(I'll have the Jarmos posted sometime in the next month - I really just wanted to get this up before the Oscars started).
10. Hereditary (dir. Ari Aster)
The horror in Hereditary sneaks up on you. For the first third of the movie, you're not entirely sure what to expect as you watch this family - Annie (Toni Collette), Steve (Gabriel Byrne), Peter (Alex Wolff), and Charlie (Milly Shapiro) - barely holding themselves together as Annie struggles with a dark history. Then, out of the blue, THAT happens - a moment so sickening plausible that it elicited all sorts of pained reactions from the audience I saw it with - and all hell breaks loose. Despite the film's more Satanic turn, however, the real horror is what was there from the very beginning: the traumas we inherit from our families, and how those traumas become an inescapable part of who we are. First-time filmmaker Aster constructs a delicate film to explore these ideas, but the whole endeavor is anchored by Collette's volcanic performance as a woman so traumatized that the latest grief finally breaks her. The contortions of her face in a chilling dinner scene are just as terrifying as anything else in the film. I saw this film in mid-summer, and I've yet to shake it. Perhaps that's the point.
Much of the praise for Crazy Rich Asians centered around one embarrassing fact: this was the first studio-produced Hollywood film with an all-Asian cast in 25 years. The film, therefore, would have been a representational triumph if nothing else. It's more than that, of course: it's a winning romantic comedy that provides everything you want from the genre - hunky men, lavish weddings, upbeat pop songs in makeover montages - with an eye toward the culturally-specific issues at the heart of the film. Rachel (Constance Wu, wonderful) accompanies her boyfriend Nick (Harry Golding) to Singapore for a wedding, only to discover that is family is one of the wealthiest on the island. Nick's disapproving mother, Eleanor (the terrific Michelle Yeoh), presents a dilemma: Nick must choose between his family and Rachel. If you've seen a romantic comedy before, you'll think you know where this is going. But the film, magnificently directed by Chu, dances around those expectations in ways that make the genre's conventions feel fresh and particular to this story. Plus there's plenty of spectacle to look at, to the point where it often feels like the film is about to tilt into a full-fledged musical. Few films matched the levels of joy Crazy Rich Asians reached this year.
More after the break.
It wasn't supposed to happen like this. First, it shouldn't have been possible to tie together a handful of films that culminated in a team-establishing event (The Avengers). Then it shouldn't have been possible to keep building on that framework, adding more characters, more franchises, more team-ups, more everything. Then, after 10 years, it shouldn't have come together in a surprisingly cohesive movie that wrangles dozens of disparate characters into the same film at long last. Finally, that movie - which, yes, requires previous knowledge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), yet nonetheless keeps things action-packed and fleet-footed - wasn't supposed to end that way. The Snap was the pinnacle of 10+ years of effort: an emotional, gut-wrenching moment made possible by the audience's histories with the characters, the skill of the actors and filmmakers in defying expectations, and, in a movie marked by loud kinetics, the eerie stillness of everything that followed. And yet the Marvel team not only pulled all of this off, but made it look surprisingly fun and easy. Of course, this is only the first part: Avengers: Endgame will follow through on these events later this year. But Infinity War presented the best of what the MCU can do - a tall task for its sequel to live up to. But if anyone can do it...
7. Private Life (dir. Tamara Jenkins)
One of the downsides of Netflix's decision to monopolize everyone's eyeballs is that the streaming service cranks out much of its content with little or no fanfare; great shows and movies slip through the cracks while everyone gravitates around data-driven sensations such as Bird Box and To All the Boys I Loved Before (no shade intended on either). Private Life is one such forgotten film. Jenkins' film follows a couple (Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn, both excellent) as they cycle through fertility treatments, ultimately reaching out to a distant relative (Kayli Carter) to serve as a surrogate. The film is a magnificent balancing act between these three characters, as they try to make the arrangement work when none of them are certain what will happen. Jenkins' remarkable direction and script deftly navigates these tensions, never letting any particular character slip into the role of the "bad guy" and maintaining emotional honesty throughout. It's a shame it didn't get more mainstream attention, but it's not too late to discover it for yourself.
Though Infinity War is a testament to everything that Marvel can do on a macro level, Black Panther demonstrates the MCU's opportunities to tell new stories on a (slightly) smaller scale. Focusing on T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), the newly-crowned king of the hidden African kingdom of Wakanda, as he faces a challenge to his throne from the ruthless Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan, magnetic), the film is a celebration of Afro-Futurism and Black power that also interrogates issues of the Black diaspora and the role of tradition in the modern world. That makes it headier than most other superhero films, but that's not to say the film doesn't deliver the superpowers goods. T'Challa is assisted by a delightful menagerie of support, with his chief spy Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), special commander Okoye (Danai Gurira) and her all-female force the Dora Milaje, and brilliant scientist sister Shuri (Letitia Wright, in a scene-stealing performance) cementing the talent ensemble. And director/co-writer Ryan Coogler makes good on the crowd-pleasing promise of Creed and delivers a superhero spectacle that's as thoughtful as it is enjoyable. No wonder the film obliterated box office records.
5. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (dirs. Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman)
Given that they comprise 30% of this list, it is perhaps needless to say that 2018 was a very good year for superhero films (both Ant-Man and the Wasp and Incredibles 2 were worthwhile as well). But none shone quite as brightly as the inventive, innovative, and incredibly delightful Into the Spider-Verse. The film makes hay of the web slinger's convoluted comic-book history, introducing an array of spider-people but centered around Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), an Afro-Latinx teenager from Brooklyn who becomes the latest bitten by that pesky radioactive spider. As dimensions crash into each other, Miles is mentored by sad-sack Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) as they try to set the universe right again. The film has fun with characters like Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), but takes even more pleasure in the opportunities that animation provides for this kind of story. Each spider-person is animated in a different style, matching their source material, and the backgrounds often feature CMYK dots that resemble the print on comic book pages. Into the Spider-Verse works as a sort of cracked-mirror version of the various live-action superhero "universes" - here's a way to honor the legacies of the characters while having an absolute blast.
Leave it to Lanthimos to twist the costume drama into something audacious and nearly unrecognizable. The Favourite already distinguishes itself for its focus on the love triangle between England's Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), her right-hand Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz), and her new servant Abigail (Emma Stone), as the latter two challenge one another to win the queen's favor. And yet, as Lord Harley (Nicholas Hoult) imparts to Abigail, favor changes like the breeze; it's to the film's credit that it makes such shifts both cutting and darkly funny. Lanthimos and his absurdly talented cast and crew toy with conventions so that polka-dot dresses appear centuries before their invention, a couple vogues at a party, and Queen Anne matter-of-factly states "I like when she puts her tongue in me." The film is frequently very funny, but every laugh drips with acid, and the set-up presents women with the full power of the kingdom and men helplessly marginalized (and incapable of knowing this). As anachronistic as it is, this is a film that will play well in any age.
3. A Simple Favor (dir. Paul Feig)
What if Gone Girl had been spiked with poisoned mimosas instead of straight venom? That's the best way I can think of to describe A Simple Favor, a delightful and unexpected thriller that relishes twisting the expectations of its audience. Widowed mom Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) meets the alluring and aloof Emily (Blake Lively), and the two become...well, if not exactly friends, then something at once blasé and codependent. To say any more would spoil the fun of watching the film as it giddily works its way through the darker corners of its plot. Kendrick and Lively are in peak form, and Feig utilizes his skills directing comedies such as Bridesmaids and Ghostbusters to tweak the standard "underbelly of suburbia" thriller. Best in show, however, is the year's best costume design: not only are the clothes gorgeous to look at, but they are essential to our understanding of the characters (in other words, exactly what costumes should do). You'd be hard-pressed to find a more stylish film this year.
"Maybe it's time to let the old ways die," Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) croons to a mostly-empty drag bar early in A Star is Born. You'd be right to scoff: here's the fourth official version of this tale, with Lady Gaga following in the footsteps of Janet Gaynor, Judy Garland, and Barbra Streisand as the ingenue discovered by a broken man as their careers diverge in different directions. Yet the miracle of Cooper's version is that it makes it seem fresh again. Using live performances and removing the jealousy from Maine's downfall, the film reinvigorates this oft-told tale by focusing instead on how difficult it can be to have a relationship with someone trying to be better but failing. The music is outstanding, naturally, and while Gaga's performance is excellent, its Cooper who proves to be revelatory. The film may be old-fashioned in its sentimentality, but damn if it doesn't work like a charm. As long as they're done this well, may the old ways never die.
1. Eighth Grade (dir. Bo Burnham)
I've jokingly referred to Eighth Grade as the best horror movie of the year (a lot of other people have too, actually). And why not? Eighth grade is an awful time for nearly everyone: an age when everyone is a self-centered little shit bursting at the seams with hormones, running a gamut of emotions with no idea how to process any of them. Your body is changing so rapidly the rest of you can't keep up, and those changes frequently border on the grotesque. Then you're thrown into a building with a bunch of other people going through the same thing. It's a nightmare scenario like something out of a Lovecraft story.
And yet Eighth Grade is a remarkable film because it approaches this subject with something most of us lack at that age: empathy. Kayla (Elsie Fisher, magnificent) is an awkward wallflower who makes YouTube videos offering advice she hardly takes herself - she's very much a product of the iPhone generation, with a stark divide between her social media presence and her physical presence. Yet Burnham, himself a YouTube product, never makes her or any of the other kids in the film the butt of the joke. This is a film genuinely interested in its characters as complicated people, with Kayla finding herself in situations ranging from innocuously awkward (Nice Sauce Boy) to cringingly threatening (that horrifying backseat scene). Burnham and Fisher never pull punches in depicting how difficult it is to navigate this adolescent minefield. Yet as the film demonstrates, and many of us can personally attest, we make to the other side mostly intact, and that's the best we can hope for. Eighth Grade is a testament to that hope.
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