Items25The creator’s order
  1. 1Roma (2018)Roma (2018) 7.6/10 on IMDbReleased 21 Nov 2018Alfonso Cuarón builds a household's life from sounds, routines and spaces that extend beyond the main action. Yalitza Aparicio's restrained performance gives the domestic worker at its centre a presence the family too often takes for granted. The sweeping black-and-white images are most powerful…0
  2. 2Burning (2018)Burning (2018) 7.4/10 on IMDbReleased 17 May 2018Lee Chang-dong lets a young man's unease grow around a friendship, a possible romance and a wealthy acquaintance whose confidence seems impossible to read. Details accumulate without settling into proof. Its slow pace is essential to the mystery: the film makes suspicion feel like a way of seeing…0
  3. 3Shoplifters (2018)Shoplifters (2018) 7.9/10 on IMDbReleased 2 Jun 2018Hirokazu Kore-eda lets a household formed outside conventional family structures become warm, funny and materially specific before testing the terms of its belonging. Lily Franky, Sakura Ando and the children avoid easy sentiment. The final changes of perspective make this far more than a…0
  4. 4The Favourite (2018)The Favourite (2018) 7.5/10 on IMDbReleased 23 Nov 2018Yorgos Lanthimos turns the court of Queen Anne into a vicious comedy of dependency and access. Olivia Colman makes power and pain inseparable, while Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone give the rivalry wonderfully different temperatures. Wide-angle distortion and abrupt changes of tone keep the period…0
  5. 5Cold War (2018)Cold War (2018) 7.5/10 on IMDbReleased 8 Jun 2018Paweł Pawlikowski compresses a turbulent love affair into sharp black-and-white episodes divided by borders and missing years. Joanna Kulig's singing provides continuity when the relationship cannot. Its brevity gives the romance a bruising intensity, with political history felt through the…0
  6. 6If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) 7.1/10 on IMDbReleased 14 Dec 2018Barry Jenkins translates James Baldwin through faces, colour and the trust between a young couple whose future is threatened by a racist accusation. The family conversations have as much force as the romance. Nicholas Britell's score and the tender close-ups create beauty without pretending that…0
  7. 7Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) 8.4/10 on IMDbReleased 6 Dec 2018The animation lets comic-book print, graffiti, hand-drawn energy and digital movement coexist without turning into visual noise. Miles Morales's uncertainty about becoming Spider-Man gives the stylistic invention an emotional purpose. A superhero film whose argument about finding your own rhythm is…0
  8. 8An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)An Elephant Sitting Still (2018) 7.8/10 on IMDbReleased 14 Dec 2018Hu Bo follows several lives through a bleak northern Chinese city using extended takes that make escape feel physically difficult. The nearly four-hour commitment matters, and the despair is considerable. Small acts of solidarity keep it from becoming merely punishing, making this one of the year's…0
  9. 9Happy as Lazzaro (2018)Happy as Lazzaro (2018) 7.5/10 on IMDbReleased 31 May 2018Alice Rohrwacher begins with a rural community whose working arrangements conceal exploitation, then lets the story make an extraordinary leap. Adriano Tardiolo's guileless Lazzaro remains the film's moral centre as the setting changes around him. Its fable-like logic offers a perspective on labour…0
  10. 10Capernaum (2018)Capernaum (2018) 8.4/10 on IMDbReleased 20 Sept 2018Nadine Labaki gives a child's desperate survival in Beirut the shape of an accusation against the adults and institutions around him. Zain Al Rafeea's presence is extraordinary. The film pushes hard on the viewer's emotions, but the concrete details of work, shelter and improvised care prevent its…0