World Poll 2018 – Part 5 the editors January 2019 World Poll Issue 89 ENTRIES IN PART 5: Eugenia Lai Marc Lauria Elaine Lennon Raúl Liébana Thomas Logoreci Tara Lomax Josh B. Mabe Ioannis Makris Bob Manning Miguel Marias Jack McCulloch Brian McFarlane Kenta McGrath Olaf Möller Marcel Müller Peter Nagels Boris Nelepo Andy Norton Darragh O’Donoghue Roberto Oggiano SvenErik Olsen EUGENIA LAI CINEPHILE BASED IN NEW YORK AND PARIS New Releases/Titles (Alphabetical order by director’s last names) Black Mother (Khalik Allah, 2018) Baronesa, Juliana Antunes, 2017 Cocote (Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias, 2017) Družina (The Family Rok Biček, 2017) Ahlat Agaci (The Wild Pear Tree, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2018) Braguino, (Clement Cogitore, 2017) Buffet Zeljezara (Steel Mill Caffe, Goran Devic, 2017) All That Passes By Through a Window That Doesn’t Open (Martin Dicicco, 2017) Casanovagen (Casanova Gene, Luise Donschen, 2018) El peluquero romántico (The romantic barber, Iván Ávila Dueñas, 2016) Jeannette, l’enfance de Jeanne d’Arc (Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc, Bruno Dumont, 2017) As Boas Maneiras (Good manners, Marco Dutra, Juliana Rojas, 2017) John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, (Julien Faraut, 2018) Another Movie, (Morgan Fisher, 2017) Avant la fin de l’été (Before Summer Ends, Maryam Goormaghtigh, 2017) Makala, (Emmanuel Gras, 2017) En attendant les barbares (Waiting for the Barbarians, Eugene Green, 2017) Djon Africa (João Miller Guerra and Filipa Reis, 2018) Mi último fracaso (My Last Failure, Cecilia Kang, 2016) Svi severni gradovi (All the Cities of the North, Dane Komljen, 2016) Beoning (Burning, Lee Chang-dong, 2018) La flor, (Mariano Llinás, 2018) Pour le réconfort (Comfort and Consolation in France, Vincent Macaigne, 2017) Ostatnia rodzina (The Last Family, Jan P. Matuszynski, 2016) Los Nadie (The Nobodies, Juan Sebastián Mesam, 2016) The Private Property Trilogy, (Nicolas Pereda, 2018) El Laberinto (The Labyrinth, Laura Huertas Millán, 2018) La idea de un lago (The Idea of a Lake, Milagros Mumenthaler, 2016) O Horizon, (The Otolith Group, 2018) Vinterbrødre (Winter Brothers, Hlynur Palmason, 2018) A Fábrica de Nada (The Nothing Factory, Pedro Pinho, 2017) Resurrección (Resurrection, Eugenio Polgovsky, 2016) Pororoca, (Constantin Popescu, 2017) Era uma Vez Brasília (Once There Was Brasilia, Adirley Queiros, 2017) Lazzaro Felice (Happy as Lazzaro, Alice Rohrwacher, 2018 Akher ayam el madina (In the Last Days of the City, Tamer El Said, 2016) Roi Soleil, (Albert Serra, 2018) Estiu 1993 (Summer 1993, Carla Simón, 2017) Inland Sea, (Kazuhiro Sôda, 2018) Tarde Para Morir Joven (Too Late to Die Young, Dominga Sotomayor, 2018) 95 and 6 to Go, (Kimi Takesue, 2016) Mrs. Fang, (Wang Bing, 2017) Dead Souls, (Wang Bing, 2018) Repertoire/Series/Retrospectives – Alphabetical order by director) D’Est (From the East, Chantal Akerman, 1993) De l’autre côté (From the Other Side, Chantal Akerman, 2002) Sud (South, Chantal Akerman, 1999) The Meetings of Anna (Les Rendez-vous d’Anna, Chantal Akerman, 1978) Spring night, Summer Night, (Joseph L. Anderson, 1967) L’eau froide (Cold Water, Olivier Assayas, 1994) Cinderella, (Ericka Beckman, 1986) You the Better, (Ericka Beckman, 1983) 11 x 14, (James Benning, 1977) Landscape Suicide, (James Benning, 1987) You and Me (Tú y Yo, Natalia Cabral and Oriol Estrada, 2014 For Those Who Will Follow (Pour la suite du monde, Michel Brault and Pierre Perrault, 1963) Pizza, birra, faso (Pizza, Beer, and Cigarettes, Adrián Caetano & Bruno Stagnaro, Argentina, 1998) Ovoce stromu rajských jíme (Fruit of Paradise, Vera Chytilová, 1970) A Movie, (Bruce Conner, 1958) Distant Voices, Still Lives, (Terence Davies, 1988) San Clemente, (Raymond Depardon, 1982) The Year My Voice Broke, (John Duigan, 1987) Der Geschmack des Lebens (The Taste of Life, Harun Farocki, 1979) Einschlafgeschichten 1-5 (Bedtime Stories 1-5, Harun Farocki, 1976/77) Ein Bild (An Image, Harun Farocki, 1983) Ich glaubte Gefangene zu sehen (I Thought I Was Seeing Convicts, Harun Farocki, 2000) Leben – BRD (How to Live in the FRG, Harun Farocki, 1990) Stilleben (Still Life, Harun Farocki, 1997) Zur Bauweise des Films bei Griffith (On Construction of Griffith’s Films, Harun Farocki, 2006) The House is Black, (Forough Farrokhzad, 1963) Acht Stunden sind kein Tag (Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972) Experimental Black and White Short Films 1965 – 67 (Karpo Godina, 1965-1967) Soleil Ô (Oh, Sun Med Hondo, 1970) Prípad pro zacínajícího kata (Case for a Rookie Hangman, Pavel Juracek, 1970) This Lemon Tastes of Apple, (Hiwa K, 2011) The Bell Project, (Hiwa K, 2007-2015) Moon Calendar, (Hiwa K, 2007) Ludwig van (Mauricio Kagel, 1969) Grands soirs et petits matins (May Days, William Klein, 1968) Brandstifter (The Arsonists, Klaus Lemke, 1965) Nun va Goldoon (A Moment of Innocence, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, 1996) God’s Country, (Louis Malle, 1985) Hyènes (Hyenas, Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1992) Les Abysses, (Nikos Papatakis, 1963) Une jeunesse allemande (A German Youth, Jean-Gabriel Périot, 2015) Tropico de cancer (Tropic of Cancer, Eugenio Polgovsky, 2004) El sopar (The Dinner, Pere Portabella, 1974 – 2017) Informe general sobre unas cuestiones de interés para una proyección pública (General Report on Certain Matters of Interest for a Public Screening, Pere Portabella, 1977) Branco Sai, Preto Fica (White Out, Black In, Adirley Queiros, 2014) Bolívar, sinfonía tropikal (Bolivar, a Tropical Symphony, Diego Risquez, 1981) Moi, un noir (I, a Negro, Jean Rouch, 1958) La chasse au lion à l’arc (The Lion Hunters, Jean Rouch, 1966) Jaguar, (Jean Rouch, 1968) De grands événements et des gens ordinaires (Of Great Events and Ordinary People, Raul Ruiz, 1979) La maleta (The Suitcase, Raul Ruiz, 1963) Faráruv konec (The End of a Priest, Evald Schorm, 1969) La hora de los hornos: Notas y testimonios sobre el neocolonialismo, la violencia y la liberación (The Hour of the Furnaces, Octavio Getino and Fernando E. Solanas, 1968) A Vizinhança do Tigre (The Hidden Tiger, Affonso Uchoa, 2016) L’une chante l’autre pas (One Sings, the Other Doesn’t, Agnès Varda, 1977) La permission (The Story of a Three-Day Pass, Melvin Van Peebles, 1968) Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, (Melvin Van Peebles, 1971) Watermelon Man, (Melvin Van Peebles, 1970) Les deux memoires (The Two Memories, Jorge Semprun, 1974) Learning from Las Vegas Film, (Learning from Las Vegas Studio Members/Venturi, Scott-Brown & Associates, 1968) Las Vegas Electric, Freemont Street, Las Vegas, (Learning from Las Vegas studio members/Venturi, Scott-Brown & Associates, 1968) Lembro mais dos Corvos (I Remember the Crows, Gustavo Vinagre, 2018) The Fall, (Peter Whitehead, 1969) Marc Lauria Freelance Cinephile Le livre d´image (The Image Book, Jean Luc Godard, 2018) Dead Souls (Wang Bing) Teret (The Load, Ognjen Glavonic, 2018) Ayka (Sergey Dvortsevoy, 2018) Prototype (Blake Williams, 2017) Transit (Christian Petzold, 2018) Zimna Wojna (Cold War, Paweł Pawlikowski, 2018) The Death of Stalin (Armando Iannucci, 2017) First Reformed (Paul Schrader, 2017) Beoning (Burning, Lee Chang-dong, 2018) Elaine Lennon FILM HISTORIAN, AUTHOR OF CHINATOWNE AND PATHWAYS OF DESIRE: EMOTIONAL ARCHITECTURE IN THE FILMS OF NANCY MEYERS A Simple Favor (2018, Paul Feig) Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018, Christopher McQuarrie) Star power 120 battements par minute (BPM Beats Per Minute, Robin Campillo, 2017) I, Tonya (2017, Craig Gillespie) Ice ice baby You Were Never Really Here (2017, Lynne Ramsay) The abuse of power Call Me By Your Name (2017, Luca Guadagnino) The body male A Star is Born (2018, Bradley Cooper) A Ghost Story (2017, David Lowery) The body concept Lean on Pete (2017, Andrew Haigh) Horse power Tully (2018, Jason Reitman) Baby driver Lean on Pete (2017, Andrew Haigh) Raúl Liébana Film critic: El Espectador Imaginario, Videodromo, Camera & light, Mubi, Revista Magnolia La flor (The Flower, Mariano Llinás, 2010 – 2018) And What is the Summer Saying (Payal Kapadia, 2018) Words, Planets (Laida Lertxundi, 2018) Dead Souls (Wang Bing, 2018) 15 Hours (Wang Bing, 2017) Hai shang cheng shi (The Fragile House, Lin Zi, 2018) Yara (Abbas Fahdel, 2018) Tempo comum (Ordinary Time, Susana Nobre, 2018) Jonaki (Aditya Vikram Sengupta, 2018) Gimcheoul (Jorge Suárez-Quiñones Rivas, 2018) Interregnum (Adrian Paci, 2017) Inferninho (My Own Private Hell, Pedro Diógenes and Guto Parente, 2018) Nervous Translation (Shireen Seno, 2018) Kraben Rahu (Manta Ray, Phuttiphong Aroonpheng, 2018) Ahlat Agaci (The Wild Pear Tree, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2018) La película infinita (The Endless Film, Leandro Listorti, 2018) Tarde para morir joven (Too Late to Die Young, Dominga