2017 in Review: The Best Films of the Year so Far

Cate Blanchett gives the 13 best performances of 2017 in Manifesto.
Photo by Julian Rosefeldt, courtesy of Filmrise.

Is it already June? This year is just flying by. I’m sorry that updates here have been scant (work’s just been a series of events that haven’t let up) but this blog seems to be waking up from an extended hibernation. It’s time to recap the year at its halfway mark.

Contest! Win Run of Engagement Passes to See 'From the Land of the Moon' Starring Marion Cotillard!

Cinemablographer favourite Marion Cotillard returns in the acclaimed drama From the Land of the Moon. After debuting to strong notices for Cotillard’s performance at last year’s Cannes Film Festival (where she also turned heads for It’s Only the End of the World) and earning eight César Award (French Oscar) nominations including Best Film and Best Actress, From the Land to the Moon is coming to theatres. The film opens July 7 from Pacific Northwest Pictures and Cinemablographer has run of engagement passes for lucky readers to see the film. Enter the trivia below for your chance to win!

"That's, Like, the Biggest Shark I've Ever Seen."

47 Meters Down

(USA, 89 min.)

Dir. Johannes Roberts; Writ. Johannes Roberts, Ernest Riera

Starring: Mandy Moore, Claire Holt

Claire Holt and Mandy Moore star in 47 Meters Down.
VVS Films

The cautious tourists always have the craziest vacations. Linda (Goldie Hawn) plays it safe and doesn’t talk to strangers during her Ecuadorian nightmare, but she gets kidnapped and terrorized by the cartel. Susan (Cate Blanchett) drinks Diet Coke without ice to avoid germs in Morocco, yet a renegade bullet nips her whilst she naps on a tour bus. Darlene (Kate Beckinsale) hesitantly agrees with her friend Alice (Claire Danes) to swap Hawaii for Thailand and (whoops) finds herself spending more time in jail than on the beach. Rose (Kate Winslet) follows her mother’s orders until she rebels and finds love on a cruise ship until (whomp whomp) the boat sinks. Lonely Planet doesn’t prepare tourists for plot twists.

Contest: Win a Digital Download of '100 Streets' Starring Idris Elba and Gemma Arteton!

Idris Elba, the Internet’s favourite candidate for the next James Bond, teams up with former Bond girl Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace) for the new indie thriller 100 Streets. This tense multi-narrative film stars the two suave Brits in an acclaimed ensemble cast that includes Tom Cullen (Downton Abbey), Franz Drameh (Attack the Block) and Ken Stott (The Hobbit). 100 Streets comes to iTunes on Tuesday, June 20 from Pacific Northwest Pictures and lucky readers have the chance to win a free digital download of the film. Enter the trivia below for your chance to win!

Rachel Getting Harried

My Cousin Rachel

(UK/USA, 106 min.)

Written and directed by Roger Michell

Starring: Sam Claflin, Rachel Weisz, Iain Glenn, Holliday Grainger

Rachel Weisz My Cousin Rachel.
  Photo by Nicola Dove / Fox Searchlight Pictures

Dead wives and Daphne du Maurier go together like cake and ice cream. The haunting prose of the popular author is at its best in Rebecca, the story of the nameless second Mrs. de Winter living in the shadow of her husband’s widow, Rebecca. It’s a hypnotic Gothic story, but also perhaps the best example of a film being better than the book. Alfred Hitchcock’s spellbinding psychological thriller and ghost story is an eerie production that gets inside the head of its jittery protagonist (Joan Fontaine) as she braves the high bar set by her predecessor, survives the husband (Laurence Olivier) who might have killed Rebecca, and unravels under the presence of the loony housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson). Death and widows brew in a similar tempest in My Cousin Rachel, albeit without the weirdly sexual storm cloud of Mrs. Danvers.

'It's Only the End of the World' Leads Quebec's Prix Iris Winners

Léa Seydoux in Xavier Dolan's It's Only the End of the World
Photo by Shane Laverdière, Sons of Manual

Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World ended its award streak on another high note by winning five awards at Quebec’s Prix Iris (formerly known as the Jutra Awards), the province’s top ceremony honouring the best in Quebecois cinema. World won five prizes including Best Film, Director, Casting, and Cinematography. Dolan made an impressive haul with the film despite meeting a rocky reception that still leaves World without American distribution. Before the Iris ceremony, World won the Grand Prix at Cannes, six Canadian Screen Awards including Best Film and Best Director, three French Cesars including Best Director and it served as Canada’s Oscar submission where it made the shortlist. Dolan previously won four Jutras for Mommy and two for his breakthrough I Killed My Mother.

Mungiu Comes Back from Detention

Graduation (Bacalaureat)

(Romania/Belgium/France, 128 min.)

Written and directed by Cristian Mungiu

Starring: Adrian Titieni, Maria-Victoria Dragus, Lia Bugnar, Vlad Ivanov, Malina Manovici, Petre Ciubotaru

Cristian Mungiu is back from detention. The Romanian auteur who won Cannes’ Palme d’Or winner and drew notice to the Romanian new wave with 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days returns with a film that mostly delivers on the promise of his 2007 breakthrough. The long takes are back in tried and tested form following a tediously slow slump with his much-lauded-but-excruciatingly-tedious Beyondthe Hills. This taut psychological drama displays carefully rehearsed restraint as Mungiu creates a complex moral fable out of one family’s despair.