FAVE FILMS 2018

So here it is, my 2018 favorite films post. And my 8th year of writing these ‘film diaries’ as I call them. As you can see, it is nowhere near as long or as detailed as many previous posts. I don’t have as much free time to invest in this project at the moment. I’ve only done a top-11 this year. And the order is alphabetical. Once again, like many times in the past, I can’t bring myself to put these films in any other order. I don’t talk about the plots of these films as much as I just kind of give a broader context of what brought me to them & where you might want to look if you liked them & were left craving more.

There is no division of films into specific genres this time. I’m sure some of my picks will surprise you & may even spark some heated discussions. Many of my choices are polarizing &, knowing many of you as well as I do, not films you might have considered watching. A couple of these films even have low IMDB / ČSFD scores & I hope that doesn’t discourage you from giving them a try. As I always say, I can dislike many highly-praised films & absolutely love many critically shat-upon dumpster fires. And everything in-between. It is quite a heavy-handed gang I’ve summoned together this year, full of drama & horror. Basically a perfect reflection of the year’s political, socio-economic & environmental landscape of Western Democracy.

I’m always surprised by two similarities in many of my Fave lists; how many first-time directors make the cut (4 this year) as well as how many films from the same directors as in previous lists do (3 this year). The former is simply a coincidence I think. Perhaps I’m unconsciously attracted to new & original voices. The latter makes perfect sense. I am a student of Alexandre Astruc's elucidation of the concept of caméra-stylo (‘camera-pen’), better known as the Auteur Theory, which holds that the director, who oversees all visual & audio elements of a film, is more to be considered the ‘author’ of a film than the writer of the screenplay (if it is a different person).

I am biased towards some directors & follow their careers just as I tend to read many books from the same writer. I prefer the unique style of many directors more than the unrecognizable & indistinguishable output of the majority of them. The flipside of this is that I also tend to hold a general dislike of films from directors who I don’t like much, despite their critical acclaim or personal style. And that’s fine. ‘It takes all kinds...’ & so forth.

I will repeat once again, I don’t think these are the ‘best’ films of 2018. These are some (but by no means all) of my favorite films of the year. And quite a few films came very close to making this list. If I’ve neglected any of your favorites, please let me know in the comments.

 

My favorite feature films

This is in alphabetical order

All my reviews are spoiler-free

BLINDSPOTTING

First time director Carlos López Estrada’s BLINDSPOTTING attempted one of the same things as BLACKKKLANSMAN did, but accomplished it slightly better. That is, make a ‘dramady’ about race relations in America that both entertained & informed in the pursuit of social justice. This film isn’t based on a true story, like Lee’s film, but as they say, it might as well be said that it is based on ‘countless true stories,’ by which I mean how life is like for many people dealing with racism on a daily basis. I enjoyed both of these films & I know it’s not fair to lump them together because of their messages towards racism, but the only reason I’m doing so is to try to bring fans of the latter to see this film, which I enjoyed a bit more. BLINDSPOTTING’s low-budget & use of unknown actors works to its advantage as I was able to see these characters as almost real people instead of well-known actors, well, ‘acting’ the part. It hits all the notes on the tonal scale, from high drama to low comedy & can switch between the two in a moment.

The main character running through the cemetery makes me think about when I used to live near Bruce & Brandon Lee’s graves in Lake View Cemetery in Seattle. I’d go running almost every morning, until I reached the cemetery & I’d use their graves as my half-way point where I’d take a breather & attempt to summon their ‘Chi’ for energy. Another one of this film’s contemporaries last year was the unusual SORRY TO BOTHER YOU, also set in Oakland, CA, which I enjoyed & also recommend.

THE FAVOURITE

Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos has once again made a film in my top-10 of the year. See last year’s review of THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER for a longer description of my history with him. I love Lanthimos films for their dry humo(u)r & absurdity. And all 3 actresses at play here deliver amazing performances (which has earned all 3 Oscar nominations). I’ve loved actress Olivia Colman for years, beginning with the great TV series Peep Show. Her casting as the astonishingly inadequate ‘leader’ Queen Anne perfectly reflects the terrible ‘leaders’ of many present-day Western Democracies, specifically the U.K. & America. Rachel Weisz is again amazing as Lady Sarah Churchill (whose descendants include both Winston Churchill & Princess Diana). I also really like Emma Stone, whose TV series Maniac last year was really good & recommended.

But the great performances are accentuated by the amazing style of the film. Director Lanthimos revealed that two of the biggest influences he emulated for this film were Peter Greenaway’s 1982 film THE DRAUGHTMAN’S CONTRACT (for tone presumably) & Andrzej Zulawski’s 1981 film POSSESSION (for cinematography presumably). The former I’d seen almost two decades ago when I was going through all of Greenaway’s filmography & which I watched again after seeing THE FAVOURITE. I can highly recommend it for anyone looking for more of what they loved about THE FAVOURITE. POSSESSION is (currently because I’ve recently re-watched it) one of my favorite Horror films of all time (perhaps psychological horror is a better description). And what it brought to THE FAVOURITE was its wide-angle shots & some blocking techniques.

FIRST REFORMED

In a way, this might be my favorite film of 2018. When I was studying filmmaking almost two decades ago, this was the type of film I aspired to make. A film which challenges religion as well as drives home a socially-conscious message of environmental activism. Of any film from 2018, ignoring the financial success of many others, this is the film I’m most jealous of having not made myself. And of course, it is much better than anything I could have come up with. Director & writer Paul Schrader was always one of my biggest influences (when I was working on films). He’s probably most famous for writing the script for TAXI DRIVER. He also wrote the screenplays for the Scorsese-directed films: RAGING BULL, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST & BRINGING OUT THE DEAD. He’s written & directed many other films I’ve enjoyed through the years. Last year I rewatched his 1985 film MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS, which I now have a rejuvenated love for, & is one of the best samurai films ever made. He’s nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay & I hope he wins. It’s one of the only awards of this year’s ceremony I really care about.

One of Schrader’s biggest influences is the French director Robert Bresson & TAXI DRIVER owes a lot to Bresson’s 1959 film PICKPOCKET. With FIRST REFORMED, Schrader stole from, I mean was inspired by, Bresson’s 1951 film DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST, which also highly influenced my early days of filmmaking. Of course one of Bresson’s major inspirations was the writer Dostoyevsky & even he had influences, specifically the Bible, Dickens and Gogol. FIRST REFORMED isn’t a ‘remake’ of any of Bresson’s work, per se, but an accentuation & modernization of it. And I couldn’t be happier about the exercise.

GAME NIGHT

I was so entertained by this black comedy that I re-watched most of it again the same evening. Starring Olivia, the hardest-working dog of 2018, Jason Bateman (who I haven’t enjoyed in anything this much since Arrested Development), Rachel McAdams (who hadn’t given this funny of a performance since, ever), Jesse Plemons (whose dry humor makes you hang on his every word) & a bunch of other jerks who have all probably been in something I’d seen before. I don’t think most modern Comedies are that funny & it is rare for that genre to even crack my top-20 of a year. But my inner geek got swept away by this exciting plot full of twists & unexpected turns. It took me a couple of viewings to wrap my head around all of them.

This is certainly not one of the ‘best’ films of the year, but I really enjoyed it. It’s a great one to watch with your fellow trivia quiz-loving & table game-playing friends when you’d rather have a movie night together. One influence of this film must have been the great 1997 Bill Murray comedy THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE, which would make a great double-feature. One of the two directors of GAME NIGHT, John Francis Daley, was little Sam Weir on the TV show Freaks & Geeks if you can believe it. And it was co-directed by Jonathan Goldstein, who’s currently working on the FLASHPOINT movie.

HEREDITARY

The most uncomfortable time I had in a cinema last year, which I loved every minute of, was certainly when watching HEREDITARY, whose reputation of being extremely disturbing preceded it. It was one of the most talked about films from Sundance, back in January of 2018. If I attempt to be objective for a minute, I’d say it was the ‘best’ & ‘most accomplished’ Horror film of the year (for two of the others, see further down this list). It’s certainly the least forgiving. I love horror films that cause you to question whether or not the events are actually supernatural or simply part of a character’s imagination. It gives me, the audience, more work to do & engages me more in the story. HEREDITARY is a perfect double-feature with 2018’s SUSPIRIA, though I’m not sure which one I’d recommend watching first. Both films are so heavy that you might not be able to handle both in a single evening.

