Friday 12 January 2018

My favourite movies of 2017



Hello, beautiful people!

After writing about my favourite books and TV shows of 2017, I am concluding this list with my favourite movies of last year. True, we're already January 12th (wait, my birthday is in exactly a month), but it's never too late to talk about what you love, right? Now, I don't watch that many movies, because I have a limited attention span when it comes to them, I don't fall in love with that many of them, but when I do... It lasts for years. While I was writing this post, I watched all of the trailers of these movies again, considered changing the order so many times (except for #1) and wanted to rewatch them again. It surely shows that I really adore them and I'm so excited to talk about them!


(Side note: If you're interested in any of them, I linked all the trailers with the titles of the movies.)



6. Paterson, dir. by Jim Jarmusch (2016)

Paterson is the most surprising of my favourite movies of the year and it also was one of the last movies I watched. Had I watched it last year, I might have been bored, but it was exactly what I needed when I watched it. Paterson tells the story of a bus driver who loves to write poetry, whose life you follow during seven days. 

When I rewatched the trailer, it said, at some point: "Beauty is often found in the smallest details" and I couldn't sum up the movie any better. It's quiet, it's poetic, it's about the triumphs and failures of daily life, it's about escaping through what you love. The only thing I didn't really get was Paterson's wife, she really annoyed me, but it couldn't prevent me to fall in love with this movie. I have to confess that yes, I did watch it for Adam Driver (I'm very predictable, aren't I?) and he was so brilliant in it, I loved how it focused on his voice when his character was writing poetry, it's one of my favourites of his performances for sure. 


5. Wonder, dir. by Stephen Chbosky (2017)

Wonder was originally a middle-grade novel written by R.J. Palacio, that tells the story of Auggie, a young boy who has a rare facial deformity and has been homeschooled his entire life. At twelve, he's finally going to school for the first time, where he'll be cast away, before slowly being accepted. It also has  the points of view of different characters, such as his sister Via, other students and so on.

As a matter of fact, I haven't read the book (*audience gasps*), but I absolutely fell in love with the movie. I thought it delivered so many beautiful messages, I loved watching the characters and their dynamics develop, as well as the story that made me cry quite a few times. I also really loved the cast, the kids were the absolute cutest and it had Daveed Diggs (aka the original Lafayette/Jefferson from the musical Hamilton). I'm already looking forward to watch this wonder again (yes, that pun was intended, because it truly is what it was).



4. Beauty and the Beast, dir. by Bill Condon (2017)

I am pretty sure I don't have to tell you what Beauty and the Beast is all about, since it's a well-known tale written in the 18th century, the 2017 movie being a live-action version of the 1991 version. Before finally watching it, I had been anticipating it for such a long time, I had pretty much lost it the day it was announced that Dan Stevens would be the Beast (once again, I am very predictable). 

I was a bit scared, but well, of course I loved it. The cinematography is absolutely stunning, adding new details to give more depth to the story was quite a wonderful idea - especially for me, who is obsessed with the 18th century -, it made us have some new content. Hearing the songs again - in English and not in French, as I have grown up since the animated version - was absolutely wonderful and I completely fell in love with one of the new ones, Evermore. I can't even tell you how many times I have listened to it since March, how much I adore it. I also loved the choreographies of the musical numbers so much! It is now one of my feel-good movies, it always puts a huge smile when I watch it (except that I cry at the end and make comments about Dan Stevens the entire time, but it's fun, I swear).



3. Hidden Figures, dir. by Theodore Melfi (2016)

Hidden Figures is about the untold story of black female mathematicians who worked at NASA during the Space Race, more specifically focusing on Katherine Johnson, who calculated flight trajectories for Project Mercury, Dorothy Vaughan, a NASA supervisor and Mary Jackson, NASA's first black female engineer. It is based on the non-fiction book of the same name written by Margot Lee Shetterly, that I read afterwards and absolutely adored (I cried several times).

This movie means so much to me, because it's so inspiring. Seeing these women fighting to have as much as everyone else made me want to work hard to follow my dreams as well and they all became my role models (even more after I read the book). It was infuriating at times, because of the way they were treated, considering it was set in 1960s America, but it was so full of hope by the end and things were starting to be as they should be. The entire cast did an amazing job, I wanted to wear the same outfits than the characters, I still listen to the soundtrack when I study, I just adore this movie so much.


2. La La Land, dir. by Damien Chazelle (2017)

La La Land tells the story of Seb, a jazz pianist, and Mia, an aspiring actress, who meet and fall in love in Los Angeles while following their dreams. There was so much hype around this movie, considering it came out right before award season and it got so many of them (I stayed up all night to watch the Oscars for it, that's how obsessed I was). I saw it the day of its opening in France, because I was way too excited and I wasn't disappointed at all. To this day, I have a poster of it on top of my bed as well as a sticker that reads: 'here's to the fools who dream, foolish as they may seem' on my bullet journal.

It was quite the movie for me, because it's a musical, has a stunning cinematography (I've been saying that for most of the movies, I love when they're aesthetically pleasing for sure), is poetic, makes me dream and inspires me to be the best version of myself (and not to listen to everyone else, because like Seb said 'F*** 'em'). It's another of those movies that I watch whenever I feel down, whenever I need to find motivation. I can't put into words how much it brought me for the past year, but I really love it.


Just like with my favourite books of 2017, my favourite movie of the year was La La Land, until I saw...
(the next gif was in the trailer, that's why I put it anyway, I'm not sure it counts as spoilers haha)


1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi, dir. by Rian Johnson (2017)

As I'm writing those words on January 9th (yes, I'm back at scheduling my posts), I have seen The Last Jedi six times. As you're reading this on January 12th, I'm probably at my seventh round or will be after this weekend (thanks to my unlimited movie card, I can actually do this, otherwise it wouldn't be possible). I can't exactly tell you what it's about, as it's the second movie of the sequel trilogy (if this isn't confusing for someone who doesn't watch the movies) and it might be my favourite (don't kill me, I totally stand by what I just wrote, I grew up with Star Wars, but "this is something else"*).

The Last Jedi is the right movie for me. That's the only way to put it. I watched it that many times because I need it, because it always makes me feel better, because it gets me (I'm not going to explain, but it really does). Every time I go back, I say that I'm not ready, sits on the edge of my seat because I'm completely engrossed, discover a new detail I hadn't seen before. I know all of Kylo Ren's lines, smiles like an idiot, always cries/gets teary-eyed at the same parts. I'm realising that I'm not even explaining what's so good about it, but per usual, I loved the cinematography (still screaming about my favourite scene), the actors (okay, well, Adam Driver, but also Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega and everyone else), the plot and most of all, the characters, because I relate way too much to them. Some people didn't like it, or The Force Awakens for that matter, but I adore the sequel movies so much and I stand by that statement and I'm so thankful to have The Last Jedi in my life now.

*yeah, I'm quoting the movie for literally anything...

So there you have it, here are my six favourite movies of the year! Don't hesitate to tell me what your favourite movies of 2017 were!


Lots of love,
Lucie

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