Time for the second half of my Top 50 of 2018. Time to put an end to the longest year on record. If you missed the first half of this list (#50 – #26), it can be found here: Top 50 of 2018 (#50 – #26): KEVIN RAKESTRAW.
#25 – VESLEMØY’S SONG directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz
A dip into the New York Public Library archives to hear a rare recording from 1909.
#24 – INFINITE FOOTBALL directed by Corneliu Porumboiu
A bureaucrat forever modifies the game of football (soccer).
#23 – UNCLE DREW directed by Charles Stone III
Yes, it’s a glorified Pepsi commercial. Yes, it is a bunch of fun.
#22 – GAME NIGHT directed by John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein
Not a Pepsi commercial but also a bunch of fun.
#21 – CHARM CITY directed by Marilyn Ness
A candid look at violence in Baltimore in the years following the death of Freddie Gray.
#20 – SORRY TO BOTHER YOU directed by Boots Riley
#19 – ERASED, ___ ASCENT OF THE INVISIBLE directed by Ghassan Halwani
A rumination on the disappeared during the Lebanese Civil War.
#18 – MILLA directed by Valérie Massadian
Young love on the fringes.
#17 – NOTES ON AN APPEARANCE directed by Ricky D’Ambrose
The story of a disappearance and its importance as it dissipates.
#16 – LA CHUTE directed by Boris Labbé
An animated short of heaven and hell, like an animated Hieronymus Bosch.
#15 – MADELINE’S MADELINE directed by Josephine Decker
A teen’s life is hijacked for art until she reclaims it for her own.
#14 – DJON ÁFRICA directed by João Miller Guerra & Filipa Reis
A Rastafarian travels to Cape Verde in search of his father and his roots.
#13 – THE ENDLESS directed by Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead
Two brothers go back to the cult they escaped in search of closure only to find things a far more complicated.
#12 – KURO directed by Joji Koyama & Tujiko Noriko
A puzzle of audio and visual in reminiscing.
#11 – I AM NOT A WITCH directed by Rungano Nyoni
A young child is forced into a witch camp.
#10 – FAIL TO APPEAR directed by Antoine Bourges
A young woman struggles at her new job as a caseworker.
#9 – OUROBOROS directed by Basma Alsharif
An homage to the Gaza Strip; a tapestry of displacement.
#8 – DIM THE FLUORESCENTS directed by Daniel Warth
An audacious dramedy about corporate training seminars and the people that stage them.
#7 – THE RIDER directed by Chloé Zhao
A beautiful, hopeful film about letting go and moving on.
#6 – BLACK PANTHER directed by Ryan Coogler
It’s Black Panther.
#5 – DRIFT directed by Helena Wittmann
A study of the transformative effect of certain spaces. A film that maneuvers differently than most.
#4 – FAUST directed by Andrea Bussmann
A Faustian imagining through local Oaxacan myths.
#3 – IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK directed by Barry Jenkins
Brimming with love and affection in the face of everything.
#2 – THE WOLF HOUSE directed by Joaquín Cociña & Cristóbal León
An incredible showcase of craft, immensely impressive.
#1 – HAPPY AS LAZZARO directed by Alice Rohrwacher
Lazzaro is purity personified. A shocking viewing experience.
