La tortue rouge (or) The Red Turtle (Others, 2016)
The Red Turtle takes you on a journey where even the desolate places and depressing circumstances are overcome by love in the most magical fashion possible. Studio Ghibli have lived up to the high standards once again with this thoroughly disarming fairy tale.
Elle (French, 2016)
‘Elle’ is not a compilation of events we get to watch very often, for it explores different avenues of psychological responses to personal crisis. Driven by Paul Verhoeven’s disturbing style and steered by Isabelle Hupert’s bold performance, the movie is nothing short of a perturbing thriller from start to finish!
Forushande (or) The Salesman (Persian, 2016)
‘The Salesman’ is abundant in skill, technique and mastery over the craft with intricate detailing etched into the narrative. Commendable acting and an intelligent execution elevates it to be earnestly tagged as tough competition to beat!
En man som heter Ove (or) A man called Ove (Swedish, 2016)
Starting of as a humor sprinkled narration of a sullen old man coping with the recent loss of his wife, “A Man Called Ove” grows on the audience with each passing minute. By virtue of diligent acting and an absorbing screenplay, its ends up casting a mesmerizing spell of emotion!
Aanandam (Malayalam, 2016)
Coming-of-age films in Malayalam are a dime a dozen but the technically brilliant ‘Aanandam’ scores in the telling the journey of a group of friends over the course of an ‘Industrial Visit’ trip and not just focusing on one person or a pair. Perhaps, avoiding a few clichéd situations, driven mostly by philosophical dialogues, might have helped in raising the level a bit more.