Toni Collette gives one of the best performances I saw all year (completely ignored by the Oscars, of course) & I hope she continues working within the horror genre (she was great in 2015’s KRAMPUS too). She was also in HEARTS BEAT LOUD, a coming of age film I quite enjoyed last year as well. Many horror films contain frightening or disturbing children in them & actress Milly Shapiro has now earned herself a place alongside some of the very best. It was also refreshing to see Gabriel Byrne star in something I was actually interested in watching in some time. This is the first feature film written & directed by Ari Aster, whose career I’ll be paying close attention to in the future. It looks like his next film, MIDSOMMAR, is also a drama / horror & should be coming out later in 2019.

I KILL GIANTS

What the hell is this? Of all the comic book movies which took over the world & box office in 2018, I’ve picked one few seem to have heard of & many critics didn’t even include in a list of their favorite comic book movies of the year? Yep. My guiltiest pleasure pick on this list is a low-budget, not super highly-rated on social media, YA fantasy film. And trust me, usually YA (young adult)-targeted stuff is not something I normally watch. This film stands in stark contrast to virtually everything else on this list, but it would be dishonest & inauthentic of me not to include this film which I love very much & have watched many times so far. It’s an absolute perfect double feature with 2016’s A MONSTER CALLS & I don’t think I could pick a favorite between the two. Both films are sentimental coming of age stories & I can’t think of 2 recent films which better capture children in the grips of traumatic childhoods using their imagination as an escape.

This is the first film adapted from an Image comic which has really been good. Script writer Joe Kelly, who also penned the comic, expanded upon his 7-issue series, adding more scenes & exciting content (all the train car stuff in the film isn’t in the comic for example). First time feature-film directer Anders Walter captured intimate & emotional performances from this great cast including Zoe Saldana (no stranger to comic films) & especially our young protagonist Madison Wolfe, who you might recognize from THE CONJURING 2. The comic has an intense, cult following & has become a staple of many familys’ book shelves just as much as countless other books & comics have.

MANDY

There’s a Nicholas Cage film in my top-10. I never thought I’d ever write those words. MANDY is the most visually unique & stylized film I saw last year. It is a psychedelic, visceral & phantasmagoric mind-fuck. Every scene, every shot & every frame of this film will absolutely absorb & possess you (if you let it). It’s overwhelming tone of foreboding & impending doom will saturate your senses. It’s set in the Pacific Northwest during the 1980s, which is where I come from. That environment is as part of me as it is almost a ‘character’ in this film (similar to how it is in TWIN PEAKS). Cage’s over-the-top performance, regardless of how critically ‘good’ you might criticize it as being, is thoroughly entertaining.

Rogerebert.com’s review likens Cage’s character to a protagonist of a Queensrÿche concept album, which is both horrifyingly apt & sadly true (they are a very polarizing band from the Northwest, which I’m not really a fan of). This is director Panos Cosmatos’ 2nd film & his first, 2010’s BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW, which I also love, is the only other film that I can compare MANDY to. It is that original & one-of-a-kind. And in case you’ve seen the film & are wondering what the hell that commercial was on TV that Cage’s character was watching, you can watch the full Cheddar Goblin advert on YouTube.

ROMA

I absolutely love the use of the Pink Floyd song The Great Gig in the Sky in that trailer! I have a feeling that this year’s Oscar ceremony is going to ‘belong’ to Alfonso Cuarón. Certainly either Best Picture or Best Foreign Film (or both?). Also possibly Best Director & Cinematography as well. It has 10 Oscar noms in total. Cuarón described his film as, ‘...an intimate portrait of the women who raised me in a recognition of love as a mystery that transcends space, memory and time.’ Ironically, ‘roma’ is ‘amor’ spelled backwards, Spanish for ‘love.’ Cuarón said 90% of the events in this film are as accurate as he can remember. The child that represents Cuarón in the film is the character Paco (the lighter-haired child in the far left of the photo). The only reason I know that is because I looked it up. This film isn’t about him. The power of ROMA is its choice to focus on the marginalized, indigenous housekeeper, played by Oscar-nominated Yalitza Aparicio, whose intimate authenticity stems from the fact that she’d previously had no acting experience of any kind.

