Hey all. Long time no read. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to update this blog as much as I planned to. I have several essays in the works, though I couldn’t say when they will materialize. Nevertheless, I’m back for a quick post about my favorite films of 2018 and some recommendations, and I’ll also lay down my predictions for tomorrow’s sure-to-be-interesting Academy Awards.
Let’s start with my favorite films of 2018. Strangely, there weren’t as many films this year I was interested in seeing, so I didn’t go out to the theater as much as the previous year. 2018 ended up as the year I began to dive into films from the past and films from other countries.
That being said, there were some gems in 2018, so let’s talk about them.
Shoplifters depicts the lives of a poor family in Japan relying on odd jobs, pension plans, and–yep–shoplifting in order to make ends meet. One night, they decide to take in a young girl who was abandoned by her parents. All seems well, until their lives take a sharp turn that threatens to separate the family.
Probably my number one favorite of the year, this is the one film that I couldn’t keep out of my mind for weeks after I saw it. This is one of the few movies that I wanted to rewatch immediately after the credits rolled. The “sharp turn” is not a “twist” in the typical sense–it is revealed in slow motion over the course of the movie instead of in a single moment at the end, but when I realized it, it hit me like a crowbar into a windshield.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse tells the story of Miles Morales, a typical teenager just trying to survive adolescence. …Until he gets bitten by a radioactive spider and spun up in a plot involving supervillains, interdimensional portals, and various spider-heroes. The worst thing is, he’s suddenly expected to take on the mantle of everyone’s beloved hero, Spider-Man.
This is simply and truly the most unique American animated feature film in decades. This is not the same generic, 3D/CG-animated, Pixar-imitating family film that we’ve seen over and over and over again in American cinemas for the entirety of the 2000s and 2010s. Nope. Fusing together traditional 2D animation with modern CG animation techniques for a unique comic-book-style effect, I feel confident in saying that Spider-Verse will represent a paradigm-shift in the U.S. animation industry the likes of which we haven’t seen since Toy Story blew us away with the world’s first fully CGI animation feature film. Plus, it has a relatable, well-told story with a beautiful character arc for its protagonist Miles Morales, and it’s set amid what should be way too many characters and storylines, yet it magically makes it all work and feel perfectly focused.
Roma Cleo Gutiérrez is a housemaid working in Mexico City, employed by a single mother and her four children. Set amid the Mexican “Dirty” War of the 1970s and filmed in black-and-white.
Surely, a black-and-white, slow-moving, minimal-plot, slice-of-life foreign language film (yes, you have to read subtitles) would be a bore, but I found Roma to be very touching. Well, maybe touching isn’t the right word, but I don’t think I could’ve possibly felt any closer to the main character. I will never forget the unbelievable cinematography and the seemingly impossible long-takes coordinating hundreds upon hundreds of extras at a time. I also followed it and enjoyed it much more than the other highly-acclaimed black-and-white, slow-moving, minimal-plot, slice-of-life foreign language film this year.
Burning Based on the short story “Barn Burning” by the brilliant novelist Haruki Murakami, we follow a young aspiring writer as he solves the mystery of the love of his life, who went missing after she began hanging around a suspicious rich dude played by that guy in the Walking Dead. To make matters stranger, the rich dude doesn’t seem to have a job–just a strange hobby: burning down abandoned greenhouses.
Despite the fact that the major conflict doesn’t start until more than halfway into the movie, I was enthralled the whole way through. The relaxingly slow buildup and slightly unsettling atmosphere that permeates the entire story is what I live for. And the trail of breadcrumbs this movie leaves you is so ripe for discussion, especially because the “resolution”–if you could call it that–is so deliciously ambiguous.
Crazy Rich Asians Humble Asian-American girl Rachel Chu gets invited to her boyfriend Nick’s best friend’s wedding in Singapore. Little does she know, Nick and his friend belong to some of the wealthiest families in Asia.
An Asian-American enjoying and relating to this movie probably isn’t a surprise. But I went in actually not expecting much; I mean, it just looked like a generic rom-com (except with Asians, Asians everywhere). By the end, I found myself thoroughly surprised–I laughed a bunch, felt attached to the characters and their stories, and all the Asian references I picked up on made me feel like I was part of an exclusive club. It was just a good time at the movies.
Mirai Young Kun learns that he is getting a baby sister named Mirai. He is excited at first, but gets frustrated when his parents start to give her more attention than him. Then, he finds a magic portal in the garden that brings him to a grown up version of Mirai. Kun and Mirai go on an adventure to meet their other relatives from the past, present, and the future.
You know you’ve watched a movie at the right time when you realize it is touching on ideas that have been floating around your head. Have you ever stopped to think about what your parents might’ve been like at your age? You really only know your parents as your parents, but they weren’t always your parents, right? Also, what if you could meet your descendants right now? What if they could see you right now; what would they think? These are the kinds of things that floated around my head before I saw this movie, and so it is to blame for those things now becoming permanent fixtures. Otherwise, it’s a very charming movie with cute visuals and director Mamoru Hosoda’s typical warmth.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly When King Vegeta exiled Paragus’ ridiculously powerful baby son Broly to a barely habitable planet due to jealousy, Paragus swore revenge. Now all these years later, his son’s training will be tested when he faces off against Earth’s mightiest heroes, Prince Vegeta and Son Goku, in a fight instigated by a similarly vengeful Frieza.
