Zachary Zahos is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Communication Arts at UW Madison. He is Project Assistant and a Programmer for the UW Cinematheque and the Wisconsin Film Festival.

In 2018, I saw 145 new feature films. By “new,” I mean that these films either a) played in Madison over the past year or b) are at least now available on popular SVOD services like Netflix, Prime Video, and Hulu after 2018 theatrical runs in larger cities like New York. Of these 145, the following ten are the ones that have stayed with me most:

1. 24 FRAMES (Abbas Kiarostami)

2. WESTERN (Valeska Grisebach)

3. THE DAY AFTER (Hong Sang-soo)

4. ROMA (Alfonso Cuarón)

5. SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman)

6. EL MAR LA MAR (Joshua Bonnetta and J.P. Sniadecki)

7. JEANNETTE: THE CHILDHOOD OF JOAN OF ARC (Bruno Dumont)

8. FIRST MAN (Damien Chazelle)

9. ISMAEL’S GHOSTS (Arnaud Desplechin) 

10. LET THE SUNSHINE IN (Claire Denis)

This past year, I also saw 244 older movies for the first time, many of them at the UW-Cinematheque. The following ten are my favorite “new-to-me” older films, masterpieces all:

1. THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1979)
2. FLOATING CLOUDS (Mikio Naruse, 1955)
3. FAR FROM HEAVEN (Todd Haynes, 2002)
4. THE TREE, THE MAYOR, AND THE MEDIATHEQUE (Eric Rohmer, 1993)
5. T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G (Paul Sharits, 1969)
6. THE SMALL BACK ROOM (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1949)
7. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY (Catherine Breillat, 2010)
8. A FAREWELL TO ARMS (Frank Borzage, 1932)
9. NIGHT AND DAY (Hong Sang-soo, 2008)
10. ELEPHANT (Alan Clarke, 1989)

Finally, I would like to share two more lists, both of which highlight some of the memorable acting committed to screen in 2018. The first are 15 favorite lead performances, in rough order of preference:

Lady Gaga, A STAR IS BORN
Regina Hall, SUPPORT THE GIRLS
Ethan Hawke, FIRST REFORMED
Juliette Binoche, LET THE SUNSHINE IN
Kim Min-hee, THE DAY AFTER
Helena Howard, MADELINE’S MADELINE
Leslie Mann, BLOCKERS
Thomasin McKenzie, LEAVE NO TRACE
Meinhard Neumann, WESTERN
Isabelle Huppert, MRS. HYDE
Melissa McCarthy, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
Sakura Ando, SHOPLIFTERS
Yalitza Aparicio, ROMA
Sarah Silverman, RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET
John David Washington, BLACKKKLANSMAN

And, 15 favorite supporting performances:

Zoe Kazan, THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS
Jesse Plemons, GAME NIGHT
Hugh Grant, PADDINGTON 2
Dolly Wells, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
Geraldine Viswanathan, BLOCKERS
Danai Gurira, BLACK PANTHER
Brian Tyree Henry, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
Olivia Colman, THE FAVOURITE
Cedric Kyles, FIRST REFORMED
Marina De Tavira, ROMA
Marion Cotillard, ISMAEL’S GHOSTS
Adda Senani, MRS. HYDE
Miranda July, MADELINE’S MADELINE
Alex Wolff, HEREDITARY
Jennifer Garner, LOVE SIMON