Sotomayor, 2018) Anons (The Announcement, Mahmut Fazil Coşkun, 2018) Manbiki kazoku (Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2018) Santos #2, Work in Progress (Antón Corbal, 2018) Ella & Nell (Aline Chukwuedo, 2018) Abigaïl (Magdalena Froger, 2018) Alles ist gut (All Is Good, Eva Trobisch, 2018) Los que desean (Those Who Desire, Elena López Riera, 2018) Touch Me Not (Adina Pintilie, 2018) Djon África (Filipa Reis and João Miller Guerra, 2018) Process (The Trial, Sergei Loznitsa, 2018) Genesis (Genèse, Philippe Lesage, 2018) Fausto (Faust, Andrea Bussmann, 2018) Viaje a Kioto (The Journey to Kyoto, Pablo Llorca, 2018) Sedução da carne (Júlio Bressane, 2018) Tradition (Lanka Bandaranayake, 2016) Wan Xia: la última luz del atardecer (Wan Xia: The Last Light of the Sunset, Silvia Rey, 2018 Soni (Ivan Avyr, 2018) Lazzaro Felice (Happy as Lazzaro, Alice Rohrwacher, 2018) Grbavica (Manel Raga Raga, 2018) Quién lo impide: “Solo somos” / “Si vamos 28, volvemos 28” (Jonás Trueba, 2018) Napszállta (Sunset, László Nemes, 2018) Letters to Paul Morrisey (Armand Rovira, 2018) Introduzione all’oscuro (Gastón Solnicki, 2018) Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017) Entre dos aguas (Between Two Waters, Isaki Lacuesta, 2018) Yom Adaatou Zouli (The Day I Lost My Shadow, Soudade Kaadan, 2018) Sobre tudo sobre nada (Anything And All, Dídio Pestana, 2018) A Family Tour (Ying Liang, 2018) Tchelovek kotorij udivil vseh (The Man Who Surprised Everyone, Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov, 2018) Gangbyub Hotel (Hotel by the River, Hong Sang-soo, 2018) M (Yolande Zuberman, 2018) Ray & Liz (Richard Billingham, 2018) The Cleaners (Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck, 2018) Donbass (Sergei Loznitsa, 2018) Den’ Pobedy (Victory Day, Sergei Loznitsa, 2018) Dead Horse Nebula (Tarik Aktas, 2018) Familia sumergida (Immersed Family, María Alché, 2018) Trote (Xacio Baño, 2018) Den skyldige (The Guilty, Gustav Möller, 2018) La casa de Julio Iglesias (Julio Iglesias´s House, Natalia Marín, 2018) Frase d´arme (Federico di Corato, 2018) La máxima longitud de un puente (Big Bridge, Simón Vélez López, 2018) Ruben Brandt, Collector (Milorad Krstić, 2018) Deva (Petra Szőcs, 2018) Oiktos (Pity, Babis Makridis, 2018) Mormaço (Sultry, Marina Meliande, 2018) O termómetro de Galileu (Galileo’s Thermometer, Teresa Villaverde, 2018) La torre (The Tower, Sebastián Múnera, 2018) Retrospectives / Focus / Tribute 1. The best retrospective of the year has been the first comprehensive retrospective on the Wang Bing work, titled: “Dispossessed Lives. Resilient Lives”. The event was held in Madrid, in October/November. It was formed by the entirety of Wang Bing’s films and film installations. Organized by Filmoteca Española and Museo Reina Sofía. 2. Simon mágus / Simon le mage (Simon, the Magician, Ildikó Enyedi, 1999 -Retrospective Ildikó Enyedi / Seville European Film Festival-) 3. Vakond (The mole, Ildikó Enyedi, 1987 -Retrospective Ildikó Enyedi / Seville European Film Festival-) 4. Noche de vino tinto (José María Nunes, 1966 – Endless Nights Focus – Filmadrid) 5. Cinq et la peau (Five and the skin, 1982, Pierre Rissient -Tribute to Pierre Rissiente / Locarno Film Festival-) 6. Giliap (Roy Andersson, 1975 -Retrospective Roy Andersson – Seville European Film Festival) DVD Historias extraordinarias (Extraordinary stories, Mariano Llinás, 2008 – Intermedio DVD) Thomas Logoreci Co-directed dramatic (and sometimes comic) feature Bota with Iris Elezi, was Albania’s selection for the Academy Awards and was named by Monte Hellman as the best film of 2015 I’m an Albanian-American filmmaker living in Albania’s capital city, Tirana. The handful of movie theaters in this Balkan metropolis of one million people mostly show Hollywood blockbusters. After my wife and directing partner, Iris Elezi, was named the director of our national archive, we began Albania’s first cinematheque. Every week we show some of the 35mm prints that somehow managed to get inside Albania during its half-century of intensely isolated dictatorship. I had some extraordinary moviegoing experiences in Zagreb, Karlovy Vary, Prague, Prizren and Tirana. Here are my ten most memorable moving picture moments from 2018: Doel (Frederik Sølberg, 2018) The Eyes of Orson Welles (Mark Cousins, 2018) La Morte Rogue (Victor Erice, 2006) – Most people know Spanish filmmaker Victor Erice for his classics The Spirit of the Beehive and El Sur. But the seventy eight year old Erice is also a brilliant master of the doc form. I waited years to see his essay take on his childhood obsession with an old Sherlock Holmes vehicle and its lasting influence on his life. Saw this in Zagreb, Croatia at the terrific Film Mutations: Festival of Invisible Cinema. Then got to spend many hours with Victor Erice listening to him tell us of meeting Von Sternberg and Kurosawa. Nusja dhe Shtetrrethimi (The Bride and the Curfew, Ibrahim Mucaj, Kristaq Dhamo, 1978) – One of the 35mm prints we screened at the Albanian national film archive’s cozy eight seat theater. On the surface, it seems like typical East European partisan fare. A guerrilla fighter tries to escape her besieged fortress town after assassinating a fascist official. After the town is surrounded and locked down by the Germans, the fighter joins a local wedding, disguising herself as a traditional bride. But this film is something quite different. It’s what all Albanian communist cinema should have been – spare, economic black and white images that, in passages, recalls Robert Bresson’s A Man Escaped and Carol Reed’s The Third Man. I hope to make a film that will have a title as good as ride The Bride and the Curfew. The film is only 54 minutes and virtually without dialogue. It was considered far too formal and Western influenced by the communist authorities and its directors, Ibrahim Mucaj and Kristaq Mitro were sternly warned not to do it again. So they didn’t. Os Verdes Anos (The Green Years, Paulo Rocha, 1963) – I saw this restored masterpiece at the yearly film event I most look forward to each year – the rich and varied Dokufest in Prizren, Kosovo. Before the screening, I knew nothing about this film that is considered Portugal’s cinematic game changer. It is now one of my top ten films of all time. Prípad pro zacínajícího kata (The Case for a New Hangman, Pavel Juracek, 1970) – Another stunning black and white film, completely unknown to me before I saw a 35mm print in Prague during this year’s FIAF congress. I think my mouth was agape during the entire projection. Yet more proof that the treasures from the Czech new wave are seemingly endless. The Proposal (Jill Magid, 2018) Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino, 2018) They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead (Morgan Neville, 2018) Waldheims Walzer (The Waldheim Waltz, Ruth Beckerman, 2018) Tara Lomax Academic Researcher and Sessional Lecturer in Cinema and Screen Studies, The University of Melbourne In keeping with the theme of my contribution to last year’s world poll, this list focuses specifically on franchise instalments. With this contribution, my objective is to reflect on my best viewing experiences throughout the year and also to document notable examples of franchise production. To guide my scope, this year I base my selection and the order of my list on franchise instalments I personally enjoyed—whether intellectually or as entertainment (often both) – and which exceeded or challenged my expectations of formal development and direction of the respective franchise. 10. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (David Yates, 2018) The previous instalment in this franchise, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Yates, 2016), is among my favourite instalments in the Wizarding World franchise (the rebranded Harry Potter franchise), so admittedly I’m still processing my acute disappointment in this latest instalment. Even so, I list this instalment here because it is worth acknowledging that it challenges the value and function of classical storytelling conventions in the franchise mode and, as an original screenplay written by J.K. Rowling, this instalment also raises new questions about the changing dynamics of adaptation and authorship in the Wizarding World franchise. 9. Deadpool 2 (David Leitch, 2018) As Fred Savage admits to Deadpool in the family-friendly Christmas re-release of this movie, Once Upon a Deadpool (2018), “I kinda prefer Marvel movies…[but] you’re just Marvel licensed by Fox.” As Disney prepares to acquire Fox and its franchise properties, the meta fourth-wall-breaking antics of the Deadpool franchise will always be valuable as a satirical commentary on the state of superhero cinema and its industrial workings. 