subvertingyourexpectations

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Top Ten Films of 2019

2019 was… I’m gonna be honest, not a very great year for cinema. Aside from a handful of standouts, I have seen very few things that completely blew me away. Especially given the past few years, we haven’t gotten a Roma, or a Phantom Thread, or a Denis Villeneuve movie. Anyway, this is my top ten favorite films of 2019. 

But first…

Films That Would Make It But Didn’t “Technically” Come Out in 2019

Long Day’s Journey into Night

I already talked at length about this film, but I love it to pieces. It has twisted the visual language of cinema into its own beautiful and bizarre version, crafting a puzzle box of a movie that I absolutely adored. But, it technically came out at the end of 2018, so it can’t be on the list. 

Tigers Are Not Afraid

If you like foreign films, this is a must-see. If you like tragic dramas anchored by some terrific child actor performances, this is a must-see. If you like horror movies, well, it’s not really a horror movie but people keep describing it as one, so you should probably see it. It’s a beautiful little imaginative tale about the effects of the drug war on orphaned kids, and if you can catch it on streaming I would definitely check it out. But, even though it came out in limited release in August, it came out in Mexico in 2017, so I can’t include it. 

One Cut of the Dead 

Maybe the most original film I’ve seen in years? The first half is a terrific little zombie flick all in one camera shot, and somehow the second half expands on this and is ten times better. Watching this in a packed house was one of my favorite moviegoing experiences of the year. It’s one of the most funny and, again, original movies I’ve seen in years.  

Shadow

UGH ALL THE GREAT FOREIGN FILMS DIDN’T COME OUT IN 2019. Anyway this movie is incredible and is maybe the best use of grayscale I’ve seen in any film. 

Movies That Might’ve Made the List But I Sadly Have Not Seen Them Yet

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Pain and Glory 

1917

Bad Education

Little Women

The Souvenir 

Okay, now onto the actual list…

10. Ad Astra

Brad Pitt and James Gray’s remake of Apocalypse Now in space is maybe the weirdest premise for a movie, and yet I really enjoyed Ad Astra. There’s clearly some touches of studio interference that make this movie worse (read: Brad Pitt’s narration), but the underlying themes of anxiety and depression are some of the best I’ve seen on screen. Couple that with Brad Pitt’s best performance of the year (yes), the visual splendor on display, and this movie is an easy inclusion in my top ten of the year. 

9. Uncut Gems

I need to go lie down. After really enjoying the Safdie Brothers’ previous films (Good Time and Heaven Knows What), I was really excited for this movie, and I was not let down. The frenetic, dare-I-say crackhead energy that the Safdies are able to convey in their films is immensely satisfying to watch, and the way Adam Sandler channels it is one of my favorite performances of the year. The last twenty minutes of this movie is just pure panic attack. 

8. The Irishman

Somehow Scorsese’s 209-minute long epic is one of the most watchable films of the year. This is just a terrific example of everyone firing on all cylinders; the performances are great, the script is great, the editing is unbelievable (this movie feels like it is two hours long), and the directing and thematic development towards the third act is some of Scorsese’s best.  

7. The Farewell

A calling card for director Lulu Wang as much as it is for Awkwafina in dramatic roles, The Farewell is an absolute delight. The family dynamics throughout all feel refreshingly authentic, and the film masterfully weaves between its comedic moments and tragic undertones. If it wasn’t for some choices made at the ending, this would probably rank higher on my list. 

6. El Camino

How bad was 2019 for film? A Breaking Bad movie is my sixth favorite film of the year. It doesn’t matter if we “needed” this movie or not, El Camino is just so incredibly well-made and enjoyable. It’s always a pleasure seeing something new in the Breaking Bad universe, but more than that I think this film is a genuinely beautiful swan song for one of the greatest characters in television.

5. Waves

This movie is meandering, aimless, pretentious, and completely style over substance. And yet, the last half hour of this movie hit me harder than almost anything this year. Regardless of how you feel about the characters, I feel like Waves has an overwhelmingly positive message in the end, which is to grow away from your hatred and learn to forgive and love. I’m sure many people will find the way this movie gets to that message to be kind of pointless and wandering, but to me it just turned a pretty good film into one of my favorites of the year. 

