When Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade was released, there was much debate as to whether it could be considered a movie. But if Sight & Sound has any say, it is a movie — and it’s one of 2016’s best. In addition to Lemonade, the Sight & Sound poll’s Top 26 includes films such as Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea, plus Andrea Arnold’s American Honey, Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake, and Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson. Although Lemonade didn’t offer a traditional theatrical run, Sight & Sound’s Ian Mantgani addressed the choice thusly: “Does Lemonade deserve to be on this list? I’m not sure, but I can’t deny its energizing rush, its lightning effect on the culture, its blur of the lines between cinema, music video and album, and how explosively it digested the influence of black cultural history.â€
You can find the complete list, with several ties, below:
Sight & Sound’s Top 26 Movies of 2016
1. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
2. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
3. Elle (Paul Verhoeven)
4. Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt)
5. American Honey (Andrea Arnold)
6. I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach)
7. Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan)
8. Things to Come (Mia Hansen-Løve)
9. Paterson (Jim Jarmusch)
10. The Death of Louis XIV (Albert Serra)
11. Personal Shopper (Olivier Assayas)
=11. Sieranevada (Cristi Puiu)
13. Fire at Sea (Gianfranco Rosi)
=13. Nocturama (Bertrand Bonello)
=13. Julieta (Pedro Almodóvar)
16. La La Land (Damien Chazelle)
=16. Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson)
18. Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman)
19. Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho)
=19. Victoria (Sebastian Schipper)
21. Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra)
=21. Everybody Wants Some!! (Richard Linklater)
=21. Evolution (Lucile Hadzhalilovic)
=21. Hell or High Water (David Mackenzie)
=21. O.J.: Made in America (Ezra Edelman)
26. Lemonade (Beyoncé Knowles Carter and Kahlil Joseph with Jonas Åkerlund, Melina Matsoukas, Dikayl Rimmasch, Mark Romanek and Tod Tourso)
=26. Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford)
=26. The Ornithologist (João Pedro Rodrigues)
=26. Raw (Julia Ducornau)
=26. Neruda (Pablo LarraÃn)