The Summer Solstice has passed which means the days will start getting shorter and we’re about to enter the second half of the year. It seems like a good time to look back over the last six months and remember how many great films there have been. The Guardian have already published an alphabetical list of their highest rated films including Arabian Nights, Dheepan, Hail, Caesar! and Our Little Sister. Over on Twitter Little White Lies counted down their top 30 films of #2016SoFar with Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!! coming out on top and also mentioning Court, The Pearl Button and Mustang.
We’ve put together a list of all the films shown at the Picture House this year and would like to know what your highlights have been so far. The films from the first half of the year are often forgotten at the end of the year when award season madness takes over so it would be good to hear what people think at this point. Tell us what you’ve liked (or disliked) in the comments below.
My personal favourite so far is still Room which I saw the first half of at the film festival and had to wait until it was shown at the Picture House to see the ending. Bone Tomahawk was another festival film that I only saw on general release but shocked and delighted in equal measure and I rated it much higher than The Hateful Eight or The Revenant which received far more attention at the time. Chicken is a really impressive debut film and it was great to hear director Joe Stephenson talk about the film in the Q&A when he visited Hyde Park. I’m disappointed that I haven’t seen any foreign language films that have made my list yet, perhaps Mustang would’ve made it but I didn’t get chance to see it. And yes I really did like Joy that much although I doubt it will stay at number 2 on my list when I come to reshuffle it.
So, over to you, comment below and tell us what you make of 2016 so far.
Friends of Hyde Park Picture House 
My favourite movies this year so far, in descending order:
The Pearl Button
Deepan
Battle of the Somme
Midnight Special
Rams (or was that last year?)
LikeLike
Rams was this year and it’s good to know that somebody else liked Midnight Special as well as me!
LikeLike
I think it makes more sense if we can explain preferences. I note that Little White Lies has Creed and Hail Caesar alongside The Assassin and Son of Saul. I am sure all four can offers pleasures and/or interests. But it rather feels like comparing Dickens, Hugo and Proust.
LikeLike
Good point, Keith. This means I will have to engage my brain, but it will be very personal because I’m not a film reviewer.
I will start with Dheepan, which after volunteering for many years with refugees and asylum seekers, I found to be a most insightful account of “becoming” a refugee in a largely hostile environment. I was particularly fascinated by the linguistic adaptation shown by the main characters, especially the woman.
I still put Pearl Button above it because of its powerful portrayal of the genocide of endangered native peoples, a story that can be found all over the world, but here in the context of Margaret Thatcher’s friend Pinochet’s horrendous abuse of power.
Battle of the Somme was a must-see document especially during this centenary period. I was most struck by the images of prisoners of war (perhaps because my dad was a PoW in Germany in WW2) and by the number of horses involved in the whole thing!
I can’t remember enough about Midnight Special to say much but I was riveted.
Rams was about the complexity of brotherly love with ice and livestock as vehicles.
LikeLike
I liked Dheepan and Pearl Button. Midnight Special seemed to be about ‘special powers’, which I always find too fanciful. And The Battle of the Somme was a digital version and I prefer the original format.
I have posted on most of my favourite films already. However, I really enjoyed Joy with a great performance from Jenifer Lawrence. The film was interesting about a particular type of US ‘makes good’ story. And it had very good productions values.
LikeLike
Hi,
I’m not sure if “enjoy” is the right word for all the films I’ll nominate, but the most interesting, memorable & thought provoking films I’ve seen so far include Tangerine, Dheepan, Victoria, Son of Saul, The Measure Of A Man & The Nice Guys. I’d certainly recommend all of them, for different reasons.
Ian
LikeLike