At Eternity's Gate (2018)

What makes At Eternity's Gate work isn't the story. The tale of a rejected artist and his struggle to find recognition and mental health is as old as the hills. Van Gogh's story has been told before in other films so we aren't seeing anything new here, well except for one piece which I will return to later. But what struck me about the film is a combination of Willem Dafoe's lovely performance and director Julian Schnabel's wandering, almost distracted camera, which finds a great deal of beauty as it tells the story of the famous artist.

Schnabel moves his camera around frenetically, setting us firming in his Van Gogh's mind which is also racing. He puts us right into the beautiful European countryside, the pastorals which inspired the artist's work. And he gets us to a place where we experience his art being made. We can feel it. Schnabel does a wonderful job of setting the feeling necessary for his subject.

As does Dafoe. His portrait of a gentle, sad, and frightened Vincent is heart breaking. He personifies Schnabel's vision of the character and he is amazing to watch. And he brings the work to life. Together Schnabel and Dafoe generate a feeling of art being made.

I said there was one part which may be refreshingly new. The film doesn't treat his "madness" as a bad thing but as a place for his respite. He even asks at one point if he really does want to "get better." I think as we understand different ways of understanding the world, this theme is an interesting one to explore. 

That all makes for a stunning film. One wicked performance shot in a gorgeous if ramshackle way. It is riveting and beautiful. The story in itself may not have kept me enraptured for the entirety of the runtime. For me it wasn't the story I was invested in. I was invested in the passion and the esthetics. I am not saying the story was bad or even poorly told. It just wasn't something that grabbed me. It was the rest of it which grabbed me.

At Eternity's Gate
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Rupert Friend, Mads Mikkelson, Mathieu Almalric, Oscar Isaac
Director: Julian Schnable
Writers: Jean-Claude Carriere, Louise Kugelberg, Julian Schnable

Shoplifters (2018)

Shoplifters is one of those films which sneaks up on you. It starts off all simple and cute and lulls you into thinking you're watching something rather pedantic and then makes its way under your skin to the point where it breaks your heart.

Shoplifters is a story about family, about a family but about what family is. We learn that the family we are watching aren't connected in the way that we tend to think of as family and that the ways they are connected are fairly difficult for us to swallow. This is one of the ways the film tricks us. They are presented in such a way that we clearly latch on to them quickly and are then forced to reckon with the more problematic aspects of their story. But we're already invested so we have to deal with it. We can't just reject them outright.

And that is what makes Shoplifters so powerful. The way it upends our notions of good and bad and family and love and what is best. It gets underneath our skin and makes us confront some truly uncomfortable things until we get to an ending which completely shakes us, completely breaks our hearts. Yet it is the ending in which "justice" is done. In the end what we think of as "right" prevails.

And we hate it.

Shoplifters is remarkable for making us see a completely different perspective and makes us question what we believe to be right. And the whole time it is also a lovely story. As I said it starts out rather benign, telling what feels to be a fairly mundane story, but the characters and performances suck us in until we love following this story and until we are forced to come to terms with some very difficult truths.

Shoplifters
Starring: Sakura Ando, Lily Franky, Mayu Matsuoka, Kirin Kiki, Kairi Jo, Miyu Sisaki
Writer/Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda

The Upside (2019)

People love The Upside. We love to watch inspirational movies about disabled people finding happiness. It makes us, usually able bodied folks, feel good. And if any disabled people complain that perhaps it would have been nice to give a disabled actor a chance to play a disabled role, we freak out on them. "Acting is playing something you are not!" We scream defiantly. And if another actor said homophobic things in the past and refused to apologize for them, well, his career shouldn't be ruined should it? Poor guy. He's so discriminated against while he's making millions for playing these parts. Even in a movie where he makes us all laugh at having to touch another man's penis. Hilarious. So the moral of this story is let rich guys get all the parts regardless of who it excludes so that we can have our inspiration porn and feel good at the movies.