4. The Mustang

My local 3-screen art house closed in April of this year. I went there as often as I could, because they were the only theater in town that would play a lot of independent and foreign films. It was the first place I saw Roma, and the first (and, let’s face it, last) time I saw Stalker on the big screen. The last night they were open, I went and saw The Mustang, not based on anything to do with the movie, just because I wanted to be there one last time. It was completely sold out, far busier than I’d ever seen them. In the past I’d always had free roam of where to sit, but that last night I was in the third row from the front.  

If Ad Astra is about depression, then The Mustang is about anger, and learning to overcome your anger and grow as a person. It’s about a prison in Nevada that has a rehabilitation program where violent convicts train wild Mustangs, which are later sold to local ranches and farms. Roman (a terrific performance from Matthias Schoenaerts) is one such convict, and his personal struggle to overcome his anger is beautifully realized against the backdrop of having to fight a wild animal. (Seriously, he goes in swinging and it does not end well for him.) It’s a great story, and it’s a must-watch if you haven’t seen it. The emotional ending coupled with the fact that my favorite theater was closing left me a complete wreck when the credits rolled. (I’m starting to realize my top five films all just boil down to “the ending wrecked me”.) 

3. The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part

This is like The Mustang but for kids.

Okay okay, hear me out, I only saw this movie once when it first came out 11 months ago, and I’m not ever watching it again because I thought it was perfection. I feel like on a repeat visit the songs will become grating, the plot will feel ridiculous, and the themes of toxic masculinity that I appreciated so dearly will seem like faint whispers instead of clear subtext. And yet in the theater, I absolutely adored the songs and the plot and the clear subtext about being a better brother/man. The real-world parallels that were a surprise twist at the end of the first film are used beautifully in The Second Part, because the plot is simply just one big metaphor for a little sister who wants to play with her older brother. It’s touching, it’s funny, and it gets stuck inside your heart. It’s such a shame that the LEGO film franchise is all but dead, because if we had kept getting films like this, children’s movies would definitely be better for it. 

2. Parasite

Everything fantastic about this film has already been said about it by people far smarter than me, so I’ll just say this: it is every bit as amazing as people hyped it up to be. This movie is a biting satire, a laugh-out-loud comedy, and an edge of your seat thriller. It has left an imprint on my brain since I first saw it back in October, to the point where as much as I have tried to analyze and dissect, this film, I don’t know if there’s a single flaw with it, there’s genuinely nothing I would change about this movie. If you see one movie this year, it should be Parasite. 

1. The Last Black Man in San Francisco

In July of 2019, I had to make probably the biggest decision of my (brief) career thus far. I was going to leave my management position at a 24-screen theater I’d loved dearly to go work in an office. I loved everything about the movie theater, I’d worked there for almost four years, but at a certain point it just had diminishing returns. Newer upper management and constant changes coming down from the big-whigs had turned my favorite building into a place I started to resent, a place I didn’t recognize. I tried to fight the change, and re-institute everything I loved about this building that I practically grew up in, but you can’t fight change, and you shouldn’t romanticize the past.  

I’ve never seen these themes more realized in film than in The Last Black Man in San Francisco. It tells the story of Jimmie Fails, a native San Franciscan who has to watch the city he’s loved his whole life descend into a rapidly gentrified hellscape that leaves many homeless and helpless. He often visits his childhood home, a beautiful three-story house with a “witch hat” on top, now owned by an older white couple. This doesn’t stop him from romanticizing the house, romanticizing the past, as he constantly visits and attempts to fix up the house, oftentimes clashing with the current inhabitants. 

This disdain from the couple is an all-too-real parallel message that he’s getting from the city itself: You’re not welcome here anymore. Much as Jimmie has tied his identity to this home, and this city, he is hardly welcome in either. But for one brief instant, he gets to live his dream. The house gets stuck in a familial dispute, causing the older couple to move out. Leaving behind a big empty house that no one is occupying, Jimmie and his best friend Montgomery decide to just move right in, and have their way. They bring in all the old furniture from Jimmie’s childhood, they paint the walls, repair the original woodworking, all in service of Jimmie’s dream to simply exist in this space, and preserve something sacred.

