Stream on: 10 films from 2016 worth seeing

Beth (Caitlin FitzGerald) is a struggling actress in the underrated and underseen Always Shine, a Sundance Film Festival favorite now streaming on Netflix and Amazon.
Beth (Caitlin FitzGerald) is a struggling actress in the underrated and underseen Always Shine, a Sundance Film Festival favorite now streaming on Netflix and Amazon.

Last year, more than 730 films were released in the United States, an inundation that would stymie even the most hardcore of cinephiles -- math isn't really my thing, but we can estimate you'd have to watch a minimum of two films a day for each day of the year to have a shot at watching all of them (and considering the lowest-grossing of these films, something called Pet, racked up a hefty $70 in the course of its distribution, it would appear even hardcore completism has its limits).

Naturally, then, a great number of these films slip away, like dry rice in a colander, some of which deserved far better fates. As a service to readers, I have gone through the last three years and hand-selected 10 such films more than worth your time and attention. In many cases, they were films I got to see at a film festival, but I have included the current viewing options for each, whether streaming or disc. They are listed chronologically, with part of my original reaction to first seeing them.

The Raid 2: Berandal (2014)

Gareth Evans' The Raid was a jet stream blast of violent, martial arts fun, featuring the impeccable style of Indonesian action superstar Iko Uwais, along with a host of finely tuned villains and obstacles in the path of the hero. His follow-up took what was so spectacular about the first film and added the complexity of family ties, politics and moral corruption, turning the film into more of an actual, realized saga.

Immediate reaction: "The film is dense and convoluted, but his action sequences -- some of which are absolutely stunning in their elegant viciousness -- are paced with precise deliberateness. Before the film's first major fighting sequence, begun in a small prison toilet stall no less, Evans lets the scene build in intensity and drama, slowing down the film's pulse even as it threatens to go into cardiac arrhythmia."

Available: Amazon streaming; Netflix disc; DVD/BD

Black Sea (2014)

A title I have championed since its release, Kevin MacDonald's submarine action drama is the kind of film for genre enthusiasts (guilty!) in large part because it subverts so many elements of the standard submarine flick. It also features a powerhouse performance from Jude Law, and a rich ensemble of other actors playing their guts out.

Immediate reaction: "In the grand tradition of submarine classics such as Das Boot, MacDonald's film moves across its treacherous waters with canny ingenuity. Atmospherically, it simply doesn't get much more tense than a small group of men fighting for their lives in impossibly tight quarters, half a mile deep under the ocean, a truism that the filmmakers use to maximum effect. Dennis Kelly's heart-palpitating screenplay doesn't let up on you, moving swiftly from disaster to disaster without ever stopping to give the audience a gulp of fresh air."

Available: Amazon streaming; Netflix DVD; DVD/BD

Goodbye to All That (2014)

The setup sounds dubious at best: A spacey but kind-hearted man gets unceremoniously dumped by his wife, leaving him to re-enter the dating scene and deal with new relationships. Yes, that could be almost every other network TV show, but in the hands of the sharp-minded Angus MacLachlan, with brilliant performances from Paul Schneider and Melanie Lynskey, the film becomes something far more rich and affecting than its simple elevator pitch plot synopsis.

Immediate reaction: "It's something of a comedy -- part of the film's conceit concerns the various nutty women Otto gets tangled up with as a newly single man -- but with the skillful touch of its celebrated director, it's also able to shift into heartfelt drama."

Available: Amazon streaming; Netflix streaming; DVD

Far From Men (2014)

Try as we might, it's very difficult to pigeon-hole Viggo Mortensen, best known for his work as the gallant Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings saga. Since that breakthrough, he has been in a couple of David Cronenberg films, John Hillcoat's absolutely pitiless The Road, assorted other oddities, and this fascinating film from David Oelhoffen. Based on a short story by Albert Camus, the film circles around a pair of men trying to keep each other alive as they make a perilous journey across the Atlas mountains in Algeria during the French uprising.

Immediate reaction: "As the men face increasingly harsh elements, they are also subject to the whims of fate and the fickle nature of national politics. A moving film, and an excellent role for Mortensen, who has proved many times over that his talent is absolutely first-rate."

Available: Amazon streaming; DVD

James White (2015)

One of the more searing dramas I've seen in the past few years, Josh Mond's harrowing story about a ne'er-do-well forced to come home and take care of his dying mother is blindingly well acted and deeply moving. Lead by remarkable performances from the then virtually unknown Christopher Abbott and Cynthia Nixon, who herself survived cancer before taking the role, the film digs so deeply into its characters' emotional truth you will feel yourself shrink down in your seat.

