2018 yielded three films that I regard as special, all of them for different reasons. What they had in common was that they were all incredibly original, and that they made me think and talk about them. Some people I know would say I talked about them too much. Too bad.
These are the films that make it worth sitting through an endless stream of garbage imitating garbage. That's not to say that there were not other fine films this past year. There were; but when you see over a hundred movies a year, too many of them blend together into formulaic crap. Thankfully, my brain is able to delete most of it.
The three great experiences I had were (in reverse order):
3. Roma - I know that most of you have at least heard of this one, even if some I know were vastly disappointed in it. Many others loved it as much as I did. Alfonso Cuarón does a masterful job at directing and should get the Oscar in that category. He should also win for cinematography, but I wouldn't be upset if Lukasz Zal won for "Cold War." Even those that didn't love it would have to admit that you could probably capture 100 still photos from the film that are exquisite.
"Roma" doesn't follow the notion that something amazing has to happen very early to propel the plot, yet it grows from a low-key look at an ordinary Mexico City family in 1971 into a glorious examination of this family and especially of their maid, played by newcomer Yalitza Aparicio. She will get an Oscar nomination, at the very least, in the Best Actress category. This one lives up to the incessant hype.
2. To Dust - I know with dead certainty that almost none of you even heard of this one unless I screamed at you personally that you had to see it. This presumes that you would have had the chance to see it if you wanted to. I doubt you even had that opportunity since it was never released to the public.
I saw it at the Tribeca Film Festival, and for most of 2018 I presumed this would end up as my top selection of the year, but it just got edged out for the top spot. I just checked and it is slated for a February 8, 2019 release in America. Unfortunately, that means it will probably end up playing in one theater in four cities for one week. Maybe Netflix or another streaming service might have it. Who knows?
"To Dust" is a buddy picture, and like most buddy pics this one has two people you would not expect to find on an adventure together. Albert (Matthew Broderick) is a local community college biology professor in upstate New York. Shmuel (Géza Röhrig) is a Hasidic Jew whose young wife has just passed away from cancer. Shmuel seeks to understand what will happen to his wife as she decomposes. Failing to get an answer from his religious leaders he turns in desperation to the secular world. This leads him to wander into Albert's classroom. At first Albert rebuffs him, but Shmuel's persistence pays off and together they set out to solve what happens to people after they die.
It's a remarkable tale that careens back and forth between sad and funny, and despite its seemingly absurd premise, "To Dust" feels completely genuine.
1. Border - When a movie can grip me in its entirety, I am impressed. While watching "Border," I noticed that I was leaning forward in my seat and that my mouth kept opening wide. Good thing nothing flew in. From the very first scene I was thinking 'WTF is going on??' A person - I wasn't positive it was a man or a woman - was standing at the shore as a boat came toward land. They picked up a bug and gently placed it on a piece of driftwood.
We soon find out that the person is Tina (Eva Melander), an odd-looking female who works as the equivalent of a TSA agent for a ferry service in Sweden. She has quite an unusual set of skills.
As passengers file by, she singles out a few of them to be searched for possession of contraband, such as undeclared alcohol. After she picks out a traveler her partner searches them. One has alcohol and it is confiscated, but another one is concealing something far more insidious. She catches the offenders with her extraordinary sense of smell. Then "Border" gets really weird.
"Border" has been described as a fairy tale but it's more of a dark mystery that twists often without the viewer feeling horribly manipulated by it. There are no wasted scenes. Things are revealed slowly, but even when something is revealed you are soon faced with the fact that you're not exactly sure what it all means, until a particularly jarring scene that happens in a pond near where Tina lives.
When it ended, I had to close my mouth because I was still stunned by what I had just seen. "Border" is so unique that even though I think it's the best film of 2018 it may not even get a nomination for Best Foreign Film, which would be criminal. I loved it.
| Movie title | Top 3 of 2018 |
|---|---|
| Release year | 2018 |
| MPAA Rating | |
| Our rating | |
| Summary | When you see a couple of hundred films a year, it's especially nice when one makes you feel the magic you felt when you went to your first movie. For me, three did exactly that in 2018. |
