Musée Magazine's Best of 2017: The Films
The Films
Call Me By Your Name dir. by Luca Guadagnino
Adapted from the 2007 novel by André Aciman, Call Me By Your Name is an endearing tale of Elio, a young boy discovering his sexuality with Oliver, a man who has come to spend the summer as Elio's father’s apprentice at their Italian residence. The story is unconventional given the age difference between Elio and Oliver but their love is so authentic and sincere, it doesn’t even flirt with toeing the line of perverse. The film is a love story so pure, it doesn’t turn away from even the simplest of intimacies, and you don’t want it to either.
Florida Project dir. by Sean Baker
A deeply moving and humanist portrait of childhood innocence, The Florida Project is yet another film of incredible compassion from director, Sean Baker. At the center of the film is Moonee, a six-year-old girl living with her young and rebellious mother, Halley at “The Magic Kingdom”, a run-down motel built on the derelict outskirts of Disney World. Despite her seedy and impoverished environment, Moonee spends her days in blissful innocence, pulling pranks on tourists with other kids at the motel, exploring the swamplands of Florida, and avoiding the stern eye of motel manager Bobby, a role perfectly performed by Willem Dafoe. As her mother Halley pursues increasingly dangerous methods to support herself and her daughter, Moonee must come to terms with a grim reality that has no room for childhood fantasy.
Shape of Water dir. by Guillermo del Torro
Story-teller virtuoso, Guillermo del Torro takes us away on an otherworldly tale of spirit and adventure between two unlikely characters in his latest film, The Shape Of Water. The film takes place in Cold War era America following Elisa, a mute cleaning lady for a high-security secret government facility, as she discovers the water-dwelling creature the laboratory is studying. The speechless Elisa develops a profound relationship with the creature as they build a language of their own. The recognition of their “otherness” is what grants their attention to each other, and attention is the beginnings of devotion in this imaginative and poetic film.
Loving Vincent dir. by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman
In the first-ever oil painted film, Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman turn Van Gough's paintings into a biopic of the artist's life. The film was animated by a team of 125 painters producing a total of 65,000 oil paintings, approximately 12 paintings per second. It took four years to develop the unique technique to create the film, and an additional two years to execute. In a work that is almost too beautiful for its own good, we explore the final days of the famed artist's life and his mysterious death.
Get Out dir. by Jordan Peele
In his directorial debut, writer and director Jordan Peele managed to both terrify and delight audiences with Get Out, a horror film that merged science fiction thrills with satirically poignant racial commentary. The movie follows Chris, one half of an interracial couple, who makes a trip upstate with his white girlfriend, Rose, to meet the family. What starts as a fairly innocent weekend full of awkward conversations and mildly racist comments, turns into a heart-pounding struggle for survival as Chris comes to learn the terrifying truth of Rose’s family and the body-snatching surgical facility they’re hiding in the basement.
