Best of the 2018 Chicago International Film Festival
The 2018 Chicago International Film Festival has closed on another year. The 54th edition of the festival gave us a number of films from all over the world from all different genres and filmmakers. I saw 24 movies this festival, from big budget Oscar players to foreign indies you may never hear of. Here are my picks for the best of the festival.
TOP 5 MOVIES
5 – IN SEARCH OF GREATNESS (Gabe Polsky)
- A documentary about what makes great athletes great is a thrill for fans of film and fans of sports.
4 – WILDLIFE (Paul Dano)
- Paul Dano’s directorial debut is a slow-burning, coming-of-age family drama led by a magnificent performance from Carey Mulligan.
3 – SHOPLIFTERS
- A beautiful, heartbreaking look at what it means to be family.
2 – COLD WAR
- A stunning, epic love story.
1 – WIDOWS (Steve McQueen)
- A film that is wildly entertaining and also deep with themes about everything from politics to the life of a criminal. McQueen takes who would usually be schlocky, B-movie entertainment and gives us a rich, masterful crime film.
BEST OF THE REST
BEST DIRECTOR: STEVE MCQUEEN – WIDOWS
BEST ACTOR: WILLEM DAFOE – AT ETERNITY’S GATE
BEST ACTRESS: MELISSA MCCARTHY – CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET – BOY ERASED
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: RACHEL WEISZ – THE FAVOURITE
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: SHOPLIFTERS
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: WIDOWS
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: COLD WAR
BEST ENSEMBLE: WIDOWS
BEST MIDNIGHT MOVIE: OVERLORD
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: COLD WAR
BEST DOCUMENTARY: FRIEDKIN UNCUT
OVERALL RANKING OF EVERY MOVIE
*You can watch trailers for each each film by clicking on the title
1 –WIDOWS
2 – COLD WAR
3 – SHOPLIFTERS
4 – WILDLIFE
7 – OVERLORD
8 – LIVERLEAF
9 – THE FAVOURITE
10 – FRIEDKIN UNCUT
11 – FLAMMABLE CHILDREN
12 – RAFIKI
14 – AT ETERNITY’S GATE
15 – PETERLOO
16 – BEN IS BACK
17 – THE CITY THAT SOLD AMERICA
18 – BEAUTIFUL BOY
19 – FATHER THE FLAME
20 – JUMPMAN
21 – A PRIVATE WAR
22 – AN ACCEPTABLE LOSS
23 – GREEN BOOK
24 – THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND
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