In all seriousness yes The Upside is predictable (and not just because it's a remake of a French film many of us have already seen) and certainly falls on the safe side of corny. And yes hopefully one day we'll consider wheel chair user actors for wheel chair user parts in the same way we only cast black actors for black parts. And yes Kevin Hart should apologize for his hateful comments in the past before I start laughing at his penis jokes. But despite all that The Upside really isn't as pedestrian as it would appear. It's not great. But it also isn't everything that's wrong with Hollywood.

What it ends up being is simple, pleasant entertainment. Despite all its flaws (which also include cliched writing) The Upside has an upside in that generally its funny and generally its entertaining. And honestly that's all we want from a film right?

Well... perhaps we want to start making them better as well. This is good enough I guess. But shouldn't we want more than good enough?

The Upside
Starring: Kevin Hart, Bryan Cranston, Nicole Kidman
Director: Neil Burger
Writer: Jon Hartmere

Destroyer (2018)

There were times throughout Destroyer when I felt it was going over the top. But then it would find a way to ground me back into its story and I would be engrossed again. I'd vacillate between feeling things were too much (Kidman's make up, the 0-60 intensity of each scene) and getting taken over by the story's old fashioned crime story. By the end I was firmly in the enjoyed-it camp, with an ending that made the trip worth it.

Destroyer skates the edge of cliche and innovation. It has all the hallmarks of the genre and even embraces a certain amount of cliches as it tells a story that is a hard boiled woman at the edge of her rope on her journey of redemption. Yes she's let everyone down, made horrible choices, and is on a quest to right her wrongs... or is she? As she makes her way through her former associates, we learn more and more. Sure most of it is expected but director Kusama and star Kidman find a way to make it all feel fresher than it should.

And it all builds to a climax that redeems it all, not because it felt all that original or all that shocking, but because it made everything before it make sense. Kidman plays it all quite subtly and Kusama finds little ways to make her film striking. Neither gets all showy and I think that makes it all work every more, both playing it rather raw. So as I was leaving the film I found it sticking with me in a way I hadn't expected when I was watching it.

Destroyer
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Sebastian Stan, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Bradley Whitford, Scoot McNairy
Director: Karyn Kusama
Writers: Phil Hay, Matt Madfredi

Cold War (2018)

Director Pawel Pawlikowski gets a great deal of praise for his minimalist approach. His Cold War is very much in this vein. A brisk 85 minutes, Cold War is a series of interludes between two people as we follow them through time, meeting again and again, and connecting through their love until the very end. But in all his stark restraint I found myself wondering if he left the most important part out.

Cold War is beautiful to watch. Pawlikowski finds a true gorgeousness in his bleak, black and white cinematography. He doesn't put much for us to look at in front of his camera, but he manages to find something beautiful in each shot. There are sublime moments just looking at his leads, Tomasz Kot and Joanna Kulig. I could have watched the images in the film for a lot longer than 85 minutes.

Instead of telling us a narrative strung together more traditionally, he finds these little moments when the two characters cross paths. We don't see their relationship develop through constant contact but through connection and distance. I appreciated this approach in principal. There is the potential there for the absence to make the reunions explosively powerful. But again in his restraint the moments are often just quiet, perhaps more honest that way.

But for me the big missing piece was that emotion. I am not sure I ever felt the connection between Zula and Wiktor.  I'm not sure if it was the briefness of their story, or the attempt to create tension in pulling them apart constantly. There needed to be an energy, an urgency to the moments they were together and I never felt it. In fact, there were times I felt their relationship was downright disfunctional. it almost felt like they could have gone either way, towards a lasting trueness or a fleeting attraction leading to little at all.

So when the conclusion arrives, I felt very little. It is one of those pieces of art which I can appreciate as being very beautiful aesthetically but that offers me little to be passionate about.

Cold War
Starring: Tomasz Kot, Joanna Kulig
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Writers: Ewa Puszczynska, Pawel Pawlikowski

Welcome to Marwen (2018)

Like many people I lacked enthusiasm for Welcome to Marwen leading up to its release. Most people took a pass but something told me I should still see it based on the cast and interesting premise. Based on the story of real life artist and trauma victim, and focusing on how he uses his unique art to overcome that trauma, Marwen, with a strong cast and a director who has made some of my favourite films, was a film I thought had potential despite the underwhelming trailers.

