The Year in Film

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0:00:15 > 0:00:22Hello and welcome to this review of the Year in Film.

0:00:22 > 0:00:26I'm Mark Kermode and we're here at the Cinema Museum in south London.

0:00:26 > 0:00:29Over the next half an hour, I'll be looking back at some

0:00:29 > 0:00:31of the best movies released in UK cinemas in 2017.

0:00:31 > 0:00:35And what a year it's been.

0:00:35 > 0:00:40As always, the film year began with the Oscar circus which back

0:00:40 > 0:00:45in February became the scene of one of the most astonishing debacles

0:00:45 > 0:00:53in awards history as La La land, which had already picked up gongs

0:00:53 > 0:01:01for Best Director, Best Cinematographer, Best Music,

0:01:01 > 0:01:03Best Original song, Best Production Besign, and best actress,

0:01:03 > 0:01:06for Emma Stone, was announced as the winner of the best picture

0:01:06 > 0:01:09award, only for that to be revealed as a mistake.

0:01:09 > 0:01:10I'm sorry, no, there's been a mistake.

0:01:10 > 0:01:12Moonlight, you guys won best picture.

0:01:12 > 0:01:13In fact, the award went to Moonlight.

0:01:13 > 0:01:19Director Barry Jenkins's minor key masterpiece which also won best

0:01:19 > 0:01:24best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor

0:01:24 > 0:01:25for Maherschela Ali.

0:01:25 > 0:01:28Among the night's big hitters, Manchester by the See picked up

0:01:28 > 0:01:30the award for best original screenplay and best

0:01:30 > 0:01:31actor for Casey Affleck.

0:01:31 > 0:01:33Meanwhile, Viola Davis won the supporting actress award

0:01:33 > 0:01:35for her role in the Fences.

0:01:35 > 0:01:37An adaptation of August Wilson's stage play directed by leading

0:01:37 > 0:01:38man, Denzel Washington.

0:01:38 > 0:01:42I gave 18 years of my life to stand in the same spot as you!

0:01:42 > 0:01:44As always, some of the most interesting movies

0:01:44 > 0:01:47competing in Oscar night were in the foreign-language film category.

0:01:47 > 0:01:49My own personal favourite was Toni Erdmann, a jet black comedy

0:01:49 > 0:01:51from writer director, Maren Ade.

0:01:51 > 0:01:53about father- daughter estrangement boasting a brilliant central

0:01:53 > 0:01:57performance by Sandra Huller.

0:01:57 > 0:02:01In the end, the foreign-language film award went to The Salesman,

0:02:01 > 0:02:03an affecting drama from Iranian film director Asghar Farhadi,

0:02:03 > 0:02:05who had previously won the award for A Separation.

0:02:05 > 0:02:10This time, in protest against President Trump's

0:02:10 > 0:02:12controversial travel ban, Farhadi boycotted the Oscar

0:02:12 > 0:02:18ceremony, explaining that his absence was out of respect

0:02:18 > 0:02:21"Out of respect for the people in my country and those

0:02:21 > 0:02:22of six other nations

0:02:22 > 0:02:25who had been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry

0:02:25 > 0:02:26of immigrants to the US."

0:02:26 > 0:02:28Of course, all true film fans understand that cinema

0:02:28 > 0:02:31is an international medium that knows no boundaries or borders

0:02:31 > 0:02:33and in 2017, UK cinemagoers were treated to a veritable

0:02:33 > 0:02:35smorgasbord of delights from all corners of the globe.

0:02:35 > 0:02:40From Israel came In Between, the bittersweet debut feature

0:02:40 > 0:02:46from Maysaloun Hamoud about three Palestinian women living in Tel

0:02:46 > 0:02:53Aviv, each fighting their own battle for independence and fulfilment.

0:02:53 > 0:02:59In The Handmaiden, Park Chan-wook transferred the story

0:02:59 > 0:03:03of Sarah Waters's novel Fingersmith from Victorian England

0:03:03 > 0:03:05to 1930s Korea under Japanese colonial rule,

0:03:05 > 0:03:06with deliciously twisted a result.

0:03:06 > 0:03:09Dutch director Paul Verhoeven coaxed an Oscar-nominated performance

0:03:09 > 0:03:11from French icon Isabelle Huppert in Elle, a controversial drama

0:03:11 > 0:03:13about a Parisian businesswoman playing cat and mouse

0:03:13 > 0:03:17with a violent assailant.

