10 Awesome Movies From 2017 You Probably Missed

Though this beautiful animated feature was actually made in 2016, it didn't receive a release in the UK or the United States until the middle months of 2017, thus qualifying it for inclusion on this list (because it really deserves a mention!).

It's not often that animated films dare to probe difficult subjects such as child abuse, alcoholism, and abandonment, but the Swiss-French My Life as a Courgette (known as My Life as a Zucchini in some territories) manages this in a way that is never anything other than truthful, heartbreaking, touching, and non-patronising.

The film centres on the titular Courgette, who winds up in a foster home with lots of other abandoned children (each with their own problems and stories). What follows is the story of how Courgette comes to terms with his new life, the absence of his parents, all told with stop-motion animation and characters who continue to reveal new layers across the length of the film's short run time of 65 minutes.

What's most impressive is how much it packs into those minutes. It feels dense and effortless at once, whilst big subjects are broached in ways that feel respectful, with realistic resolutions. A real triumph, and a film everyone should see.