8. Mission: Impossible—Fallout (Christopher McQuarrie, 2018) This latest instalment in the informally branded “Tom Cruise franchise” is notable for Cruise’s practical stunt work and Henry Cavill’s controversial moustache; also, now with six instalments across twelve years, the Mission: Impossible franchise demonstrates that the action genre can indeed compete with the dominance of superheroes in franchise production. 7. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (J.A. Bayona, 2018) After an awkward opening act during which I wondered if this instalment even wants to be taken seriously before I should even try, I realised that Fallen Kingdom is best embraced as a big-budget dinosploitation movie that hybridises genre and intertextually remixes the franchise’s own history. Although not well-received by critics or fans of the Jurassic Park franchise, to me this is a spectacular celebration of the franchise’s 25-year anniversary. 6. Ant-Man and the Wasp (Peyton Reed, 2018) This instalment sweeps away the post-Infinity War ash with the signature humour and light-heartened tone established in Ant-Man (Reed, 2015), only to leave jaws dropped with a surprising post-credit scene with significant plot implications. This is a small-scale story with high stakes for the future direction of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). 5. Bumblebee (Travis Knight, 2018) An eleventh-hour addition to this list and one of the last blockbuster franchise instalments for the year (followed by Aquaman (James Wan, 2018)—yet to be released in Australian cinemas), this latest instalment of the much (I think unfairly) derided Transformers franchise is full of soul as a prequel story that centres on the charming Autobot, Bumblebee. A successful concert of storytelling and spectacle, this instalment gives new life to the Transformers franchise. 4. Black Panther (Ryan Coogler, 2018) This started 2018 off to a strong start for the ten-year anniversary of Marvel Studios and the MCU; it also set a new standard for superhero cinema and franchise production. In pushing the boundaries of racial, cultural, and aesthetic diversity, Black Panther didn’t only impress typical superhero audiences but engaged a broad range of cinema viewers, many not accustomed to enjoying popular mainstream fare. However, this breakthrough doesn’t make this instalment any less of a superhero or MCU movie: Black Panther’s achievement extends beyond the boundaries of a standalone movie, with potential influence across the future of the MCU. 3. Avengers: Infinity War (Joseph and Anthony Russo, 2018) Ten years and eighteen movies in the making, this MCU instalment is an assemblage of characters, memories, events, and character objectives from past instalments. Infinity War begins without preamble or exposition and so relies upon the audience’s proficiency and experience with the entire franchise. This is a risky strategy for a blockbuster movie, but in respecting the intelligence and experience of its audience Marvel Studios continues to be the powerhouse of franchise production. 2. Solo: A Star Wars Story (Ron Howard, 2018) Failing to reach its box office potential, this latest instalment in the Star Wars franchise perhaps suffered in the wake of its highly divisive and contentious predecessor Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson, 2017). While many criticisms suggest that Han Solo’s past is not a story that needed to be told, I think Solo, like Rogue One (Gareth Edwards, 2016), necessarily consolidates the franchise’s past and present, while it negotiates its future. In an era when Star Wars is working to secure its longevity by exploring new directions for the franchise and its characters, Solo reinforces that the franchise will always have an unrealised past that may still shape its future. 1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Peter Ramsey, Robert Persichetti Jr., and Rodney Rothman, 2018) The most superior superhero/comic book/franchise movie of the year (and potentially the decade), which for me is a significant judgement to make in a year of franchise output that also includes one Star Wars and three MCU instalments. With this movie, Sony Pictures finally embraces the multiverse possibilities of its Spider-Man license and demonstrates sophisticated command of the Spider-Verse and its aesthetic and cultural diversity. Into the Spider-Verse also features a complex and engaging audiovisual style that showcases the artistic potential of animation. Additional notable mentions: Creed II (Steven Cable Jr., 2018); Halloween (David Gordon Green, 2018); The Incredibles 2 (Brad Bird, 2018); The Predator (Shane Black, 2018); Venom (Ruben Fleischer, 2018). NB: Aquaman (James Wan, 2018) Australian release scheduled for after poll submission. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Peter Ramsey, Robert Persichetti Jr., and Rodney Rothman, 2018) Josh B. Mabe Librarian, film programmer, and filmmaker in Chicago NEWER WORK – THE BEST 18 OF ‘18: 1. Un beau soleil intérieur (Let the Sunshine In, Claire Denis, 2017) 2. Return to Forms (Zachary Epcar, 2016) 3. Jeannette, l’enfance de Jeanne d’Arc (Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc, Bruno Dumont, 2017) 4. New Sun Breathing In (Chloe Reyes, 2017) 5. Dragons & Seraphim (Sasha Waters Freyer, 2017) 6. The Shape Of Water (Guillermo del Toro, 2017) 7. As Water Is In Water (Madison Brookshire & Tashi Wada, 2017) 8. Drag (Bea Haut, 2017) 9. Roman J Israel, Esq. (Dan Gilroy, 2017) 10. Decoy (Alee Peoples, 2017) 11. Anti-Objects, or Space Without Path or Boundary (Sky Hopinka, 2017) 12. Support The Girls (Andrew Bujalski, 2018) 13. Carolee, Barbara & Gunvor (Lynne Sachs, 2018) 14. You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay, 2018) 15. SONG X (Pathompon Mont Tesprateep, 2017) 16. Donuts (Takeshi Murata, 2018) 17. Onward Lossless Follows (Michael Robinson, 2017) 18. Like This/Like That (Tommy Heffron, 2017) OLDER WORK SEEN FOR THE FIRST TIME: 1. Remembrance: A Portrait Study (Edward Owens, 1967) 16mm on digital; Conversations At The Edge at The Gene Siskel Film Center (Chicago); 3/22/18 2. Strange Impersonation (Anthony Mann, 1946) 35mm; Noir City at The Music Box (Chicago); 8/18/18 3. Still Point (Barbara Hammer, 1989) 16mm; South Side Projections, the Nightingale, the Counter Cinema/Counter Media Project at the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at The Nightingale (Chicago); 2/16/18 4. YYAA (Wojciech Bruszewski, 1973) 16mm; Media City Film Festival at The Capitol Theater (Windsor); 11/10/18 5. Chronicles of a Lying Spirit (Kelly Gabron and Cauleen Smith, 1992) 16mm; Canyon Cinema 50, and Film Studies Center at The University of Chicago (Chicago); 1/26/18 6. Gardiens de phare (The Lighthouse Keepers, Jean Grémillon, 1929) 35mm; Chicago Film Society at The Music Box (Chicago); 7/21/18 7. What is a Man? (Sara Kathryn Arledge, 1958) 16mm; Canyon Cinema 50, and Film Studies Center at The University of Chicago (Chicago); 1/19/18 8. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are George (Dane Picard, 1992) Video; Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation at The Block Cinema (Chicago); 11/10/18 9. Two Friends (Jane Campion, 1986) 16mm; Chicago Film Society at Chicago Filmmakers (Chicago); 7/7/18 10. Eight Hours of Terror (Seijun Suzuk, 1957) 35mm; Doc Films at The University of Chicago (Chicago); 1/23/18 IOANNIS MAKRIS CINEPHILE, EDITOR IN THE GREEK BASED INTERNET FILM BLOG PERI TAINION, MEMBER OF THE CINEMA GROUP CINEDIADROMES The best 2017 movies I saw in 2018 1. Nelyubov (Loveless, Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2017) 2. Dede (Mariam Khatchvani, 2017) 3. Namhansanseong (The Fortress, Dong-hyuk Hwang, 2017) 4. Tuntematon Sotilas (Unknown Soldier, Aku Louhimies, 2017) 5. Testrol Es Lelekrol (On Body and Soul, Ildikó Enyedi, 2017) 6. Der Hauptmann (The Cartain, Robert Schwentke, 2017) 7. The Nile Hilton Incident (Tarik Saleh, 2017) 8. The Square (Ruben Östlund, 2017) 9. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh, 2017, USA) 10. L’insulte (The Insult, Ziad Doueiri, 2017) 11. Foxtrot (Samuel Maoz, 2017) 12. Toivon Tuolla Puolen (The Other Side of Hope, 2017) 13. Au Revoir La-Haut (See You Up There, Albert Dupontel, 2017) 14. 1945 (Ferenc Török, 2017) 15. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017) 16. November (Rainer Sarnet, 2017) 17. 1987 (When the Day Comes, Joon-Hwan Jang, 2017) 18. Chalard games goeng (Bad Genius, Nattawut Poonpiriya, 2017, Thailand) 19. Napadid shodan (Disappearance, Ali Asgari, 2017) 20. Matar a Jesús (Killing Jesus, Laura Mora Ortega, 2017, Colombia) Bob Manning CINEPHILE AND MEMBER OF ADELAIDE CINEMATHEQUE My top 12 movies of 2018 in order 1. You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay, 2017) 2. Au revoir la-haut (See You Up There, Albert Dupontel, 2017) 3. Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig, 2017) 4.Toivon tuolla puolen (The Other Side of Hope, Aki Kaurismaki, 2017) 5. The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro, 2017) 6. The Square (Ruben Östlund, 2017) 7. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2018) 8. Wildlife (Paul Dano, 2018) 9. Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018) 10. Lean on Pete (Andrew Haigh, 2017) 11.Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017) 12. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh, 2017) As a huge fan of film noir and neo-noir I could not go past You Were Never Really Here as my top film of the year. It’s handling of a psychologically damaged war veteran returning to society after service, reminded me of the great post world war 2 film noirs like The Chase. I have seen it on the big screen three times already and am eagerly awaiting the release of You Were Never Really Here on bluray to add to my movie collection. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2018) Miguel Marias FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE SPANISH FILM ARCHIVE (1986-88). AUTHOR OF BOOKS ON MANUEL MUR OTI AND LEO MCCAREY Great recent movies seen for the first time in 2018 (made since 2013) Le Livre d’image (The Image Book, Jean-Luc Godard, 2018) La Villa (The House by the Sea, Robert Guédiguian, 2017) Les Gardiennes (Xavier Beauvois, 2017) Battlecreek (Alison Eastwood, 2017) Mes provinciales (A Paris Education, Jean Paul Civeyrac, 2017/8) Grass (Hong Sang-soo, 2017/8) 5 to 7 (Victor Levin, 2014) Que le diable nous emporte (Jean-Claude Brisseau, 2016/8) The Post (Steven Spielberg, 2017) Corniche Kennedy (Dominique Cabrera, 2016) Bhayanakam (Fear, Jayaraj, 2018) La Caméra de Claire (Claire’s Camera, Hong Sang-soo, 2017) Transit (Christian Petzold, 2018) 24 Frames (Abbas Kiarostami, 2017) The Third Wife (Ash Mayfair, 2018) Summer Survivors (Marija Kavtaradzė, 2018) Den skyldige (The Guilty;Gustav Möller, 2017/8) D’après une histoire vraie (Roman Polanski, 2017) Shock and Awe (Rob Reiner, 2017) Aucun regret (Emmanuel Mouret, 2015/6) Cinéma documentaire: Fragments d’une histoire (Jean-Louis Comolli, 2014) Great movies seen for the first time in 2018(made before 2013) Kumo ga chigireru toki (As the Clouds Scatter, Goshō Heinosukē, 1961) Nakinureta haru no onna yo (A Woman Crying in the Spring, Shimizu Hiroshi, 1933) Tokai no Yokogao(Tokyo Profile, Shimizu Hiroshi, 1953) Some Other Spring (Henry King, 1935) Silver City (Byron Haskin, 1951) Laughing Anne (Herbert Wilcox, 1953) Captain Salvation (John S. Robertson, 1927) Behind the Door (Irvin V. Willat, 1919) Harry Dean Stanton:Partly Fiction (Sophie Huber, 2012) Without Love (Harold S. Bucquet, 1945) T’amerò sempre (Mario Camerini, 1933) Beauty’s Worth (Robert G. Vignola, 1922) Nuvem (Ana Luísa Guimarães, 1991) T’amerò sempre (Mario Camerini, 1943) The Magician (Rex Ingram, 1926) The Grim Game (Irvin V. Willat, 1919) The Michigan Kid (Irvin V. Willat, 1928) Polifonias-Paci é saluta, Michel Giacometti (Pierre-Marie Goulet, 1997/8) Carrefour (Kurt Bernhardt, 1938) La vita ricomincia (Mario Mattòli, 1945) Taikoki (The Story of Hideyoshi, Okamoto Kihachi, 1987) La Mort du jeune aviateur anglais (Benoît Jacquot and Marguerite Duras, 1993) The Little Match Girl (Percy Nash, 1914)C) Very good recent movies seen for the first time in 2018(made since 2013) Roma (Alfonso Cuarón, 2018) Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno (Abdellatif Kechiche, 2017) Ang Babaeng Humayo (The Woman Who Left, Lav Diaz, 2016) Les Fantômes d’Ismaël (Ismael’s Ghosts, Arnaud Desplechin, 2017) La enfermedad del domingo (Ramón Salazar, 2017) De chaque instant (Nicolas Philibert, 2018) A fábrica de nada (Pedro Pinho, 2017) Ce sentiment de l’été (This Summer Feeling, Mikhaël Hers, 2015) La Belle et la Belle (Sophie Fillières, 2018) Le Parc (Damien Manivel, 2016) Apuntes para una película de atracos (Notes for a Heist Film, León Siminiani, 2018) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mike Newell, 2018) The Children’s Act (Richard Eyre, 2017) A Star Is Born (Bradley Cooper, 2018) 20th Century Women (Mike Mills, 2016) Most Beautiful Island (Ana Asensio, 2017) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh, 2017) Lucky (John Carroll Lynch, 2017) Marianne Faithfull, Fleur d’Âme (Sandrine Bonnaire, 2017) Gerald’s Game (Mike Flanagan, 2017) Per una rosa (Marco Bellocchio, 2017) Sin rodeos (Empowered, Santiago Segura, 2017/8) El Reino(The Realm;Rodrigo Sorogoyen, 2018) Commander Arian: A Story of Women, War and Freedom (Alba Sotorra, 2018) The Reports on Sarah and Saleem (Muayad Alayan, 2018) Destination Wedding (Victor Levin, 2018) What We Did On Our Holiday (Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, 2014) Lulu (Luis Ortega, 2014) Yo, Juan Carlos I, Rey de España (Miguel Courtois, 2015) Very good movies seen for the first time in 2018(made before 2013) He Married His Wife (Roy Del Ruth, 1940) Die Sünderin (Willi Forst, 1950) The Silent City (George Sherman, 1950) Ang Paglilitis ni Andres Bonifacio (The Trial of Andres Bonifacio, Mario O’Hara, 2010) Birth of the Blues (Victor Schertzinger, 1941) Redskin (Victor Schertzinger, 1928/9) Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (Arnold Laven, 1957) The Enchanted Cottage (John S. Robertson, 1924) Montparnasse (Mikhaël Hers, 2009) Memory Lane (Mikhaël Hers, 2010) List (Hong Sang-soo, 2011) Barricade (Peter Godfrey, 1949) Warpath (Byron Haskin, 1951) Zaza (Allan Dwan, 1923) Dios se lo pague (Luis César Amadori, 1948) Vriemia zhatvy (Harvest Time, Marina Razbezhkina, 2004) Hawaii·Mâre oke Kaisen (The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya;Yamamoto Kajirô, 1942) Stallion Road (James V. Kern, 1947) The False Faces (Irvin V. Willat, 1918/9) When Knighthood Was in Flower (Robert G. Vignola, 1922) Denver & Rio Grande (Byron Haskin, 1951/2) The Man Is Armed (Franklin Adreon, 1956) Terror at Midnight (Franklin Adreon, 1956) Behold My Wife! (Mitchell Leisen, 1934) The Vanishing American/Zane Grey’s ‘The Vanishing American’ (Joe Kane, 1955) Medicine for Melancholy (Barry Jenkins, 2008) Ride Out for Revenge (Bernard Girard, 1957) Every Picture Tells A Story (James Scott, 1983) Portrait of a Mobster (Joseph Pevney, 1961) High Time (Blake Edwards, 1950) Spring Fever (Edgard Sedgwick, 1927) Relentless (George Sherman, 1947) Flor de Durazno (Miguel Zacarías, 1945) Loophole (Harold D. Schuster, 1954) The Wild Party (Harry Horner, 1956) British Agent (Michael Curtiz, 1934) 6 Hours to Live (William Dieterle, 1932) The Story of Temple Drake (Stephen Roberts, 1933) La Vie de plaisir (Albert Valentin, 1944) The Sellout (Gerald Mayer, 1951/2) Des filles en noir (Jean Paul Civeyrac, 2010) Without Warning! (Arnold Laven, 1952) Kanikuly (Holidays;Marina Razbezhkina, 2006) It’s a Great Feeling (David Butler, 1949) The Gaucho (F. Richard Jones, 1927) Something To Sing About (Victor Schertzinger, 1937) A Lost Lady (Alfred E. Green, 1934) 24 Hours (Marion Gering, 1931) Thirty Day Princess (Marion Gering, 1934) Guns Girls and Gangsters (Edward L. Cahn, 1958/9) The Marauders (Gerald Mayer, 1955) Dial 1119 (Gerald Mayer, 1950) Crashing Hollywood (Lew Landers, 1937/8) Barcelona trabaja para el Frente (Mateo Santos, 1936) Dromómanos (Roamers, Luis Ortega, 2012) Verbena Trágica (Tragic Festival, Charles Lamont, 1938) Great movies growing again The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Vincente Minnelli, 1961) Love Letters (William Dieterle, 1945) The Story of Dr. Wassell (Cecil B. DeMille, 1944) Scandal Sheet (The Dark Page, Phil Karlson, 1952) Anatahan (The Saga of Anatahan, Josef von Sternberg, 1953) Liberty (Leo McCarey, 1929) Smart Woman (Gregory LaCava, 1931) Road House (Jean Negulesco, 1948) Goodbye Charlie (Vincente Minnelli, 1964) Forbidden Fruit (Cecil B. DeMille, 1921) Where East Is East (Tod Browning, 1929) Kvinnodröm (Ingmar Bergman, 1955) The Golden Chance (Cecil B. DeMille, 1915) Adam’s Rib (Cecil B. DeMille, 1923) Cinq et la peau (Pierre Rissient, 1980/1/2) Nobody Lives Forever (Jean Negulesco, 1946) Gallant Lady (Gregory LaCava, 1933) The Purchase Price (William A. Wellman, 1932) The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1945/6) Víctimas del Pecado (Victims of Sin;Emilio ‘Indio’ Fernández, 1950/1) Alice in den Städten (Wim Wenders, 1974) Rails & Ties (Alison Eastwood, 2007) Jolanda, la figlia del Corsano Nero (Jolanda, the Daughter of the Black Corsair, Mario Soldati, 1953) The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969) Der Bräutigam, die Komödiantin und der Zuhälter (Jean-Marie Straub, 1968) The File On Thelma Jordon (Robert Siodmak, 1949) The Shanghai Gesture (Josef von Sternberg, 1941) Les Cousins (The Cousins, Claude Chabrol, 1959) The Covered Wagon (James Cruze, 1923) Indiscreet (Leo McCarey, 1931) Vàmpir Cuadecuc/Cuadecuc Vampir (Pere Portabella, 1970) Six of a Kind (Leo McCarey, 1933) Crimen (Mario Camerini, 1960) Una storia d’amore (Mario Camerini, 1942) Suzanne Simonin La Religieuse de Denis Diderot (Jacques Rivette, 1966) E Agora?Lembra-me (Joaquim Pinto and Nuno Leonel, 2013) Very good movies revised again Kak zakalialás stál (Mark Donskoí;coll.Iulií Raízman, 1942) Sentimental Journey (Walter Lang, 1946) Odette (Herbert Wilcox, 1950) In Love and War (Philip Dunne, 1958) Storm Fear (Cornel Wilde, 1955) Wild Company (Leo McCarey, 1930) Lady In A Jam (Gregory LaCava, 1942) Passage West (Lewis R. Foster, 1951) Salón México (Emilio ‘Indio’ Fernández, 1948/9) Wild Oranges (King Vidor, 1923) Streets of Laredo (Leslie Fenton, 1948/9) The Redhead and the Cowboy (Leslie Fenton, 1951) Tumbleweed (Nathan Juran, 1953) The Conquerors (The Pioneer Builders, William A. Wellman, 1932) Ein Leben für Deutschland:Admiral Canaris (Alfred Weidenmann, 1954) Eye of the Needle (Richard Marquand, 1981) Stranger At My Door (William Witney, 1956) Rails Into Laramie (Jesse Hibbs, 1954) Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006) Kommunisten (Jean-Marie Straub, 2014) A Death in the Gunj (Konkona Sensharma, 2016) Black Gold (Phil Karlson, 1947) María de la O (Francisco Elías, 1939) Oh, You Beautiful Doll (John M. Stahl, 1949) Zona Roja (Red Zone, Emilio ‘Indio’ Fernández, 1976) Shirley-Visions of Reality (Gustav Deutsch, 20 ) Executive Action (David Miller, 1973) Swiss Family Robinson (Ken Annakin, 1960) Devil and the Deep (Marion Gering, 1932) Rumor Has It… (Rob Reiner, 2005) Kept Husbands (Lloyd Bacon, 1936) JACK MCCULLOCH LOCATION SOUND RECORDIST BASED IN MELBOURNE Top Films of 2018 1. Beoning (Burning, Lee Chang-dong, 2018) 2. Roma (Alfonso Cuarón, 2018) 3. Zimna Wojna (Cold War, Paweł Pawlikowski, 2018) 4. Manbiki Kazoku (Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2018) 5. Kamera o Tomeru na! (One Cut of the Dead, Shinichiro Ueda, 2017) Top Retrospective Screenings 1. Gǔlǐng jiē shàonián shārén shìjiàn (A Brighter Summer Day, Edward Yang, 1991) Melbourne Cinematheque, ACMI, 35mm print 2. Il grande silenzio (The Great Silence, Sergio Corbucci, 1968) Melbourne Cinematheque, ACMI, 35mm print 3. Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg, 1973) Melbourne Cinematheque, ACMI, DCP 4. Blackmail (Alfred Hitchcock, 1929) Hitchcock Retrospective, Cameo Cinemas, DCP 5. Sedmikrásky (Daisies, Vera Chytilová, 1968) Melbourne Cinematheque, ACMI, DCP Zimna Wojna (Cold War, Paweł Pawlikowski, 2018) Brian McFarlane Adjunct Professor Swinburne Institute of Social Research, Adjunct Associate Professor Monash University Best Ten 2018 Aurore (I Got Life! Blandine Lenoir, 2017) Beautiful Boy (Felix van Groeningen, 2018) BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee, 2018) Breath (Simon Baker, 2017) The Children’s Act (Richard Eyre, 2017) First Man (Damien Chazelle, 2018) Loveless (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2017) On Chesil Beach (Dominic Cooke, 2017) The Wife (Björn L Runge, 2017) Wildfire (Talitha Stevenson, 2018) Kenta McGrath Filmmaker, Adjunct Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Curtin University Top fifteen films in alphabetical order: Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (Frederick Wiseman, 2017) Fail to Appear (Antoine Bourges, 2017) Foxtrot (Samuel Maoz, 2017) Island of the Hungry Ghosts (Gabrielle Brady, 2018) Kuro (Tujiko Noriko & Joji Koyama, 2017) La casa lobo (The Wolf House, Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León, 2017) Los silencios (Beatriz Seigner, 2018) Lumapit Sa Akin, Paraiso (Come to Me, Paradise, Stephanie Comilang, 2017) Madeline’s Madeline (Josephine Baker, 2018) Moriyama-San (Ila Bêka & Louise Lemoine, 2017) Netemo Sametemo (Asako I & II, Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, 2018) Sorry to Bother You (Boots Riley, 2018) Tara moartă (The Dead Nation, Radu Jude, 2017) Western (Valeska Grisebach, 2017) Zama (Lucrecia Martel, 2017) Olaf Möller CINEPHILE, WRITER, TRANSLATOR AND CURATOR, COLOGNE OLAF MÖLLER’S ELEVEN FRIENDS 2018 Team Manager Team (Films of the Year) Funan (Denis Do, 2018) Phnaur kmean chhmoh (Graves Without A Name, Ban Ritthi, 2018) First Team (Line-up in strictly alphabetical order) … y de pronto el amanecer (And Suddenly the Dawn, Silvio Caiozzi, 2017) Charlie Says (Mary Harron, 2018) Eter (Ether, Krzysztof Zanussi, 2018) Der Funktionär (The Functionary, Andreas Goldstein, 2018) Garten (Garden, Peter Schreiner, 2019) Den milde smerte (The Mild Pain, Carsten Brandt, 2019) Ang Panahon Ng Halimaw (Season of the Devil, Lav Diaz, 2018) Pierre Schoendoerffer – La Peine des hommes (Pierre Schoendoerffer – Men and Sorrow, Laurent Roth, 2018) They Shall Not Grow Old (Peter Jackson, 2018) Un peuple et son roi (One Nation, One King, Pierre Schoeller, 2018) Vaṭa Ceṉṉai (North Chennai, Veṟṟimāṟaṉ, 2018) + Watergate – Or: How We Learned to Stop an Out of Control President (Charles Ferguson, 2018) + The Tree of Life — Extended Cut (Terrence Malick, 2018) Substitutes Caminhos Magnétykos (Magnetic Pathways, Edgar Pêra, 2018) The Favourite (Giṓrgos Lánthimos, 2018) The Girl in the Spider’s Web (Fede Álvarez, 2018) Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral (Goyo: The Boy General, Jerrold Tarog, 2018) In Fabric (Peter Strickland, 2018) Invest in Failure (Notes on Film 06 C / Monologue 03) (Norbert Pfaffenbichler, 2018) Istorija odnogo naznačenija (The Story of an Appointment, Avdotʹja Smirnova, 2018) Jōyoku kaidan: Noroi no akajuban (Sasaki Hirohisa, 2018) Kler (Clergy, Wojciech Smarzowski, 2018) Máme na víc (We Can Do Better, Robin Kvapil & Radim Procházka, 2018) Nokch’aŭi chungnyŏk (Gravity of the Tea) & Paektu pŏntchae kurŭm (Cloud, Encore) (Chŏng Sŏngil, 2018) Sǐ línghún (Dead Souls, Wáng Bīng, 2018) Vivēk (Reason, Ānand Paṭvardhan, 2018) + The Vietnam War [Miniseries] (Ken Burns & Lynn Novick, 2017) + The Debt Collector (Jesse Johnson, 2018) Extended Team Asino. donkey/allegory. Collection of Eight Novellas (Anatolij Vasílʹev, 2018) Balangiga: Howling Wilderness (Khavn de la Cruz, 2017/18) Bhayānakam (Fear, Jayarāj Rājaśēkharan Nāyr, 2018) Dene wos guet geit (Those Who Are Fine, Cyril Schäublin, 2017) Dom boraca (Home of the Resistance, Ivan Ramljak, 2018) Doubles vies (Non-Fiction, Olivier Assayas, 2018) L’Empire de la perfection (In the Realm of Perfection, Julien Faraut, 2018) Gau3 goeng1 cing1 dou6 fu1 (Vampire Cleanup Department, Jan1 Baak3 Wing4 & Ziu6 Sin6 Hang4, 2017) Hmyz (Insects, Jan Švankmajer, 2018) Ḥūk (Pigs, Mānī Ḥaqīqī, 2018) Jan Palach (Robert Sedláček, 2018) Jiǎotóu 2: Wángzhě zàiqǐ (Gatao 2: Rise of the King, Yán Zhèngguó, 2018) Lukas (The Bouncer, Julien Leclercq, 2018) Mein Bruder heißt Robert und ist ein Idiot (My Brother’s Name Is Robert and He Is an Idiot, Philip Gröning, 2018) Monrovia, Indiana (Frederick Wiseman, 2018) Powrót (Back Home, Magdalena Łazarkiewicz, 2018) Le problème d’infiltration (Infiltration, Robert Morin, 2017) Ruskij bes (Russian Psycho, Grigorij Konstantinopolʹskij, 2018) Das schönste Land der Welt (The Most Beautiful Country in the World, Źelimir Žilnik, 2018) Soy tóxico (I Am Toxic, Pablo Parés & Daniel de la Vega, 2018) Tēvs nakts (The Mover, Dāvis Sīmanis, 2018) Vieras (Strange, Mox Mäkelä, 2018) Ville Neuve (Félix Dufour-Laperriére, 2018) Vox Lux (Brady Corbet, 2018) Yoru wa mijikashi aruke yo otome (Night Is Short, Walk On Girl, Yuasa Masa’aki, 2017) Zwei Herren im Anzug (Two Men in Suits, Josef Bierbichler, 2018) Dirty Money: Hard NOx (Alex Gibney, 2018) Hanne (Dominik Graf, 2018) The Marine 6: Close Quarters (James Nunn, 2018) Ninja Batman (Mizusaki Junpei, 2018) Eleven Friends 2018 Medical Staff (film/video-based/related installations, film/video art projects, and films seen in exhibitions) 6144 x 1024 (Margaret Honda, 2018) Contrapposto Split (Bruce Nauman, 2018) Gertrud & Tiederich (Josef Dabernig, 2018) Happy Lamento (Alexander Kluge, featuring Khavn de la Cruz, 2018) “Literal Translations” [Audio piece with onscreen text] (Anton Nikkilä, 2018) “Über das Publikum. Ein Film/Radio Experiment” [Film projection with synchronized live radio sound] (Rosa John & Manfred Schwaba & Antoinette Zwirchmayr, 2018) Vom Fels zum Meer, Von Ozean zu Ozean (Hirokawa Yūki, 2017) “Vulnerable Histories (A Road Movie)” [Sculpture/Installation with projections] (Tanaka Kōki, 2018) OLAF MÖLLER’S ELEVEN VETERANS 2018 Team Manager Team (Revelation of the Year) Le Chaud Lapin (The Hot Rabbit, Pascal Thomas, 1974) Un oursin dans la poche (A Sea Urchin in the Pocket, Pascal Thomas, 1977) Confidences pour confidences (Heart to Heart, Pascal Thomas, 1979) Celles qu’on n’a pas eues (Pascal Thomas, 1981) La Dilettante (Pascal Thomas, 1999) First Team (Line-Up in strictly alphabetical order) Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (Ang Lee, 2016) Dôran (The Revolt, Moritani Shirō, 1980) The Gallant Hours (Robert Montgomery, 1960) Girón (Bay of Pigs, Manuel Herrera, 1972) Huono filmi (Felix Forsman, 1950) Moana {A Romance of the Golden Age} With Sound ([Frances Hubbard Flaherty & Robert Joseph Flaherty &] Monica Flaherty, 1926/80) Mourir à tue-tête (A Scream from Silence, Anne Claire Poirier, 1979) Pesn’ o sčast’i (Song of Happiness, Mark Donskoj & Vladimir Legošin, 1934) That Brennan Woman (Alfred Santell, 1946) Um zu bleiben. Österreichische Seen (Albert Quendler, 1965) Varieties of Sweet Peas (Percy Smith?, 1911) + La città di Zeno. A Trieste con Italo Svevo (Franco Giraldi, 1978) + Zero Woman: Abunai yūgi (Zero Woman: Dangerous Game, Takahara Hidekazu, 1998) Substitutes 6 Hours to Live (William Dieterle, 1932) 511 paremat fotot Marsist (511 Best Photographs of Mars, Andres Sööt, 1968) Les Amants de bras-mort (The Lovers of Bras-Mort, Marcello Pagliero, 1951) Conway Castle – Panoramic View of Conway on the L. & N.W. Railway (William Kennedy-Laurie Dickson?, 1898) Dragonfly Squadron (Lesley Selander, 1954) Epitafium dla Barbary Radziwiłłówny (An Epitaph for Barbara Radziwill, Janusz Majewski, 1983) The Falcon and the Co-Eds (William Clemens, 1943) [Farbfilmversuche. Demo-Film für Sirius-Farbverfahren] (Hans & Ludwig Horst, 1929) Hallstätter Ballade (Szőts István, 1960) Jitsuroku: Shisetsu Ginza keisatsu (True Account of Ginza’s Secret Enforcers, Satō Jun’ya, 1973) Lebedinoe ozero (Swan Lake, Apollinarij Dudko & Konstantin Sergeev, 1968) The Legend of Tom Dooley (Ted Post, 1959) Miserere (Benet Rossell & Antoni Miralda, 1979) Nattliga toner (Night Music, Georg af Klercker, 1918) Nipernaadi (The Adventurer, Kaljo Kiisk, 1983) Panorama pris d’un ballon captif (Société anonyme des plaques et papiers photographique Antoine Lumière et ses fils, 1898) Perfekt in allen Stellungen (Frits Fronz, 1971) Prišiel k nám Old Shatterhand (Old Shatterhand Came to See Us, Dušan Hanák, 1966) Ryōma o kitta otoko (The Man Who Assassinated Ryōma, Yamashita Kōsaku, 1987) Sh! The Octopus (William McGann, 1937) The Sorcerer’s Scissors (Walter Robert Booth, 1908) Thirty Years of Motion Pictures (The March of the Movies) (Terry Ramsaye & Otto Nelson, 1927) El último malón (The Last Indian Attack, Alcides Greca, 1917) Unbändiges Spanien (Indomitable Spain, [Joris Ivens &] Jeanne & Kurt Stern, 1960) Une statuette (Carlos Vilardebó, 1971) The Woman Under Oath (John Malcolm Stahl,1919) + Cross of Fire (Paul Wendkos, 1989) // The Professionals: Klansmen (Pat Jackson, 1978) + Blood on Méliès’ Moon (La Porta sui Mondi) (Luigi Cozzi, 2016) Extended Team 1/24ch’oŭi ŭimi (The Meaning Of 1/24 Second, Kim Gurim, 1969) [2 Werbefilme fur Ferro-Watt] (Peter Eng, 1921-23?) 5 B (Günther Sahm, 1968) Ā kessen kōkūtai (Father of the Kamikaze, Yamashita Kōsaku, 1974) An Affair of Honor (American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, 1897) Die andere Seite (The Other Side, Heinz Paul, 1931) Bachelor’s Affairs (Alfred Louis Werker, 1932) Le Bateau à soupe (Maurice Gleize, 1946) Bewitched (Arch Oboler, 1945) The Black Scorpion (Edward Ludwig, 1957) Blaue Wimpel im Sommerwind. Eine Filmerzählung aus den Ferien unserer Kinder (Blue Bandanas in the Summer Wind, Herbert Ballmann, 1952) Caravan (Erik Charell, 1934) Charlotte Corday (Georges Denola, 1908) Christian Wahnschaffe: Teil 1 – Weltbrand. (Christian Wahnschaffe, Part 1: World Afire, 1919) & Teil 2 – Die Flucht aus dem goldenen Kerker. (Part 2: The Escape from the Golden Prison, 1920) (Urban Gad) Les Cloches du soir (Société des établissements Gaumont, 1913) Comanche (George Sherman, 1956) Cuori solitari (Lonely Hearts, Franco Giraldi, 1970) [Deutsches und österreichisches Frontsoldatentreffen Wels 17.-18.7.1937] (Viktor Gebauer, after 1938) The Devil Bat (Jean Yarbrough, 1940) The Devil’s Brigade (Andrew Victor McLaglen, 1968) Dirty (Stephen Dwoskin, 1971) [Donna con garofani rossi e rosa] (Luca Comerio?, 1912) Dwubój klasyczny (Bogdan Dziworski, 1978) Elpojiet dziļi…(Četri balti krekli) (Four White Shirts, Rolands Kalniņš, 1967) The Fighting Marshal (David Ross Lederman, 1931) Flagrant délit d’adultère (Pathé Frères, 1899) Flame of the Island (Edward Ludwig, 1956) Flight Nurse (Allan Dwan, 1953) Footsteps in the Fog (Arthur Lubin, 1955) Fotografovanie obyvateľov domu (The Photography of Inhabitants of One House, Dušan Trančík, 1968) Grad u sivom (Town in Gray, Ivan Martinac, 1992) Grün (Werner Sünkel, 1968) Gun Belt (Ray Nazarro, 1953) Heimkehr (Homecoming, Joe May, 1928) Hissatsu irojikake (Sex War, Fujii Katsuhiko, 1973) The House of Fear (Joe May, 1939) Holy Matrimony (John Malcolm Stahl, 1943) As Ilhas Encantadas (Enchanted Isles, Carlos Vilardebó, 1965) Indian Uprising (Ray Nazarro, 1952) Internes Can’t Take Money (Alfred Santell, 1937) Island of Doomed Men (Charles Barton, 1940) Jack London (Alfred Santell, 1943) Jeannou (Léon Poirier, 1943) Jitsuroku Andō-gumi: Shūgeki-hen (True Account of the Andō-Gang: Story of Attack, Satō Jun’ya, 1973) Der Katzensteg (The Catwalk, Gerhard Lamprecht, 1927) Khaḍgaṁ (Sword, Pasupulēṭi Kr̥ṣṇavanśī, 2002) Koirankakka – aikamme tragedia (Dog Droppings – A Tragedy of Our Time, Sakari Rimminen, 1989) La-Re-Mi-La-Fa-Re-Mi-Do-Re-Fa-Do-Mi Fa-Re-Mi-Fa-Mi-La-Do-Mi-Fa-Mi-Re-Fa Mi-Fa-Mi-Re-La-Fa-Mi-Re-Do-Mi-Re-Mi Fa-Re-Mi-Fa-Mi-Do-Re-Mi-Re-Fa-Mi-La (Carles Santos, 1979) Laughing Anne (Herbert Wilcox, 1953) Lièhuǒ zhōng yǒngshēng (Eternity in Flames, Shuǐ Huá, 1965) Lilli Marlen (Peter Mihálik, 1970) The Lone Gun (Ray Nazarro, 1954) Malone (Harley Cokeliss, 1987) A Man Alone (Ray Milland, 1955) Manœuvre du lit opératoire (Eugène-Louis Doyen, 1898?;) Menschen im Busch (People in the Bush, Friedrich Dalsheim & Gulla Pfeffer, 1930) Mertvye duši (Dead Souls, Leonid Trauberg, 1961) Mūṉṟām Piṟai (The Crescent Seen on the Third Day Following New Moon Day, Bālū Mahēndra, 1982) Murāri (Pasupulēṭi Kr̥ṣṇavanśī, 2001) Nael (Nail, Heino Pars, 1972) Naslednyj princ respubliki (Crown Prince of the Republic, Ėduard Ioganson, 1934) Nihon bōryōkudan: Kumichō to shikaku (Japan’s Violent Gangs: The Boss and the Killers, Satō Jun’ya, 1969) Nihon bōryōku rettō: Keihanshin koroshi no gundan (Japan’s Violent Archipelago: Keihanshin Killer’s Gang, Yamashita Kōsaku, 1975) Nitsch – 7. Abreaktionsspiel (Irm & Ed Sommer, 1970) One More Spring (Henry King, 1935) The Outcast (William Witney, 1954) Park (Elbert Tuganov, 1966) Persons in Hiding (Louis King, 1939) Perri (Ralph Wright, 1957) Phantom of Chinatown (Phil Rosen, 1941) Pismo iz Hrvatske (Letter from Croatia, Mihovil Pansini, 1991) The Plunderers (Joseph Kane, 1948) Premier de cordée (First on the Rope, Louis Daquin, 1944) Rakastin sinua, Hilde (Veikko Itkonen, 1954) Raṅganāyaki (Heroine of the Stage, Śubravēṣṭhi Rāmasvāmayya Puṭṭaṇṇa Kaṇagāl, 1981) Relentless (George Sherman, 1948) The Right to Romance (Alfred Santell, 1935) Rue de la Paix (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1927) Run for Cover (Richard Haines, 1995) Sadmā (Trauma, Bālū Mahēndra, 1983) [Satirical animations for Actualides Valle] (Quirino Cristiani, 1916-1919?) Savage Harvest (Robert Collins, 1981) The Sea Shall Not Have Them (Lewis Gilbert, 1954) Sedotti e bidonati (Giorgio Bianchi, 1964) Seed (John Malcolm Stahl, 1931) Shadows! (Joe Noble, 1928) Shaihu Umar (Adamu Halilu, 1976) // Sōnghuājiāng shàng (Along the Sungari River, Jīn Shān, 1947) Die Sonnhofbäuerin (Wilfried Fraß & Kurzmayer Károly, 1948) Il sorriso del grande tentatore (The Devil Is a Woman, Damiano Damiani, 1974) Theodor Herzl, der Bannerträger des jüdischen Volkes (Theodor Herzl, Standard-Bearer of the Jewish People, Otto Kreisler, 1921) Thunderhoof (Phil Karlson, 1948) Tiědào yóují duì (Railway Guerilla, Zhào Míng, 1956) Unearthly Stranger (John Krish, 1963) V vorotach Jašin (Vladimir Konovalov, 1965) Vårt kronprinspar i Hollywood (1926) Vie et passion de N.S. Jésus-Christ: La Fuite en Égypte (Life and Passion of Jesus Christ, Our Savior: The Flight from Egypt, Lucien Nonguet & Ferdinand Zecca, 1907) Vivre (To Live, Carlos Vilardebó, 1958) Voyage au Congo (Travels in the Congo, Marc Allégret, 1927) Vratarʹ XX veka (Vladimir Konovalov, 1990) Wagon Tracks (Lambert Hillyer, 1919) Weird Woman (Reginald Le Borg, 1944) A Woman’s Devotion (Paul Henreid, 1956) Women of All Nations (Raoul Walsh, 1931) Yakuza to kōsō (Yakuza and Feuds, Satō Jun’ya, 1972) Yama – yararetara yarikaese (Yama – Attack to Attack, Satō Mitsuo, Yamaoka Kyōichi, 1985) Yamaguchi-gumi sandaime (Yamaguchi-Group: The Third Generation, Yamashita Kōsaku, 1973) Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst (Michael Anderson, 1957) Zero Fighter daikūsen (Zero Fighters: Great Air Battle, Moritani Shirō, 1966) 12 O’Clock High: The Lorelei (Don Medford, 1965) & Mutiny at Ten Thousand Feet (Sutton Roley, 1965) The Dakotas: Red Sky Over Bismarck (Stuart Heisler, 1963) Sanctuary at Crystal Springs (Richard Caspar Sarafian, 1963) Trial at Grand Forks (Stuart Heisler, 1963) Trouble at French Creek (Stuart Heisler, 1963) Dni Turbinyh [Miniseries] (The Days of the Turbins, Vladimir Basov, 1976) The Gallant Men: Battle Zone (Robert Altman, 1962) Retreat to Concord (Richard Caspar Sarafian, 1962) Fury in a Quiet Village (Richard Caspar Sarafian, 1962) A Taste of Peace (Richard Caspar Sarafian, 1963) Lawman: Blue Boss and Willie Shay (Stuart Heisler, 1961) Clootey Hutter (Richard Caspar Sarafian, 1962) Yawkey (Stuart Heisler, 1960) Praha 21.8.1968 (Reijo Nikkilä, 1989) Rauhreif (Hans-Erich Korbschmidt, 1963) Stawka większa niż życie [Miniseries] (More Than Life at Stake, Andrzej Konic & Janusz Morgenstern, 1968) S.W.A.T.: Deadly Weapons (Reżā Badiī, 1976) Der Tag eines unständigen Hafenarbeiters (Leonore Mau & Hubert Fichte, 1966) + Omote to ura (Omote to ura, 2015) & Omote to ura: Dai2shō (Omote to ura 2, 2015) & Omote to ura: Saishū (Omote to ura The Final, 2016) (Fujiwara Ken’ichi) Medical Staff (film/video-based/related installations, film/video art projects, films/videos seen in exhibitions, and other creations and happenings such as these) es stirbt allerdings ein jeder frage ist nur wie und wie du gelebt hast holger meins (Renate Sami, 1976) // “Prost” [Performance] (Ernst Schmidt jr., 1968) // Ein Western für den SDS (Günter Peter Straschek, 1968) Dogman, (Matteo Garone, 2018) Marcel Müller Film consultant at Swiss Films Here’s my list for 2018 Zimna Wojna (Cold War, Paweł Pawlikowski, 2018) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh, 2017, USA) Jusqu’à la garde, (Custody, Xavier Legrand, 2018) I, Tonya (Craig Gillespie, 2018) Hostiles, (Scott Cooper, 2018) The Rider, (Chloé Zao, 2017) Dogman, (Matteo Garone, 2018) Das schweigende Klassenzimmer (The Silent Revolution, Lars Kraume, 2018) Cómprame un revolver (Buy Me a Gun, Julio Hernández Cordón, 2018 Was uns nicht umbringt (What Doesn’t Kill Us, Sandra Nettelbeck, 2018 BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee, 2018) In den Gängen, (In the Aisles, Thomas Stuber, 2018) Leave No Trace, (Debra Granik, 2018) Nuestro tiempo, (Our Time, Carlos Reygadas, 2018) Widows (Steve McQueen, 2018) Lazzaro Felice (Happy as Lazzaro, Alice Rohrwacher, 2018) Leto (Kyril Serebrenikov, 2018) No precise order, though my top three would be: Dogman, (Matteo Garone, 2018) In den Gängen, (In the Aisles, Thomas Stuber, 2018) The Rider (Chloé Zao, 2017) PETER NAGELS CINEPHILE, LIBRARIAN AND DREAM RESEARCHER, MELBOURNE Strange Colours (Alena Lodkina, 2017). How great to see a film that doesn’t populate the Australian outback with homicidalsociopaths. Notes on an Appearance (Ricky D’Ambrose, 2018). If you like movies where nothing happens, this is genius. Sanpo suru shinryakusha (Before We Vanish, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2017) La Telenovela Errante (The Wandering Soap Opera, Raúl Ruiz, 2017) The Other Side of the Wind (Orson Welles, 2018) Biidaaban: First Light (Lisa Jackson, Mathew Borrett, 2014). This is the first VR film that made me question whether there would be consequences in this world for my actions in the virtual environment… as I pondered if I should step over the edge into the abyss. Pope Francis: A Man of His Word (Wim Wenders, 2018) Darkest Hour (Joe Wright, 2017) Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Christopher McQuarrie, 2018). With no new James Bond film for another year, this one fits the bill, particularly if you’re feeling brain-dead. Television series Westworld. Season 2 The Door (Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, 2018) Mystery Road. Mini-Series (Rachel Perkins, 2018) Killing Eve (2018) Boris Nelepo Film critic and curator, artistic director of “Spirit of Fire” festival (Russia) 20. Film Catastrophe (Paul Grivas, 2018) 19. First Man (Damien Chazelle, 2018) 18. Magic Lantern (Amir Naderi, 2018) 17. Porte sans clef, (No Key, Pascale Bodet, 2018) 16. Dead Horse Nebula (Tarık Aktaş, 2018) 15. Climax, (Gaspar Noé, 2018) 14. Jiānghú érnǚ (Ash Is The Purest White, Jia Zhangke, 2018) 13. Paul Sanchez est revenu! (Paul Sanchez Is Back! Patricia Mazuy, 2018) 12. A Portuguesa (The Portuguese Woman, Rita Azevedo Gomes, 2018) 11. Elephants Can Play Football, (Slony mogut igrat v futbol, Mikhail Segal, 2018) 10. The Most Beautiful Country In The World (Das schönste Land der Welt, Želimir Žilnik, 2018) 9. Io sono Valentina Nappi (Monica Stambrini, 2018) 8. Que le diable nous emporte (Tempting Devils, Jean-Claude Brisseau, 2018) 7. Semiconductor (Oleg Mavromatti, 2018) 6. Vox Lux (Brady Corbet, 2018) 5. Den’ Pobedy (Victory Day, Sergei Loznitsa, 2018) 4. I diari di Angela – Noi due cineasti (Yervant Gianikian, 2018) 3. Russkiy Bes (Russian Psycho, Grigori Konstantinopolsky, 2018) 2. Classical Period (Ted Fendt, 2018) 1. Monrovia, Indiana (Frederick Wiseman, 2018) 0. Le livre d’image (The Image Book, Jean-Luc Godard, 2018) Andy Norton Selection Committee Member (ABCD Film Society); Actor (Riff) Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018). With the success of Fantastic Mr Fox, Wes Anderson returns to feature-length stop-motion animation with an original concept about dogs being isolated on a Japanese island until they help a kid reunite with their beloved pet. Gripping and entertaining, this excellent escapade tackles themes of trust and love in the quirky fashion that only Anderson’s films can do. They Shall Not Grow Old (Peter Jackson, 2018). The concept of talking heads juxtaposed with black-and-white footage may not sound exciting, but thanks to the effects wizardry Peter Jackson and his team have done to this World War One footage is make it come alive, with every aspect of the war in full colour for everyone to be in shock and awe. This is truly a triumph in war documentary making. Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018). It may be too clichéd for the average film critic, and have factual inaccuracies to make the die-hard Queen fan a bit annoyed, this biopic about the beloved rock quartet tackles some of the sincere issues in the band’s history with such delicacy that it goes slightly beyond than just great popcorn entertainment. BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee, 2018). This one definitely falls into the category of strange-but-true as the latest from Spike Lee delves into an African-American officer infiltrating the notorious Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. Dealing its race and culture issues in an unapologetic manner, and packed with great performances from Adam Driver and John David Washington, this is not only entertaining but also downright fascinating at the same time. Mamoon (Ben Steer, 2018). This BAFTA-nominated animated short tells a powerful story of a mother and child being forced to leave their home by some sinister ‘shadow’ figures. Wonderfully animated in a mixture of 2D character animation and 3D projected models, this is arguably the best short film of the year by a long shot. A Quiet Place (John Krasinski, 2018). A Quiet Place is a great gem of a monster movie with sensational sound design making the film feel scary in all the right places, but without the usual novelty of jump scares and graphic violence. Instead, this uses clever sound design, and well-placed scares to make it not just a thrilling experience, but also time to understand the main characters of this film and their situation. Manbiki kazoku (Shoplifters, Hirokazu Koreeda, 2018). Koreeda delivers another slice-of-life drama in his own distinct manner. With likeable characters, this could be argued as one of the director’s best efforts; even thou the change of tone at the end may seem forced having just gone through plenty of ‘family’ drama. The Incredibles 2 (Brad Bird, 2018). Whilst, in contrast, it may not have the heart that made the first Incredibles film such a delight, as well as retreading some of the themes from the previous film with some role reversal thrown in for good measure. In saying that, Incredibles 2 is just great popcorn entertainment, with plenty of fan service to keep even the most stubborn of Pixar fans amused throughout the duration of this film. A Star Is Born (Bradley Cooper, 2018). Whilst this film has been remade over the years, this version boasts a stellar soundtrack of songs that could all easily pick Best Song gongs during the next award season. Whilst most people were impressed with Lady Gaga’s acting, people should also be impressed with the singing from Bradley Cooper, who also wrote and directed this modern music fable. Whilst the film get predictable in places, A Star is Born manages to take this rags-to-riches story for a new generation to enjoy. Meteorlight (Jonny Eveson, 2018). Jonny Eveson creates an engaging animated fantasy adventure, where a son discovers what his father is doing with an alien turtle at his place of work. Meteorlight has very poignant environmental themes, with gripping music, which make it a real treat for the eyes of and for the soul too. Meteorlight (Jonny Eveson, 2018) Darragh O’Donoghue Archivist at Tate, contributing writer for Cineaste, and struggling through a PhD on the Stephen Dwoskin Archive at the University of Reading Top five Birds of passage (Pájaros de verano, Cristina Gallego & Ciro Guerra, 2018). On paper, another Scorsese-style rise-and-fall tale of a criminal family man. The world hardly needs another of those. What it does need is a film that looks at cinema and the world with new eyes. Beoning (Burning, Lee Chang-dong, 2018). Due to a tedious medical condition, I tend to fall asleep in the cinema, which is why so much of my writing focuses on the opening and closing sequences of films! But it is an appropriate response to this gorgeous dream of a film. The Greatest Showman (Michael Gracey, 2017). My new litmus test for evaluating others’ attitudes to film – I’ve already fallen out with my brother over it! Padmavaat (Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2018). Does Padmavaat marshal the spectacular pleasures of the historical epic against the genre to impose an agonising ritual of coitus interruptus? Yes! Does Padmavaat give a civilised two fingers to impulsive but destructive Modi- and Trump-style demagoguery? Yes!! Is Padmavaat, most importantly, dedicated to the director’s dead dog, Lady Popo? YES!!! Sanju (Rajkumar Hirani, 2018). If there must be biopics, then make them in the mould of this emotional rollercoaster about Sanjay ‘Sanju’ Dutt – drug addict, sex addict, mafia lackey, suspected terrorist, jailbird, and, above all, Hindi film legend and master comedian. Sanju is rich in wit, irreverence, formal invention, empathy, fantasy, melodrama, self-reflexivity (and, yes, self-pity), with an amazing musical coda featuring the real-life subject and his heroic interpreter, Ranbir Kapoor. With respect to Bodyguard (John Strickland and Thomas Vincent, 2018) Border (Gräns, Ali Abbasi, 2018) Bridgit (Charlotte Prodger, 2016) Robert Hack’s opening titles for The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Rob Seidenglanz, 2018) Cladach (Margaret Salmon, 2018) Delia Derbyshire : the myths and legendary tapes (Caroline Catz, 2018) Derry Girls (Michael Lennox, 2017) Dovlatov (Aleksey German Jr, 2018) A Family Tour (Liang Ying, 2018) Lasting Marks (Charlie Lyne, 2018) Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018, Christopher McQuarrie) Out of Blue (Carol Morley, 2018) Patrick Melrose (Edward Berger, 2018) The Young Offenders (Peter Foott, 2018) Duds and disappointments Aquarela (Victor Kossakovsky, 2018). The kind of film Vladimir Putin would make. Between Two Cinemas (Ross Lipman, 2018). Impertinent, unwarranted self-insertion into the US avant-garde pantheon. Black Panther (Ryan Coogler, 2018). I just kept waiting for it to start… The Clock (Christian Marclay, 2010). The reverence accorded this addictive but cynical ‘artwork’ baffles me. I expect such praise from art world ignoramuses, but film writers I used to respect have also gone gooey for it. Marclay rather winningly admitted in a talk with Erika Balsom in Tate Modern, where the work was exhibited to predictable acclaim in 2018, that he hired assistants to raid video stores for any film or TV programme that might feature a clock. In other words – and unlike the work of, say, Godard – Marclay had no personal, historical, social, cultural or aesthetic purchase in the material he was working with. Yet The Clock makes headlines in all the broadsheets and lifestyle magazines, and generates long queues stretching into the early hours, while Histoire(s) du cinéma remains the plaything of pedants. The Fight (Jessica Hynes, 2018) The Head & the Load (William Kentridge, 2018). Bombastic audio-visual spectacular about the forgotten black African contribution in World War I, premiered in Tate Modern in July. The sight of a white South African, no matter how well-intentioned, barking orders from the auditorium at – and in effect controlling – the black actors on stage was deeply discomfiting. Le livre d’image (The Image Book, Jean-Luc Godard, 2018). Not, of course, for the film, but for the botched IMAX screening during the London Film Festival. The Incredibles 2 (Brad Bird, 2018). If the original was Chuck Jones cool, the sequel is Bob Clampett excess, though the gender attitudes also belong to the 1940s… Loveless (Nelyubov, Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2018). I can’t stand Tarkovsky, but Zvyagintsev takes soulless soulfulness to a new level. On Chesil Beach (Dominic Cooke, 2017) Peterloo (Mike Leigh, 2018). A left-wing Titanic – two hours of proles and peers in contention is followed by a tendentious wallow in human suffering. Seeing this on the same day as Birds of Passage, a film that sought out new means to represent historical violence and trauma, only put Leigh’s failure into relief. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017). Obviously it’s perfect and exquisite, but I’m beginning to tire of these pastiches of a 1940s and 1950s Hollywood cinema that already did all the subtextual critical stuff Anderson, Todd Haynes et al arrogantly institute on their behalves. Roma (Alfonso Cuarón, 2018). A masterclass in academic virtuosity. Best performance It has been an extraordinary year for actors, especially double acts : Keira Knightley and Dominic West in the otherwise timorous Colette (Wash Westmoreland, 2018); undervalued Sandra Oh and stellar Jodie Comer in Killing Eve (Harry Bradbeer, 2018); Maggie Gyllenhaal and Parker Sevak in The kindergarten teacher (Sara Colangelo, 2018); Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf in Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig, 2017); Paresh Rawal and Ranbir Kapoor as cinema’s greatest father-son affiliation, the Dutts – saintly Sunil, truly one of the few humane beings to have worked in the film industry, and slobbish Sanju respectively; Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw in A very English scandal (Stephen Frears, 2018 – hopefully the universal praise heaped on diffident Grant will finally convince him that he is one of our greatest actors). On his own, Ralph Fiennes is extraordinary in the otherwise leaden Cold War ballet biopic The White Crow (er, Ralph Fiennes, 2018 – when did Fiennes become our generation’s Gielgud, a guarantor of pleasure in even the duffest movie?); ditto Florence Pugh in the otherwise dreary The little drummer girl (Park Chan-wook, 2018). Most memorable was Ranveer Singh as Alauddin in Padmavaat. Not since the heyday of Mifune has a villain combined ferocity, humour, charisma, physical grace and energy with an engaging innocence; he is a feral smear on the film’s synthetic magnificence. Best revival The Girls (Flickorna, Mai Zetterling, 1968) in the British Film Institute’s Girlfriends season. If the rest of Zetterling’s oeuvre is as urgent and inventive as this, I demand a full retrospective. Cinema-related non-film event Heathers: The Musical (Laurence O’Keefe & Kevin Murphy, 2014). Yes, musicals based on cult films stifle originality blah blah, but this is far richer than its one-note source, features some of the most heart-stopping songs since Hamilton, and in the London Other Palace/Theatre Royal Haymarket production boasted in Carrie Hope Fletcher one of the greatest theatrical performances I have ever seen. Please don’t make a film version! Roberto Oggiano Film critic and programmer based in Bristol (UK), host of cinema and soundtrack radio show Cairo Station This is mine: 1. Zama (Lucrecia Martel, 2017) 2. Les Garçons Sauvages (The Wild Boys, Bertrand Mandico, 2017) 3. La Flor (The Flower, Mariano Llinas, 2018) 4. Un couteau dans le coeur (Knife+Heart, Yann Gonzalez, 2018) 5. Tarde para morir joven (Too late to die young, Dominga Sotomayor Castillo, 2018) 6. Le livre d’image (The Image Book, Jean-Luc Godard, 2018) 7. Roma (Alfonso Cuarón, 2018) 8. Leto (Summer, Kirill Serebrennikov, 2018) 9. Double Vies (Non-Fiction, Olivier Assayas, 2018) 10. Petra (Jaime Rosales, 2018) Old But Gold 1. 1860, I Mille di Garibaldi (Alessandro Blasetti, 1934) 2. Bang bang (Andrea Tonacci,1971) 3. Distant Voices, Still Lives (Terence Davis, 1988) 4. Gǔlǐng jiē shàonián shārén shìjiàn (A Brighter Summer Day, Edward Yang, 1991) 5. Il fuoco (The Fire, Giovanni Pastrone, 1915) 6. L’amore molesto (Nasty Love, Mario Martone, 1995) 7. La Commune (Paris, 1871) (Peter Watkins, 2000) 8. Letyat zhuravli (The Cranes Are Flying, Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957) 9. Nijū-shi no Hitomi (Twenty-Four Eyes, Keisuke Kinoshita, 1952) 10. Portrait of Jennie (William Deterle, 1948) La Flor (The Flower, Mariano Llinas, 2018) SvenErik Olsen Artist & Writer in Minneapolis, USA 1. First Reformed (Paul Schrader, 2018) 2. The Other Side of the Wind (Orson Welles, 2018) 3. Let the Sunshine In (Clair Denis, 2018) 4. Shoah: Four Sisters (Claude Lanzmann, 2018) 5. Amazing Grace (Sydney Pollack, 2018) 6. BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee, 2018) 7. Shirkers (Sandi Tan, 2018) 8. Support the Girls (Andrew Bujalski, 2018) 9. Golden Exits (Alex Ross Perry, 2018) 10. Private Lives (Tamara Jenkins, 2018)