Top Films of 2018: 9-6

9. Pather Panchali (1955), Satyajit Ray, Aurora
Satyajit Ray's film is the first part in his Apu trilogy depicting the life of Apurba Roy (Subir Banerjee). This installment covers his childhood growing up in a poor family alongside his sister, Durga (Uma Dasqupta), who is accused of stealing, and his ever-suffering mother, Sarbajaya (Karuna Banerjee). His father, Harihar (Kanu Banerjee), works as a priest but desperately wants to be a poet and a playwright, so he travels to make better money and leaves his family for long periods of time. Ray captures the poverty and reality of life in a small, Bengali community. Shot on location with inexperienced actors and crew, the film is beautifully shot and maintains veracity through techniques similar to Italian neorealism. Its reputation as one of the greatest films ever made is well deserved as it captures a very specific time and place while stressing the importance of family.

8. Solaris (1972), Andrei Tarkovsky, Mosfilm
While it is, undoubtedly, the most difficult film on my watch list this year because of its length and pacing, Solaris is ultimately rewarding. The film tells the story of events occurring on a space station that orbits the oceanic planet Solaris. The small three-person crew are having severe emotional problems due to an outside force. When psychologist Kris Kelvin (Donatis Banionis) arrives to determine whether the space station should stay in operation, he is subject to the same emotional upheaval as the others. He and the others may experience hallucinations, and he finds his late wife, Hari, (Natalya Bondarchuk) is there to greet him. The others tell him that "visitors" started appearing after nuclear experiments on the planet. Like other Tarkovsky films, Solaris is a meditation on human nature that includes many philosophical discussions and strange occurrences to, perhaps, facilitate that discussion. At 166 minutes, watching the film is an undertaking, but the characters are compelling and the questions it asks are thoughtful and pertinent. Solaris does what all good science fiction should do: it asks questions about human nature and the future of human society that help us understand our unique, if not disruptive, place in the universe.

7. Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Otto Preminger, Columbia
A courtroom drama that stars James Stewart would generally not be an expected choice for my top list, despite how much I used to love It's a Wonderful Life as a kid and generally think Jimmy Stewart is great in Hitchcock films. I'm just not that into courtroom dramas, generally preferring crime films that focus on the crime or how the detectives solve it. Anatomy of a Murder is different. Stewart plays Paul Bigler, a small-town attorney that does not have many cases. For the most part, he fishes and hangs out with his buddy Parnell McCarthy (Arthur O'Connell) and his secretary Maida Rutledge (Eve Arden). Bigler has to step up as an attorney when he is approached by a client to defend her husband on a murder rap, an event the defendant does not deny or remember. The language caused a stir when the film was released, but the film aptly demonstrates the legal system realistically, and held the attention of a critic that generally avoids Law and Order-type narratives.

6. The Lure (2015), Agnieszka Smoczynska, Kino Swiat
The premise of The Lure seems thin at best. Two mermaids meet a rock band and perform as strippers at a club. One falls in love with one of the musicians, but they cannot make it work. The film reimagines Han Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid to comment on the sex industry. Perhaps, it also comments on similar coming-of-age stories. The mermaids hope to reach America, but their dreams are dashed. The film is filled with tons of blood, reworkings of mermaid tropes (Silver replaces her tail with legs and loses her voice), and interesting music. Overall, it is a fun, little tale that does not try to extend beyond its premise.

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