As the cinematic year draws to a close, today on VanRamblings — given that it’s American Thanksgiving — we take a fond look back at 2018 and some of the movie-related innovations we have to be thankful for this year.
As we’ve written previously, 2018 marked the year of the return of the romantic comedy — not at the cinema, but on Netflix, where mid-budget smash hits like To All the Boys I’ve Loved and The Kissing Booth, both mid-budget teen romantic comedies, gained massive followings on social media, while re-establishing the rom-com as a genre that should not be underestimated. Good on Netflix for reviving this near forgotten genre.
Far and away the strongest and most affecting independent film of 2018, director Debra Granik’s first outing since 2010’s multiple Oscar award nominee, Winter’s Bone (in which Jennifer Lawrence made her début, gaining a Best Actress Oscar nomination), Leave No Trace tracks a father and daughter living precariously off the grid, introducing us to an incandescent 17-year-old Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, who lives a tranquil life sheltered with her loving, PTSD suffering father, Ben Foster, in an urban Oregon woodland, in perfect harmony with one another, despite all. Uncompromising, authentic, raw, heartbreaking, brilliant, haunting, full of grace, and riveting throughout, Leave No Trace is a multiple Gotham and Independent Spirit Award nominee — including Best Actor, Supporting Actress, Director and Feature — and a must-see film streaming on demand.
Netflix Starts to Prioritize Theatrical Releases
For the longest time, Netflix refused to screen their films in theatres, which last year hurt the chances of Dee Rees’ Mudbound winning any Academy Awards, despite its four Oscar nominations.
In 2018, after allowing certain films exclusive theatrical engagements — including the Coen brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs a week before it hit its platform, and in 42 select theatres across North America, Alfonso Cuarón’s almost certain Best Picture Academy Award winner Roma, which will screen exclusively in Vancouver at the Vancity Theatre, December 14th through the end of December — while Netflix is still the disrupter it’s always been, 2018 is the year they thankfully realized theatres still matter.
The Most Exciting Foreign-Language Academy Award Race in Years
Whether it be Poland’s Cold War, Mexico’s Roma, South Korea’s Burning, Israel’s The Cakemaker, Denmark’s The Guilty, Colombia’s Birds of Passage, Belgium’s Girl, Hungary’s Sunset, Japan’s Shoplifters, Sweden’s Border, or Lebanon’s Capernaum, there is an embarrassment of riches of foreign language films vying for an Academy Award this year. Lucky us.
