Here we are again. As tradition now dictates, it is time for the list of my favourites of the year which has passed; a catalogue of those films and performances that have stayed with me long after I've experienced them for the first time. However this time, this endeavour has been quite more difficult than other years and the reason is quite simple: many were the instances, during 2018, when I was too hyped for some movies and ended up being really disappointed, or in other cases when films did not achieve to swoop me off my feet as much as I would like them to. To me, 2018 seemed a rather flat year when it came to truly memorable filmmaking; there were many nice efforts and what is more, many risky choices by directors I've loved for many years. However the general feeling that I've been left with from 2018 is rather numb and unimpressed.
This is quite personal, I know (but this is a personal blog, so I am allowed this sentimentality, if you will), but nonetheless, I've talked with other movie goers and cinephiles along the year and many share my feelings, which means that I'm not alone. Additionally, I have seen a lot of films in my time (not as many as some great critics out there, but still, a lot) and I have started to get really irritated when some particular movies and performances are pushed to the awards season because there is a whole amount of lobbying going on behind closed curtains. I believe that experienced movie goers can judge when something is truly good or just average, or at least, if something deserves much better than it gets on paper.
For this reason, the movies and performances I will list below are -almost all- rather unconventional (and not for the first time, really); not all of them are the ones you've been hearing about during this awards season and they generally are representants of various genres. But that's a good thing. Art is to be received by different people and each one sees something different and likes something different.
Before we begin, there are some honorable mentions which need to be presented, such as Roma, a rather personal film by Alfonso Cuaron which, while small in premise, managed to show off the beautiful filmmaking capabilities of its director (and first-time-cinematographer), Close Enemies, the french film by David Oelhoffen narrating the story of two childhood friends who have taken conflicting paths later in life, Green Book which came so close to the top10 (something which makes it an honorary 11) telling the touching story of two men whom society has taught never to be friends, yet, a roadtrip proves otherwise (as roadtrips always do). Also, If Beale Street Could Talk (dir. Barry Jenkins) with its moving story of a couple being separated by racism, as well as the beautifully told -yet never achieving to take off- First Man by La La Land's Damien Chazelle. Additionally, the long but deep and very interesting Burning which has won more than 30 awards deserves to not only be mentioned but also watched. Last but not least, the scary as well as freaky Hereditary, starring an impeccable Toni Collette, the unexpectedly beautiful and original A Quiet Place which was written and directed by John Krasinski and starred his flawlessly talented wife Emily Blunt, the highly optimistic and humorous romantic comedy Destination Wedding with Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder and Incredibles 2, one of the best Pixar sequels ever (14 years in the making) which would be in the top10 if another animated film hadn't come at the last minute of 2018 to steal its place.
So, after this big introduction, here we go.
Before we begin, there are some honorable mentions which need to be presented, such as Roma, a rather personal film by Alfonso Cuaron which, while small in premise, managed to show off the beautiful filmmaking capabilities of its director (and first-time-cinematographer), Close Enemies, the french film by David Oelhoffen narrating the story of two childhood friends who have taken conflicting paths later in life, Green Book which came so close to the top10 (something which makes it an honorary 11) telling the touching story of two men whom society has taught never to be friends, yet, a roadtrip proves otherwise (as roadtrips always do). Also, If Beale Street Could Talk (dir. Barry Jenkins) with its moving story of a couple being separated by racism, as well as the beautifully told -yet never achieving to take off- First Man by La La Land's Damien Chazelle. Additionally, the long but deep and very interesting Burning which has won more than 30 awards deserves to not only be mentioned but also watched. Last but not least, the scary as well as freaky Hereditary, starring an impeccable Toni Collette, the unexpectedly beautiful and original A Quiet Place which was written and directed by John Krasinski and starred his flawlessly talented wife Emily Blunt, the highly optimistic and humorous romantic comedy Destination Wedding with Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder and Incredibles 2, one of the best Pixar sequels ever (14 years in the making) which would be in the top10 if another animated film hadn't come at the last minute of 2018 to steal its place.
