The 50 top films of 2017 in the UK: the full list

The 50 top films of 2017 in the UK: the full list

A heartrending love story tops our list of the year’s best films, which also features a kids’-eye view of Florida, political horror, erotic thrills, sci-fi noir, ghosts, grief and communism

1

Call Me By Your Name

Beautiful, sundrenched romance directed by A Bigger Splash’s Luca Guadagnino, chronicling the affair a teenager (Timothée Chalamet) and a visiting American grad student (Armie Hammer) in 1980s Italy. Read the full review

2

Moonlight

Heartrending account of a black teenager’s struggle to come to terms with his gay identity – potentially difficult material handled with an almost miraculous lightness of touch by director Barry Jenkins. Read the full review

3

The Florida Project

Follow-up to Tangerine from director Sean Baker, here offering a kids’-eye view of unconventional family life in a motel on the outskirts of Walt Disney World. Read the full review.

The Florida Project
The Florida Project Photograph: Harryson Thevenin

4

Elle

An audacious comeback from Paul Verhoeven has Isabelle Huppert on career-best form as an icy career woman dealing with a violent sexual assault. Read the full review.

5

Get Out

Politically inflected horror film featuring Skins’ Daniel Kaluuya as the African American boyfriend whose trip to meet his Caucasian girlfriend’s family becomes a gruesome nightmare. Read the full review

6

The Handmaiden

Supercharged erotic thriller by Oldboy’s Park Chan-wook, adapted from Sarah Waters’s novel Fingersmith and transposed to 1930s Korea. Read the full review

7

Toni Erdmann

Maren Ade’s near-three-hour German comedy is a sad and ecstatic delight about parenthood and professional priorities in the west today. Read the full review

Sandra Hüller and Thomas Loibl in Toni Erdmann
Sandra Hüller and Thomas Loibl in Toni Erdmann

8

Blade Runner 2049

Hugely ambitious, wildly atmospheric sequel to Ridley Scott’s influential 1982 sci-fi noir, with Ryan Gosling the cop charged with hunting down rogue replicants. Read the full review

9

A Ghost Story

Bizarrely and brilliantly conceived “post-horror” film in which car accident victim Casey Affleck haunts his old house (occupied by wife Rooney Mara) wearing a crude white sheet with eyeholes. Read the full review

Bizarre and brilliant … A Ghost Story.
Bizarre and brilliant … A Ghost Story. Photograph: Andrew Droz Palermo/Sundance Institute

10

Manchester by the Sea

Kenneth Lonergan’s acutely observed study of a handyman who becomes the legal guardian of his nephew in the Massachusetts town of the title. Read the full review

11

Lady Macbeth

Superbly realised reimagining of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, with Florence Pugh outstanding as the 19th-century wife who falls for a lowly, mixed-race estate worker. Read the full review

12

Mother!

Extraordinary fever dream of horror and dismay, starring Jennifer Lawrence and directed by Darren Aronofsky, that practically defines the term “critically divisive”. Read the full review

13

Dunkirk

Christopher Nolan’s massive-scale take on the Dunkirk evacuation of the “little boats”, filmed with panache and heartfelt national pride. Read the full review

Epic storytelling … Dunkirk.
Epic storytelling … Dunkirk. Photograph: Bros/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock

14

God’s Own Country

Raw, unsentimental gay romance set in the Yorkshire dales, in which an unhappy farmer’s son begins a relationship with a Romanian seasonal worker. Read the full review

15

The Meyerowitz Stories

Enjoyable pseudo-literary comedy drama from Noah Baumbach, with Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler attempting to shore up their ageing artist dad’s fragile ego. Read the full review

16

Raw

Gruesome arthouse horror from French first-timer Julia Ducournau, in which a vet student is subjected to hazing rituals that repel then fascinate her with flesh. Read the full review

17

The Death of Stalin

Armando Iannucci’s follow-up to In the Loop, a black-as-pitch satire on the paranoid machinations surrounding the death of the Soviet Union’s bloodthirsty tyrant. Read the full review

Black-as-pitch satire … The Death of Stalin
Black-as-pitch satire … The Death of Stalin

18

Paddington 2

Excellent second helping of the hit adaptation of Michael Bond’s good-natured immigrant bear, with Hugh Grant stealing his scenes as a dastardly cravat-wearing villain. Read the full review

19

I Am Not a Witch

Acclaimed drama from Welsh-Zambian director Rungano Nyoni, following a young girl suspected of being a witch into a “camp” where she becomes a tourist attraction. Read the full review

20

The Fits

Unnerving drama from first-time director Anna Rose Holmes, in which a group of dancers at a local community centre appear to succumb to a kind of mass fainting hysteria. Read the full review

Mysterious rites-of-passage drama … The Fits.
Mysterious rites-of-passage drama … The Fits. Photograph: Lionsgate

21

Good Time

Robert Pattinson shows off his indie chops as a New York street hustler in this thrill ride of a 70s-referencing crime yarn from the Safdie brothers. Read the full review

22

Certain Women

Kelly Reichardt’s low-key but heartfelt study of three women’s lives in the midwest, with standout performances from Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern and Michelle Williams. Read the full review

23

Heal the Living

Mysterious, beautifully shot film from French director Katell Quillévéré, about a mosaic of lives connected and affected by an organ transplant operation. Read the full review

Theatre of dreams … Heal the Living.
Theatre of dreams … Heal the Living. Photograph: Artificial Eye

24

Neruda

Chilean director Pablo Larraín’s sideways biopic of the country’s national poet, with Gael Garcia Bernal as a unlikely copper trying to track him down during a period of political unrest. Read the full review