Eventually though, reality comes crashing down, and try as he might, Jimmie can’t stay in the house, and he has to learn a hard truth: you cannot tie yourself emotionally to a physical space. Whether it’s a house, a city, a job, you simply cannot love something that doesn’t love you back. You will get hurt every time. 

But it’s so easy to love. It’s so easy to play the piano in the entranceway of your childhood home. It’s so easy to relax in the sauna upstairs, or smoke on the balcony, or just lay on the floor and admire the witch hat. The Last Black Man in San Francisco makes you fall in love with this house, and with Jimmie and Montgomery, and as much as we see ourselves in them, we too have to learn the same lessons. As much as we want to inhabit a space, and get the fullest potential out of it, you cannot ever stop change, and you cannot stand in the way of it without going insane. 

And maybe it was just because I was going through this personal development the first time I saw this movie, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. It stuck in my brain so much that by the time I saw it a second time, I was a complete mess; I cried four times. I cried for Jimmie, I cried for the house, and I cried for myself. I cried for the things we all lost, the things that would never be the same, and because we would have to learn to accept that. This is what’s so beautiful about The Last Black Man in San Francisco, and on top of the phenomenal acting, emotional script, and gorgeous visuals, it’s what made it my favorite film of the year.  

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Long Day’s Journey into Night

(If you haven’t seen Long Day’s Journey into Night, this essay is spoiler-free up to a point, so read on! But you should check out the movie.)

I love Long Day's Journey into Night. It's the kind of film that comes along every once in a while that is just a perfect execution of what it's trying to do, and what it's trying to show you. You could go on and on about the dynamic and incredible camerawork, the emotionally-charged performances, and the stunning visual language of the film all before even diving into the second half, which expands on what the film has set up tenfold.

The film takes place in the Chinese province of Guizhou, where a man named Luo returns for his father's funeral. While there, wandering around places and people from his past, he begins to search for a mysterious woman from his past named Wan, who he spent a summer with at the turn of the millennium. Throughout this journey, we're introduced to characters and locales that played a role in both their lives, interspersed with flashbacks to their summer together. Roughly an hour or so is dedicated to this before the film technically begins. (There’s literally a title card 70 minutes in.)

On its surface, it's a film about trying to find someone from your past. But as the film's climactic sequence builds it becomes a melting pot of memory, regret, and redemption. All these themes mix and intertwine to create a bombastic and stunning hour-long one take that is both visually and thematically unbelievable. I'm not trying to be hyperbolic, but I genuinely can't stop thinking about this film.

(This is where it's gonna start to get spoilery, so please go watch this movie. If I haven't sold you on it already, just look up some more screenshots or something. Also it’s free on Kanopy so you have no reason not to watch it.)

What I think I love so much about the final sequence of this movie (and let's just call it what it is, the dream sequence), is that, like an actual dream, everything is imbued with meaning and context from your life and from your day. (As Ki-woo would say in Parasite, "This is so metaphorical!") Everything has some bigger meaning: the slot machine features a wild pomelo prize, harkening back to the first night Luo and Wan shared together and she asked for a wild pomelo. The strange child challenges Luo to a game of ping pong, referencing what he was going to teach his child (and later he suggests that the child be nicknamed Wildcat, referencing his childhood friend who was murdered, making this character a cerebral manifestation of Wildcat and the son he never had). And the whole dream is physically locked around this karaoke party, that of course being a reference to Zuo's bizarre fondness for karaoke.

All of this is what dreams are made of, and to see that so beautifully realized in a film is absolutely remarkable. But even if you remove those brilliant themes and nods to the first half of the film, I think it stands on its own as a visual tour de force. One long camera shot follows Luo through a motorcycle ride, a zipline trip, and a slow and beautiful descent of what appears to be at least a couple hundred feet. All while being filmed in 3D, despite the 3D version apparently not being available anywhere online. (If you find it, please tell me.)

And this incredible camerawork, coupled with the immaculate set design give you a terrific sense of space. The way the staircases and alleyways weave together like a maze around the karaoke party. The way the child's home is open to both a mineshaft and a road, and that road just happens to have a working zipline down to a pithy little bar. And the way the backstage has a staircase winding down to the room that spins when you cast the spell, it's all so incredibly dreamlike. I've never seen a film so perfectly capture this hazy, mystical sense of space that dreams have. Not Inception, not Solaris, not even Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.

