Going Crazy and Coping With 2016 Films
Monday, December 26, 2016 at 9:00PM 
Year in Review. Every afternoon, a new wrap-up. Today Chris on films that represented the tumultuous year...
It's a comfort to know that even in no-good-horrible-very-bad years such as this that the movies will always be there to sustain us. However this year the movies seemed to reflect our troubled times right back at us - from racial divides in Zootopia to global communication breakdowns in Arrival. But these very films that embodied the awful also provided us with ways to cope with the ceaseless catastrophe that was 2016.
It should come as no surprise to have more than one horror film on such a list, but let's look at some examples...
The Witch
The Crazy: Look what nightmares can be wrought from living in a bubble, even a self-induced one. Is this even our reality or just perception?
How to Cope: Go join that coven! You go. You got this, girl!
Krisha
The Crazy: A tense family Thanksgiving dinner with inevitable confrontation looming over everyone's heads? That slow motion tumbling turkey was us bracing for impact.
How to Cope: Accountability and direct communication are crucial. Lean in on those vices, just maybe not to an "obliterating a bottle of wine while hiding in the bathroom" level.
Green Room
The Crazy: Defending ourselves against a slew of indefatiguable neo-Nazis sure makes you feel the walls closing in around you.
How to Cope: If you must play dirty too, play smarter. Don't lose your sense of humor in the process. Avoid machetes.
10 Cloverfield Lane
The Crazy: Is there a better metaphor for 2016 than a crazy man trapping you in a bunker and telling you to trust his every crackpot word with no evidence?
How to Cope: Get strategic and get creative. Face surprises head on. Bide your time with 80s pop cinema.
A Bigger Splash
The Crazy: Let's forgive a whole lot of morally objectionable choices and behavior because: sexiness. Privelege and self-interest make a toxic pair.
How to Cope: The shiny object in front of you is nice and all (especially when it's Matthias Shoenaerts), but don't let it deceive you.
Miss Sloane
The Crazy: That people can say things to Jessica Chastain that aren't just superlatives. Winning sometimes comes at incredible sacrifice, for the opposition loves beating you down especially if you're a woman.
How to Cope: Pick your battles, but be vicious. Find you a hooker named Ford that looks like Jake Lacy.
The Lobster
The Crazy: You can't attempt to break the mold on a world that increasingly insists on strict codes and binaries. That would be absurd.
How to Cope: Develop your own language that you and your fellow rule-breakers understand. Make out on strangers' couches.
The Shallows
The Crazy: If it's not one thing, it's another. How do you heal a wound when you're trying to prevent the next from happening?
How to Cope: Don't give up. Give it your all. Be Blake Lively. And tell that shark to go fuck himself. [cue Sia power anthem]
What other films of 2016 embodied or helped you cope with the tumultous year behind us?
Reader Comments (5)
Southside with you. It reminded me of how great America has been since President Obama was elected. Sadly we are getting an orange pussy grabber from January 20 next year.
so mad I missed Miss Sloane in theaters.
Murtada - it's pure delight!
I just saw Sing last night, and for a lovely 90 minutes, this jukebox animal musical took my mind off of the hell we're living with. (In DC for work so the first thing that hit me at the airport yesterday morning was all the inauguration paraphernalia with the Orange One's face. I threw up in my mouth)
"How do you heal a wound when you're trying to prevent the next from happening?" Imagining this set to a Jonathan Larson tune.