Retrospective 2017 – A Year in Film

Despite a difficult time at the box-office, particularly during the blockbuster summer season, 2017 has been a another solid and eventful year for film, featuring an eclectic mix of independent cinema and major tent-pole releases which as usual defined the landscape, and with industry new boys Netflix and Amazon making their presence felt come film festival and awards season—and with minority and female-led filmmaking making a considerable mark too.

As usual comic-book goliaths made the biggest run at the box office through likes of ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming‘ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2‘, and with the success of ‘Wonder Woman‘ proving a watershed moment for the genre—plus of course the latest yearly adventure in a galaxy far, far away ‘The Last Jedi‘. Meanwhile the musical made a return to the Hollywood fold with ‘La La Land‘, while powerful indie dramas like ‘Manchester By The Sea‘ and ‘Fences‘ also made an impact—but with LGBT coming-of-age drama ‘Moonlight‘ unexpectedly stealing the show and triumphing (eventually) on the industry’s biggest night.

There was also the dreaded spectre of inevitable losses as  many of the industry’s figures passed on, while major scandal rocked the movie world in the form a a certain sleazy producer, as the fallout proves to have a lingering impact. FilmPhonic chronicles the people, events and films that have shaped the movie world in the last twelve months, let’s hope 2018 is as eventful . . . but a little less scandalous.

January

Awards Season Scramble

Image sources: Lionsgate, EFD, Amazon & StudioCanal

As usual January was one of the most interesting months for cinema releases as UK audiences were treated to many eventual award contenders, often months after their American cousins, as the awards season picked up steam heading towards its final stop at the Academy Awards.

Oscar contenders like Damien Chazelle’s LA musical‘La La Land‘, biographical drama ‘Lion‘ and our pick for best film of the year ‘Manchester by the Sea‘ were just some of the films which made the greatest impact on the month, while Mel Gibson’s time in the Hollywood wilderness came to an end with the success of biographical war drama ‘Hacksaw Ridge‘ and Martin Scorsese unveiled his religious suffrage drama ‘Silence‘.

And the Award Goes To…

Bring on the Golden Balls

Image source: Getty Images

January brought the first major stop on the awards season railway in the form of the 74th Golden Globe Awards for film and television, here are the notable movie winners this year;

Best Motion Picture – Drama

• Moonlight

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

• La La Land

Best Director- Motion Picture

• Damien Chazelle for La La Land

Best Performance by an Actor and Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

• Casey Affleck for Manchester by the Sea

and

• Isabelle Huppert for Elle

Best Performance by an Actor and Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

• Ryan Gosling for La La Land

and

• Emma Stone for La La Land

Best Performance by an Actor and Actress in supporting role in a Motion Picture

• Aaron Taylor Johsnon for Nocturnal Animals

and

• Viola Davis for Fences

You can check out our breakdown of all the night’s movie winners here.

Those We Lost

After the ‘annus horribilis’ for unexpected celebrity deaths that was 2016, twenty-seventeen was another period of tough losses for the movie industry so we pay tribute to some of those that the year took from us.

Image source: Film4, Getty Images, Paramount, 20th Century Fox

The month opened with the passing among others of Legendary Indian actor Om Puri (66) (Gandhi, East is East) and screenwriter William Peter Blatty (89) (The Omega Man, The Exorcist), and also saw the loss of versatile cult favourite actor Miguel Ferrer (RoboCop, Twin Peaks). January ended with the loss of actress and American TV comedy legend Mary Tyler Moore (80) (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Ordinary People) and the passing of one of the greatest actors of his or any other generation the brilliant Brit John Hurt (77) (Alien, The Elephant Man).

February next page>

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