0:03:17 > 0:03:23In By The Time It Gets Dark, Thai film maker Anocha Suwichakornpong

0:03:23 > 0:03:26used the infamous atrocities of October 1976 as a jumping-off

0:03:26 > 0:03:28point for a kaleidoscopic meditation on past and present,

0:03:28 > 0:03:35truth and fiction, cinema and memory.

0:03:35 > 0:03:40A performance of tremendous wit, vitality and lusty defiance

0:03:40 > 0:03:42by Sonia Braga drove Brazilian film-maker Kleber Mendonca Filho's

0:03:42 > 0:03:45Aquarius, a portrait of a woman refusing to be bullied out

0:03:45 > 0:03:51of her seafront apartment by developers.

0:03:51 > 0:03:52Professor.

0:03:52 > 0:03:54Thank you so much.

0:03:54 > 0:04:01Italian film-maker Luca Guadagnino scored a critical hit

0:04:01 > 0:04:03with Call Me By Your Name, which many have named

0:04:03 > 0:04:06their favourite film of that year.

0:04:06 > 0:04:11In February, Hungarian film-maker Ildiko Enyedi scooped the top prize

0:04:11 > 0:04:14at the Berlin Film Festival with On Body And Soul,

0:04:14 > 0:04:16a brilliantly bizarre tale of two misfits finding dreamy love

0:04:16 > 0:04:20against the stark backdrop of an abattoir.

0:04:20 > 0:04:23One of the most uncategorisable films to be released in UK cinemas

0:04:23 > 0:04:27in 2017 was I Am Not A Witch, a remarkable Zambian

0:04:27 > 0:04:34story from writer- director and British Independent

0:04:34 > 0:04:35Film Awards winner Rungano Nyoni.

0:04:48 > 0:04:55Margaret Mulubwa stars of the young girl who is accused of being a witch

0:04:55 > 0:05:01and given a stark choice - to accept her supernatural

0:05:01 > 0:05:03branding and live a tethered life as a sorceress,

0:05:03 > 0:05:05or to cut her ties with local tradition and be

0:05:05 > 0:05:06transformed into a goat.

0:05:06 > 0:05:08Part social satire, part surreal fairy tale,

0:05:08 > 0:05:15this terrifically strange parable addresses magic and misogyny,

0:05:15 > 0:05:18superstition and social strictures, in a manner which is as indefinable

0:05:18 > 0:05:21as it is unmissable.

0:05:21 > 0:05:25Although I Am Not A Witch was shot and set in its director's homeland

0:05:25 > 0:05:27of Zambia, Rungano Nyoni grew up in Wales and

0:05:27 > 0:05:32the film is a British- French co-production.

0:05:32 > 0:05:342017 saw the release of several British-backed feature debuts,

0:05:34 > 0:05:41which proves that home-grown talent continues to flourish.

0:05:41 > 0:05:42Staying for the funeral?

0:05:42 > 0:05:43Of course.

0:05:43 > 0:05:45My favourite British film of the year was

0:05:45 > 0:05:47Hope Dickson Leach's The Levelling, a poetic tale of family division

0:05:47 > 0:05:49and reconciliation which played out against the postdiluvian backdrop

0:05:49 > 0:05:50of flooded Somerset.

0:05:50 > 0:05:52I don't want this to be your fault!

0:05:52 > 0:05:59Not again.

0:05:59 > 0:06:02Having been named a star of tomorrow by Screen International way back

0:06:02 > 0:06:04in 2007, it took Hope Dickson Leach nearly

0:06:04 > 0:06:07a decade to make her first feature, which stars Ellie Kendrick and David

0:06:07 > 0:06:08Troughton.

0:06:08 > 0:06:11It was well worth the wait.

0:06:11 > 0:06:16Other screen debuts included Lady Macbeth, the first feature

0:06:16 > 0:06:19from theatre director William Oldroyd.

0:06:19 > 0:06:23Transferring its themes from Russia to the rugged

0:06:23 > 0:06:25of Victorian era North East England, the film made

0:06:25 > 0:06:30a star of Florence Pugh, who previously shone

0:06:30 > 0:06:34in Carol Morley's The Falling, and she commands the screen

0:06:34 > 0:06:41in this lusty tale of repression and rebellion.

0:06:41 > 0:06:43Yorkshire provided the arresting setting for God's Own Country,

0:06:43 > 0:06:46the feature debut from Francis Lee won the BIFA for best

0:06:46 > 0:06:47independent film.

