FQ : The Film Quarterly podcast presents
REFLECTIONS ON FILM IN 2017

Bilal Qureshi, columnist of “Elsewhere,” and B. Ruby RIch, Editor, Film Quarterly, wrap up the year by discussing some highlights. Jordan Peele’s Get Out was the film that caught the zeitgeist of Trumpian horror, deploying genre tropes upended by its racial script-flip. They both love a pair of films, Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird, as coming of age tales that differ entirely in terms of gender and yet ultimately recenter the family as a haven in a chaotic world.

Qureshi welcomes Dunkirk as a bracing reminder of the greatness of cinema and nation, a reminder of how movies can be made well, Rich falls for the nostalgia in The Post for its view of an era when newspapers still made a difference, and they disagree with each other’s choice.

Both agree, though, that The Florida Project offers something fresh for this moment. Summing up the end of the year in terms of the Weinsteinization of power, Qureshi wonders why I Love You Daddy ever won critical acclaim and questions the responsibility of critics. Turning to documentaries, Rich revisits Strong River, then worries about what it means for Jane to be getting more attention than Dolores. Qureshi reminds her about the power of Netflix in this post-theatrical film world.

And it’s a wrap ––­ til next year.

Header Image: Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan, 2017)