Thursday Movie Picks #236: 2018 Movies

At the time of writing I have seen 112 movies from 2018, but because of the way movie releasing works I am still yet to be given the opportunity to see some of the year’s most highly regarded films such as Burning and If Beale Street Could Talk.

Still here are three picks that are worthy of more attention. Also don't forget to visit - http://wanderingthroughtheshelves.blogspot.com/

Set entirely within an emergency call centre this Danish thriller tells a captivating story with the brilliant use of sound. Running at a brisk 90 minutes the film is exciting from first minute to last, expertly leaking out details to provide context to the whole story.

Winner of the Cannes' most prestigious prize, the Palm D’or, Shoplifters is about a family of petty crooks who find this abused, unloved young girl and take her in as part of the family. Its ponderous pace helps the reflections on the importance of family and obligation to care for to the youngest members of our society overcome the more questionable morality that these characters exhibit (and how they try to justify it). 

There’s an unexpected sting in the tale, one so left field it shakes the foundations of everything we thought about this family. So much so we question them and their motives, but the warmth we felt about the genuine affection they showed one another is a hard one to forget. The film’s power lays in the fact that we still think about the family long after the film is finished.

This gory little seen film about an undead teenage befriending an abused blind boy owes a lot of debt to Let the Right One in. However, the film’s emotional core is so strong is manages to craft an identity of its own and match the quality of the Swedish modern classi.