0:06:47 > 0:06:53Depicting a tentative relationship to a young local farmer

0:06:53 > 0:06:57and a migrant Romanian worker, God's Own Country was another

0:06:57 > 0:06:59low-budget British odyssey with a licence as broad

0:06:59 > 0:07:01as the countryside itself.

0:07:01 > 0:07:03Meanwhile, Alex Barrett's London Symphony takes cinema back

0:07:03 > 0:07:05to its silent roots, filming in over 300 locations

0:07:05 > 0:07:07to present a celebration of diversity and difference

0:07:07 > 0:07:12with a superb score by James McWilliam.

0:07:12 > 0:07:15While gems such as The Levelling and London Symphony showed what can

0:07:15 > 0:07:17be achieved with limited resources, other British-based films have more

0:07:18 > 0:07:23multiplex-friendly appeal.

0:07:23 > 0:07:28Films such as Goodbye Christopher Robin, which gently

0:07:28 > 0:07:30interwove fact and fantasy as it retraced the creation

0:07:30 > 0:07:31of a children's classic.

0:07:31 > 0:07:37Boasting some beautiful writing by Frank Cottrell Boyce,

0:07:37 > 0:07:40this charming film, which could have been call Saving Mr Milne,

0:07:40 > 0:07:42served as a fitting epitaph for the life and work of producer

0:07:42 > 0:07:46Steve Christian who died earlier this year.

0:07:46 > 0:07:53And then there was Breathe, which provoked both laughter

0:07:53 > 0:07:55and tears as it visited the story of pioneering polio

0:07:55 > 0:07:56survivor Robin Cavendish.

0:07:56 > 0:08:02With terrific terms from Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy,

0:08:02 > 0:08:05Breathe marked the directorial feature debut for Andy Serkis.

0:08:05 > 0:08:07Best known as the performance capture maestro who brought iconic

0:08:07 > 0:08:09characters like Gollum and King Kong to life.

0:08:09 > 0:08:11This year, Serkis reprised the Role Of Caesar In War

0:08:11 > 0:08:13For The Planet Of The Apes,

0:08:13 > 0:08:20the third instalment in the rebooted dystopian fantasy franchise.

0:08:20 > 0:08:23War for the Planet of the Apes was just one of a number of fantasy

0:08:23 > 0:08:26blockbusters which proved that mainstream movies don't have to be

0:08:26 > 0:08:27drearily done to be popular.

0:08:27 > 0:08:29In fact, they can be inventive, challenging,

0:08:29 > 0:08:31funny, subversive, dark, delirious, whatever you want just

0:08:31 > 0:08:33as long as it's good.

0:08:33 > 0:08:41MUSIC: Hurt by Johnny Cash.

0:08:41 > 0:08:43One of this year's most adventurous mainstream

0:08:43 > 0:08:47offerings was James Mangold's Logan, a X-Men movie unlike any other,

0:08:47 > 0:08:50apparently made for people who prefer Westerns like Unforgiven

0:08:50 > 0:08:59to standard comic book franchise fare.

0:08:59 > 0:09:01At the other end of the mood spectrum was Patty Jenkins'

0:09:01 > 0:09:08Wonder Woman, a thrillingly empowering romp starring

0:09:08 > 0:09:10the indefatigable Gal Gadot, which proved a box office

0:09:10 > 0:09:11smash, thereby destroying once

0:09:11 > 0:09:14and for all those nonsensical myths about superhero movies

0:09:14 > 0:09:18requiring male heroes.

0:09:18 > 0:09:20Incidentally, the rope-wielding figure of Wonder Woman,

0:09:20 > 0:09:22also provided the inspiration for Angela Robinson's stranger

0:09:22 > 0:09:24than fiction tale of fetishism and female empowerment,

0:09:24 > 0:09:27Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, a real eye opener.

0:09:27 > 0:09:30For those who like their superheroes to come with a sense of humour,

0:09:30 > 0:09:31New Zealand director Taika Waititi's Thor:

0:09:31 > 0:09:33Ragnarok was a delight.

0:09:33 > 0:09:36A rollicking adventure which turned out to be funnier than many

0:09:36 > 0:09:40of the year's alleged comedies.

0:09:40 > 0:09:41Let's do Get help.

0:09:41 > 0:09:44No.

0:09:44 > 0:09:45Come on, you'll love it.

0:09:45 > 0:09:46I hate it.

0:09:46 > 0:09:47Works every time.

0:09:47 > 0:09:48It's humiliating.

0:09:48 > 0:09:50Do you have a better plan?

