C O N S I D E R - Favorites of 2017, 1st Qtr

It's April already! We're too impatient to wait for the "halfway" mark for year in review listicles. So why not do it each quarter to encourage more moviegoing? Unlike many critics orgs and the Oscars, The Film Experience believes that moviegoing is a 12 month long activity and each month can hold worthy efforts.  Here are 3 (or 4 if we're torn) highlights of what we've seen thus far this year per Oscar category in alpha order. How will they measure up to what's still to come? (We'll hit favorite performances on Sunday or Monday)

Key films I missed in the first quarter that I might try and catch up with later: Cure for Wellness, The Great Wall, Staying Vertical, T2 Trainspotting, United Kingdom, and Wilson

PICTURE / DIRECTOR / SCREENPLAY

FRANTZ (François Ozon, written by Philippe Piazzo & François Ozon)
FUTURE PERFECT (Nele Wohlatz, written by Pío Longo & Nele Wohlatz)
GET OUT (Jordan Peele)
PERSONAL SHOPPER (Olivier Assayas)

The Future Perfect doesn't have distribution yet but you'd be crazy to miss the other three which were the most all-around well realized of 2017's releases thus far, from concept to execution on all levels. MUCH MORE AFTER THE JUMP...

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ND/NF: "Menashe" and "The Future Perfect"

MOMa and Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual New Directors / New Films festival wrapped up this past weekend. Their goal each year is to celebrate "a group of filmmakers who represent the present and anticipate the future of cinema: daring artists whose work pushes the envelope and is never what you’d expect"  The big tickets this year were two buzzy Sundance titles: the gay drama Beach Rats (a subway misshap prevented me from making the screening - argh!) and the rap comedy Patti Cake$ which will be out in July. The latter prompted a bidding war with Fox Searchlight offering $10+ million. Beach Rats was picked up by a new distribution company called Neon so who knows when it will arrive. Colossal, that Anne Hathaway as a kaiju oddity, will be Neon's first proper release on April 7th. 

At ND/NF we previously reviewed Sexy Durga, Happiness Academy, and Strong Island. Here are the two final films yours truly caught, one being maybe my favorite of 2017 thus far...

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