The first of only a handful of films from the U.S. makes its appearance in the Top 20, paired with an Australian film featuring a long-time favorite actress. Other countries represented in the Top 20 include Thailand, Uruguay, South Korea, France, Belgium, Canada, Taiwan, Bolivia, Argentina, Serbia, and Rwanda.
#18) Nitram, directed by Justin Kurzel – NITRAM is one of those stories that tries to examine the events leading up to an horrific act and make sense of behavior that seems incomprehensible. Based on the events that took place in the 1996 Port Arthur massacre on Tasmania, the film follows the awkward, lonely Nitram living with his Mum and Dad with few friends and fewer social graces. He gets involved with an eccentric, older woman of means and breaks from his parents somewhat stifling home but is never able to mature, whether due to neglected mental illness, or environmental factors, which the film, fortunately hints at but doesn’t try to use as an explanation. The film is dark for sure, but compelling viewing, made especially powerful by performances from the magnificent Judy Davis as Nitram’s Mum, Caleb Landry Jones (THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE OF EBBING, MISSOURI; THE FLORIDA PROJECT; GET OUT), as Nitram, and Essie Davis (THE BABADOOK; THE JUSTICE OF BUNNY KING), as his eccentric friend, Helen.
#17) The Man in the Woods, directed by Noah Buschel – While not quite as accomplished as THE VAST OF NIGHT, this nostalgia-focused thriller set in 1963 hits some similar marks, and surprised me at its cleverness and strong writing, after a slightly awkward start. The budget is clearly a lot less, and while the largely black & white cinematography is beautiful, the production design is a little sparse. In addition to the sharp, yet somewhat familiar screenplay, about a teenaged, prep-school girl who goes missing in the woods, the performances particularly by the bohemian Literature professor brought to sparkling life by Marin Ireland (star of last year’s Buried Treasure winner, LIGHT FROM LIGHT) and the Headmaster’s long-suffering, firecracker of a wife played by the accomplished Jane Alexander, really elevate this film to something worth notice. Additional kudos to William Jackson Harper (MIDSOMMAR; PATERSON) as the railroaded, black police officer, and Odessa Young (SHIRLEY) as the wisest of the missing girl’s friends showing off her investigative journalist skills as the head of the school newspaper. It’s heavily stylized, and surprisingly witty, but showing the darker side of the past often concealed by nostalgia.