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In 'An Excellent Year' For Film, Critic David Edelstein Shares His 12 Favorites

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling dance in the musical, <em>La La Land, </em>critic David Edelstein's pick for the best film of the year.
Summit Entertainment
Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling dance in the musical, La La Land, critic David Edelstein's pick for the best film of the year.

Film critic David Edelstein estimates that he saw 400 films this year — more than enough to fill "a couple of 10-best lists," he tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. His favorite? The fantasy musical, La La Land, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.

"Everything — the movement of the camera, the colors of the set and the costumes, the rhythms of the actors — harmonizes with everything else," Edelstein says. "It's a beautiful combination of an homage to the past and something entirely new."

But Edelstein notes that La La Land is just one of the releases that made 2016 "an excellent year" for movies. Below is his list of the best dozen films of the year. You can click each list item to learn more.

La La Land

Hell or High Water

20th Century Women

Krisha

O.J: Made in America

Moonlight

The Handmaiden

Zero Days

Tower

The Witness

Loving


Toni Erdmann

Click the audio link above to hear Edelstein discuss his 2016 selections.

Copyright 2021 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.

David Edelstein is a film critic for New York magazine and for NPR's Fresh Air, and an occasional commentator on film for CBS Sunday Morning. He has also written film criticism for the Village Voice, The New York Post, and Rolling Stone, and is a frequent contributor to the New York Times' Arts & Leisure section.