The 20 Best Films Of 2016 So Far

“Dheepan” [Review]
Despite it winning the French director his first Palme d’Or, Jacques Audiard’s “Dheepan” seems to have gotten significantly less attention than the director’s previous pic “Rust & Bone,” though that’s likely a by-product of using mostly non-professional Tamil actors in his cast rather than superstar Marion Cotillard. But if you’ve slept on it, it’s time to catch up while the movie’s still in theaters, because “Dheepan” is prime Audiard, a muscular social-realist genre pic that sits with the filmmaker’s best work. Tracking the titular former Tamil Tiger, and the woman and child he poses with as a family to escape Sri Lanka, who try to set up a new home in a Parisian housing project only to find violence following them thanks to the local drug dealer, it’s a timely subject given what a talking point immigration is in Europe at present, and Audiard’s take on the subject is compassionate, warm and even romantic in places (thanks to the unmannered turns by his leads). And while some were startled by the film’s third-act lurch into action, we were thrilled by it (in part knowing that’s where Audiard’s heart always is). A decidedly imperfect film, but one with bones made from pure cinema.

“Embrace of the Serpent” [Review]
One of the more cheering good-news stories of 2016 was surely the strong performance of Ciro Guerra‘s Amazonian Heart of Darkness movie. Having won the main prize at 2015 Director’s Fortnight in Cannes, it seemed on paper a classic headache for distributors — an uncategorizable, long, languorous, black-and-white, foreign-language title with no name stars and an unknown director. Yet somehow ‘Embrace,’ for which we were among the earliest cheerleaders, broke through, gained a Foreign Language Oscar nomination and, within the admittedly narrow parameters of the specialist box office, performed far better than expected. It’s the rare case of justice being done: It’s a terrifically original, haunting piece of work; a tribute to the forgotten and extinct peoples of the world; and an evocation of that mystical connection to the environment, and to each other, that modern life neglects. Tracing two different expeditions deep into the heart of the Amazonian rainforest, both led by the same tribal guide, ‘Embrace of the Serpent’ is a beautiful odyssey, and that’s before its divisive but audacious ‘2001‘-style psychedelic freakout in its later stages.

“Everybody Wants Some!!” [Review]
The unprecedented success of “Boyhood,” the 12-years-in-the-making intimate epic which brought awards success to its director and is one of the best-received films in recent memory, set Richard Linklater up to be able to do basically whatever he wanted next. And what he wanted was his long-planned ‘spiritual sequel’ to his beloved ’70s-set high-school pic “Dazed And Confused,” following a group of college freshmen who’ll be playing for the baseball team of a Texas school in the days before class starts in 1980. And it was good news for all of us. Just as ‘Dazed’ introduced us to a generation of new stars, Linklater’s run of casting triumphs continues here, with Glen Powell, Wyatt Russell and Zoey Deutch particular stand-outs. As Charlie Schmidlin’s SXSW review put it, “The strength of Linklater’s films has always been their ability to capture the textures of lived experience, and ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ is no different in that regard: it is a confident, hugely enjoyable return to a universe that treats the connection to ‘Dazed and Confused’ not as an obligation or cash grab, but as inspiration to match that film’s level of energy and chemistry.” And for the most part, it succeeds.

“Green Room” [Review]
Building on Jeremy Saulnier’s previous genre breakout “Blue Ruin,” “Green Room” is one of the mostly queasily satisfying, textured thrillers in years, a grisly blow to the larynx that deeply entertains even as it leaves you hiding your eyes. Like its predecessor, it’s the story of amateurs forced into desperate, violent situations: in this case, a punk band (Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, Joe Cole) who play a skinhead dive bar, stumble across a murder scene and end up besieged in the dressing room with the neo-Nazis, led by Patrick Stewart’s quietly spoken leader, trying to get in. It’s an old-school John Carpenter-style siege-thriller, slow-brewing enough that you get to know and like the characters (and it’s unusually textured in that respect, even among the bad guys), constructing a set-up for maximum tension and then pulling the trigger to often gasp-inducing effect. Performances across the board are excellent (“Blue Ruin”’s Macon Blair being a particular standout), but it’s Saulnier who’s the star here, cementing the promise of his last film and firmly proving to be one of the most exciting genre filmmakers to come along in years.

“The Invitation” [Review]
Everyone loves a comeback, and “The Invitation” provides a hell of a comeback for director Karyn Kusama, who made her name with Sundance hit “Girlfight” but whose studio follow-ups “Aeon Flux” and “Jennifer’s Body” were hardly fitting successors. But this whip-smart, beautifully made horror chamber piece is one of the gems of 2016, and should put her back where she deserves to be. Written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (in a distinct shift from their work on films like “R.I.P.D” and “Ride Along”), it sees a still-grieving father (Logan Marshall-Green, finally emerging from the shadow of ‘wait, that’s not Tom Hardy?’) go to a dinner party at the house of his ex-wife (Tammy Blanchard), whose charismatic new husband (Michiel Huisman) has introduced her to a self-help group that might have more sinister intentions. Even if the set-up feels a little contrived in places, the film’s slow-burning charms and excellent ensemble (also including Emayatzy Corinealdi, Lindsay Burdge and John Carroll Lynch) swiftly win you over, ending up with a horror/thriller that feels atypically rich and grown-up.