Here are my top picks of the year, numbers twenty-five through to the top. Numbers fifty to twenty-six can be found here. So, without further ado:
#25: SPIRAL JETTY directed by Ricky D’Ambrose
Meticulously crafted in that distinct D’Ambrose style, a story of a young archivist tasked with protecting a prominent psychologist’s reputation.
#24: STRANGE SAYS THE ANGEL directed by Shalimar Preuss
A seven-year-old tries to find her place in the world, becoming something no one could imagine.
#23: MÖBIUS directed by Sam Kuhn
A mysterious high school drama steeped in the dark arts and phthalo blue tinted.
#22: WHEREVER YOU GO, THERE WE ARE directed Jesse McLean
An experimental cross-country trek told through postcards and oddly dictated junk emails.
#21: LET YOUR HEART BE LIGHT directed by Sophy Romvari & Deragh Campbell
Minimalism perfected; small, seemingly unmemorable moments are rendered overwhelmingly significant.
#20: BARBS, WASTELANDS directed by Marta Mateus
The present interacting with the past.
#19: LA BOUCHE directed by Camilo Restrepo
The best musical of the year, a pseudo-Greek chorus of African percussion and song.
#18: DUNKIRK directed by Christopher Nolan
#17: LE PARC directed by Damien Manivel
A simple film that completely, unexpectedly pulls a 180 into magical realism.
#16: MA directed by Celia Rowlson-Hall
Interpretive dance in feature-length cinema form.
#15: A MORNING LIGHT directed by Ian Clark
A cinematic approximation of the metaphysical, where the natural is rendered unnatural and alien.
#14: EVENTS IN A CLOUD CHAMBER directed by Ashim Ahluwalia
Documentary as reclamation and reconstruction, piecing together the past and recreating a long, lost experimental film.
#13: BRAD CUTS LOOSE directed by Christopher Good
A high-energy, hyper-stylized comedy revolving around deep, dark fantasies.
#12: ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE directed Hong Sang-soo
#11: SLEEP HAS HER HOUSE directed by Scott Barley
A series of natural landscapes transformed otherworldly; where waterfalls look like evaporating skeletons descending.
#10: THE HUMAN SURGE directed by Eduardo Williams
Three slice-of-life vérité offerings across Argentina, Mozambique, and Philippines tied together with jaw-dropping transitions.
#9: THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
#8: DOUBLE KING directed by Felix Colgrave
A delightful yet macabre animation revolving around the thirst for power; crowns on top of crowns.
#7: I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO directed by Raoul Peck
#6: MAISON DU BONHEUR directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz
A wonderful documentary about an ordinary person; vignettes of the past and present, bits and pieces of one woman’s life both big and small.
#5: SYLVIO directed by Kentucker Audley & Albert Birney
Herbert Herpels is extraordinary, as is the Gorilla. It’s as simple as that.
#4: GET OUT directed by Jordan Peele
#3: PERSON TO PERSON directed by Dustin Guy Defa
I could honestly watch this movie forever.
#2: BY THE TIME IT GETS DARK directed by Anocha Suwichakornpong
Contemplative and fluid with time and existence, examining art’s inability to reconcile histories.
#1: A BRIDE FOR RIP VAN WINKLE directed by Shunji Iwai
A juxtaposition of modernity and traditions, a complex positing of ideas as a sprawling cinematic tome.
Speaking of Phthalo Blue, here’s my favorite album of the year. Could be an appropriate soundtrack for any of these fine films: https://open.spotify.com/artist/29PAwxBMC8PWdrXj0m7H2P https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3bf0f9a961094cc73d55488bd3337443853e1d0e7318a441f292a4b77e145409.jpg