25

La La Land

Oscar-winning musical (though the big one was snatched away) from Whiplash’s Damien Chazelle, reuniting Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in a tribute to Hollywood, music and the movies. Read the full review

26

Personal Shopper

Kristen Stewart is outstanding in her second collaboration with French director Olivier Assayas, playing a fashion industry gofer who thinks she is being haunted. Read the full review

Retail tale … Kristen Stewart in Personal Shopper.
Retail tale … Kristen Stewart in Personal Shopper. Photograph: Carole Bethuel/AP

27

I Am Not Your Negro

Eye-opening, Oscar-nominated documentary from director Raoul Peck, focusing on writer James Baldwin’s role in the 1960s civil rights struggle. Read the full review

28

20th Century Women

Annette Bening makes the most of her role as a 1970s free-spirit single mom, recruiting two female friends to help raise her teenage son. Read the full review

29

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman star in the latest bizarre fable from Yorgos (The Lobster) Lanthimos, about a heart surgeon who becomes obsessed with a teenage boy. Read the full review

Bizarre fable … Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell in The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
Bizarre fable … Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell in The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Photograph: Allstar/A24

30

Silence

Intensely serious religious drama from Martin Scorsese, focusing on the attempts of missionaries Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver to bring Christianity to Japan. Read the full review

31

Graduation

Keenly observed, brilliantly performed account of back-scratching and petty corruption in Romania from 4 Months director Cristian Mungiu. Read the full review

32

Aquarius

Sonia Braga gives a towering performance as an ageing music critic who refuses to sell up when developers want to tear down her much-loved home. Read the full review

Towering performance … Sonia Braga in Aquarius.
Towering performance … Sonia Braga in Aquarius. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

33

The Lost City of Z

Interestingly-paced account of real-life explorer Percy Fawcett’s obsession with the Amazon jungle, and his quest for the fabled city during the imperial shenanigans of the period. Read the full review

34

Mudbound

Bleak, heartfelt account from director Dee Rees of racial division and segregation in the immediate postwar years, snapped up by Netflix. Read the full review

Heartfelt postwar drama … Mudbound.
Heartfelt postwar drama … Mudbound. Photograph: Allstar/Netflix

35

War for the Planet of the Apes

Unexpectedly impressive third instalment in the Apes reboot series, with Andy Serkis’s Caesar facing off against human warmonger Woody Harrelson. Read the full review

36

Detroit

Much anticipated Kathryn Bigelow account of the 1967 riots and the gruesome Algiers motel incident that very much chimed with #BlackLivesMatter. Read the full review

37

T2 Trainspotting

Long awaited Danny Boyle-directed sequel to the hit British film, with Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle and co mired in male middle age and disillusion. Read the full review

Return ticket … T2 Trainspotting.
Return ticket … T2 Trainspotting. Photograph: Graeme Hunter Pictures

38

The Beguiled

Sofia Coppola-directed remake of civil-war-set yarn, in which injured soldier Colin Farrell finds himself holed up in a girls’ school. Read the full review

39

Logan

Furrowed-brow finale to the X-Men spinoff series, with Hugh Jackman Wolverine-ing it up for what we assume is the final time. Read the full review

40

Girls Trip

Crowd-pleasing surprise hit comedy following a group of African-American women on a raucously fun weekend trip to New Orleans. Read the full review

High-flying fun … Girls Trip.
High-flying fun … Girls Trip. Photograph: Short/Universal/Rex/Shutterstock

41

Logan Lucky

Steven Soderbergh’s return to the big screen, a starry heist comedy in which Adam Driver and Channing Tatum bust Daniel Craig out of jail to help them rob a race track. Read the full review

42

The Love Witch

Bizarre feminist retro horror from writer-director Anna Biller, about a witch who uses “sex magic” to ensnare and kill a series of hapless lovers. Read the full review

The Love Witch.
Spellbound … Samantha Robinson in The Love Witch. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

43

Baby Driver

Much-liked Edgar Wright pedal-to-the-metal crime caper, in which music-addicted getaway driver Baby (Ansel Elgort) falls for waitress Lily James. Read the full review

44

Strong Island

Moving, angry documentary from trans film-maker Yance Ford, about the injustice surrounding the death of his brother who was shot in 1992. Read the full review

45

Colossal

A genuinely cult item that definitely divided the critics. Anne Hathaway plays a messed-up alcoholic who conjures up visions of monsters attacking South Korea. Read the full review

Here be monsters … Anne Hathaway in Colossal.
Here be monsters … Anne Hathaway in Colossal. Photograph: Allstar/Voltage Pictures

46

The Big Sick

Popular, fun romcom about a cross-cultural romance that turns to more serious matters when the woman succumbs to a serious illness. Read the full review

47

The Disaster Artist

Entertaining film-about-the-worst-film-ever-made, with brothers James and Dave Franco playing the notorious duo who made the appalling 2003 cult clunker The Room. Read the full review

48

The Work

Extraordinary, gut-wrenching documentary about a group of outsiders who choose to take part in traumatic group therapy sessions with hardened convicts in Folsom prison. Read the full review

49

A Quiet Passion

Terence Davies’s exquisitely designed biopic of American poet Emily Dickinson, whose sedate home life belied her enormous literary talent. Read the full review

Cynthia Nixon, left, and Jennifer Ehle in A Quiet Passion.
Behind the lines … Cynthia Nixon, left, as Emily Dickinson and Jennifer Ehle as her sister Vinnie in A Quiet Passion. Photograph: Johan Voets/AP

50

My Cousin Rachel

Commanding Daphne du Maurier adaptation with Rachel Weisz on top form as a mysterious and manipulative widow with designs on a country estate. Read the full review

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