For 11 years running, our end-of-the-year tradition on the Notebook has been to poll our roster of contributors to create fantasy double features of new and old films. But what about the curators behind MUBI itself? This year we begin what we hope to be a new tradition: publishing the favorite films of the year as chosen by our programming team: Daniel Kasman in the U.S., Anaïs Lebrun and Chiara Marañón in the U.K. We each have two lists: our top new films that premiered in 2018, and then a selection of revivals screened in cinemas.
PREMIERES
Daniel Kasman
1. Blue (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand)
2. The Image Book (Jean-Luc Godard, Switzerland)
3. Support the Girls (Andrew Bujalski, USA)
4. The Other Side of the Wind (Orson Welles, USA)
5. The Waldheim Waltz (Ruth Beckermann, Austria)
6. Unsane (Steven Soderbergh, USA)
7. The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack, USA)
8. The Red Shadow [director's cut] (Dominik Graf, Germany)
9. What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire? (Roberto Minervini, Italy/USA/France)
10. Veslemøy's Song (Sofia Bohdanowicz, Canada)
Anaïs Lebrun
1. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, USA)
2. Happy as Lazzaro (Alice Rohrwacher, Italy)
3. The Green Fog (Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, USA/Canada)
4. Petra (Jaime Rosales, Spain)
5. Jamilia (Aminatou Echard, France)
6. Atlanta S2E10, "FUBU" (Donald Glover, USA)
7. Long Day's Journey into Night (Bi Gan, China)
8. Roma (Alfonso Cuarón, Mexico)
9. What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire? (Roberto Minervini, Italy/USA/France)
10. Knife + Heart (Yann Gonzalez, France)
Chiara Marañón
1. High Life (Claire Denis, Germany/France/USA/UK)
2. La flor (Mariano Llinás, Argentina)
3. The Image Book (Jean-Luc Godard, Switzerland)
4. Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, USA/UK)
5. I diari di Angela – Noi due cineasti (Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi, Italy)
6. The Other Side of the Wind (Orson Welles, USA)
7. One or Two Questions (Kristina Konrad, Germany/Uruguay)
8. Those Who Desire (Elena López Riera, Switzerland/Spain)
9. Hotel by the River (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea)
10. La película infinita (Leandro Listorti, Argentina)
REVIVALS
Daniel Kasman
1. Girls (Helga Fanderl, 2003)
2. Only Yesterday (John M. Stahl, 1933)
3. Outdoor Pajamas (Leo McCarey, 1924)
4. Germany in Autumn (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Alf Brustellin, Hans Peter Cloos, Alexander Kluge, Maximiliane Mainka, Edgar Reitz, Katje Rupé, Peter Schubert, Bernhard Sinkel, 1978)
5. Tamil M.A. (Ram, 2007)
6. Not and Or (Simon Payne, 2014)
7. Testament (John Akomfrah, 1988)
8. Welcome to L.A. (Alan Rudolph, 1976)
9. Pharos of Chaos (Wolf-Eckart Bühler, 1983)
10. Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat 3D (Auguste Lumière, Louis Lumière, 1935)
Anaïs Lebrun
1. House (Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1977)
2. They Live (John Carpenter, 1988)
3. Show People (King Vidor, 1928)
4. La souriante Madame Beudet (Germaine Dulac, 1923)
5. Cairo Station (Youssef Chahine, 1958)
6. Twenty Nine Minutes at Sea (Jacques Perconte, 2016)
7. Vacation (John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein, 2015)
8. The Lost Weekend (Billy Wilder, 1945)
9. Invasión (Hugo Santiago, 1969)
10. Belladonna of Sadness (Eiichi Yamamoto, 1973)
Chiara Marañón
1. 7th Heaven (Frank Borzage,1927)
2. Leave Her To Heaven (John M. Stahl, 1945)
3. The Life of Oharu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1952)
4. The Bigamist (Ida Lupino, 1953)
5. Uski Roti (Mani Kaul,1969)
6. The Heartbreak Kid (Elaine May, 1972)
7. A Simple Event (Sohrab Shahid-Saless, 1973)
8. The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (Kazuo Hara, 1987)
9. From the Pole to the Equator (Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi, 1987)
10. West of the Tracks (Wang Bing, 2002)