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Edition · 2016
The Year in Film · 2016

Best of 2016

The films that defined 2016 — ranked by IMDb score.


These films defined 2016 — the year's highest-rated releases, ranked by IMDb score. Some are awards bait, some are popcorn fare, some quietly snuck in under the radar. All earned their place on the list.

  1. 01.
    Mirror Game

    Mirror Game

    2016·Dir. Amitabh Reza Chowdhury·144 min·8.9

    Ayna is an actor and the prison is his stage. He slips into the characters of the powerful convicted in exchange of money and take their place in prison. This strange profession is borne out of a society that doesn't give him a chance to follow his passion of acting, but forces him to act in the real life. Falling in love with the girl next door changes his life equation and he decides to end this career with one last performance. But this one takes him too deep in the rabbit hole. The story unfolds on how an underdog survives in a society that is merciless and struggles his way out from the clutch of crime game which he is a part too.

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  2. 02.
    The Unnamed

    The Unnamed

    2016·Dir. Tauquir Ahmed·100 min·8.9

    A migrant worker's passing leads authorities on a wild goose chase on his identity and what to do with his corpse.

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  3. 03.
    O.J.: Made in America

    O.J.: Made in America

    2016·Dir. Ezra Edelman·467 min·8.9

    A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.

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  4. 04.
    Natsamrat

    Natsamrat

    2016·Dir. Mahesh Manjrekar·166 min·8.8

    After he retires, an aging theatre actor and his wife begin to feel unwanted by their children.

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  5. 05.
    Your Name.

    Your Name.

    2016·Dir. Makoto Shinkai·106 min·8.4

    High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen randomly, and the two must adjust their lives around each other.

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  6. 06.
    Visaranai

    Visaranai

    2016·Dir. Vetrimaaran·118 min·8.4

    Pandi and his friends, immigrant workers in Andhra Pradesh, are picked up by cops for a crime they never committed. And thus begins their nightmare, where they become pawns in a vicious game where the voiceless are strangled by those with power.

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  7. 07.
    Maheshinte Prathikaaram

    Maheshinte Prathikaaram

    2016·Dir. Dileesh Pothan·121 min·8.3

    Mahesh, a studio photographer and owner of the studio. As the story moves on, Mahesh encounters an anonymous fight ending up with taking revenge that leads to certain realizations in his life.

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  8. 08.
    Piper

    Piper

    2016·Dir. Alan Barillaro·6 min·8.3

    A mother bird tries to teach her little one how to find food by herself. In the process, she encounters a traumatic experience that she must overcome in order to survive.

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  9. 09.
    Sairat

    Sairat

    2016·Dir. Nagraj Popatrao Manjule·170 min·8.3

    Archi, a local politician’s daughter, and Parshya, a fisherman’s son, fall in love resulting in violence between the families due to the stringent casteism in the village.

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  10. 10.
    Bo Burnham: Make Happy

    Bo Burnham: Make Happy

    2016·Dir. Bo Burnham·60 min·8.3

    Combining his trademark wit and self-deprecating humor with original music, Bo Burnham offers up his unique twist on life in this stand-up special about life, death, sexuality, hypocrisy, mental illness and Pringles cans.

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  11. 11.
    Dangal

    Dangal

    2016·Dir. Nitesh Tiwari·161 min·8.3

    Dangal is an extraordinary true story based on the life of Mahavir Singh and his two daughters, Geeta and Babita Phogat. The film traces the inspirational journey of a father who trains his daughters to become world class wrestlers.

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  12. 12.
    13th

    13th

    2016·Dir. Ava DuVernay·100 min·8.2

    An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.

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  13. 13.
    Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: One More Time with Feeling

    Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: One More Time with Feeling

    2016·Dir. Andrew Dominik·113 min·8.2

    Andrew Dominik's One More Time With Feeling is a remarkable black and white documentary which chronicles the creation of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' album Skeleton Tree. Originally a performance based concept, the film evolved into something much more significant as Dominik delved into the tragic backdrop of the writing and recording of the album. The result is stark, fragile and raw, and a true testament to an artist trying to find his way through the darkness. It documents the writing, recording and performing of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ sixteenth studio album, Skeleton Tree.

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  14. 14.
    Nil Battey Sannata

    Nil Battey Sannata

    2016·Dir. Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari·100 min·8.2

    Behind the magnificent Taj Mahal lies a cluster of dingy homes where Chanda (35), a domestic help, lives with her 14-year-old daughter Appu. Chanda aspires and dreams that her daughter will study and embrace a better fate. When Appu tells her she wants to quit school and become a maid like her, Chanda takes a strong decision: she will herself go back to school, and even join the class of her daughter.

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  15. 15.
    Kirik Party

    Kirik Party

    2016·Dir. Rishab Shetty·165 min·8.2

    Karna from a small town has joined this engineering college and he gangs up with his hostel mates Loki, Alexander, Manja and others to fuel a lot of mischief in the college.

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  16. 16.
    HyperNormalisation

    HyperNormalisation

    2016·Dir. Adam Curtis·167 min·8.2

    We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…

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  17. 17.
    Pelli Choopulu

    Pelli Choopulu

    2016·Dir. Tharun Bhascker·124 min·8.2

    Fed up with his carefree attitude, Prasanth's father fixes his marriage to make him responsible. However, meeting an ambitious girl changes his life for the better.

