Best Album
DAMN.
Kendrick Lamar
My album of the year is somewhat predictable, since all the major publications also agreed that Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. is truly the most remarkable offering in a year that sees noteworthy releases from both up-and-coming artists such as Kelela, SZA and veteran innovators like Bjork and Fever Ray. From the opening notes of BLOOD., which portended a more soulful, harmonic approach from rap’s most agile practitioner to the comfortable grooves of LOVE., DAMN. illuminates the spiritual side of Kendrick Lamar without softening the edges that made him so unique. Elsewhere on the album, Kendrick provides his usual uncanny insight into community and life in general. It would not be an exaggeration to say that DAMN. surpasses Kendrick’s 2015 masterpiece To Pimp A Butterfly.
Best Film
City of Ghosts
Matthew Heineman
City of Ghosts is an accidental find for me, so to speak. Up to the point when I caught this enthralling documentary about ISIS’s systematic destruction of Syria during the Singapore Writers Festival, my favourite film of the year was Blade Runner 2049. I must admit, I know very little about the devastations in Syria as well as the website Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently prior to watching the documentary. One word of warning though, the film is not for the faint of heart, featuring everything from public executions, body mutilations to ISIS’s flashy propaganda videos. In an age of social network where journalism is constantly degraded and devalued, City of Ghosts is an affirming film about the power of citizen journalism and the sacrifices journalists have to endure to bring the truth to the world.
Best Book
Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi
I have never gotten around to reading Marjane Satrapi’s classic graphic novel until this year. As with City of Ghosts, I am not familiar with the political and religious upheaval that shook Iran in the seventies, beyond what cursory knowledge I have garnered in movies like Argo. It is therefore an eye-opener to read about how Iran had become less liberal over the years. It is also interesting to note how similarly children and teenagers around the world behave and feel, before the overbearing tripartite of culture, society and government shape the perspectives of young adults. Beyond the political commentary, Persepolis is a great coming-of-age story that shows how similar people are, regardless of whatever differences they may have.
Best TV Show
The Leftovers
To be frank, I found season 1 of The Leftovers to be somewhat frigid and tedious in its portrayal of the ways people deal with grief after the unexplained departure of 2% of the world population. Thankfully, I stayed on with the show, as the second and third seasons are truly groundbreaking in the ways of deconstructing television narratives. The series is most captivating when it explores the perception of survivor’s guilt, self-importance and trauma in its various characters. Simultaneously heartbreaking and outlandish, viewers are treated to a landscape of eccentric yet believable characters, living out fantastic scenarios. Despite the showrunners’ promise to “let the mystery be”, fans of the show can all agree that the ending is strangely satisfying.
Best Game
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
The finale of Naughty Dog’s labour of love is at times, a bit repetitive and bloated with filler material, but few can deny the charms of playing as the lovable Nathan Drake for one last time (?). The mechanics and momentum of the game remain relatively the same, and the addition of a long-lost brother is a somewhat unbelievable plot point, but the final send-off for Nathan Drake is one to remember.
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