0:09:50 > 0:09:51Now.

0:09:51 > 0:09:52We're doing it.

0:09:52 > 0:09:53We're not doing get help.

0:09:53 > 0:09:54Get help!

0:09:54 > 0:09:55Please, my brother is dying!

0:09:55 > 0:09:56Get help!

0:09:56 > 0:09:57Help him!

0:09:57 > 0:10:00Classic.

0:10:00 > 0:10:03As for Kong: Skull Island, which featured Thor co-star

0:10:03 > 0:10:07Tom Hiddleston, hats off to director Jordan Vogt-Roberts,

0:10:07 > 0:10:13for managing to leave his quirky indie fingerprints all over this 200

0:10:13 > 0:10:14million-dollar studio behemoth, which boasted the biggest primate

0:10:14 > 0:10:16you've ever seen on screen.

0:10:16 > 0:10:21Of course, there were some clunkers, most notably

0:10:21 > 0:10:23Justice League, which suffered production problems ranging

0:10:23 > 0:10:25from the departure of the original director to studio uncertainty

0:10:25 > 0:10:28about the dark or light the finished film should be.

0:10:28 > 0:10:32In the end, it just turned up dull.

0:10:32 > 0:10:33That's not something you could say about Dunkirk,

0:10:33 > 0:10:36Christopher Nolan's overwhelming epic about the allied retreat

0:10:36 > 0:10:38Christopher Nolan's overwhelming epic about the Allied retreat

0:10:38 > 0:10:43from France in 1940.

0:10:43 > 0:10:47Shot in the large Imax format and best viewed

0:10:47 > 0:10:55on the biggest screen possible, preferably in 70mm,

0:10:55 > 0:10:58Nolan's long nurtured labour of love is a stunning achievement

0:10:58 > 0:10:59which deftly juggles three intertwining time periods,

0:10:59 > 0:11:02one week, one day, one hour, as it traces the story

0:11:02 > 0:11:03from land, sea and sky.

0:11:03 > 0:11:06And beneath it all is Hans Zimmer's devastating score, a rising chord

0:11:06 > 0:11:08of anxiety which tears the audience's nerves to shreds.

0:11:08 > 0:11:13Whoa, whoa, whoa!

0:11:13 > 0:11:18There were thrills of a very different kind in Edgar Wright's

0:11:18 > 0:11:22in Edgar Wright's Baby Driver, a pedal to the metal cocktail

0:11:22 > 0:11:26of music and movement which is best described as an American in Paris

0:11:26 > 0:11:29meets the French connection.

0:11:29 > 0:11:34Developing an idea that he had first explored in a 2003 music video

0:11:34 > 0:11:38for Mint Royale's Blue Song, Wright's roller-coaster ride

0:11:38 > 0:11:41Ansel Elgort as a getaway driver who lives his life

0:11:41 > 0:11:42to the rhythm of a personal playlist.

0:11:42 > 0:11:44The result is a blast.

0:11:44 > 0:11:45Kathryn Bigelow cranked up the tension in Detroit,

0:11:45 > 0:11:53a powerful reconstruction of a shocking incident that took

0:11:53 > 0:11:55place amid five days of rioting during the summer of 1967.

0:11:55 > 0:11:59British actors John Boyega and Will Poulter headed and ensemble

0:11:59 > 0:12:02cast ably led by Hurt Locker director Bigelow who became

0:12:02 > 0:12:08the first woman to win the Oscar for best director back in 2010.

0:12:08 > 0:12:11For those in search of laughter, the year's most unlikely romcom

0:12:11 > 0:12:12proved to be the perfect tonic.

0:12:12 > 0:12:14What is happening, what are you doing?

0:12:14 > 0:12:15I'm changing under this blanket.

0:12:15 > 0:12:16I've seen everything.

0:12:16 > 0:12:17Remember?

0:12:17 > 0:12:19We were just having sex.

0:12:19 > 0:12:22Yeah, but you were in the throes of passion then.

0:12:22 > 0:12:30Based on the real-life experiences of co-writer

0:12:30 > 0:12:33and star Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick was While You Were

0:12:33 > 0:12:35Sleeping For the wide awake generation, a touching tale

0:12:35 > 0:12:37of cross-cultural entanglement between a Pakistani born man

0:12:37 > 0:12:44and an American woman wrestling with the conflicting

0:12:44 > 0:12:52ties of unexpected love and arranged marriage.

0:12:52 > 0:12:56Meanwhile, Armando Iannucci turned history into grim farce

0:12:56 > 0:12:57in The Death of Stalin.