Well it turns out Marwen overall is a rather underwhelming experience. As I was watching it, and checking my watch, I tried to figure out exactly why I wasn't getting wrapped into this story. Marwen has an interesting mix of circumstances which normally I would find quite interesting. But as the film began wrapping up I started to put my finger on what was missing.

It comes down the film not finding any investment in its characters. Marwen is the story of a man who is transformed through his are, but more so through the presence of strong, healing women in his life. He makes his art around the "saviors" of Marwen, the women he encounters. Basically the film hinges on the success of those women character and the film basically lets them all down. None of the women in the film felt real. There could have been a clever irony around that (the women are all portrayed by CGI dolls making them literally not real) but the film never makes this work either. Without us feeling what it is about these women that saves Carell's character, his transformation never feels real, they all feel as two dimensional as our hero sees them. The whole premise collapses. The film needed to find a better way to create its characters and instead focuses more on the special effects.

So Marwen feels about as plastic as it looks and doesn't make for the comeback I was hoping for Robert Zemeckis.

Welcome to Marwen
Starring: Steve Carell, Leslie Mann, Diane Kruger, Merritt Weaver, Janelle Monae, Eiza Gonzales, Gwendoline Christie
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writers: Caroline Thomson, Robert Zemeckis

Glass (2019)

In the middle of Glass there is a scene where Samuel L Jackson explains the thesis of the movie, perhaps of the entire Eastrail 177 Trilogy. He speaks of wonders being in us, how we can rationalize it all away if we want, how we can find an explanation, but that doesn't make us any less miraculous. I was drawn to Unbreakable for this very reason, this discovery of the extraordinary within us. As someone who found meaning in comic books, a justification for myself within those stories, Unbreakable's celebration of the truth behind the fantastic stories of superheros resonated for me. With Glass writer/director M. Night Shyamalan truly comes full circle and completes his epic.

While Split was a bit of a departure, Glass returns to the roots of Unbreakable, which is one of my favourite movies of all time. It is contemplative, philosophical, and cerebral.  These aren't movies about heroes fighting villains. They aren't the action spectacles we have come to expect as comic book movies have become dominant in the multiplexes. Glass, like Unbreakable before it, isn't a comic book movie in the vein of the Marvel films we see every few months. It is about comic books. I mean it's not about the stories told in the comic books, adapting the stories of characters in those books. It is about comic books themselves, about what they mean, why the hold their appeal, what is their power.

For me personally M. Night Shyamalan is all over the map as a film maker but with this trilogy he has found his calling. He tells a slowburn story, lets his characters grow and develop before our eyes, and most successfully pulls off his signature move. He is known for his "twists", most often gimmicky but in this series they are masterful. Glass takes this to the next level. He takes all that we saw before in these films and makes us see it all differently.

And also like Unbreakable before it, Glass will not be for everyone. In their analytical pursuit and their focus on inner meaning over outer action the movies aren't what mainstream audiences are comfortable with or looking for. In their overt symbolism and almost meta approach to story telling they are challenging for the film critic crowd. But for someone who loved Unbreakable in all its fascinating labour, Glass is exactly what I was looking for. It gave me so much to chew on and so much to return to as I go through this looking glass again and again.

Kudos to a truly strong cast. Once again McAvoy stuns in his masterful representation of all Kevin's personalities giving them true humanity and not just playing a gimmick. Anya Taylor Joy is also strong playing a complicated character who does some truly difficult things. Sarah Paulson is strong playing her character who the story doesn't make it easy to play but she pulls it off brilliantly. And I was also quite impressed with Charlayne Woodard's delicious turn as Jackson's mother. But for me the real star is the title character. Jackson gets to play many great characters but Elijah Price might be the best of them.

Glass doesn't take the easy way by following convention on what we would expect in a final film in a "superhero" trilogy. It takes a much more challenging route which includes a plot that makes us question what we are seeing and why we are seeing it. There were big parts in the middle that challenged my suspension of disbelief, until the story wound its way to the explanation and things started to make sense.

And I think for me that was what made the payoff in Glass so exceptionally satisfying for me. I felt like the story not only took me to places I didn't expect but affirmed so much that makes real sense. The fact that understanding truth often comes through fantastic story telling is a beautiful and revelatory concept. And Glass is a celebration of all that fantastic truth and is truly satisfying.

Glass
Starring: Samuel L Jackson, James McAvoy, Bruce Willis, Sarah Paulson, Anya Taylor Joy, Spencer Treat Clark, Charlayne Woodard, Luke Kirby
Writer/Director: M Night Shyamalan

Burning (2018)

I love a good mystery and Burning is a good one. It slowly builds, slipping into our consciousness. The story of Jong-su making a connection and having it slowly pulled from him intersects with his obsessive behavior until the film's striking climax hits us but refuses to give us answers. It all makes for a truly fascinating tale which makes you reflect back on all you've seen.

Writer/director Lee Chang-dong lets his story play out quite simply at first, lulling us into a sense of complacency as he invests us in Jong-su's story, so we get more and more attached to him. We almost don't notice him becoming less and less rational. As the film's mystery unfolds, we see the usual markers of suspicion and familiar mysterious plot points. But what Burning does next is what makes it interesting. It doesn't resolve in the way we're used to. It asks us more questions, turns the tables on our expectations, gives us what we are not expecting.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a twist. The conclusion actually follows quite logically. It is just not how these sorts of stories usually go. And the more you think about it the more it makes sense, but without "solving" anything for us. This mystery isn't about finding out "what happened" or "why." It's about the journey and what it does to us.

Lee Chang-dong does a lovely job of filming his story, finding gorgeous ways to film Paju and teh surrounding countryside. Burning is enticing to watch as well as luring us in with its story. I especially enjoyed watching Steven Yeun play mental games with Jong-su and us... or was he?

It's all just so delicious.

But it also makes us think about how we value each other. Are there those among us who are disposable? If so how do we accept that and how does it get to that point? Also, the film subverts the traditional "missing woman" trope to advance a male's story. Here Hae-mi is fully realized but never quite accessible. She has agency in a way most films like this don't allow. Burning made me think about other questions as well as just "what's going on?" And that made it even stronger for me.

I want to reflect on it and come back to it, watching again for all that it made me think about.

Burning
Starring: Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo
Director: Lee Chang-dong
Writers: Oh Jung-mi, Lee Chang-dong

A Dog's Way Home (2019)

Dog movies seem to be going through a bit of a renaissance. Dog Days, A Dog's Purpose and it's sequel A Dog's Journey. Generally they are manipulative, overly simplistic, and completely schmaltzy. And audiences eat them up. People love their dogs and watching a dog struggle to survive for the love of it's owner seems to be a thing we're into.

A Dog's Way Home is exactly what you would think it is. If you're a dog lover you'll laugh and cry as Bella (a pitbullish mutt born to a stray) is rescued by first a cat family, then a human family, then does her best to get back to the human family after being unbeknownst to her only temporarily separated from them so she faces packs of wolves, an vengeful animal control officer, wilderness conditions, but also makes friends with another dog, a lovely gay couple, adopts a baby cougar, and crosses miles and state lines to get back to her beloved human family. Whew. I know. But I dare you not to tear up during all this cheese.

We don't go to these movies for their quality. We go to them to be inspired by the way we love our pets. Even non-pet owners will likely get all warm and fuzzy during the tearful reunion scene despite how eyerollingly bad the film is as it comes together in its climax.

I dare you not to tear up.

I dare you.

A Dog's Way Home
Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Ashley Judd, Jonah Hauer King, Wes Studi, Edward James Olmos
Director: Charles Martin Smith
Writers: W. Bruce Cameron, Catheryn Michon

On the Basis of Sex (2018)

Ruth Bader Ginsberg is a superhero. And this movie about her is a superhero movie. It is set up as an origin story, like all the superhero movies. Her intelligence and perseverance are her superpowers to defeat the evil villains of the patriarchy. There isn't a lot more to On the Basis of Sex. It is interesting in terms of building up the legend of the Judge. It certainly gets one riled up about sex based discrimination. But I'm not sure it does much to paint a picture of the real person.

Following the model of last year's Marshall, On the Basis of Sex tells the story of a legendary juror by focusing on one case, the one that defined their careers and their perspectives. It breaks that case down to its basics, throws all the barriers we are used to seeing in these sorts of movies, and shows her triumphant in the end. Sure we all know that she's going to be triumphant (if you know anything about American jurisprudence) and the legal issues at question are safely enough in the past that we don't have to wrestle with them ourselves, at least not the audience that will see this movie. So On the Basis of Sex is safe and a bit of a rallying cry.

That's all good. Everyone is good in the movie despite no one truly standing out with a knock em down performance. The story is plotted well and it all is easily digestible. But unlike the real RBG it doesn't push our boundaries and move us forward. It's about the past. Sure there is a lot that still needs to be done and much of the hard won rights are under threat of being taken away, but this film doesn't focus on that either. It is comfortable and reinforcing.

It's still good as Coles Notes history and as a tribute to one of the most important jurists alive. I think I might have wanted to see more nuance, more discomfort, more of what makes so much of the journey she's had and still has so remarkable. The documentary RBG captured this far more than this film does. Despite it not living up to all I wanted it to be I'd still recomend it.

On the Basis of Sex
Starring: Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux, Cailee Spaeny, Sam Waterson, Kathy Bates
Director: Mimi Leder
Writer: Daniel Stiepleman

Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

No historical movie tells a "true story." Each one takes a point of view, a narrative they want to tell, and uses historical figures and events to tell that story. The reigns of Mary Stuart and Elizabeth Tudor are full of possibility for great stories, for morality plays, for good juicy story telling. There have been many portrayals of the queens with sometimes Mary being the villain, sometimes Elizabeth being the strong monarch mopping the floor with her court, sometimes the women being bitter rivals, it's all over the map.

Director Josie Rourke's story is about how women in power remain subjugated to the will of the men around them despite being their sovereigns. Her Elizabeth is a tragic collaborator, cooperating to survive. Her Mary is a tragic martyr, strong and defiant, and unsuccessful in overcoming the patriarchy. She paints Mary as the noble hero of her tale showing her to be progressively compassionate and unrelentingly independent. Her motives are always good and noble. Everyone around her is either week and incompetent or downright corrupt. She has Elizabeth be a prisoner of her throne, unable to overcome the system which uses her.

Rourke's film is stark, you can feel the Scottish chill. She find warmth in the relationships between the women on screen, but that warmth is never free form threat from the cold hearted men around them. The most noble man in the film is the one who embraces his femininity most fully. This is a tribute to femininity. And she builds to a climactic meeting between the two queens, staged gorgeously to a beautifully painful moment. Rourke builds her melancholic tale so beautifully and the two actors imbue their roles wonderfully.

Rourke also does a wonderful job of breaking down the sound and fury of the protestant/catholic drama to show that really what is behind it is desperate men in a pissing contest for power. And the victims of that power struggle are the women who could have ruled Britannia far more competently if left to do so properly. So Mary Queen of Scots is a lovely tragedy with a lesson for our generation and while it may drag a bit, overall it is fascinating.

Mary Queen of Scots
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Jack Lowden, Joe Arwyn,  David Tennant, Guy Pierce, Ismael Cruz Cordova
Director: Josie Rourke
Writer: Beau Willimon

The Wife (2018)

I am guilty, as many people are, of forgetting about Glenn Close. There was a time she was at the top of my list of favourite actresses. Jagged Edge, Dangerous Liaisons, Reversal of Fortune, and even 101 Dalmatians with her originally wicked take on Cruella DeVil. She is a masterful actor who over time wasn't getting the best rolls any longer. And then along comes The Wife and reminds us that she remains a true talent.

