What we consider to be the best of this year represents a combination of the movies that had the greatest emotional impact on us, matched with movies that felt innovative or groundbreaking. Here are the films I consider to be this year’s best:

10. Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru

From Academy Award-winning director Joe Berlinger comes “Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru,” a documentary about the larger-than-life motivational speaker and communicator: Tony Robbins. Berlinger trades in his darker, more investigative documentary exposé for something unapologetically hopeful, choosing to show the more uplifting side of Robbins’ work rather than a take-down approach. It’s fun, funny, and flat-out inspiring.

9. Swiss Army Man

The writer/director duo Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as The Daniels, have a reputation for unique and highly entertaining work, and “Swiss Army Man” represents a conglomerate of numerous ideas that, while may sound far-reaching and absurd, somehow all work. This A24 title generated the most vocal reaction amongst 2016 Sundance festival-goers for it’s ridiculous, and now infamous, farting dead body played by Daniel Radcliffe and is perhaps the wildest film of the year.

8. The Fits

In 2015, director Anna Rose Holmer was declared one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” and after watching her feature directorial debut, “The Fits,” it’s obvious to see why. Holmer doesn’t only manage to capture the entire world of her story in a brisk 70-minute running time, she has the ability to evoke palpable emotion without the use of much dialogue, which culminates in a chills-inducing final scene. “The Fits” is equal parts dramatic and surreal, and on a larger scale, proves that creativity in the film industry is not dead.

7. Louder Than Bombs

Director Joachim Trier made his English-language debut with the drama “Louder Than Bombs,” an intimate portrayal of one family’s relationship and the struggles they must overcome in the face of death. The film made its debut at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and, coupled with Trier’s reputation as an acclaimed filmmaker and visionary, is sure to make waves in the indie/art house film scene. The title- “Louder Than Bombs”– suggests an epic, grandiose drama, but instead, what Trier creates is a meditative and restrained film that is not at all loud or brash. It is a psychological trip that leads back to the celebration of one’s own uniqueness coming together to fulfill the family dynamic.

 

6. Other People

Waterworks await in writer/director Chris Kelly’s semi-autobiographical indie drama “Other People.’ Jesse Plemons plays a struggling comedy writer who moves back in with his family in Sacramento to help take care of his terminally ill mother, played by the phenomenal Molly Shannon. Full of heart and humor, this was one of the only films of the year where my emotions bounced around all over the place, and not for the obvious reasons of death. “Other People” is a breakout, original work that may have flown under the radar this Fall, but stands as a rich contribution to the year’s filmography.

5. Paterson

This self-meditative film from director Jim Jarmusch focuses on the quietly mundane life of its protagonist over the course of one week, which, at face value, may sound like a total bore, but is anything but boring. Adam Driver takes on the titular role of Paterson, a bus driver by profession and poet by passion. His relationships with his girlfriend, her dog, strangers, and friends all serve as inspiration for his poetry, as he can find beauty in the smallest of things. “Paterson” is a film that pushes its audience to actively follow along and the payoff is a poetically enrichening experience than a traditional film would offer.

4. Moonlight

“Moonlight” has topped many a film critics ‘Best of’ lists, and it’s easy to see why. The powerhouse performances from all characters spanning over three succinct acts, with subject matter that stares tradition and stereotypes in the face to create emotionally-charged visual art, are just some of what makes this such a standout film. At a time when racially diverse films in Hollywood feel so scarce, director Barry Jenkins takes on this sensitive and personal subject matter and transforms it into a delicate new work. We can all only hope to see more films like this in 2017.

3. The Handmaiden

In director Park Chan-wook’s film “The Handmaiden,” the 2.5-hour runtime leads us through a tangled web of sexually-charged tension made even more complicated by the layers of lies and deceit, while remaining a shocking and, at its core, beautiful piece of cinema. Essentially, this is a film where predicting what will happen next is utterly pointless, so it’s best to just sit back and let Chan-wook be your guide throughout this multidimensional journey. “The Handmaiden” should serve as an example of masterfully executed cinema from both sides of the camera. Despite its lengthy runtime with both Japanese and Korean subtitles, this is the rare occurrence where I am actually looking forward to rewatching the film again, knowing that when I do, I’ll walk away with an even deeper appreciation of Park Chan-wook’s unique style.

2. La La Land

This isn’t the first time thirty-six-year-old Ryan Gosling and twenty-eight-year-old Emma Stone have played on-screen lovers (“Gangster Squad,” “Crazy Stupid Love”), nor is it the first time thirty-one-year-old Damien Chazelle wrote and directed an electrifying feature film about an artist’s drive to perform onstage (Academy Award-winning “Whiplash”). Put them all together, and here we have one of the most feverishly loved films of the year– “La La Land,” an infectiously romantic modern-day musical that will sing and dance its way into your heart. “La La Land” is a throwback film that celebrates the way movies were made and the feelings that came with them, while simultaneously infusing that nostalgia into a glamorized modern Hollywood romance. For all these reasons, “La La Land” is pure magic and one of the year’s best.

1. The Lobster

Yorgos Lanthimos should be on your radar. The 42-year-old director, born in Athens, Greece, is a visionary unlike any other in modern cinema. Bringing strange and surreal worlds to the big screen with such confidence, his past feature films “Dogtooth” and “Alps” have won numerous awards (as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film). In the ambiguously titled film “The Lobster,” Lanthimos sends up this idea to make a darkly absurd, yet hilarious and thoughtful look at the amount of similarly programmed, artificialized, confining rules and structures that humans have put into place to connect with others. This is his third feature film, first in English, and in true Yorgos fashion, he finds the perfect balance between sharp-edged satire and romantic fable in such a way that is such to make “The Lobster,” in my opinion, the best film of 2016.