2018 IN FILM

Of the 800+ titles I saw this year, these were my most favourite. A Top 30 & many many honorables. Also, my 2018 film ballot at the Wandering Image, highlighting the year's best in film by category. 








                       

30.        THE GREEN FOG

29.               REVENGE

              TEEN TITANS GO!

28.    TO THE MOVIES

.

                    IF BEALE

27.     STREET COULD TALK

.

26.  THE NIGHT COMES FOR US

.

25.    HAVE A NICE DAY 大世界

.

.

24.           PADDINGTON 2

.

.

23.          MINDING THE GAP

.

.

22.            THE ENDLESS

.

21.         I AM NOT A WITCH

.

20.             24 FRAMES

.

.

19.                 MANDY

.
                   THE OTHER

18. SIDE OF THE WIND

.

.

.

17.              BISBEE '17

.

16.       BLACKKKLANSMAN

.

15.         SWEET COUNTRY

.

.

14.              SHIRKERS

.
13.            THE BALLAD

 OF BUSTER SCRUGGS

.

12.       SUPPORT THE GIRLS

.
                  HALE COUNTY
11.THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING

.
             Valeska Grisebach's 

10.         WESTERN

.

9.      LET THE SUNSHINE IN

.

8.           CLAIRE'S CAMERA

.
               GOOD MANNERS
7.         [AS BOAS MANEIRAS]

.

6.              ANNIHILATION

.

5.                    ZAMA

.

4.            PROTOTYPE 3D

.

3.             SHOPLIFTERS

.

2.          FIRST REFORMED

.

1.                 BURNING

*****

ALSO ESSENTIAL. NOT RANKED.

(the other titles of 2018 I loved that could've placed)

GRACE JONES: 
BLOODLIGHT AND BAMI

POSSUM

BLOEISTRAAT 11

NORMAN NORMAN

JEANNETTE: THE
CHILDHOOD OF JOAN OF ARC

AMAZING GRACE: 

ARETHA FRANKLIN

LEAVE NO TRACE

LET THE CORPSES TAN

READY PLAYER ONE

DID YOU 
WONDER WHO FIRED THE GUN?

BLACK PANTHER

PSYCHOKINESIS

YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE

ROMA

GOLDEN EXITS

SISTERS BROTHERS

DETECTIVE DEE: 
THE FOUR HEAVENLY KINGS 3D

CARGO

MOUNTAIN

MIRAI

SOLLERS POINT

THE ZEN DIARIES

OF GARRY SHANDLING

SPIDER-MAN:

INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

.

WEEKENDS

THE DEATH OF STALIN

OUTRAGE CODA

INCREDIBLES 2

THUNDER ROAD

THE GUILTY

PRIVATE LIFE

MADELINE'S MADELINE

THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD 3D

EARLY MAN

THE PARTY

LIKE ME

APOSTLE

ISLE OF DOGS

AT ETERNITY'S GATE

MOM AND DAD

THE DAY AFTER

THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT

BODIED

THE RIDER

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO: CODA

SORRY TO BOTHER YOU

THE DIRECTOR AND THE JEDI

FILMWORKER

A QUIET PLACE

FIRST MAN

MAD GOD PART III

.

THE NIGHT EATS THE WORLD

THE MISEDUCATION

OF CAMERON POST

 SKATE KITCHEN

NEVER GOIN' BACK

WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?

****

recap
2018

1. BURNING (Lee Chang-dong)
2. FIRST REFORMED (Schrader)
3. SHOPLIFTERS (Hirokazu Koreeda)
4. PROTOTYPE (Blake Williams)
5. ZAMA (Martel)
6. ANNIHILATION (Garland)
7. AS BOAS MANEIRAS (Dutra, Rojas)
8. CLAIRE'S CAMERA (Hong Sang-soo)
9. LET THE SUNSHINE IN (Denis)
10. WESTERN (Grisebach)
11. HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING THIS EVENING (RaMell Ross)
12. SUPPORT THE GIRLS (Bujalski)
13. BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS (Coen bros.)
14. SHIRKERS (Sandi Tan)
15. SWEET COUNTRY (Warwick Thornton)
16. BLACKKKLANSMAN (Spike Lee)
17. BISBEE '17 (Robert Greene)
18. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND (Welles)
19. MANDY (Cosmatos)
20. 24 FRAMES (Kiarostami)
21. I AM NOT A WITCH (Nyoni)
22. THE ENDLESS (Benson/Moorhead)
23. MINDING THE GAP (Bing Liu)
24. PADDINGTON 2 (Paul King)
25. IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (B.Jenkins)
26. THE NIGHT COMES FOR US (Tjahjanto)
27. HAVE A NICE DAY (Jian Liu)
28. TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES (Horvath/Michail)
29. REVENGE (Caroline Fargeat)
30. THE GREEN FOG (Maddin)

RUNNER-UP: 
GRACE JONES: BLOODLIGHT & BAMI (Sophie Fiennes), POSSUM (Holness), BLOEISTRAAT 11 (Deutz), NORMAN NORMAN (Sophy Romvari), JEANNETTE (Dumont), AMAZING GRACE (Pollack), LEAVE NO TRACE (Granik), LET THE CORPSES TAN (Cattet/Forzani), READY PLAYER ONE (Spielberg), DID YOU WONDER WHO FIRED THE GUN? (Wikerson), BLACK PANTHER (Coogler), PSYCHOKINESIS (Sang-ho Yeon), YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE (Lynne Ramsay), ROMA (Cuaron), GOLDEN EXITS (A.Ross Perry), SISTERS BROTHERS (Audiard), DETECTIVE DEE: FOUR HEAVENLY KINGS (Hark Tsui), CARGO (Howling/Ramke), MOUNTAIN (Peedom), MIRAI (Mamoru Hosoda), SOLLERS POINT (Porterfield), ZEN DIARIES OF GARRY SHANDLING (Apatow), INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (P.Ramsey), WEEKENDS (Jimenez), DEATH OF STALIN (Iannucci), OUTRAGE CODA (Takeshi Kitano), INCREDIBLES 2 (Bird), THUNDER ROAD (Cummings), THE GUILTY (Möller), PRIVATE LIFE (Tamara Jenkins), MADELINE'S MADELINE (Decker), THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD (Jackson), EARLY MAN (Nick Park), THE PARTY (Potter), LIKE ME (Mockler), APOSTLE (Gareth Evans), ISLE OF DOGS (Wes Anderson), AT ETERNITY'S GATE (Schnabel), MOM AND DAD (Brian Taylor), THE DAY AFTER (Hong Sang-soo), HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT (Von Trier), BODIED (Joseph Kahn), THE RIDER (Chloe Zhao), RYUICHI SAKAMOTO CODA (Schible), SORRY TO BOTHER YOU (Boots Riley), DIRECTOR AND THE JEDI (Wonke), FILMWORKER (Zierra), A QUIET PLACE (Krasinski), FIRST MAN (Chazelle), MAD GOD PT III (Tippett), NIGHT EATS THE WORLD (Rocher), MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST (Akhavan), SKATE KITCHEN (Moselle), NEVER GOIN' BACK (Frizzell), WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? (Neville)

TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID (Issa Lopez) 2019 release
BLACK MOTHER (Khalik Allah) 2019 release
THE WOLF HOUSE (Cocina/Leon) 2020 release

JUNK HEAD [feature version] (Takahide Hori) 2021 release
CLIMAX (Noe) 2019 release
JOURNEYMAN (Considine) TBA release
VIRUS TROPICAL (Caicedo) 2019 release

COINCOIN ET LES Z'INHUMAINS (Dumont) TBA

(festival films I loved that got no 2018 theatrical release & no distribution deal. 12/31/18)

DESTROYER (Kusama), HAPPY AS LAZZARO (Rohrwacher), BOMB CITY (Jamie Brooks), BLINDSPOTTING (C.L. Estrada), LOVER FOR A DAY (Garrel), A PRIVATE WAR (Heineman), MRS. HYDE (Bozon), LES GARDIENNES (Beauvois), NOVEMBER (Sarnet), LOWLIFE (Prows), LEANING INTO THE WIND (Riedelsheimer), THEY'LL LOVE ME WHEN I'M DEAD (Neville), VOX LUX (Corbet), AMAZING GRACE: ARETHA FRANKLIN (Pollack), A SIMPLE FAVOR (Feig), SADIE (Megan Griffiths), GOLDSTONE (Ivan Sen), EL MAR LA MAR (Bonnetta/Sniadecki), CANIBA (Castaing-Taylor/Paravel), ARABY (Dumans/Uchoa), SHOAH: 4 SISTERS (Lanzmann), 306 HOLLYWOOD (Bogarin), OF FATHERS AND SONS (Derki), DEAD SOULS (Bing Wang), GRIEF OF OTHERS (Patrick Wang), CLASSICAL PERIOD (Fendt), STRANGER IN PARADISE (Hendrikx), ISMAEL'S GHOSTS (Desplechin), MILLA (Mssadian), SUMMER 1993 (Carla Simon), TEHRAN TABOO (Ali Soozandeh), SCARRED HEARTS (Radu Jude), DISTANT CONSTELLATION (Mizrahi), NOTES ON AN APPEARANCE (D'Ambrose), A BREAD FACTORY I & II (Patrick Wang), MONROVIA INDIANA (Wiseman), WEREWOLF (Panek), INFINITE FOOTBALL (Porumboiu), GALVESTON (Laurent), POW WOW (Devor), SWIMMING WITH MEN (Oliver Parker), THE BLEEDING EDGE (Kirby Dick), WHAT THEY HAD (Chomko), SATAN'S SLAVES (Anwar), SEASON OF THE DEVIL (Lav Diaz), DOUBLE LOVER (Ozon), THE YELLOW BIRDS (Moors), WHERE IS KYRA? (Dosunmu), THE POLKA KING (Maya Forbes), CUSTODY (Legrand), TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE (Susan Johnson), LIZ AND THE BLUEBIRD (Naoko Yamada), NIGHT IS SHORT WALK ON GIRL (Masaaki Yuasa)