Senior US critic for Screen International, Tim has written for the magazine since 2005. Based in Los Angeles, he also contributes to New Republic and Rolling Stone.

tim greierson

More Screen critics’ top films of 2016

Top five 

Moonlight

  1. Moonlight
    Dir
    Barry Jenkins
    With his second feature, Jenkins expands his ambition to once again chronicle how people’s destiny can be shaped by their circumstances. Moonlight sports a brilliant triptych structure to chart the anxious development of Chiron, a gay black Florida youth navigating poverty and homophobia to become the man he was meant to be. Played by three different actors over three separate time periods, Chiron is the year’s most heartbreaking and inspiring character — a portrait of squandered potential redeemed by self-acceptance and love.
    CONTACT A24 info@a24films.com

  2. American Honey
    Dir
    Andrea Arnold
    This emotional, expansive road movie explores America from the perspective of society’s forgotten. Sasha Lane is a fiery revelation.
    CONTACT Protagonist Pictures vanessa@protagonistpictures.com

  3. Paterson
    Dir
    Jim Jarmusch
    Adam Driver dazzles in Jarmusch’s quietly profound, terrifically funny drama about the beguiling strangeness of the everyday.
    CONTACT K5 International carl@k5mediagroup.com

  4. Certain Women
    Dir
    Kelly Reichardt
    Featuring a superb ensemble, Reichardt’s gem deftly delineates the small struggles that define her characters’ complicated lives.
    CONTACT IFC Films  www.ifcfilms.com

  5. La La Land
    Dir
    Damien Chazelle
    This effervescent film isn’t just a salute to old-school musicals but also a melancholy commentary on Hollywood’s dream factory.
    CONTACT Lionsgate lionsgate@lionsgate.com

Best documentary

OJ: Made in America

OJ: Made In America
Dir
Ezra Edelman

Recasting the life of football superstar OJ Simpson as a gripping catalogue of American obsessions (celebrity, sports, scandal), Edelman explores the country’s fraught racial and sexual politics. Spanning eight hours, the film sketches a fall from grace that’s nearly Shakespearean in its grandeur.

CONTACT ESPN jayjay.nesheim@espn.com

Undiscovered gem 

The Student

The Student
Dir Kirill Serebrennikov

The dangers of religious fervor overwhelming reason is the cauldron into which The Student drops its audience, taking us to a Russian high school where a Bible-quoting loner (Petr Skvortsov) begins confronting his biology teacher (Victoria Isakova) over whether her lesson plans are an affront to God.  A darkly comic battle of wills escalates into a chilling illustration of how regressive, narrow-minded thinking can pollute our most sacred institutions.

CONTACT Wide lm@widemanagement.com

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