The Wife comes out of the blue and finds just the right grasp on the moment. This story of a traditional marriage at the moment it is ending, collapsing under the weight of all the expectations that each gendered partner had to live up to, examining the ways each party participates in arrangement which has been so common for so long, is a snapshot of what we are waking up to. And Close, in a performance that shows off all of her strengths, gives us a perfect picture.

This is a nuanced and cleverly crafted role and performance. Her Joan is not a victim and isn't destroyed. She is also not portrayed hysterically. There is no scenery chewing moment. Instead Close is delicate and intricate in creating this woman. It is a truly masterful job which only a few actors of her generation could pull off. And she is one.

I hope this film, thrusting her back into the spotlight will get her the kinds of roles that she can truly sink her talent into.

The Wife
Starring: Glenn Close, Jonathan Price, Christian Slater, Max Irons, Elizabeth McGovern
Director: Bjorn Runge
Writer: Jane Anderson

Favourite Films of 2018

Every year I reflect on all the movies I saw over the past 12 months and try to work out which were my favourites. Some years it is very easy, and often there is one movie which, for me, stands far above the rest. Other years it can be challenging. For me 2018 was a year when I enjoyed very many films but only loved a few. I saw 172 films in this calendar year and so many of them were fun, funny, exciting, entertaining. But as I look back I see there were really only a handful which stuck with me, that pull me back into them again and again, that give me that sense of magic and wonder that I look for when I go to the movies.

In many ways 2018 was also ground breaking. The biggest movie of the year was a film which featured a non-white, not-American, superhero who fought colonialism more than any traditional villain. We got a good Transformers movie and a kick-ass Aquaman movie, two things I never thought I’d see. We got the best Spider-man film we’ve ever seen. Women-lead films once again out performed men-lead films. Some of the year’s best films were not released in cinemas at all as we took our biggest step towards watching movies through new mediums. 2018 overall offered a lot for film lovers.

But in 2018 it was the following films which truly touched me, which I have returned to again and again and enjoyed more and more. For me these are the ones I will remember as being the films I most enjoyed in 2018. In no particular order…

If Beale Street Could Talk

A film that paints one of the most beautiful portraits of love and family I have ever seen. Writer/director Barry Jenkins takes the gorgeous work of James Baldwin, puts it into the mouths of an incredible cast, and makes a movie that is a true thing of beauty.

Blindspotting

This deeply personal film seizes the moment where much of the nation is waking up to the reality of state violence against people of colour and tells a very human story of connection and friendship in such a country. From Daveed Diggs and Fafael Casal, this touching, powerful, topical, and beautiful film about friendship in racist America is a treasure. The film makers’ personal relationship brings such gravitas to all we see in this story and avoids the kind of predictable end we would expect from a lesser film.

Roma

One of my favourite directors, Alfonso Cuaron, has made his most personal film, from his memories of growing in up Mexico City. It is also a gorgeous treat for the eyes and heart. Beautifully black and white, evoking the classic feeling of “the silver screen,” Roma is true monument to love beyond the ways it is traditionally structured, and is also a truly beautiful film to watch.

Thoroughbreds

Can we empathize with someone who has no empathy? That is the experiment that is the most quietly disturbing film of the year. We are made to care when we don’t think we should, as is Lily who has to face up to her own terribleness. Thoroughbreds is about looking at the ways we construct and justify evil. And the ways we can see the humanity of those we call inhuman. It is difficult and uncomfortable and fascinating. Also it is the final film by a talented actor (Anton Yelchin) whose time was cut too short and a showcase for two up and coming actors (Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy) who have so much potential.

Widows

Another of my favourite directors, Steve McQueen, has made one of the best caper films I’ve seen in a long time. At the same time he’s also filled it with the kind of pathos and gut wrenching drama one usually sees in different genres. His cast is a team of some of the best actors working today and they give some of the best performances of the year. What makes Widows so great is how much it focuses on the people in it and not just the scheme. It is about the human interactions and the moral grayness of survival, all of this amongst all the high adrenaline action.

