’s film is based on the couple’s real-life experiences. Kumail is a stand-up comic constantly evading his traditional Pakistani parents’ attempts to match him up with a nice Muslim bride. When he falls hard for an idiosyncratic, opinionated woman (Zoe Kazan), he has to confront the path his parents have set up for him in this compelling mix of culture clash and generational angst.
9. ‘Baby Driver’
AFCC members swooned for this wacky film full of improbable characters and circumstances that uses the highways, abandoned warehouses and Octane coffeehouses of Atlanta as its backdrop. Ansel Elgort is the underage driver of the title, tasked with manning the getaway car for a series of heists. When he falls for a similarly dreamy diner waitress, his efforts to leave a life of crime unspool a series of increasingly violent disasters in Edgar Wright’s nonstop action crime thriller.
10. ‘The Post’
An acting tour de force with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks leading the pack, this Steven Spielberg crowd-pleaser is a very topical turn about how The Washington Post and other newspapers rallied to expose Daniel Ellsberg’s damning Pentagon Papers to the public even despite President Richard Nixon’s threats of litigation. Starring as the Washington Post’s WASPy owner Kay Graham, powerhouse Streep is in rare form as a well-heeled woman going outside her comfort zone, proving nothing beats a boss business decision made by a woman wearing a caftan.
Felicia Feaster is a co-founder, along with Michael Clark, of the Atlanta Film Critics Circle.