So, after this big introduction, here we go.
BEST ACTOR
Runners-Up
- Viggo Mortensen in Green Book. Mortensen has always been a great actor who gets lost in his roles, and this year is no exception. He steals the show as a prejudiced Italian-American who has a change of heart when he gets to really know the other side.
- Christian Bale in Vice. My favourite Bale, is once again completely transformed and flawlessly impersonates Dick Cheney in such an exemplary subtle way.
BEST ACTRESS
If there is one thing that can be said about 2018, is that it was a tremendous year for female roles. Women were challenged and offered so many good parts allowing them to show their talents and capabilities. However, the actress who stole my heart this year, was non other than Olivia Colman from Yorgos Lanthimos's The Favourite. Colman has been an actress for almost 20 years, yet fate had it that playing a quite unstable queen in a movie directed by one of the most spoken-of recent directors, would be her chance to rise to the status of a film star. Colman may be surrounded by a stupendous cast (including two other actresses who have also given amazing performances: Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone) but it is she who steals the show with a performance which flirts with the exaggerated, yet never crosses the line; she is crazy, unexplainable, unique but also heart-wrecking and emotional. Such a good performance.
Runners-Up
- Rosamund Pike in A Private War. With a perfomance that should have been more recognised than it was, Pike proves once again that she is capable of great things.
- Toni Collette in Hereditary. This might be the most overlooked performance of the year. Collette may star in a horror film, and usually those are ignored during the awards, but this shouldn't take away from the fact that she gives one of the most tragic and extraordinary performances of 2018.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Speaking of overlooked, Richard E. Grant, an actor with a career of almost 40 years, may have earned a nomination for his role in Can you ever forgive me? (starring an also great Melissa McCarthy) but should have been the true frontrunner. Grant knows how to work in front of the camera and it shows, yet his subtleness and talent make his supporting role a show-stopper. It would be an amazing surprise if he got the Oscar on Sunday night, but this isn't a perfect world we're living in, ladies and gents, and Jack Hock (Grant's character in the movie) knows it quite well.
Runner-Up
- Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born. 2018 was not only great for female roles, but also for male supporting roles, and especially it was a great year for Cooper. He might quite successfully have directed his first film, but he also gave us one of the best performances of his career. He is nominated as a lead actor, however I consider his part a supporting one as I see A Star is Born more as Ally (Lady Gaga)'s story. Nonetheless, Cooper was amazing and I really hope he'll try to go after this type of damaged roles in the future.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Everyone that knows me, knows that I haven't been an avid fan of Carey Mulligan's. That being said, I think that her perfomance in Paul Dano's directorial debut Wildlife (also starring Jake Gyllenhaal) has been the best of her career so far. It could be because the character really suits Mulligan and her way of approaching her roles, puppy-eyed and sad, but be that as it may, she truly shines as a mother who feels abandoned and desperate after her husband leaves her for a dangerous job which may not permit him to come back. You can see more about Wildlife here.
Runner-Up
- Claire Foy in First Man. Foy has proved these past years that she is more than capable to convey emotions even with a few words, so she is a joy to our eyes as Janet Armstrong.
BEST DIRECTOR
I could be considered biased seeing as I'm Greek myself, but Yorgos Lanthimos' evolution as a director has had me impressed. From Dogtooth (2009), to The Lobster (2015), to The Killing of the Sacred Deer (2017) and now to The Favourite, Lanthimos is one of the few Greek directors who have managed to find their own voice and have been recognised both in their homecountry and -especially- abroad. Whether you like him or not, whether he is of your taste or not, his achievement in telling stories with a bit of sarcasm, a bit of bland humour, awkwardness and a lot of originality cannot be denied. That's why I think that in 2018 he managed to transform a rather simple story of backstabbing and scheming into a memorable cinematic experience (assisted, of course, by his constant collaborator in editing Yorgos Mavropsaridis who also did an excellent job- much deserving of an award) and for that, he is my favourite director of the year.