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  18. 18.
    Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru

    Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru

    2016·Dir. Karthick Naren·106 min·8.2

    A former cop looks back on the case which left him disabled and forced him to quit the force.

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  19. 19.
    A Silent Voice: The Movie

    A Silent Voice: The Movie

    2016·Dir. Naoko Yamada·129 min·8.2

    Shouya Ishida starts bullying the new girl in class, Shouko Nishimiya, because she is deaf. But as the teasing continues, the rest of the class starts to turn on Shouya for his lack of compassion. When they leave elementary school, Shouko and Shouya do not speak to each other again... until an older, wiser Shouya, tormented by his past behaviour, decides he must see Shouko once more. He wants to atone for his sins, but is it already too late...?

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  20. 20.
    Before the Flood

    Before the Flood

    2016·Dir. Fisher Stevens·93 min·8.2

    A look at how climate change affects our environment and what society can do to prevent the demise of endangered species, ecosystems, and native communities across the planet.

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  21. 21.
    Kshanam

    Kshanam

    2016·Dir. Ravikanth Perepu·110 min·8.1

    When his ex Shwetha asks him for help finding her kidnapped daughter, Rishi returns to India and discovers a web of lies.

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  22. 22.
    The Mountain II

    The Mountain II

    2016·Dir. Alper Çağlar·135 min·8.1

    In a desolate war zone where screams of the innocent echo, on the very line between disaster and valor, 7 Maroon Berets will dance with death.

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  23. 23.
    The Handmaiden

    The Handmaiden

    2016·Dir. Park Chan-wook·145 min·8.1

    1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sookee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.

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  24. 24.
    Life and a Day

    Life and a Day

    2016·Dir. Saeed Roustaee·112 min·8.1

    Somaieh, the youngest daughter of an indigent family, is getting married and fear is overwhelming each and every member of the family regarding how to overcome their difficulties after she's gone.

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  25. 25.
    Hacksaw Ridge

    Hacksaw Ridge

    2016·Dir. Mel Gibson·139 min·8.1

    WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

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  26. 26.
    Lion

    Lion

    2016·Dir. Garth Davis·118 min·8.0

    A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.

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  27. 27.
    Sherlock: The Abominable Bride

    Sherlock: The Abominable Bride

    2016·Dir. Douglas Mackinnon·90 min·8.0

    Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves in 1890s London in this holiday special.

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  28. 28.
    Deadpool

    Deadpool

    2016·Dir. Tim Miller·108 min·8.0

    The origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who, after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.

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  29. 29.
    La La Land

    La La Land

    2016·Dir. Damien Chazelle·129 min·8.0

    Mia, an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian, a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.

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  30. 30.
    Pink

    Pink

    2016·Dir. Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury·136 min·8.0

    After being molested, Minal and her friends try to file an FIR against a politician's nephew. When the subsequent case gets rigged, a retired lawyer helps them to fight the case.

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  31. 31.
    Zootopia

    Zootopia

    2016·Dir. Byron Howard·109 min·8.0

    Determined to prove herself, Officer Judy Hopps, the first bunny on Zootopia's police force, jumps at the chance to crack her first case - even if it means partnering with scam-artist fox Nick Wilde to solve the mystery.

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  32. 32.
    M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story

    M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story

    2016·Dir. Neeraj Pandey·190 min·8.0

    Based on the life story of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and his journey to being the world cup winning captain of the Indian cricket team.

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  33. 33.
    Oopiri

    Oopiri

    2016·Dir. Vamshi Paidipally·158 min·8.0

    A true story of two men who should never have met – a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects.

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  34. 34.
    Airlift

    Airlift

    2016·Dir. Raja Menon·126 min·7.9

    When Iraq invades Kuwait in August, 1990, a callous Indian businessman becomes the spokesperson for more than 170,000 stranded countrymen.

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  35. 35.
    Sing Street

    Sing Street

    2016·Dir. John Carney·105 min·7.9

    A boy growing up in Dublin during the 1980s escapes his strained family life by starting a band to impress the mysterious girl he likes.

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  36. 36.
    The Red Pill

    The Red Pill

    2016·Dir. Cassie Jaye·118 min·7.9

    When a feminist filmmaker sets out to document the mysterious and polarizing world of the Men’s Rights Movement, she begins to question her own beliefs. Chronicling Cassie Jaye’s journey exploring an alternate perspective on gender equality, power and privilege.

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  37. 37.
    Tower

    Tower

    2016·Dir. Keith Maitland·82 min·7.9

    Combining archival footage with rotoscopic animation, Tower reveals the action-packed untold stories of the witnesses, heroes and survivors of America’s first mass school shooting, when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others.

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  38. 38.
    24

    24

    2016·Dir. Vikram Kumar·164 min·7.9

    Scientist turned Entrepreneur Dr. Sethuraman tries to safeguard his newly invented time travel device from falling into the hands of his Evil Twin Brother Aathreya.

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  39. 39.
    The Day Will Come

    The Day Will Come

    2016·Dir. Jesper W. Nielsen·119 min·7.9

    Set in the blooming 1960s, the film centres on two young brothers who are instantly robbed of their lives when they are placed in a boy's home forgotten by time. Armed only with a vivid imagination and a fickle hope, the boys engage in the frightening battle against Headmaster Heck and his lethal tyranny. The film is based on actual events.

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  40. 40.
    Arrival

    Arrival

    2016·Dir. Denis Villeneuve·116 min·7.9

    Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.

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— End of Chapter —