This movie offers the best anime fight scene ever put to screen, period. From the choreography, to the camera movements, to the effects; and especially the crisp hand-drawn animation, I’ve honestly not seen anything better. (Though nothing can match the pure ridiculousness, outrageousness, and self-awareness of the fight in Kizumonogatari Part 3.)
…And here are some other films that stood out out me this year.
Modest Heroes This is a compilation of three short films by Studio Ghibli’s successor, Studio Ponoc: The first one, Kanini & Kanino, storywise I didn’t find it very impactful, but it has beautiful Ghibli-like visuals and some unique ideas at play. Number two, Life Ain’t Gonna Lose, deals with a really interesting topic that I have never seen explored in film — that of a boy with a life-threatening allergy and how it affects his and his mother’s life — and pairs it with a striking pastel art style. The third film, Invisible, is a depressingly relatable story about a literally invisible man who feels invisible to the people around him. Also stunning animation and a lot of clever ideas. Shows you don’t need to draw a face (or even a body) to depict a character’s emotions.
Free Solo A documentary about rock climber Alex Honnold, and his challenge to himself to free solo–that is, climbing without ropes or harnesses–the 3000-foot shear face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. We see how he prepares, what the people around him think of this challenge, and of course; the epic climb itself captured on camera.
One reason I love movies is that they have the ability, through just visuals and audio, to elicit physical and emotional reactions from me. Having said that, I never thought a film would be able to make my hands sweat like this one. I’m sure everyone who saw this movie had damp hands walking out. Got dry hands? No problem! Just watch Free Solo. And see it on the big screen if possible.
Hereditary Strange things begin to happen to miniature artist Annie Graham and her family after the funeral of her taciturn mother.
This movie disturbed the living hell out of me in a way I wasn’t anticipating and I am impressed by that and I never want to watch it again.
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch A young game designer begins work on a game based on the choose-your-own-adventure novel Bandersnatch, the author of which went insane and murdered his wife. The young man starts to see his life turn upside-down in this unique attempt for Netflix of an interactive movie where viewers make the choices…or do they?
As someone with no experience with either Black Mirror or choose-your-own-adventure books or visual novels, I had a fun time trying over and over to get the “true” ending… because I thought I kept getting failed endings…..then I looked it up and realized I got the best ending on my first go-through. The story and the exploration of the themes are really interesting and entertaining, but none of the endings feel satisfactory.
The Favourite Two conniving women fight for the attention and power of the childlike and emotional Queen Anne.
If director Yorgos Lanthimos is on board, sign me up. That being said, this film is a lot less Lanthimos-y than The lobster and Killing of a Sacred Deer, probably due to his not collaborating on the screenplay. But, hey, it still is full of his unique camerawork, trademark directorial style, and witty performances, so I still had a fun time.
First Man A biopic about Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 moon landing.
While I’m usually down for anything involving astronomy and space travel, this movie felt slow even for me, and the beautiful but dizzying camerawork didn’t exactly help. On the upside, the visual effects work is actually phenomenal, especially throughout the entire Apollo 11 mission sequence. Legitimately I could not tell at any point if what I was looking at was real archived footage, practical effects, practical sets & props, green screen, or computer-generated imagery. Of course, it was probably a combination of all of the above, but it looks like real, actual footage.
Wreck it Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet Sugar Rush breaks down, and the only way for the arcade denizens to bring it back is for Ralph and Vanellope to go on a trip to the internet–specifically eBay, to find a spare part–before Vanellope finds what may be her true calling.
Again, just a fun time at the movies. Ralph Breaks the Internet was funnier and more clever than I expected, from beginning to end. Though the third act is a bit been there done that, Vanellope steals the show in the second act with the greatest musical number in Disney history.
Now let’s talk Oscars. This year is a little weird for me, as several of the films nominated this year didn’t really catch my interest, so I feel like I have lot less stake in this year’s winners. The award ceremony itself also just seems like a straight-up disaster this year, too; but that actually makes me more excited to see how it turns out. Here are my predictions! (Updated last on February 23, 2019)
BEST PICTURE Roma
DIRECTOR Roma
LEAD ACTRESS Glenn Close
LEAD ACTOR Rami Malek
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Regina King
SUPPORTING ACTOR Mahershala Ali
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Green Book
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY BlacKkKlansman
ANIMATED FEATURE Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
DOCUMENTARY Free Solo
FOREIGN FILM Roma
ORIGINAL SCORE If Beale Street Could Talk
ORIGINAL SONG “Shallow”
SOUND EDITING Bohemian Rhapsody
SOUND MIXING Bohemian Rhapsody
MAKEUP/HAIR Vice
COSTUME DESIGN Black Panther
CINEMATOGRAPHY Roma
PRODUCTION DESIGN The Favourite
FILM EDITING Bohemian Rhapsody
VISUAL EFFECTS Avengers: Infinity War
DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT Black Sheep
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM Marguerite
ANIMATED SHORT FILM Bao
Update 2/24/2019, Post Oscars: 17 out of 24! Slightly worse than last year, but I also did massively less research this year. Haha, not bad.
My Huang Opinion 