A Wrinkle in Time

Director Ava Duverny shows us just what an auteur she is by making an art film for the whole family. She crafted something more than just what one would expect, growing the source material into something even more transcendent than it was before. Her A Wrinkle in Time is gorgeous and emotional and subversive and radical. And all of us, those who are kids now and those who still have that child within us, will be inspired by this film to see movies in a way we hadn’t before.

Bad Times at the El Royale

This is the sort of clever, fun, raucous story telling that makes going to the movies fun. Drew Goddard has taken the twisted mystery, in depth character building, smart funny dialogue, and topsy turvy story telling style of a Tarantino and imbued it all with a true heart. During this, one of the most fun movies I saw all year, I couldn’t stop looking at how beautiful it was, how amazing the performances were (hello Cynthia Erivo!!), and how much I just wanted to see what happened next. El Royale is a “page-turner” of a movie. It never falls into the trap of jumping the shark, always maintaining its perfect pitch. 

 

A Quiet Place

Good horror is a rare treat and this film takes tension and ratchets it up to the maximum. But, like the best horror, the film isn’t about monsters listening for us. It is an exploration of the truly terrifying experience of being a parent, raising children in this world we live in. While other horror films this year relied on gimmicks but skimped on meaning, A Quiet Place is filled with strong performances and a smart writing, becoming something more than just its gimmicky premise. It becomes a treatise on a kind of love that is overwhelming.

Lean on Pete

Film maker Andrew Haige has taken the genre of a kid and his pet to a completely different level, transcending that sort of a story to examine the desperation of neglect and loneliness. Beautiful and poignant while being tragic and quietly inspirational, Lean on Pete is a showcase for newcomer Charlie Plummer and for anyone ready for a sensitive and smart weeper.

It took me a while to decide which of these was my favourite. But I kept coming back to one, a film which moved me more than all the rest, that shook me to my core, that taught me, that inspired me. It is a film of great importance and significance to the people of Canada, and a film that is made so beautifully and so powerfully that it also stands as a work of art as well. Truly any of the above films could have been my favourite this year but there was something so urgent and impactful about this one that made me choose it over the rest.

 

Indian Horse

Reckoning with true reconciliation means facing the horrors of the residential school system and this film does so in a truly thoughtful and meaningful way. Blending what Canadians see as the best of themselves (hockey) with their worst (our racist colonial past) Indian Horse creates a story that is essentially Canadian and powerfully told.  Based on Richard Wagamese’s fiction novel the story is steeped in more truth than most “true stories.” The strong cast commits themselves to tell what is becoming recognized as the quintessential Canadian story, one that we all need to embrace. Powerful, moving, loving, transformative. The more I think about this film, the more I know that of all the films I saw in 2018 this one will be the one I sit with, return to, and truly experience again and again. This isn’t the film I imagined would end up as my favourite of the year, but I continue to revisit it and it is the film I most recommend from 2018 that everyone watch. 

If, 12 months ago, you told me I'd pick a film about hockey as my favourite film of the year I'd have laughed in your face. Never say never I guess...

But I can't stress enough just how many great films there were this year. I enjoyed dramas like Ben is Back, The Children's Act, Colette, Creed II, Disobedience, Don't Worry He Won't Get Far on Foot,  Eighth Grade, Endless, Green Book, The Hate U Give, Hold the Dark, I Kill Giants, Leave No Trace, Love Simon, Mid90s, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, The Old Man and the Gun, The Other Side of the Wind, Tully, Vice, White Boy Rick, and You Were Never Really Here.

These funny films made me laugh; Can You Ever Forgive Me?, The Death of Stalin, Dog Days (yes I know...), Dumplin',The Favourite, Freakshow, Leisure Seeker, Mamma Mia Here We Go Again!, Ocean's 8, The Party, Ralph Breaks the Internet, The Sisters Brothers, Sorry to Bother You, Support the Girls, and Teen Titans Go to the Movies!

And I learned something from these documentaries; Fahrenheit 11/9, RBG, and Won't You Be My Neighbor?

