It’s Oscar Sunday, so today’s the day I release my annual top 10 list of the Best Films of 2018 (in my humble opinion). You can also read my top 10 list of the Best Production Design of 2018 with the best-supporting visuals I could find. You can also check out last year’s top 10 list, the Best Films of 2017 and let me know what you think.
I wish I could have released my Best Films of 2018 a little bit earlier, but I try to watch every single film I can before creating this list every year which takes time. I tend to not have enough hours in the day for film-going until Christmas rolls around, so I get a reasonably late start except for binge-watching films at the Toronto International Film Festival every year.
Anyhow, despite my best efforts I did miss a few films I think I would have really loved like Shoplifters, Blindspotting, Burning, Capernaum, Mid90s, Vox Lux, Suspiria, Never Look Away, and Leave No Trace thus these films were not considered.
I have chosen from any feature-length narrative film released in 2018 that I have seen from beginning to end excluding documentaries and animated films. So you won’t see Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse or Won’t You Be My Neighbor on this list either. Sorry to spoil the surprise.
BEST FILMS OF 2018
10) SEARCHING
Searching Logline: After his 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a desperate father breaks into her laptop to look for clues to find her.
The film is told entirely through the lens of an ever-changing computer interface.
Director: Aneesh Chaganty
DOPs: Juan Sebastian Baron, Nicholas D. Johnson (director of virtual photography), Will Merrick (director of virtual photography)
Production Designer: Angel Herrera
Costume Designer: Emily Moran
Editors: Nicholas D. Johnson, Will Merrick
Music: Torin Borrowdale
9) EIGHTH GRADE
Eighth Grade Logline: An introverted teenage girl tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth grade year before leaving to start high school.
Director: Bo Burnham
DOP: Andrew Wehde
Production Designer: Sam Lisenco
Costume Designer: Mitchell Travers
Editor: Jennifer Lilly
Music: Anna Meredith
8) CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME
Can You Ever Forgive Me Logline: When Lee Israel falls out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception.
Director: Marielle Heller
DOP: Brandon Trost
Production Designer: Stephen H. Carter
Costume Designer: Arjun Bhasin
Editor: Anne McCabe
Music: Nate Heller
7) IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
If Beale Street Could Talk Logline: A woman in Harlem embraces her pregnancy while she and her family struggle to prove her fiancé innocent of a crime.
Director: Barry Jenkins
DOP: James Laxton
Production Designer: Mark Friedberg
Costume Designer: Caroline Eselin
Editors: Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders
Music: Nicholas Britell
6) FIRST REFORMED
First Reformed Logline: A minister of a small congregation in upstate New York grapples with mounting despair brought on by tragedy, worldly concerns and a tormented past.
Director: Paul Schrader
DOP: Alexander Dynan
Production Designer: Grace Yun
Costume Designer: Olga Mill
Editor: Benjamin Rodriguez Jr.
Music: Brian Williams
5) COLD WAR
Cold War Logline: In the 1950s, a music director falls in love with a singer and tries to persuade her to flee communist Poland for France.
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
DOP: Lukasz Zal
Production Designers: Benoît Barouh (French crew production designer), Marcel Slawinski, and Katarzyna Sobanska-Strzalkowska
Costume Designer: Ola Staszko
Editor: Jaroslaw Kaminski
4) ROMA
Roma Logline: A year in the life of a middle-class family’s maid in Mexico City in the early 1970s.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
DOP: Alfonso Cuarón
Production Designer: Eugenio Caballero
Costume Designer: Anna Terrazas
Editors: Alfonso Cuarón and Adam Gough
3) BLACKkKLANSMAN
BlacKkKlansman Logline: Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer from Colorado Springs, CO, successfully manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan branch with the help of a Jewish surrogate who eventually becomes its leader. Based on actual events.
Director: Spike Lee
DOP: Chayse Irvin
Production Designer: Curt Beech
Costume Designer: Marci Rodgers
Editor: Barry Alexander Brown
Composer: Terence Blanchard
2) AT ETERNITY’S GATE
At Eternity’s Gate Logline: A look at the life of painter Vincent van Gogh during the time he lived in Arles and Auvers-sur-Oise, France.
Director: Julian Schnabel
DOP: Benoît Delhomme
Production Designer: Stéphane Cressend
Costume Designer: Karen Muller Serreau
Editor: Louise Kugelberg and Julian Schnabel
Composer: Tatiana Lisovskaya
1) THE FAVOURITE
The Favourite Logline: In early 18th century England, a frail Queen Anne occupies the throne and her close friend, Lady Sarah, governs the country in her stead. When a new servant, Abigail, arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah.
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
DOP: Robbie Ryan
Production Designer: Fiona Crombie
Costume Designer: Sandy Powell
Editor: Yorgos Mavropsaridis
Composer: Komeil S. Hosseini
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What are your thoughts on my best films of 2018 list? Do you agree with my picks or did I miss the mark? I’d really love to know what you think about these films in the comments below, and I’ll be sure to respond.
For more awards season highlights on Art Departmental, click here.
