In 2017, we saw a lot of great movies, from musicals and sequels to glamorous comebacks. Shocking scandals fell between box office and awards successes. What was the year's best film? That's a matter of taste.
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2017: the year's most memorable movies
The film world can proudly look back on a successful year. Big festivals, the Oscars and the European Film Awards alike made a strong impact. Here's a look back at some of the cinematographic highlights of 2017.
Golden Bear for 'On Body and Soul'
Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi celebrated a glamorous comeback at the 67th Berlinale in February. After abstaining from filmmaking for almost 20 years, she presented her work "On Body and Soul," for which she earned the prestigious Golden Bear. Here she is celebrating the win with Dieter Kosslick, head of the festival.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Fischer
Oscar for 'Moonlight'
A few days after the Berlinale, the world turned to Los Angeles and the 89th Oscar ceremony. Although the musical "La La Land" had received a record 14 nominations, the most important Oscar, namely the one for Best Film, went to Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight." A flub during the award delivery suggested the story of a young African-American man in three acts was not the winner, causing an uproar.
Image: A24/DCM
'La La Land' is the runner-up
The musical of director Damien Chazelle had to make do with "just" six Oscars. The film had already received numerous awards and "La La Land" conquered viewers' hearts all over the world. The movie triggered a comeback of an entire genre, as well as renewed public appraisal of the Oscars. After all, they honored two truly extraordinary works.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/D. Robinette
An art satire gets the Palme d'Or: 'The Square'
In May, the film world's most important festival award went to a Swedish director. In a rather average competition, Ruben Östlund turned out as the best director with his satire of the art world. "The Square" ridicules the elitist behavior of curators, museum directors and artists. Towards the end of the year, this unusual work was also honored with six European Film Awards.
Image: Magnolia Pictures
Lion-tamer Guillermo del Toro with 'The Shape of Water'
In 2017, the Venice Film Festival clearly overshadowed its rival, Cannes. Following a competition with numerous highlights, Mexican director Guillermo del Toro emerged as the winner of the Golden Lion. His film, "The Shape of Water," convinced the jury with its mixture of a Cold War drama, fantasy and science thriller. In Germany, the film will not be shown until February 2018.
Image: 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
The sequel of the year: 'Blade Runner 2049'
It was certainly a big risk to produce a sequel to one of the biggest cult films in cinematic history — and to do so 35 years later. So the huge success of the sequel to Ridley Scott's 1982 dystopia, "Blade Runner," came as a big surprise. This time, the director was Denis Villeneuve from Canada.
Image: Sony Pictures Releasing GmbH
Belated honors for 'Toni Erdmann'
The year in film doesn't always follow a predictable path. When the year began, Maren Ade's highly-grossing and much acclaimed film was already being celebrated by viewers and festivals alike. The huge success of "Toni Erdmann" started off at Cannes in 2016 and was followed by an Oscar nomination. A year after its premiere, the movie took home a German Film Award in early 2017.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Pedersen
'Berlin Babylon' — a successful German series
In the era of Netflix and Amazon, the lines between film and television are becoming increasingly blurred. But in the fall of 2017, fans of good series and films agreed with each other, and both celebrated the premiere of the first episodes of the series "Berlin Babylon," first at festivals, and then after its release on private broadcaster Sky.
Image: 2017 X Filme/Frédéric Batier
The blockbuster 'Beauty and the Beast'
The fairy-tale musical remake of "Beauty and the Beast" has proven to be the most successful blockbuster of 2017, as it grossed roughly 1.3 billion dollars. Directed by Bill Condon, the film is based on an old work which has already been adapted several times. This time, the filmmakers tried out an original genre and the result was anything but your average Hollywood sequel.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Disney
Most successful German film: 'Fack ju Göhte 3'
In Germany, "Beauty and the Beast" ranked just fourth on the list of the most successful films of the year, with 3.4 million viewers. The US production was beaten out by the German film "Fack ju Göhte 3," which has box office receipts showing it's been seen by 5.7 million people. The film is the third in a series about underachievers at school, starring the very charming Elyas M'Barek.
