New Zealand’s film critics have chosen their best film of the year in a poll taken across a range of outlets.
Ranked lists were collated from the likes of Flicks, Letterboxd, The Listener, Newshub, Newsroom, NZ Herald, The Spinoff, Pantograph Punch, Stuff.co.nz, Sunday Star-Times and The Wireless among others.
The results confirm not only that 2017 has been a year of excellent movie-watching, but that blockbusters are not the sole films demanding attention.
Their top film typifies many strong examples of filmmaking in the past year. It’s incisive, thrilling, and entertaining – even as it critiques and reflects deep problems within society.
So, what is it?
The best film of 2017, according to NZ film critics is Jordan Peele’s Get Out. Starting from a nominally straightforward premise – a young black man goes to meet his white girlfriend’s parents for the first time – the film becomes a paranoid horror/thriller, detouring into unexpected laughs without alleviating the overall tension.
“Suggests the iconic, politically charged, zeitgeist-defining wallop of your Romeros and Carpenters of yesteryear.” (Aaron Yap, Flicks.co.nz)
“What’s not really up for debate is how inherently smart and devilishly taut Get Out is.” (Darren Bevan, Newsroom)
“For all its social pertinance, the film is never preachy or didactic, and its clearly primarily concerned with providing a solid popcorn experience.” (Dominic Corry, NZ Herald)
“A terrifically enjoyable movie which sends-up the well-worn tropes of the horror genre while cleverly entrapping its audience into laughing heartily at what is actually (still) the sad state of contemporary racial politics.“ (Sarah Watt, Sunday Star-Times)
The full top ten, in order:
