Bold, reflective, and steeped in dark wit: 2018 was an astonishing year for cinema.

As close to a traditional list as possible, here’s ILT’s 10 favourite reels of the year…
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10. A Quiet Place

Dir: John Krasinski

If someone told you this time last year that 2018 would see Jim from The Office break new ground not only in horror but in our theatre-going experience, you’d likely have labelled it a prank worthy of the scourge of Dwight Schrute himself. What Krasinski achieved as co-writer, director, and star of A Quiet Place is unique in that he managed to get full audiences across the globe – hundreds of people at a time – to shut the fuck up for 90 minutes. His trick? Silence. Beautiful, frightening silence, complimented by some of the finest sound design of the year. As we watched the blind, nameless monsters of post-apocalyptic America hunt on the basis of sound and sound alone, Krasinski and his family’s (including real life wife Emily Blunt) desperate fight for survival unified us as an audience in a manner few pictures can claim to have equalled.
Watch the trailer here…

9. Roma

Dir: Alfonso Cuarón

Alfonso Cuarón is a master of his craft. Y Tu Mamá También (2001), Children of Men (2006), and Gravity (2013) are each regularly cited as essential examples of compelling silver screen storytelling laced with unmatched technical craft. And yet, in 2018, his magnum opus appeared not in multiplexes (though some of us were lucky enough to catch it on its limited theatrical run), but on the small screen. Now in serious Best Picture contention, Roma will forever be remembered as the moment Netflix went all in on feature productions, snagging one of the mightiest figures in the industry and letting him run wild. The result is a stunning portrayal of middle and working class life in early-1970s Mexico City, built on Cuarón’s ever-evolving directorial and photographic techniques, including his trademark long takes. Like most of Cuarón’s recent work, the tale of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) and the family she serves will be received and interpreted in a variety of ways: some will find it emotionally tough to penetrate prior to the almighty release it builds to, while others will be immediately immersed. In other words, your experience will be your own, and it will be worth taking a few hours out of your life for.
Watch the trailer here…

8. Widows

Dir: Steve McQueen

After 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture, what Steve McQueen decided to do next was always going to be an intriguing prospect. Five years later we have our answer in the form of star-studded heist thriller Widows. After the untimely death of her husband Harry (Liam Neeson) saddles her with a debt she cannot pay, Veronica Rawlings (Viola Davis) makes the decision to carry on his career in large-scale theft; recruiting the widows of his now deceased crew for one last job. McQueen and Gillian Flynn’s (Gone Girl) tight, twisting story of love and loss in a world of Chicago gangsters and political corruption stays on track despite its interwoven plots and sprawling ensemble cast. Elevating it still further is McQueen’s quite exceptional (and likely underrated come awards season) direction, as well as crackling performances from Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Brian Tyree Henry (of Atlanta fame), and the wonderfully menacing Daniel Kaluuya.
Watch the trailer here…

7. Thunder Road

Dir: Jim Cummings

Leading a string of outstanding directorial debuts in this year’s top 10 is bolt from the blue Jim Cummings, whose soul-searching comedy-drama is easily one of the finest budget indie flicks of the decade. Based on his short film of the same name and shot for a mere $200K (a chunk of which came from Kickstarter), Thunder Road opens with a lengthy single take that depicts the start of small town police officer Jim Arnaud’s (Cummings) magnetic mental breakdown at his mother’s funeral, leading to the rapid collapse of his personal and professional life. A jarring, yet bizarrely empathetic depiction of eroding white masculinity, fraught family relationships, and mental illness in modern America, Thunder Road manages to both sting and warm the heart all at once, while Cummings (also the picture’s writer, editor, and composer) successfully demonstrates how to accomplish production, distribution, and ultimately wide-ranging critical acclaim outside the mainstream studio system.
Watch the trailer here…

6. Eighth Grade

Dir: Bo Burnham

Eighth Grade may be casually labelled a comedy-drama, but the atmosphere of comedian, YouTuber, and first time director Bo Burnham’s exploration of teenage anxiety is nothing short of painfully unnerving. Put simply, Eighth Grade has the capacity to be absolutely terrifying, based on any number of theoretical humiliations (self-inflicted or otherwise) that we believe could befall 14-year-old Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher) as she goes about her achingly lonely life, perpetuated by her continuous presence in, and reliance on Generation Z’s hellish social media bubble. Thankfully, it’s also laugh-out-loud hilarious and one of the most important films of the year. Burnham and Fisher excel behind and in front of the camera respectively, while Anna Meredith’s intrusive, borderline obnoxious score is inspired.
Watch the trailer here…