Image: picture-alliance/Constantin Film Verleih GmbH/R. Bajo
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Was it a good film year? If one looks at the winning films of the three biggest festivals, the answer is definitely yes. "On Body and Soul" by Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi, "The Square" by Swedish director Ruben Östlund and "The Shape of Water" of Guillermo del Toro from Mexico were the works that dominated the festivals in Berlin, Cannes and Venice respectively.
Hollywood likewise put out some highly convincing movies, including "Moonlight" and "La La Land," both of which received a number of Oscars and whose makers were praised for their artistic achievements.
But art doesn't automatically guarantee commercial success. As (almost) always, the highest grossing films were not among those honored at festivals, or hailed by critics. Among the year's 10 most successful films at the box office are nine Hollywood productions, alongside just one film from China. Nevertheless, these hits have not made a big impact.
A convincing Oscar winner: "Moonlight"Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/D. Bornfriend
And what's the significance, really, of a top 10 list? The eighth part of the Star Wars saga hits movie theaters worldwide on December 14, and it's likely to be included in many top 10 lists of 2017. And then, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" also stands a good chance to make it to the top of the list in 2018...
Germany's cinematic preferences
Distinctions between quality and quantity also need to be made when it comes to the movie scene in Germany.
Apart from the German production "Fack Ju Göhte 3," which drew million to theaters, Hollywood largely dominated the scene with works including the sequel of "Fifty Shades of Grey," "Baywatch" and "The Boss Baby."
Director Bora Dagtekin, who's signed Germany's extremely successful "Fack Ju Göhte" films, was not among those who were honored at festivals or by critics for the third installment in his comedy set in a school — but he probably hadn't aimed to anyway.
Among the works that received a lot of acclaim for their artistic quality were "Toni Erdmann," as well as new films like Fatih Akin's thriller "Aus dem Nichts," starring Diane Kruger, who received an award at the Venice Film Festival for her brilliant performance.
Some German series were even recognized internationally, among them "Berlin Babylon," "The Vanishing" and "Dark."
The Weinstein scandal had a ripple effect worldwideImage: getty images / picture-alliance
The scandals of 2017
Unfortunately, audiences will remember the film year 2017 also for its scandals. Sexual abuse allegations made against US producer Harvey Weinstein triggered an entire scandal chain reaction, and with the hashtag campaign revealing sexual abuses #MeToo, the world reacted to the accusations.
In Russia, "Matilda," which tells the love story between a ballerina and the last Emperor of Russia, deeply annoyed the guardians of Russian traditions and representatives of the Orthodox Church.
In Germany, the question of who should lead the country's most important film festival in the future came to dominate public debates. Suddenly, Dieter Kosslick, who will step down as the head of the Berlinale in 2019, saw himself confronted with fierce criticism.
So what was then the "best" film of the year? It's quiet impossible to give an objective answer to that question. After all, all preference lists are, by nature, highly subjective. And that's why we end our retrospective with the personal list of preferences of our film expert Jochen Kürten:
The documentary of the year: "I Am Not Your Negro" by Raoul Peck (France, USA, Belgium, Switzerland)
Series of the year: "The Vanishing" by Hans-Christian Schmid (Germany)
And the top 10 movies that started in German theaters in 2017?
10: "Hell or High Water" by David Mackenzie (USA)
9: "Subbura" by Stefano Sollima (Italy/France)
8: "Like Crazy" by Paolo Virzi (Italy)
7: "Dunkirk" by Christopher Nolan (GB, USA, France, Netherlands)
6: "Les châteaux de sable" by Olivier Jahan (France)
5: "Manchester by the Sea" by Kenneth Lonergan (USA)
4: "La La Land" by Damien Chazelle (USA)
3: "Moonlight" by Barry Jenkins (USA)
2: "Neruda" by Pablo Larraín (Chile, Argentina, France, Spain)
1: "Ce qui nous lie" by Cédric Klapisch (France)
A melodramatic film with a lot of depth from France: "Ce qui nous lie"Image: picture-alliance/Studio Canal/Ce Qui Me Meut