Do we really need to keep have the TV vs. film debate? Really? It’s been nearly 20 years since The Sopranos kicked off what we now call “prestige” TV, and we’ve heard for years, from multiple sources, that TV is no better than movies. I don’t think that conclusion is very useful – or very well argued by most who have made it. The best work on TV certainly does rival the best work at the movies – but that’s always been true to a certain extent – but some were just too snobby to see it.
I bring this up because I cannot believe just how many film critics want to put Twin Peaks: The Return on their year-end movie lists. This is not a knock about the quality of Twin Peaks: The Return – I think it may just be the best thing David Lynch has ever done, and given that I think Mulholland Dr. is the best movie of the 21st Century, and one of the 10 best movies EVER – that certainly means Twin Peaks: The Return could stack up favorably to most movies. It may be the supreme artistic achievement of this century so far in TV or film. But it is TV – it was doled out in 18, one hour packages, over the course of months. Sure, it was directed all by one man, and they didn’t shoot or write it like a traditional series – but they clearly edited as one. Lynch’s use of the episodic format was one of the reasons it is the masterwork of television storytelling that it is.
I bring this up at the beginning of my 2017 Year End movie report for a couple of reasons. The first is, because inspired by Twin Peaks, for the first time I will include a list of the best TV shows I watched this year (including a choice of best episode per series) – and because I think film culture is at a strange place right now. Hollywood studios have increasingly banked on big franchises to make money – and they still do, but less than they used to. The Disney/Fox acquisition will put control in even fewer hands than before, and that really cannot be a good thing, can it? Netflix has moved aggressively into the movie space – and we’ve heard cries for those who don’t like that they don’t give their films exclusive theatrical runs. Surely, the likes of Okja, The Meyerowitz Stories and Mudbound deserve them, right? (Bright, not so much).
I cannot help but think that so many critics embraced Lynch’s show this year out of some sort of insecurity about the future of movies. Lynch is one of “ours” (film) not one of “theirs” (TV), so we most protect him at all costs. This is somewhat odd, because this year anyway, there really was no need to go grasping to find daring work being done. As always, you may have to venture outside of suburban multiplexes to see it, but it’s there. Many of the best films come from new – or new-ish – voices (no director who has a film on my top 10 list made their directorial debut before 1997). As some of those directors enter their third decade of directing, I have to admit that even if I always thought of them as the new guard, they aren’t anymore. They’re among the vets now. The exciting thing is that a whole new group has risen behind them, and helped make 2017 an exciting time to see movies.
I know that not everyone will like the films on my top 10 list (one apparently got an F Cinemascore, what that is worth, and another has become the most controversial film of awards season). I’m not someone who wants to shut out, or shut down criticism of films that I love – I’ve taken it in about all the films on this list – and believe we would all be better off if we were more willing to listen to differing viewpoints on the things we love.
Anyway I’ve gotten off track, and think it’s probably time to just reveal by Year End report. As always, I go overboard, so over the next five days you’ll get lists of the 30(ish) best films of the year, the 10 best performances in each acting category – an ensemble casts – lists of the best docs, animated, horror and debut films, my own Oscar ballot, lists of the most disappointing and the worst films, and finally of my favorite TV shows. It is undeniably overkill (apparently, it runs 63 pages and almost 39,000 words). Feel free to disagree, and call me an idiot if you want to. But as I always say, if you don’t like my list – make your own. Everyone else already has.
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