I couldn't make a top 10 films, a top 10 books, or a top 10 music. Not because there was too much but because there was too little. Of these twenty items, the first three were the beating heart of the year for me.
1. Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor
The elemental sound and fury of 2666 and A Brief History of Seven Killings run through this story about The Witch. Her corpse is found by children playing in the irrigation canals in a small town in Mexico. As the novel unfolds, each chapter is told from a different perspective in prose that harks back to Thomas Bernhard's endless paragraphs. Melchor refuses to look away at the pain inflicted upon women, nor does she indulge in fantasy or levity. Wherever you are afraid to go, Melchor goes. As readable as King and as smart as Bolano.
Interview with Melchor on what inspired Hurricane Season: https://www.dw.com/en/nightmarish-realism-fernanda-melchor-on-the-haunting-voices-of-hurricane-season/a-49252372
2. Perry Mason
We haven't got a proper LA noir fix since the double barrel blast of scandal and betrayal that was LA Confidential. This shot of hard whiskey is followed by a chaser of dark humor.
3. Euphoria Chrismas Special: Rue
Comparisons to Magnolia when Season 1 debuted were fully warranted. The show wore it's heart on its sleeve. The most logical step from that was to see it all stripped down to just two people talking. It's Christmas Eve. We're in a cafe at night. And Rue and her sponsor Ali throw it out all on the table.
4. The Devil All the Time
Check another one off for "I can't believe they adapted something this dark". Pollock's world revolves around the backwoods of Ohio in a place called Knockemstiff. As much as I love the movie, the writer is the true star here, even offering up his services as narrator.
5. Better Call Saul Season 5
Bagman is the highlight here in a season that continues consistent, quality writing.
6. I Know This Much Is True (HBO Miniseries)
Derek Cianfrance's obsession is family. The 8 episode miniseries allows him to fully explore the obsession with one of Ruffalo's career performances.
7. Sound of Metal
A journey of self-destruction and self-acceptance that resonates long after the final frame. Immaculate sound design.
8. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
Loose, free form documentary that zeroes in on a particular place and a particular time. In this case, 20's, a bar located in Canada. It's the eve of the 2016 presidential election and the last day the bar is open before closing shop. The human experiment is alive and well. At least until the lights go out.
9. i'm thinking of ending things
I don't care about your interpretations. Just let me enjoy the thing.
10. David Byrne's American Utopia concert film/Alex Winter's Zappa doc/The Beastie Boys Story
This year was generous to music docs and the concert film. American Utopia showed Lee stepping up to the plate in making a spiritual Stop Making Sense follow up. Winter's Zappa should be considered the primer for people just starting out with the musician. Spike Jonze's Beastie Boys Story captures an aura you can slip into as the survining members of the band tell their story.
11. Devs (Hulu Miniseries)
Garland has had a firm grip on cerebral science fiction since Ex Machina. Television once again expands a director's playground to tell more ambitious stories.
12. The Vast of Night
Using the framing device of a lost Twilight Zone episode, Vast of Night has a campfire tale vibe that I gelled with immediately.
13. HAIM- Woman In Music Part III
The soundtrack of the summer.
14. The Outsider (HBO Miniseries)
The series never reaches the heights of the first two episodes, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't entertained by it all the way until the end.
15. Time
A compression of years of a life into 81 minutes. An impressive feat of editing.
16. The Lolita Podcast
Jamie Loftus digs into Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 classic. Breaking it down and looking at it from every angle: the Kubrick adaptation, the musical (yes, a musical), how victims of child abuse respond to it, etc. The biggest triumph in the podcast is Jamie's articulation of how the culture has taken the book, stripped it of its true horrifying nature, and peddled it as entertainment via multiple mediums of media. She gets down to why the culture at large knows Dolores Hayes not by her name but by Lolita, the name given to her by Humbert Humbert.
17. The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada
Lewis Carroll by way of David Lynch. An immersive story told in a highly mercurial manner with a dreadful cumulative effect.
18. Bacurau
The less you know going into this film, the better.
19. Charlie XCX- how i'm feeling now
20. Scream, Queen! My Nightmare On Elm Street
Been waiting for this doc for some time. Happy to say the wait was worth it. Mark Patton and Elm Street 2 is finally receiving its due.
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