0:12:57 > 0:12:59The star-studded cast sank their teeth into this

0:12:59 > 0:13:00brutal black comedy.

0:13:00 > 0:13:03One of the best things about being a movie critic

0:13:03 > 0:13:05is you get to see films about which you know

0:13:05 > 0:13:06nothing in advance.

0:13:06 > 0:13:08Take, for example, Secret Superstar, a laughter and tears Bollywood

0:13:08 > 0:13:11treat, which combines Hannah Montana style teen fantasy with a strong

0:13:11 > 0:13:13social realist message about domestic abuse,

0:13:13 > 0:13:15divorce law, gender selective pregnancy termination, and and more.

0:13:15 > 0:13:16gender selective pregnancy termination, and more.

0:13:16 > 0:13:20I went in unprepared and was completely won over

0:13:20 > 0:13:23by the charismatic energy of Zaira Wasim and her scene-stealing

0:13:23 > 0:13:24co-star and producer Aamir Khan.

0:13:24 > 0:13:29And on the subject of children finding beauty in tough

0:13:29 > 0:13:34surroundings, one of the best films of 2017 was The Florida Project,

0:13:34 > 0:13:36described by director Sean Baker as a modern day Our Gang.

0:13:36 > 0:13:39These are the rooms we're not supposed to go in.

0:13:39 > 0:13:43But let's go anyway!

0:13:43 > 0:13:45Set in the rundown shadows of Disneyworld, the Florida Project

0:13:45 > 0:13:48had heart and show to spare, thanks in no small part

0:13:48 > 0:13:50to a brilliantly natural performance by rising star Brooklynn Kimberly

0:13:50 > 0:13:51Prince.

0:13:51 > 0:13:55I've failed as a mother!

0:13:55 > 0:13:56Mom, you're a disgrace.

0:13:56 > 0:13:582017 also turned up to be a great year for animation,

0:13:58 > 0:14:01cementing my belief that we are currently living

0:14:01 > 0:14:05through a golden age in which hand drawn and computer graphics live

0:14:05 > 0:14:10side by side with stop motion, rotoscoping and even oil painting.

0:14:10 > 0:14:13Hey new kid, what did you do to land in here?

0:14:13 > 0:14:14So, are you the boss?

0:14:14 > 0:14:15Guess you catch on pretty quick.

0:14:15 > 0:14:19And that's how you talk to girls.

0:14:19 > 0:14:26Among the animated wonders which dazzled UK cinema audiences

0:14:26 > 0:14:29this year were My Life as a Courgette, a heartbreaking yet

0:14:29 > 0:14:37joyful Swiss-French tale of abused kids finding kinship in a care home,

0:14:37 > 0:14:41and The Red Turtle, an ambitious East-West venture produced

0:14:41 > 0:14:49by Japan's studio Ghibli and directed by London based.

0:14:49 > 0:14:53animator Michael Dudok Du Wi between studios in France and Belgium.

0:14:53 > 0:14:56France and Belgium.

0:14:56 > 0:14:59A wordless gem about a man stranded on a desert island,

0:14:59 > 0:15:01this sublime film harks back to the universality of silent

0:15:01 > 0:15:04cinema, creating something of beauty which can be enjoyed by audiences

0:15:04 > 0:15:05of all ages forever.

0:15:05 > 0:15:072017 also saw the release of Loving Vincent, billed

0:15:07 > 0:15:08as the world's first

0:15:08 > 0:15:10fully painted feature in which 125 animators working in Greece

0:15:10 > 0:15:16and Poland created 65,000 frames based on live action footage

0:15:16 > 0:15:22to create an astonishing collision of real and artistic invention.

0:15:22 > 0:15:23Blimey.

0:15:23 > 0:15:26Do something.

0:15:26 > 0:15:28Put the pin down or we'll hypnotise you!

0:15:28 > 0:15:38And from the sublime to the ridiculous, let's hear it

0:15:38 > 0:15:40for Captain Underpants: the First Epic Movie,

0:15:40 > 0:15:43A film so fabulously funny that I saw it twice in the same week

0:15:43 > 0:15:45and wanted to go back again.

0:15:45 > 0:15:46Tra-Laa-Laa!

0:15:46 > 0:15:48On the subject of seeing things a second time,

0:15:48 > 0:15:50it's worth pointing out that alongside all the original

0:15:50 > 0:15:51material that played in the UK cinema this year,

0:15:51 > 0:15:542017 also saw its fair share of sequels, remakes and reissues.

0:15:54 > 0:15:56Back in January, director Danny Boyle reunited us

0:15:56 > 0:16:02with the original cast of Trainspotting in T2,

0:16:02 > 0:16:05which caught up with Renton, Simon, Spud and Begby,

0:16:05 > 0:16:07upon whom age and regret had taken its toll.

0:16:07 > 0:16:09Considering how important Trainspotting was to a certain

0:16:09 > 0:16:13generation of filmgoers, it was a huge relief that the sequel

0:16:13 > 0:16:16didn't trample all over our dreams and turned out to be a touching

0:16:16 > 0:16:17and inspiring movie in its own right.

0:16:17 > 0:16:20The same was true of Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve's

0:16:20 > 0:16:23eagerly-anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott's

0:16:23 > 0:16:26epochal original.

0:16:28 > 0:16:31There is an order to things.

0:16:31 > 0:16:33That is what we do here.

0:16:33 > 0:16:38We keep order.

0:16:38 > 0:16:41Despite brilliant reviews, Blade Runner 2049 didn't quite prove

0:16:41 > 0:16:45the runaway box office hit that its distributors had hoped for.

0:16:45 > 0:16:48No matter, for my money, it's a masterpiece.

0:16:48 > 0:16:50True to the spirit of the original but sharp enough to forward

0:16:50 > 0:16:57its own brave new world.

0:16:57 > 0:17:00And then there was Paddington 2, a sequel which look like it didn't

0:17:00 > 0:17:03And then there was Paddington 2, a sequel which look like it couldn't

0:17:03 > 0:17:06possibly live up to the promise of its predecessor and then did.

0:17:06 > 0:17:07Marmalade sandwiches all round.

0:17:07 > 0:17:10Ow!

0:17:10 > 0:17:17On the remake front, Sofia Coppola won a best director

0:17:17 > 0:17:20award at the Cannes Film Festival in May for The Beguiled,

0:17:20 > 0:17:23her take on a tale previously told by Don Siegel in a twisted 70s

0:17:23 > 0:17:25classic about a wounded Civil War soldier taken

0:17:25 > 0:17:32in by a cloistered group of women.

0:17:32 > 0:17:35In June, a new adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel

0:17:35 > 0:17:43arrived, in UK cinema,

0:17:43 > 0:17:45with Rachel Weiss stepping nimbly into shoes which had really been

0:17:45 > 0:17:48filled by Olivia de Havilland?.

0:17:48 > 0:17:51And in November, Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express

0:17:51 > 0:17:55which have been filmed several times before, most notably in 1974,

0:17:55 > 0:17:57rolled in with a glamorous cast led by actor

0:17:57 > 0:17:59director Kenneth Brannagh, and his extraordinary

0:17:59 > 0:18:00performing moustache.

0:18:00 > 0:18:02For me, one of the real treat of 2017 was seeing

0:18:02 > 0:18:05William Friedkin's gruelling masterpiece Sorcerer back on screens

0:18:05 > 0:18:09in a glorious 4K restoration,

0:18:09 > 0:18:11heralding its long overdue reassessment as a masterpiece,

0:18:11 > 0:18:18a full 40 years after it first formed in cinema.

0:18:18 > 0:18:21One of the reasons Sorcerer, itself a remake of Wages of Fear,

0:18:21 > 0:18:22flopped back in 1977 was that the fact it opened

0:18:22 > 0:18:27back-to-back with Star Wars,

0:18:27 > 0:18:29he film that ate the box office alive.

0:18:29 > 0:18:31For decades later, that intergalactic franchise

0:18:31 > 0:18:35is still ruling the galaxy,

0:18:35 > 0:18:38With episode eight, The Last Jedi opening in the run-up to Christmas,

0:18:38 > 0:18:40and once again driving Sorcerer of our screens.

0:18:40 > 0:18:42Alongside the French connection, sorcerer director William Friedkin

0:18:42 > 0:18:44is best known for the Exorcist,

0:18:44 > 0:18:46he most successful horror film of all time.

0:18:46 > 0:18:482017 was a very good year for horror, with Andres Muschietti's

0:18:48 > 0:18:51adaptation of Stephen King's It laying claim to the title

0:18:51 > 0:18:56of horror's biggest box office haul, albeit an adjusted for inflation.

0:18:57 > 0:19:02No!

0:19:04 > 0:19:09Hiya, Georgie!

0:19:09 > 0:19:11What a nice boat.

0:19:11 > 0:19:19It was good fun but the real ground-breaking work was being done

0:19:19 > 0:19:26on the edges of horror in films which slipped subtly across genres.

0:19:26 > 0:19:34One of the best films of 2017 was Jordan Peele's Get Out,

0:19:34 > 0:19:36a sharp sociopolitical chiller with scratched away at the suface

0:19:36 > 0:19:38of so-called post-racial America, to find poisonous secrets lurking

0:19:38 > 0:19:39behind the liberal smiles.

0:19:39 > 0:19:41So you guys coming up from the city?

0:19:41 > 0:19:43Yeah, we're just coming up for the weekend.

0:19:43 > 0:19:44Can I see your license please?

0:19:44 > 0:19:46He wasn't driving.

0:19:46 > 0:19:49I didn't who was driving, I asked to see his ID.

0:19:49 > 0:19:52Bizarrely, when it came to the Golden Globes,

0:19:52 > 0:19:55Get Out was placed into the best musical or comedy category also

0:19:55 > 0:19:57when asked to define the film himself, Peel said pointedly,

0:19:57 > 0:20:02it's a documentary.

0:20:02 > 0:20:10Black Swan director Darren Baranowski toyed with horror

0:20:10 > 0:20:12films in his bill will bring cinematic powerful Mother!,

0:20:12 > 0:20:14which found Jennifer Lawrence cast out of eight latter-day Eden

0:20:14 > 0:20:15into an increasingly overcrowded hell.

0:20:15 > 0:20:23Other arthouse offerings such as Olivier Assayas's Personal

0:20:23 > 0:20:30David Lowry's A Ahost Story and Yorgos Lanthimos's

0:20:30 > 0:20:32the Killing of a Secret Deer twisted supernatural tropes

0:20:32 > 0:20:38to their own psychological end.

0:20:38 > 0:20:41While Trey Edward Shults's creepy It Comes at Night got under the skin

0:20:41 > 0:20:43of modern American paranoia with its clever inversion

0:20:43 > 0:20:44of home invasion with this.

0:20:44 > 0:20:46Here in the UK heavily pregnant Alice Lowe wrote,

0:20:46 > 0:20:48directed and starred Prevenge, a uniquely weird antenatal shocker

0:20:48 > 0:20:51which brought together murder, madness and maternity in a fever

0:20:51 > 0:20:52dream of fear and fast.

0:20:52 > 0:20:55I would swap her to have him back, so he can't hear you.

0:20:55 > 0:20:56He can't hear you.

0:20:56 > 0:20:57She can't, she's very articulate.

0:20:57 > 0:21:01But for me, the best horror film, indeed the best film of the gig

0:21:01 > 0:21:03was Raw, the flesh gripping, French- Belgian feature debut from

0:21:03 > 0:21:04writer-director Julia Ducournau.

0:21:04 > 0:21:07Using cannibalism to tell its story of growing pains and sibling

0:21:07 > 0:21:09rivalry, Raw is a astonishingly assured work from a unique

0:21:09 > 0:21:15film-maker whose vision is etched into every frame.

0:21:15 > 0:21:21Straddling humour, heartbreak and horror with ease.

0:21:21 > 0:21:24There was horror of a very different kind in City of Ghosts,

0:21:24 > 0:21:26one of the most striking documentaries of 2017 which looked

0:21:26 > 0:21:28at the online activists and citizen journalist in Raqqa,

0:21:28 > 0:21:31who risked everything to let the world know what was really

0:21:31 > 0:21:38happening when the homeland was taken over by Isis.

0:21:38 > 0:21:41This year also saw the UK release I am Not Your Negro,

0:21:41 > 0:21:43Raoul Peck's unique film James Baldwin, which culminated

0:21:43 > 0:21:45in the best documentary category in the Oscars in February before

0:21:45 > 0:21:50opening here in April.

0:21:50 > 0:21:52Despite theatrical success of films like Fahrenheit 9/11,

0:21:52 > 0:21:55many people still view documentaries as being more at home

0:21:55 > 0:22:00on television and in cinema.

0:22:00 > 0:22:022017 was a year in which the boundaries between

0:22:02 > 0:22:04big and small screen is became increasingly blurred.

0:22:04 > 0:22:08Indeed, in their end of year round-up at the cinema magazine

0:22:08 > 0:22:12Sight and Sound named the TV series Twin Peaks: The Return as the second

0:22:12 > 0:22:16best film of the year.

0:22:16 > 0:22:19Meanwhile, Netflix and Amazon, found their logos being booed

0:22:19 > 0:22:21at the Cannes film Festival after French cinemas complained

0:22:21 > 0:22:24that films intended for the home viewing market should not be allowed

0:22:24 > 0:22:27to compete in a film festival unless they have a proper

0:22:27 > 0:22:28theatrical release.

0:22:28 > 0:22:30It's a fair point but who, other than Netflix, would have

0:22:30 > 0:22:33allowed the Korean director Bong Joon-ho to make a movie

0:22:33 > 0:22:35as wonderfully weird as the creature feature Okja,

0:22:35 > 0:22:37which competed for the Palm d'Or?

0:22:37 > 0:22:42Of course, the really big controversy for which 2017 will be

0:22:42 > 0:22:44remembered are the stories of sexual abuse and harassment

0:22:44 > 0:22:49which multiplied in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

0:22:49 > 0:22:52As the silence surrounding harassment within the industry

0:22:52 > 0:22:54was finally broken, Hollywood found some of its most bankable players

0:22:54 > 0:22:55publicly named and shamed.

0:22:55 > 0:23:03When Kevin Spacey became the subject of abuse allegations,

0:23:03 > 0:23:06of Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World enlisted

0:23:06 > 0:23:07Christopher Plummer to reshoot all of Spacey's scenes

0:23:07 > 0:23:09at short notice.

0:23:09 > 0:23:14Meanwhile, campaigning groups such as Raising Films,

0:23:14 > 0:23:17which was set up by Levelling director Hope Dixon Leach,

0:23:17 > 0:23:19Have called for industry wide perform to protect those working

0:23:19 > 0:23:23within film production from exploitation and abuse.

0:23:23 > 0:23:26So what of the future?

0:23:26 > 0:23:29Hopefully, the scandals of today will prove the wake-up calls off

0:23:29 > 0:23:31tomorrow and bring about real change within the industry.

0:23:31 > 0:23:33Watch this space.

0:23:33 > 0:23:35In the meantime, there are plenty of great movies

0:23:35 > 0:23:37to look forward to in 2018.

0:23:37 > 0:23:39Strong contenders currently being tipped for prizes

0:23:39 > 0:23:41at the forthcoming Oscars include Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards

0:23:41 > 0:23:44Outside Ebbing, Missouri, starring Frances McDormand,

0:23:44 > 0:23:46Stephen Spielberg's The Post, featuring Meryl Streep

0:23:46 > 0:23:48and Tom Hanks, and Greta Gerwig's directorial debut Lady Bird,

0:23:48 > 0:23:58all of which open here in January and February.

0:24:01 > 0:24:03Personally, the films I'm mostly looking forward

0:24:03 > 0:24:05to in the coming months

0:24:05 > 0:24:13are Dark River from the selfish giant director Clio Barnard,

0:24:13 > 0:24:16Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here which proved a prize-winning

0:24:16 > 0:24:19hit at Cannes in May, and Guillermo Del Toro's the shape

0:24:19 > 0:24:21of water, starring the wonderful Sally Hawkins.

0:24:21 > 0:24:23The great thing about movies is that you never know

0:24:23 > 0:24:26what's going to be a hit.

0:24:26 > 0:24:27Take Tommy Wiseau's 2003 catastrophe Rhe Room,

0:24:27 > 0:24:30rightly regarded to be one of the worst films ever made,

0:24:30 > 0:24:33but which became a midnight movie cult favourite and has now spawned

0:24:33 > 0:24:35a star-studded making of drama which has turned Wiseau

0:24:35 > 0:24:36into the stuff of legend.

0:24:36 > 0:24:38As screenwriter William Goldman famously observed in Hollywood,

0:24:38 > 0:24:39no one knows anything.

0:24:39 > 0:24:41And reversals of fortune are always possible.

0:24:41 > 0:24:43I'll leave you with a clip from the Disaster Artist.

0:24:43 > 0:24:45Enjoy the movies.

0:24:45 > 0:24:46We do alley scene!

0:24:46 > 0:24:49This set on the alleyways and looks exactly like the real

0:24:49 > 0:24:52alleyway out there.

0:24:52 > 0:24:54That's right, that's what we do in Hollywood movie right?

0:24:54 > 0:24:57Well why don't we just shoot it in the real alleyway?

0:24:57 > 0:24:58Because it's real Hollywood movie.

0:24:58 > 0:24:59Yeah sounds good.

0:24:59 > 0:25:01OK.