Cuarón shot the film himself, in stunning digital black & white with unbelievable clarity & depth of focus. It is the best looking digitally-shot film I’ve ever seen. He described his camera technique as, ‘the ghost of the present that is visiting the past, without getting involved, just observing, not trying to make a judgment or commentary.’ Many of the shots are not actually single, unedited takes however. Some digital trickery was used to ‘stitch’ many shots together to look seamless. But it is my favorite cinematography of the year. Colonia Roma is the neighborhood in Mexico City where the film takes place. It is a district located in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City. Guillermo del Toro, the president of 2018’s jury at the Venice Film Festival, where ROMA premiered & which awarded the film the Golden Lion, said later that ROMA is now one of his top-5 favorite films of all time, for what that’s worth to you. It’s certainly one of my favorite & most memorable films of the year.

SUSPIRIA

Although hated by Dario Argento, as well as a number of critics, I absolutely loved this re-imagining of Argento’s 1977 classic (which is one of my top-10 favorite Horror films, as well as one of my favorite film soundtracks, of all time). Like I always say, if you’re going to remake a film, don’t. Come at it from a completely new direction. Make it your own. Give us something new, for better or worse. And that’s exactly what this film did. I was very apprehensive back in early 2017 when I first heard about this film. I became intrigued later when Thom Yorke was announced as the composer, since Radiohead is one of my favorite bands. This is his first film score. Although I really like the score, I wish there were more songs, with lyrics from Yorke, in the soundtrack. It is mostly instrumental.

SUSPIRIA is a film so ‘woke’ that it completely turns the Giallo genre of the original (a staple of which is the exploitation of women) on its head by casting the amazing Tilda Swinton, who plays 3 roles, as the main male lead in the film as well. She even insisted on wearing a prosthetic penis as part of her costume. Dakota Johnson nailed the role of Susie, who empowers her fierce & accomplished character, unlike her 50 SHADES efforts. Although she seems to have brought a 50-shades of gray color palette to this film’s production design. Unlike the Technicolor eye candy of the original, this film is as cold & drab-looking as the winter of 1977’s Berlin in which it is set. Strap in for this 152-minute, slow-burn masterpiece from the amazing Italian director Luca Guadagnino, whose 2017 film CALL ME BY YOUR NAME as well as 2015’s A BIGGER SPLASH made it onto my past Fave Films lists. Guadagnino had wanted to make this film for decades. He had seen the original when he was just 14 years old & has been obsessed with it ever since. He’s 47 now.

YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE

I know that this is a 2017 film that played in cinemas, even in the Czech Republic, that year. But it opened wide in early 2018 & I hadn’t seen it before publishing last year’s list (which I mentioned at the end of last year’s post). The story is derivative of Paul Schrader’s TAXI DRIVER story, which was inspired by the aforementioned stuff in my FIRST REFORMED review (see above). In past years’ lists, I’ve gone into more detail about my philosophy & stance on plot reincarnation. Suffice to say, I like it when it’s done well (more stuff I like) & criticize it when it’s done badly or too much. YWNRH’s subject matter of sexual exploitation, renegade lawlessness & bloody revenge is certainly not for everyone. It’s an intense, suffocating & uncomfortable watch. And I absolutely basked in its delirious darkness.

I’ve been a fan of Scottish director Lynne Ramsay since her 1999 debut RATCHETCHER, which changed how I wanted to shoot films back when I was studying filmmaking at that time. I was so impressed by 2011’s WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN that it inspired me to read the book (which was one of my book club’s choices) & the novel blew me away. Both are polarizing but I love the narration & style of the Lionel Shriver book. I quite liked 2002’s MORVERN CALLER, but it’s my least favorite of Ramsay’s. YWNRH, only her 4th feature, was adapted from Jonathan Ames' novel of the same name (which I haven’t read). Ames created the underappreciated & great HBO series BORED TO DEATH, starring Jason Schwartzman’s hair, Zach Galifianakis & Ted Danson. Ramsay is one of those few directors who has never made a bad film, though with only 4 films in 18 years, I wish she’d make them more often.