5. Vice

Dir: Adam McKay

When The Big Short dropped in 2015 Adam McKay went from “the guy who made Anchorman” to one of the most interesting filmmakers in Hollywood, complete with a deserved Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. His brash, bold, and amusingly stark multi-story style fit the complex mess of the financial crash perfectly. With Vice – part Dick Cheney biopic, part brutal Bush administration commentary – he takes things to the next level, putting his politics firmly on the table while deploying a seizure-inducing structure that jumps back and forth without the slightest hint of subtlety to its message that Cheney and those around him willingly committed heinous abuses of power during their time in government. And it works, thanks in part to a memorable, wisely measured performance from Christian Bale and strong support from Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney. Steve Carrell plays Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as a version of Michael Scott whose actions caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, while Sam Rockwell’s frankly ridiculous George W. Bush is an apt reminder that, despite looking like Jesus compared to Trump, he remains a frankly ridiculous President.
Watch the trailer here…

4. Sorry to Bother You

Dir: Boots Riley

There is something deeply satisfying about a satire that not only succeeds in hitting the bullseye time and again on its way to greatness, but does so while managing to surprise you over and over and in equal measure before the credits finally roll. In increasingly outlandish fashion, writer-director Boots Riley (another debut filmmaker) nails the widening social divides and corporate greed of modern American capitalism to the wall using the off-the-wall slice of ladder-climbing sales that is telemarketing. Going any further here would only take away from the joy of watching Sorry to Bother You with fresh eyes; just know that Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, and Armie Hammer are on point atop a stellar cast, and that it is both one of the smartest and one of the funny-as-fuck films of the year.
Watch the trailer here…

3. Minding the Gap

Dir: Bing Liu

Comfortably the finest feature documentary of 2018, Bing Liu’s intimate, firsthand portrayal of teenage life in America’s Rust-Belt moves with unrelenting force from a happy-go-lucky skater vibe to a stark commentary on the never-ending downward spiral defined by poverty, race, and domestic violence in the decaying industrial heartlands of the United States. Combining footage shot over a decade by Liu, with the last three to four years the main focus, Minding the Gap follows the manhood-seeking antics of the director and his two childhood friends, Kiere Johnson and Zack Mulligan, as they attempt to unravel, tackle, and somehow put a positive spin on the haphazard, sometimes outright grim nature of their circumstances. Find it, watch it, and prepare to be hit hard.
Watch the trailer here…

2. First Man

Dir: Damien Chazelle

During the opening sequence of First Man, as Neil Armstrong’s X-15 rocket plane hurtles towards the unwelcoming vacuum of space; its pilot silent, his view blurred and restricted inside the cramped, violently shaking cockpit, it is clear that Damien Chazelle’s follow up to La La Land (2016) is not going to be you standard space exploration picture. Or a chest thumping American history biopic. Instead, what unfolds is a subtle, deeply personal and atmospheric study of grief, centred around the stoic figure of Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) and his concurrent leap for all mankind. It is also a technical triumph, with Chazelle opting to utilize the brutal literal and metaphorical claustrophobic perspective of the key players for the basis of his direction, as well as life size sets for the flight scenes; decisions vindicated by the biopic’s unique and intense look, feel, and atmosphere. The sound design and score are equally as impressive, while Gosling gives a moving turn as the haunted Armstrong to match the emotionally embattled performance of Claire Foy as his wife Janet.
Watch the trailer here…

1. The Favourite

Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos

Yorgos Lanthimos is an enigma. He might also be a genius. One does not want to go too far by starting to compare him to  the groundbreaking maverick of 20th century cinema that was Stanley Kubrick, but it is becoming difficult not to at least consider it. The Favourite, Lanthimos’ latest and most accessible picture, is a curiously compelling masterpiece of piercing wit, riveting direction, pleasurable production values, and a trio of mesmerising lead performances. Few filmmakers could draw such incessant, biting amusement from a squabbling competition between conniving cousins Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz for the favour of Olivia Colman’s bewildered Queen Anne in early 18th century Britain, but Lanthimos pulls it off with the sort of unnerving ease and creeping darkness that has grown through The Lobster (2015) and The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017). Only this time there is no peculiar science-fiction element pulling the strings of doom. Instead, The Favourite is merely the tale of a wounded woman with too much power, and a weakness for two gloriously power-hungry bitches.
Watch the trailer here…

Looking for recommendations from past years? ILT can help…
ILT’s Top 10 Films of 2017!
ILT’s Top 10 Films of 2016!
ILT’s Top 10 Films of 2015!

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