Wendy Ide joined Screen in 2015 as a UK-based critic, and also writes for The Observer and Sight & Sound.
Read our other critics’ top tens here.
Top 10
1. Decision To Leave
Dir. Park Chan-wook
Sinuous in its plotting, ravishingly beautiful to look at and dangerously seductive in its storytelling, Park’s slippery thriller is a masterclass in elegant precision. Tang Wei, as a widow whose lack of obvious grief arouses suspicion, is sublime in one of the most fascinatingly complex and confounding characters of the year; the score teases with Hitchcockian references and the playful and inventive framing ensures that there’s not a single banal or predictable shot in the entire picture.
2. Corsage
Dir. Marie Kreutzer
Kreutzer tears down the chintzy romanticism that surrounded the life and legend of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria (previously popularised by the Sissi films starring Romy Schneider) and replaces it with a punk rock portrait of a woman on the cusp of 40 who is all out of fucks to give. In the central role, Vicky Krieps is phenomenal, her seething fury and rebellion in a collision course with the impossible expectations placed on a woman known for her perfection.
3. The Quiet Girl
Dir. Colm Bairéad
An exquisite family portrait in miniature, the feature debut from Bairéad is an empathetic gem. A neglected little girl, captured with rare delicacy by impressive newcomer Catherine Clinch, is sent to stay with her aunt and uncle for the summer. And wrapped in the warm embrace of life with her relatives, she blossoms. Sometimes a child just needs to be seen. Bairéad has a rare gift for imbuing seemingly innocuous moments with layers of meaning.
4. Women Talking
Dir. Sarah Polley
The setting — an isolated Mennonite community rocked by the revelations of extensive and horrific abuses wreaked on the women by many of the men — is highly specific. But the themes of Polley’s gripping drama are far-reaching and uncomfortably relevant in a post #MeToo landscape. A first-rate cast (including Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Frances McDormand, Rooney Mara and Judith Ivey) fill the roles of the women in the community who are tasked with deciding their collective future. It’s utterly compelling.
5. TÁR
Dir. Todd Field
Watching Field’s brilliantly uncomfortable portrait of world-class female conductor Lydia Tár (played, to the hilt, by Cate Blanchett) is rather like being seduced by a malevolent narcissist. We are charmed, and flattered into the inner circle, only to find ourselves sickened by what we find there. It’s a fascinating, angular piece of filmmaking, which surprises with glimpses of horror and flashes of humour.
6. All Quiet On The Western Front
Dir. Edward Berger
7. The Fabelmans
Dir. Steven Spielberg
8. Aftersun
Dir. Charlotte Wells
9. Godland
Dir. Hlynur Palmason
10. One Fine Morning
Dir. Mia Hansen-Love
Best documentary
1. Geographies Of Solitude
Dir. Jacquelyn Mills
In 1971, a Canadian art student named Zoe Lucas hitched a ride with an expedition to a tiny land body 100 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia. It was the start of what would become a lifelong fascination with a wind-lashed strip of scrub and sand known as Sable Island. This lyrical and unusual documentary blends art and science, using Lucas’s studies of everything from horse manure and beetles to plastic waste as its basis.
2. Navalny
Dir. Daniel Roher
Not only is it one of the most important documentaries of the year, but it’s also one of the most entertaining. Roher’s portrait of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (and target of Putin’s ire) is a real-life political thriller.
3. All That Breathes
Dir. Shaunak Sen
Sen’s remarkable film follows a pair of brothers who have set up a non-profit wildlife rescue operation in New Delhi. But the picture goes deeper, touching on the unfolding ecological catastrophe and religious tensions in the city.
Performance of the year
Alia Bhatt in Gangubai Kathiawadi
Dir. Sanjay Leela Bhansali
In the title role of Bhansali’s factually-based musical drama Gangubai Kathiawadi, Bhatt takes on a sweeping story arc and a complex, flawed and charismatic character. Gangubai starts out as a naïve teen dreaming of Bollywood who finds herself trafficked into prostitution, and ends as a political figure, who campaigns for the rights of sex workers. Standout moments include a remarkable dance sequence in which she conveys grief over her mother’s rejection to her acceptance of her new role, as the de facto mother to the girls and women of the red-light district. She is electrifying.
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