SCORE
There are two films that I managed to handpick for their musical score but BlacKkKlansman is the one that astonished me the most. Terrence Blanchard's score is so complementary to the film, but also can stand on each own - something which is always a plus.
A close second, Nicholas Britell's score for Vice has an excellent theme, so I couldn't refrain from mentioning it, too.
MY FAVOURITE FILMS
10. A Simple Favor
Unexpected. Surprising. Entertaining. Full of twists. This film has it all and you never even knew it. A Simple Favor directed by Paul Feig [Bridesmaids (2011), The Heat (2013)] starts off as a feel good comedy about two mums who meet at school and ends up being a thriller of twists, turns and upsets which go on and on until the very last minute. It is the film that many people suggested to me and for a good reason. Anna Kendrick [Pitch Perfect (2012), Up in the Air (2009)] and Blake Lively [Gossip Girl, The Age of Adaline (2015)] antagonise each other in such a delightful way that you cannot take your eyes off the screen, and Jessica Sharzer's screenplay is such a breath of fresh air making this film one of the best of 2018.
9. The Interpreter
I've talked about this film here, as it was one of the movies I watched at the Athens International Film Festival of 2018. Back then I was really impressed by the way this film talked about discrimination, war trauma, destroyed families and relationships, all in a very light, humorous yet serious way. The Interpreter, is a typical roadtrip and as roadtrips go, the -usually hostile- characters learn things about both themselves and each other, getting closer as they travel further and further; however I believe that this film managed to reach such a conclusion more effortlessly and more emotionally than Green Book did and that's why it got its place in my top10.
8. Ready Player One
Ready Player One (directed by my favourite Steven Spielberg) may not be the best film ever, but achieves to be both entertaining and meaningful. It is a special effects pinata; once the pandora's sfx box opens, it does not stop bombarding the viewer with images, easter eggs (seriously, there are more than 300 easter eggs throughout the movie) and ridiculous action scenes. However, it proves, once again, that Spielberg is a director who follows the times and does not rely on what he's done before in order to play it safe. Ready Player One may not be everyone's cup of tea, as not all who see it will appreciate it for what it is, but truth be told it is a film that has something for everyone, and for me it is a film that I will certainly be revisiting from time to time - I have to find all those easter eggs after all.
7. A Private War
This is one of those films that you may not have heard of unless you follow Rosamund Pike's silently impressive evolution, or you happened to catch the film at a cinema. It is a biography based on the main character's book and it is the story of Marie Colvin, an American war correspondent who went to Libya, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka (where she lost sight in her left eye), East Timor and Syria. While the film by itself is nothing extremely novel, it features one of the year's best female performances and it presents war in such a raw, matter-of-fact way that shocks and haunts the viewer, making us question humanity and its intentions. Truly, a poignant film.
6. BlacKkKlansman
Speaking of true stories, this is a Spike Lee [Malcolm X (1992), Inside Man (2006)] film inspired by Ron Stallworth [John David Washington]'s infiltration to the KKK. Stallworth, a black policeman in Colorado Springs, works with his Jewish partner Flip Zimmerman [Adam Driver (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)] in order to catch the members of their local KKK branch. The film, while following a subject which we may have seen before, is extremely entertaining and light-hearted, presenting its dark themes not as a lecture but as an everyday occasion, leaving the lesson to the audience; especially as the closing scenes taken from recent news show that maybe nothing ever changes. BlacKkKlansman also features my favourite score from the past year, its themes creating an amusing and engaging atmosphere, something much needed in a film such as this.
5. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
We usually hear the Coen name during the awards season but this year, one of the best films ever created by the Coen Brothers has been mind-blowingly ignored. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a collection of 6 small unrelated stories, the only common thing among them being that they're all set in the wild west and the fact that the world back then was savage and unforgiving. The cinematography by 5-time-Oscar-nominee Brumo Delbonnel is majestic, the costumes and the sets are amazing and the cast is not only star-filled (a few names include James Franco, Tim Blake Nelson, Liam Neeson, Tom Waits, Zoe Kazan and Brendan Gleeson) but also jaw-droppingly right for their roles. It is a shame that this beautiful - and highly delightful- film did not get the recognition it deserves because it is one of 2018's best.
4. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
OK, let's do this one last time. What a surprise this film was. It came at the last minute and it blew everyone away (not to mention the fact that the rest of the Animated Feature Films shiver at the thought that they might have just lost the Oscar this year). Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is most definitely in the top5 of the best Superhero movies of all time, especially in a period when people may have started to feel overwhelmed by the overloaded genre. It is yet-another-Spider-Man movie but not-yet-another-Spider-Man movie and it knows it; it plays with the idea of the too-many Spider-Men we have seen in the past 15 years and it makes fun of the origin story we've experienced again and again. It uses incredible animation techniques, always winking at the comic book sources, it is quick and witty, it is mature and thought-provoking (the idea that anyone can be a Spider-Man -or a Dr. Octopus for that matter- is a premise that can touch topics such as racism and sexism) but most of all it is fun, enjoyable, laugh-out-loud funny and oh, so clever that no paragraph can do it justice. Go see it.
3. Isle of Dogs
It took me a while to finally see Wes Anderson's [Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Grand Budabest Hotel (2014)] newest project but when I finally did, I was greatly moved and dazzled. Isle of Dogs is a typical Anderson film, filled with center-framed shots and characters who look directly at the camera, but this time, the stars are mainly dogs (with voices of actors such as Bryan Cranston, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson, Edward Norton and Bill Murray). Dogs have been exiled to an abandoned island due to a semi-totalitarian regime which supposedly wants to protect humans from a dog disease. Isle of dogs is funny and sweet, as well as satirical and clever, and can be seen as a children's movie but also as a comment for society, propaganda, brain washing and irrational injustice. On top of all that, however, it is a love letter to dogs and their pure hearts.
2. The Favourite
Yorgos Lanthimos' movies have that characteristic which makes you either love them or hate them and rarely something in between. His latest, though, is possibly the most easy-going of his projects, probably because this time it is written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, and not by the director himself. The Favourite is inspired by true events that happened during Queen Anne's reign (Olivia Colman) when she, being rather unstable to rule, was aided by her close friend Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) who really was the one pulling the strings. When the new servant, Abigail (Emma Stone), arrives and tries to take Sarah's place, things get quite interesting. It is quite a simple story; yet the scheming and planning are presented so frankly and unpretentiously that make you smirk out of awkwardness and disbelief. The tremendous editing of Yorgos Mavropsaridis adds to the general feeling of playfulness and the long wide shots that Lanthimos chooses to use give us a rather different and original period drama. The Favourite is not a typical glimpse at palace life, but it is full of memorable comical moments, satirical and ironic humour and so good performances by everyone involved, that make it a must-see.
1. Avengers: Infinity War
We have arrived to my most favourite film of the year, the one that I haven't stopped talking about since I saw it back in April 2018. Avengers: Infinity War, is surely not the best superhero movie ever made, but it is the (first half of the) culmination of a whole cinematic universe that has been going on for 10 years and has successfully managed to bring together so many heroes and heroines from eighteen films. This is what makes it a truly unique experience; especially if you've been following the said universe for so long. What is more, the experience at the movie theatre as everyone was at the edge of their seats, gasping and applauding at all the right moments is something that I hadn't seen for a long time and it reminded me of the feeling I had as I was watching The Return of the King at a cinema back in 2003. Sometimes, after all, cinema is not about the art in itself; it is about bringing people together and giving them the opportunity to experience a beautiful story that will touch them and inspire them. And it is those moments that Avengers offered us this year, so for that, Infinity War is my most favourite film of 2018.
2. The Favourite
1. Avengers: Infinity War
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