One of the best-curated year-end lists every year comes from the long-running Film Comment magazine and their poll featuring around 100 of their contributors. This year’s list is no different, topped by Lucrecia Martel’s astounding Zama (now on Amazon Prime!) and also featuring Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind, Valeska Grisebach’s Western, Claire Denis’ Let the Sunshine In, Andrew Bujalski’s Support the Girls, and more.
Along with their top 20, they also give a list of the best undistributed films of the year, from Mariano Llinás’s 14-hour epic La Flor to Jodie Mack’s gorgeous feature debut The Grand Bizarre to new films from Carlos Reygadas, Tsai Ming-liang, Lav Diaz, Roberto Minervini, and more. So, distributors take note, and check out both lists below.
Film Comment’s Top 20 Films Released in 2018:
1. Zama Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/Brazil/Spain
2. Burning Lee Chang-dong, South Korea
3. First Reformed Paul Schrader, USA
4. ROMA Alfonso Cuarón, Mexico
5. Western Valeska Grisebach, Germany/Bulgaria
6. Shoplifters Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan
7. Let the Sunshine In Claire Denis, France
8. The Other Side of the Wind Orson Welles, USA
9. Happy as Lazzaro Alice Rohrwacher, Italy
10. Hale County This Morning, This Evening RaMell Ross, USA
11. Sorry to Bother You Boots Riley, USA
12. If Beale Street Could Talk Barry Jenkins, USA
13. The Rider Chloé Zhao, USA
14. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Joel & Ethan Coen, USA
15. Support the Girls Andrew Bujalski, USA
16. You Were Never Really Here Lynne Ramsay, UK/France/USA
17. Monrovia, Indiana Frederick Wiseman, USA
18. Personal Problems Bill Gunn, USA
19. The Favourite Yorgos Lanthimos, Ireland/UK/USA
20. BlacKkKlansman Spike Lee, USA
Film Comment’s Top 20 Unreleased Films of 2018:
1. What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire? Roberto Minervini, Italy/USA/France
2. La Flor Mariano Llinás, Argentina
3. Black Mother Khalik Allah, USA
4. A Family Tour Ying Liang, Taiwan/Hong Kong/Singapore/Malaysia
5. Feast of the Epiphany Michael Koresky, Jeff Reichert & Farihah Zaman, USA
6. América Claus Drexel, France
7. Donbass Sergei Loznitsa, Germany/Ukraine/France/Netherlands/Romania
8. The Grand Bizarre Jodie Mack, USA
9. Your Face Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan
10. Casanova Gene Luise Donschen, Germany
11. Shakedown Leilah Weinraub, USA
12. The Task Leigh Ledare, USA
13. Sophia Antipolis Virgil Vernier, France
14. Second Time Around Dora García, Belgium/Norway
15. Manta Ray Phuttipong Aroonpheng, Thailand/France/China
16. Flight of a Bullet Beata Bubenets, Russia/Latvia
17. Our Time Carlos Reygadas, Mexico/France/Germany/Denmark/Sweden
18. Reason Anand Patwardhan, India
19. Season of the Devil Lav Diaz, Philippines
20. A Wild Stream Nuria Ibáñez Castañeda, Mexico
See more at Film Comment’s site.