Immediate reaction: "For those of us who have lost a parent, the film's unrelenting intimacy is very nearly unendurable, but I have nothing but mad respect for a filmmaker who can look into that particular abyss so unflinchingly. This is a monster of a film, and the announcement of a phenomenal young actor, suddenly proving his earlier career choices were more than justified."

Available: Amazon streaming; Netflix DVD; DVD

Meru (2015)

An alpinist documentary, set mainly in the Himalayas, about a trio of world-class climbers attempting to summit the infamous Shark Fin on Mt. Meru. It does follow what might be considered a standard challenge arc -- they fail, spectacularly, then try again -- but as shot by Jimmy Chin (one of the climbers on the expedition), along with co-director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, we get a sense of the allure of the mountains, and what might drive one to push limits in order to experience them.

Immediate reaction: "... the real strength of the piece is the incredibly intimate and thrilling footage Chin and [co-climber] Renan Ozturk gather even as they're reaching the end of their physical strength in the waning days of the climbs. I suspect it will either drive you to immediately plan for your next base camp, or it will thoroughly close and seal off any thoughts you might have had about giving alpine climbing a whirl, but in either case, it's a knockout."

Available: Amazon Prime video; Netflix DVD; DVD/BD

45 Years (2015)

While it is undoubtedly a showcase for its two leads, Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay, Andrew Haigh's emotionally intricate film goes a lot further than giving us an acting tutorial. It concerns a longtime married couple, happily growing old together, and about to celebrate their anniversary with a gala event. But days before the party, the husband receives a letter that results in a change of everything the wife thought she knew about him. As a commentary on the nature of our secrets, it's absolutely acute.

Immediate reaction: "Quietly reverberating, the film shimmers with life and the performances are nothing short of thrilling. It might sound staid, but as with the aging couple themselves, there is a lot of daring vitality in its ancient bones."

Available: Amazon streaming; Netflix DVD; DVD/BD

A War (2015)

Danish director Tobias Lindholm specializes in the kind of nuanced morality plays that end up putting you in the uncomfortable position of having to choose between something that seems right, and something you know is wrong. It's a way of engaging with his audience, to indict them for their own reactions to his material. This film, which stars his male muse Pilou Asbæk as a commander stationed in Afghanistan having to make a split-second decision that costs him dearly, unfolds without extensive drama but still reverberates with uncommon power.

Immediate reaction: "Utilizing his lo-fi, quasi-Dogme style -- including natural lighting, hand-held cameras, and natural dialogue -- Lindholm plays down the more dramatic elements of war and presents us with a relatively simple ethical quandary. We pull for Pedersen [Asbæk] to be cleared of charges because Lindholm has deftly made us care for him and his family, but we also understand his order saved his men but doomed many innocents, including a number of children. There are no winners here, in other words, no matter the outcome of the case, a great tragedy has taken place, and there is no justice to be found."

Available: Amazon streaming; Netflix streaming; DVD/BD

Under the Shadow (2016)

Iranian director Babak Anvari's horror film is as meticulously smart as it is spooky. Set at the end of the Iran/Iraq War, the film centers on a mother and daughter living in a well-to-do apartment in Tehran, and the arrival of a Djinn apparition that seems to taunt them as the constant bombing of the city leaves it virtually unoccupied. Sharp and politically savvy, Anvari creates a symbolic encapsulation of the Islamic Revolution, even as he's scaring your pants off.

Immediate reaction: "Taken as a metaphor for the oppressive nature of the Revolution itself, the ongoing threat of war, or as the emotional fallout from Shideh's [Narges Rashidi] dream deferred, Anvari's taut script and superbly rendered atmospherics (so effective are they, one of the film's biggest jump scares involves nothing more than a toaster) help to conjure one of the more chilling mother/child dynamics since The Babadook."

Available: Amazon streaming; Netflix streaming; DVD

Always Shine (2016)

It's Persona meets Single White Female in this twisty psychological drama from Sophia Takal. A pair of young actress friends escape the Hollywood grind to go spend a weekend at a remote mountain town near Big Sur. When they arrive, though, the pair's tension and envy spills out, and things take a turn for the jagged and slightly surreal.

Immediate reaction: "The film is actually playing with a very full agenda, utilizing both the act of male gaze (the film opens with Anna [Mackenzie Davis] delivering a tearful reading to a group of at-first unseen producers), and female gaze (Beth [Caitlin FitzGerald] watching her friend in the shower, or flirting with another man at a bar) along with the subtle underpinnings of traditional horror -- two young, pretty women alone in the woods, with a soundtrack of unnerving wind chimes and juiced-up ambient sound -- to generate its peculiar narrative. The effect is both powerfully discombobulating, and also, somehow intensely personal."

Available: Amazon streaming; Netflix DVD; DVD

MovieStyle on 03/24/2017

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