And it was a fun year for blockbuster action films and scary movies like Annihilation, Aquaman, Black Panther, Bumblebee, Deadpool 2 and Once Upon a Deadpool, The Girl in the Spider's Web, Mary Poppins Returns, Mission Impossible Fallout, Mohawk, The Night Comes For Us, The Night Eats the World, Overlord, The Ritual, Spider-man Into the Spiderverse, Searching, Solo, Summer of '84, and Venom.

Each year there are films I enjoyed which I felt was unfairly maligned and this year it was The Cloverfield Paradox, Hotel Artemis, and Ready Player One.   

So with all of that I can say once again I loved being in love with movies and I can't wait to see what 2019 holds in store.

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

I think the things that struck me right off the bat while watching If Beale Street Could Talk, the thing that brought a tear to my eye, and made me sink deeply into my seat so I could sit back and take in every beautiful thing about this film, was how writer/director Barry Jenkins crafted his Rivers family. A mother, her two daughters, and her husband, the way they came to live, interdependently, and created a sense of love and togetherness which we don't always see in stories like this, stories about people pushed to the margins. The Rivers were a strong, beautiful, and loving people who no matter what happened were going to be there for each other. It is immediately evident and a thing of such powerful beauty I couldn't look away.

And it spoke to what made this film such a rich experience for me. It spoke to the dream is was weaving, a dream which for so many is elusive, but for many other lucky people is how they experience the world. Jenkins through Baldwin's story, is painting a portrait of love. And for many marginalized communities it is a portrait that is so desperately needed.

Jenkins paints a picture of two families, one held up in respect and true partnership and the other broken by anger and violence. Tish's family is strong due to their mutual support and love of of another, their ability to let each be as strong and unique as they can be. And it is through this unconditional love and unwavering support she is able to find on her own terms a lover who respects her in the same way, not compromising for something less. No matter than she lives in a world that tries to cut her down at every opportunity, she has everything she could need. This is a story of resilience.

Beale Street ends up being so many things in addition. It is a gorgeous film that no other film maker would have pulled off in the way Jenkins did. It is a sharp examination of how black men, and their families/communities are treated, valued, and abused in America. It is a poetry in motions as Baldwin's writing comes to vivid life, is spoken eloquently by a stellar cast. It is a film which just shook me as I watched it. But mostly it is this ode to love overcoming the worst.

Nicholas Britell's score is a magnificent thing of beauty, equal to the film Jenkins has made. His melodies are heartbreakingly beautiful and reflective of the power of the story. The theme entitled Agape is an attempt to capture "the highest form of love" and it does so lovingly.

And it made me reflect on what it is like to know this sort of love, to know you have the people around you who will take care of you forever, and who you get to care for. Beale Street is about the belief in this love. And it is remarkably beautiful.

If Beale Street Could Talk
Starring: Kiki Layne, Stephen James, Regina King, Teyonah Paris, Coleman Domingo, Brian Tyree Henry, Diego Luna, Ed Skrein, Emily Carla Rios, Pedro Pascal, Dave Franco
Writer/Director: Barry Jenkins

Second Act (2018)

Most movies get adoption issues wrong. Second Act is one of those which messes it up completely. The film otherwise would have been a B-rate in the acting, writing, direction pretty much everything. But it's treatment of the issue of adoption sealed the deal for me. That paired with it's anti-intellectualism strain made it almost impossible to enjoy.

I say almost because there were moments I found myself laughing at certain jokes. Mostly this happened when co-star Leah Remini was on screen. The rest of the time the formulaic tone as well as the film's ethical missteps just make it a disaster.

Second Act felt like the sort of film that would have been a bigger hit in the 90s when these sorts of gimmicky formula rom-coms got more traction. But, as Maya Angelou says when you know better you do better, and we know a whole lot better now. Wild coincidences, overt generalizations, stock characters, and cliches just don't make for a fun time at the movies anymore.

Second Act
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Vanessa Hudgens, Leah Remini, Annaaleigh Ashford, Milo Vetimiglia, Treat Williams
Director: Peter Segal
Writers: Justin Zackham, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas