Sometimes the best films of the year still have trouble finding an audience. For whatever reason—be it marketing or tough subject matter or just lacking an easily explainable hook—these movies struggle to do well at the box office regardless of their quality. It’s easy to tell people “Go seeBlack PantherandA Star Is Born!” and likely here, “I did!” Those films are certainly worth your time, but there are movies that flew under the radar in 2018 that you should make it a point to see in the weeks and months ahead if possible. The upside of the first quarter of the year being generally slow when it comes to worthwhile releases is that it gives you a chance to play catch-up, so find some times for these twenty films you may have missed in 2018.
You Were Never Really Here
Lynne Ramsayis something of a cinematic wizard, with one of the most profound eyes for detail in the history of filmmaking. InWe Need to Talk About Kevin, Ramsay transformed tomatoes into trauma with her singular eye for imagery, and inYou Were Never Really Here, she translates moments of intimacy and vulnerability into pulverizing emotional violence through her portrait of a fragmented man in crisis. On a basic level,You Were Never Really Hereis aboutJoaquin Phoenix’s Joe, a child born into a violent home who found violence again as a soldier at war and leaned into it as a lifestyle when he returned home to become a fixer who tracks down kidnapped girls for a living. Ramsay shows us the moment all that violence comes to a head, when Joe takes on a case that leads him to a conspiracy, but You Were Never Really here has no interest in far-reaching plots of political intruigue, it’s about every blow that Joe gives and receives in this transformative moment of his life. Phoenix has never been better, Ramsay’s return was worth the wait, and in total,You Were Never Really Hereis on of the most shattering, raw and human films of the year. —Haleigh Foutch
First Reformed
First Reformedis not an easy movie by any stretch, but it is one of the best movies of the year.Paul Schrader’s meditation on faith and despair follows a priest (Ethan Hawke) of a small congregation who is begins falling further into hopelessness as he attempts to council a pregnant wife (Amanda Seyfried) and her activist husband (Philip Ettinger).
Schrader allows the audience to sink into the despair with its priest, but it’s never a punishing experience. Rather than attempt to emotionally eviscerate the audience with bleakness,First Reformedis almost a conversation with the elements that cause despair from global warming to institutions of faith that seem more designed for profit than for spiritual care. And yet despite its lofty ambitions, it’s never preachy or overbearing.First Reformedcan be dark and disturbing, but there’s still light in the darkness. –Matt Goldberg
Sorry to Bother You
If you knowBoots Riley, you knew you were in for something special and one-of-a-kind with his first film,Sorry to Bother You, but damn, this movie turned out weirder and wilder than anyone could have expected. An intentionally ridiculous but always pointed investigation of race, corporate culture and capitalism in America,Sorry to Bother You isa relentless demonstration of vision and humor that crackles with invention. This is an unusual movie, y’all. Some of you will straight-up dislike it. But ifSorry to Bother Youis on your frequency, it’s one of the most exciting and surprising movies of the year that embeds wicked satire in surrealism and science fiction, with two dynamite performances fromLakeith StanfieldandTessa Thompson.Sorry to Bother Youmay not ultimately be your cup of tea, but you’re better off if you drink it up, because there’s nothing else like it out there and if it’s to your taste, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime flash of genius. —Haleigh Foutch
Hereditary
If you’re in the mood for a horror film that will terrify you on a deep level,Hereditaryis your jam. The feature debut from writer/directorAri Asterhails from A24, and it’s very much in the vein of that studio’s other critically hailed horror picThe Witchin that it uses the horror genre as a vehicle to tackle other issues.Toni Colletteplays a woman whose somewhat-estranged mother has just died, and whose family begins to unravel as strange happenings start to occur. At heart,Hereditaryis a family drama. A supremely dark family drama, but a family drama nonetheless. It’s certainly scary, and there’sdefinitelya horror element, but cinephiles will be delighted to find that this is a handsomely crafted film full-stop with striking cinematography and awards-worthy performances. Just don’t go in expecting a feel-good experience… –Adam Chitwood
Anna and the Apocalypse
What’s not to love about a zombie apocalypse Christmas teenage musical? Especially when it’s as well-done as this one.Anna and the Apocalypsehas been making the festival rounds since it debuted at Fantastic Fest last year, wracking up good reviews and audience buzz (and lots of tweets about not being able to get the songs out of your head.) And for good reason,Anna and the Apocalypseis a delightful Christmas horror, with some of the catchiest songs you’ll hear this year and plenty of zombie action for the gore-loving crowd. Christmas spirit and carnage have long made for fine bedfellows in film, but they’ve rarely been so downright blissful. -Haleigh Foutch
Even if you’re not an Elvis fan,The Kingis worth watching to understand his place not only in American history, but how that history intersects with Elvis. When the film is focused on the trajectory of his life and career, it’s incredibly insightful, willing to invite conflicting viewpoints, and letting the audience figure out their own feelings on Elvis’ music and legacy. When directorEugene Jareckiexpands his view to try and turn Elvis into a metaphor for America, the documentary becomes a bit more unwieldy, trying to find pat answers and comparison when the breadth and diversity of America make that nearly impossible through a single figure. The metaphor is at its most apt when it looks at Elvis through the lens of the American Myth/Dream and how he embodies both the best and worst that myth/dream has to offer. –Matt Goldberg
From the feedback I’ve been getting, a lot of you missedSuspiriabecause it wasn’t playing anywhere by you… which is one hell of a drag, becauseLuca Guadanino’s reimagining of the seminalDario Argentoclassic is one of the most special movies of the year. But patience pays off and the film arrives on digital, DVD, and Blu-ray in January, and it’s well worth the wait. Guadagnino transformed Argento’s style-over-substance masterpiece into a new masterpiece all its own; a haunting and unyielding meditation on psychology, generational conflict, fascism and art.Tilda SwintonandDakota Johnsonare perfection, Guadagnino is firing on all cylinders (as are his below-the-line team,) andSuspiriais ultimately one of the best movies of the year, not just in horror, but across the board. —Haleigh Foutch
Three Identical Strangers
WatchingThree Identical Strangersis genuinely one of the most memorable viewing experiences I’ve ever had. This is one of those documentaries that’s better if you know as little going in as possible, but here’s the brief setup: Three 19-year-old men in 1980 discover that they are actually triplets separated at birth. Twists and turns ensue (boy do they), but if you’re at all interested in the “nature vs. nurture” debate, this is an easy must-see as these men were each raised in wildly different households. DirectorTim Wardlebrilliantly chronicles this experience in a way that feels organic but also cinematic, as the story begins with the tone of aFast Times at Ridgemont High-like teen comedy before shifting into something much darker and more sinister. Steer clear of spoilers and see this one ASAP. –Adam Chitwood
My nominee for the most criminally under-watched movie of the year,Unsaneis one of those films everyone seemed to care about right until it landed in theaters. There was some natural interest based on the talent and the gimmick —Steven Soderberghshot a movie on an iPhone starring the girl fromThe Crown! — butUnsaneis so much more than a weird experiment from the famously eclectic filmmaker.Claire Foystars in a bracing and unrelenting performance as Sawyer Valenti, a woman forced to relocate and rebuild her life after falling victim to a stalker. But once she’s in her new home, she starts seeing him everywhere, and a quick trip to a therapist turns into a forced stay at a mental institution after she’s committed against her will.
Soderbergh makes the iPhone-shot film look impossibly good, using the intimacy and strange angles to heighten the ever-growing sense of anxiety, and for anyone who doubted the filmmaker was going to go the distance with his psychological horror, nope — this one gets brutal in the third act. Soderbergh has a lot to say too, tackling the perversions of a capitalistic mental health care system and digging into deep-seated, toxic gender dynamics. It’s a fascinating, truly wonderful and weird little film with some of the best, most sickening use of anxiety and dread in film all year.
Teen Titans Go! to the Movies
Think ofTeen Titans Go! To the Moviesas a family friendly version ofDeadpool. It’s as meta and self-aware as the R-rated superhero movie, and it’s just as hilarious. The film follows the Teen Titans—Robin, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg—who are on a quest to get their own movies so that they’ll be taken seriously as superheroes. When they’re rebuffed, they figure that to get a movie, they’ll need an archnemesis, so they settle on Slade, but have more misadventures along the way as they try to make it to the big screen. The movie is consistently hilarious with some surprising bits of dark comedy that will likely fly over the heads of younger viewers. –Matt Goldberg