This eventually climaxes into an ending that I'm sure many will find unsatisfying: Luo and Kaizhen (the dream manifestation of Wan) descend into the basement, the room begins to spin, and they kiss. The camera goes back up, and the sparkler burns indefinitely, giving us no resolution for the real Luo and the real Wan. But what I love so much about this ending is that no ending in reality would ever be satisfying. Luo and Wan would meet, but from the journey Luo makes to find her it's clear she's changed, and there's no reality where them meeting would give him any sense of closure. Instead, he gets to live in his dream world and undo all his mistakes, change all his regrets, and save the girl. Even if it's just for as long as the dream lives on, and the sparkler burns, those fleeting minutes can feel like a lifetime.

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Coen’s Chronological #1: Blood Simple (1984)

I think Joel and Ethan Coen are some of the greatest filmmakers currently living. While they can seamlessly blend elements of comedy, drama, horror, and many more into every one of their films, no matter what genre they’re playing with it’s always got their identifiable style. With unique characters, witty and poignant dialogue, and stunningly iconic locales, each one of their films is remembered and revered for a very different reason. How many directors can you say that about?

And with their debut, Blood Simple, they crafted a brilliant and beautiful bite-sized neo-noir story. And it’s their first damn movie. Other filmmakers could spend years attempting to get visuals this stunning, scripts this airtight, and word-less narrative so flowing. The movie is crackling with an incredible kinetic energy that comes from true knowledge of your craft, and again, this is their first goddamn movie.

When Abby (Frances McDormand, in a terrific debut as well) cheats on her husband Marty (Dan Hedaya) with one of his bartenders, Ray (John Getz), Marty seeks revenge on the two of them, setting off a series of events that is both violent and random. In any other person’s hands, this movie could quickly become an incoherent mess, filled with characters who have no motivation, scenes that make no sense, and style that isn’t in service of anything (think NWR’s Only God Forgives). But with the Coen’s at the helm, this film hits every random note like a beautiful jazz chord.

If you analyze the plot of any of their films, it can come across as very simple, which makes sense, as they’ve described their writing process as being very linear. What makes them stand out then is their character work. You’ve got the bumbling and serious Marty, the laidback yet sinister private eye he employs, chasing after the innocent and “funny” Abby and the everyman Ray. And as these characters stumble through their own destiny like blind newborn kittens, the Coen’s show off their true storytelling gift: unpredictability. Every time a character thinks they’ve gotten a hold on their situation, and we as the audience believe we know where the plot is going, we’re given a 90mph curveball out of nowhere. Since they write linearly and these random curveballs come often, some might find this type of plot work to be too much. But again, because they are such master of their craft, they can make any random series of events sing like the sweetest operatic masterpiece.

Eventually, all this caustic violence implodes into a finale that is both stylistic flooring and narratively hilarious; basically, it’s a Coen brothers film. Watching this film for the first time made me realize how much I love all of their movies, and so I’ve decided to chronologically go through their catalog; analyze the ones I haven’t seen yet, and remember why I love the ones I have. Given my large and ever-expanding watchlist, it might take me a few weeks to get to their next film, 1987’s Raising Arizona, but I will get there eventually.

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Avengers: Endgame

★★★★

I remember when the first Avengers film came out seven years ago. Back then, it seemed absolutely mind-blowing to have all these characters from their own separate movies come together in one big blockbuster. There were only six of them at that time, but it still felt granular, and it still felt like something that had never been done before.

But as the years went on, and they introduced more superheroes, working together more and more, I felt like they lost some of that magic. In terms of tone and writing they all started to run together (especially after Guardians of the Galaxy, arguably the best stand-alone film, that changed the tone of the MCU forever). Instead of developing unique and interesting characters, everybody felt reduced to one-liners and zings.

And you can’t really blame them, because at a certain point there were just too many superheroes. Infinity War didn’t feel like it did service to anyone in its cast, but that’s because its cast featured twenty-four people on the posters alone, four times the original amount of Avengers. And sure, there were some good individual moments in these movies, but I just didn’t feel invested in Civil War, or Infinity War, or any others wars.

I guess why this movie, Endgame, works for me is because it is an entirely different tone and style from all the previous Avengers films. It’s less a great battle and more a beautiful swan song. The characters know this is their last hurrah, as does the audience and the filmmakers, and everyone wants to go out with a high-class bang.

One of the best things about Endgame is that I don’t think it’s afraid to pull any punches. In a series built around fakeouts, cliffhangers, and people constantly coming back to life, this movie doesn’t really undo any of its major twists. And that commitment lends everything a sense of gravitas, further amplifying that this is a truly a finale.

And the ending of Infinity War actually ended up helping this film a great deal. Simply put, with half the superheroes gone, this movie feels far less bloated. With half the cast, their chemistry really begins to shine through again, and it reflects in the writing. While Infinity War felt congested and awkward, Endgame is given far more room to breathe (of course, the runtime helps that too, and it surprisingly doesn’t feel too long).

It’s difficult to talk about this film without going into spoilers, and I won’t, but if you’re sensitive to spoilers you might want to skip this paragraph. Without getting into specifics, I just want to say that this film pays homage in a very smart way. This movie is built upon over ten years of Marvel; lines, locales, side-characters, battles, dozens if not hundreds of memorable moments. And this film references almost everything you can think of, going back to the first few movies. I’m normally not a fan of callbacks and retreading familiar territory, but I think this film pays homage to its predecessors in some really clever ways, without being too overt about it.

Of course, this movie isn’t without some flaws, it’s still a Marvel movie. A lot of the quips and jokes fall flat for me, and the plot is still absolutely ridiculous and makes no sense. But that’s not the point, the point of this movie is to be a final goodbye to some of our favorite characters in recent history. Marvel movies will continue on, but who’s to say what direction they go in after this. I don’t see them slowing down any time soon, but for now, it’s nice to just simply have this movie, and to think back on the good times.  

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts

Well, whether they were about two kids killing a toddler, or one kid letting another kid drown in quicksand, or about a kid alone and in danger over the phone, the Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts this year sure had some… diversity in their story. Sure, it’s one thing to tell a story about a child dying slowly in quicksand, but it’s a whole other thing to tell a story of a child being murdered awfully by two other children. Okay, in all seriousness, the Live Action Shorts this year were pretty terrible, but I saw all of them, so let’s discuss each one.

Madre (Mother)

This was the first one they showed, and at the time I thought it was pretty good, but after seeing all the other ones it became my favorite. It tells the story of a boy lost on an empty beach, abandoned by his own father. It’s told from the perspective of the boy’s mother, who he calls, and as she realizes the severity of the situation, the tension beautifully unfolds along with it. The acting is good, the story is short and simple, and its brilliant use of camerawork is inspiring. The only real complaint I have is the completely jarring use of music towards the end. Definitely my favorite this year.

Fauve

This is the aforementioned one about a kid in quicksand. Two best friends are wandering around, shooting the shit, and daring each other to do increasingly stupid things. Eventually, they end up in some sort of construction yard, and one of the boys gets stuck in the quicksand. While his friend goes to look for help, the boy drowns and dies. I thought this one was kind of bland and tasteless, but I did think it did a nice job of showing grief through a child’s eyes; the boy essentially has no idea what to do or how to feel, and so he just wanders around aimlessly until being found by a stranger. And besides, it’s nowhere near as bland and tasteless as what’s to come.

Marguerite

It’s… fine? I guess this one just didn’t hit me as hard as it did others. An older woman (Ms. Marguerite) starts to develop a friendship with her nurse, who is revealed to be gay, and it forces Marguerite to examine her life and admit how she felt about past relationships. It’s perfectly serviceable, but I found the pacing to be slow, and the ending to ultimately be sort of unsatisfying. But I definitely get why people love this one, and I’m sure it’s gonna win the Oscar.

Detainment

Goddamn it, just… no. Just no. Apparently in the early 90s in Ireland, two ten-year-old boys were charged with the murder of a toddler and were tried in court as adults. That may seem like a good premise, but given that the victim’s mother has been an outspoken critic of the film, and that fact that many details from the case are still up in the air, I just don’t see the point in this film being made. On top of the fact that everything they’re discussing and suggesting really happened just makes it uncomfortable to watch. It doesn’t even have any sort of message beyond… crime is bad? Kids are terrible? Anyway, it’s still not the worst one…

Skin

Fuck this movie, fuck everything about what it is doing and what it is trying to say. Fuck it so much I hate it. I can’t even be critical about it, it’s just so bad. Every single twist and turn of the plot is worse than the last, and it culminates in an ending that thinks it’s saying something Important, but is just incredibly problematic and ridiculous.

The Takeaway

This was just such a disappointing year. It was already kind of a rough year for movies, and I had hoped there would be something special in the Live Action Shorts, but there wasn’t. There was nothing that felt serious and moving (like last year’s My Nephew Emmett and Watu Wote), there was nothing funny and irreverent (like Timecode and Ave Maria in previous years), and while Marguerite is uplifting, it doesn’t reach the heights of previous winners like Sing and Stutterer. Well, I guess I’ll just go watch the Animated Shorts and cry my eyes out again.

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Top Ten Films of 2018: #1 - Roma

Roma is a beautiful love letter to women, motherhood, and humanity at large. It’s a slow, poetic, work of art that will break your heart three or four times over, a slice-of-life masterpiece that is already a classic. I know people throw around that terminology a lot, but one can already tell that this movie will be revered for decades to come. It follows a year in the life of Cleo, a maid to a high-class family in Mexico City during the early 1970s. On top of having a wonderful plot and terrific acting, this movie also has some remarkable camerawork. Keeping in tune with the slow and realistic nature of the film, the shots are incredibly still. At first, it’s unsettling, but it quickly becomes customary and endearing. A large number of scenes are just one camera shot, and they can be completely jaw-dropping. (One in particular that is allegedly one take is especially incredible.)

If you don’t care about the Oscars, or foreign films, or even films in general, you still need to see this one. It’s a movie of humanity, love, loss, and life, and I honestly can’t imagine anyone it wouldn’t appeal to. Roma is an infallible masterpiece with a timeless quality, and it is easily the best film this year.

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Top Ten Films of 2018: #2 - Blindspotting

No 2018 movie is more “of its time” than Blindspotting. It’s possible that years from now, we’ll all look back at the bombastic climax of this film and cringe. But for now, Blindspotting is a remarkably simple and nuanced tale about race, class, gentrification, gun violence, and a myriad of other sticky topics drawn straight from the headlines. Daveed Diggs plays Collin, a recently released conflict trying to stay straight, while his friend Miles (Rafael Casal) is constantly causing trouble, and dragging him further and further down. With all the massive statements Blindspotting is trying to make, it might seem overwhelming, but the remarkable writing from these two is so tight that the movie never feels too heavy or too preachy (aside from one titular scene). It’s smart, it’s funny, and it’s maybe the most honest and heartfelt movie of the year.

Watch Blindspotting. 

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Top Ten Films of 2018: #3 - Thoroughbreds

Thoroughbreds is one of the most pleasant surprises I’ve had all year. It feels like a masterfully crafted work of art built by people just on the cusp of stardom; somehow this is writer/director Cory Finley’s first movie, and co-stars Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy will undoubtedly go on to be tremendous actors. The performances from these two leads (and of course from the late great Anton Yelchin) build a tremendous amount of tension, as each one of them completely embody their characters and give it their all. It felt like I couldn’t go two or three scenes without sitting on the edge of my seat. But a lot of that tension also comes from the incredibly tight camerawork. Again, I cannot believe this is Cory Finley’s first movie. There were so many one-take shots that just left my jaw on the floor: whether we were exploring a mansion for the first time, playing giant chess out in the backyard, or following characters through a house party, the camera knew exactly where it needed to be. It was so well done. This movie is absolutely killer.

Watch Thoroughbreds. 

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Top Ten Films of 2018: #4 - The Sisters Brothers

I went into The Sisters Brothers expecting some sort of crass, buddy-cop comedy western starring two (nay, three) of my favorite actors. What I ended up getting was a terrific drama about family, greed, and morality that I’m ultimately dubbing this subgenre: anti-western. I say this because virtually every time this movie builds to a moment of violence, the lights go out, or we move onto the next scene. And the film doesn’t end with a bloody shootout, instead it concludes in a way that’s both beautiful and heartfelt. While I don’t mind violent westerns, it was so refreshing to see director Jacques Audiard construct something a little bit more dramatic and human in nature. I know it’s weird to describe a western in which John C. Reilly accidentally eats a spider in his sleep as “tender,” but trust me, it is. 

Watch The Sisters Brothers (once again, not streaming yet).

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Top Ten Films of 2018: #5 - Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Oh my god.

(Seriously, I love this movie. It’s probably the best action film of the decade, I know it’s blasphemy but I think I like it more than Mad Max: Fury Road.)

Watch Mission: Impossible - Fallout.

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Top Ten Films of 2018: #6 - Wildlife

What Wildlife does best is gel all of its pretty-good components into a terrific movie that is far better than the sum of all its parts. After getting laid off, Jerry (the ever-brilliant Jake Gyllenhaal) takes on a job fighting forest fires, leaving his wife and child, Jean and Joe, (Carey Mulligan and Ed Oxenbould) behind. As Jean becomes less and less codependent on Jerry, she starts making some questionable decisions, leaving 14-year-old Joe to pick up the pieces of their broken family. While the acting from all three is great, what really stands out to me is the writing from power couple Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan. Everything these characters say is seeped in undertone, metaphor, and double meaning. I think a lot of people have overlooked this one, so definitely check it out if you haven’t already.

Watch Wildlife. (Whenever it starts streaming, it isn’t streaming yet.)

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Top Ten Films of 2018: #7 - BlacKkKlansman

Chilling and hideous, charming and slick, BlacKkKlansman is maybe the best historical film of the year. Watching Ron Stallworth (played by a confident John David Washington) infiltrate the KKK branch of Colorado Springs tells a tale that demands to be seen; about hate being everywhere, and how we combat hate. And between the intriguing debates about revolution and very real-world parallels, there’s a legitimately great thriller in here. It’s tense as hell, and has a third act as bombastic and well done as any film this year. And it tops it all off in an ending that will leave you furious, hurt, and physical upset. It’s outstanding filmmaking.

Watch BlacKkKlansman. 

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Top Ten Films of 2018: #8 - Leave No Trace

Quiet, compelling, and completely heartbreaking, Leave No Trace is a masterful film about being unable to do what’s best for the people around you. Will (Ben Foster) raises his daughter Tom (Thomasin McKenzie) in the sprawling forests of Oregon, in total seclusion. When they inevitably get discovered by park rangers, Will and Tom have to become integrated into society, which is the last thing Will wants. Even though there’s little-to-no dialogue, especially between the two leads, you get such a sense of chemistry and shared past between the two. Ben Foster does a terrific job playing a man plagued by his own inner demons who is unable to do what’s best for his daughter, and Thomasin McKenzie holds her own and is one of a handful of really special newcomers I’ve seen this year. If you let Leave No Trace get close enough to you, it will break your heart, and it’s one of the best and most unseen films of the year.

Watch Leave No Trace. 

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Top Ten Films of 2018: #9 - First Reformed

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to First Reformed when it first came out, so I only watched it for the first time recently. I was completely blown away by the plot, the narrative, and the acting, and then I was completely fucked up by the last five minutes of this film. And ever since watching it, it has festered in my mind, growing in fondness and remembrance. It’s a brilliant meditation on faith, martyrdom, survival, and destruction. I can’t wait to rewatch it and find deeper layers for years and years to come.

Watch First Reformed. 

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Top Ten Films of 2018: #10 - Thunder Road

When I think of people who did a terrific job of directing, writing, and acting, I don’t think of Bradley Cooper. I think of Jim Cummings, who crafted a brilliantly funny and heartbreaking indie film with Thunder Road. It opens with our lead character, Officer Jim Arnaud, giving a painfully emotional eulogy at his mother’s funeral; think The Office kind of discomfort, but sharper. It’s hilarity slowly gives way to genuine sadness and pity, and the shot doesn’t break, and at the center of it is always Jim Cummings giving it his all. He chaotically and stupidly tries to fight the forces that be the rest of the movie, sometimes for a laugh, and sometimes for a tear. And it’s all perfectly emotionally resonant, with a tight script and stupendous acting. Thunder Road is a wonderful indie darling that doesn’t get talked about much, and I honestly can’t wait to see what Jim Cummings does next.

Watch Thunder Road.

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Roma

★★★★★

It’s safe to say that Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón is one of the best directors currently working. Between Y Tu Mamá También, Gravity, Children of Men, and hell, even Prisoners of Azkaban, he’s got a very good track record. His knowledge of the craft and incredibly unique cinematic vision make his films some of the best of the 21st century.

  And his new film, Roma, might be his very best one.

  Roma is a beautiful love letter to women, motherhood, and humanity at large. It’s a slow, poetic, work of art that will break your heart three or four times over, a slice-of-life masterpiece that is already a classic. I know people throw around that terminology a lot, but one can already tell that this movie will be revered for decades, if not centuries, to come. Seriously, it’s that good.

  It follows a year or so in the life of Cleo, a maid to a high-class family in Mexico City during the early 1970s. The movie pays tribute to Cuarón’s own upbringing, and in fact his own maid, Libo, and it shows. The plot and characters have a very personal, loving touch that could only come out of living through similar events.

  But, as you might’ve guessed, the less plot you know the better, so let’s discuss the directing. Keeping in tune with the slow and realistic nature of the film, the camerawork is incredibly still. And when it does move, it simply pans left or right. At first it’s unsettling, the camera feels like it’s about to slowly unveil something horrific or awful, but it quickly becomes customary and endearing. A large number of scenes are just one camera shot, and they can be completely jaw-dropping. (One in particular that is allegedly one take is especially incredible.)

  It also says a lot about Cuarón’s directing (and Luis Rosales’ casting) that he can get such amazing performances from a cast of largely unknown, first-time actors. Yalitza Aparicio, who plays Cleo, is unbelievably talented, and if she doesn’t get nominated for (and frankly, wins) the Oscar, I will consider it a robbery. And the children that she nannies are some of the best child actors I’ve ever seen, and they’re asked to carry a lot of the film.

   If you don’t care about the Oscars, or foreign films, or even films in general, you still need to see this one. It’s a movie of humanity, love, loss, and life, and I honestly can’t imagine anyone it wouldn’t appeal to. Roma is an infallible masterpiece with a timeless quality, and I can say with a certain degree of confidence that it’s the best film this year.

[subvertingyourexpectations]

Wildlife

★★★★★

Wildlife is the kind of film that’s not going to get a lot of Oscars buzz. While all the individual parts of this drama (acting, directing) are very good, none quite excel to the point of becoming awards-worthy. And that’s completely fine, because what they do best is gel together into a terrific movie that is far better than the sum of all its parts.

  Wildlife is the story of a crumbling middle class, middle America family, set in 1960s Montana. After getting laid off, Jerry (the ever-brilliant Jake Gyllenhaal) takes on a job fighting forest fires, leaving his wife and child, Jean and Joe, (Carey Mulligan and Ed Oxenbould) behind. As Jean becomes less and less codependent on Jerry, she starts making some questionable decisions, leaving 14-year-old Joe to pick up the pieces of their broken family.

  The story in itself might not be too compelling, but the way it’s told certainly is. The whole film is seen from the perspective of Joe, and Ed Oxenbould does a terrific job playing the quietly uncomfortable teenager. We watch him awkwardly endure his mother’s reckless abandon, all while quietly hoping that his dad will be able to come home soon. It’s the perfect embodiment of a kid that is having to deal with too many adult problems for his age.

  And it should really come as no surprise that industry-veteran yet first-time-director Paul Dano is a confident and stylish director. His camera has a delicate, almost sweet quality to it as it frames these characters and their beautiful mountainous scenery.    

  But what really stands out to me is the writing from power couple Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan. Between these three characters and their emotions, Jean’s breakdown, Jerry’s troubled masculinity, and Joe’s quiet composure, there’s some damn good dialogue on display. Everything these characters say is seeped in undertone, metaphor, and double meaning. Seriously, I don’t think there’s a single line in this script I can say I didn’t like, and the whole thing does a tremendous job circling back on itself.

  To say this film has a limited release is an overstatement, so if you get the chance to see this one please please take it. Between the layered performances from Gyllenhaal and Mulligan (not to mention newcomer Ed Oxenbould), the subtle and stylish directing from Paul Dano, and the wonderful script from Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan, there’s a whole lot to love here, even if there’s not enough traction to get awards season buzz.