With the Hollywood Foreign Press Association handing out its picks for best films of 2019 last night at the Golden Globes, it’s time to look at another foreign press outlet and see what they think are the best films of the last year. And perhaps unsurprisingly, Cahiers du Cinéma has very different opinions than the HFPA.

Right off the bat, it’s important to know that Cahiers is looking at films that were released in France during the 2019 calendar year, which is why films such as “The Image Book” (the outlet’s #1 film) and “The Mule” (#9) made the cut.

Continue reading Cahiers du Cinéma’s Top 10 Of 2019 Features ‘Synonyms,’ ‘Bacurau’ & Other Surprises at The Playlist.

We want to be more enthused about what’s coming to theaters this month, but following the whirlwind of the fall/Christmas season, an overwhelming onslaught of continual great cinematic output, it’s difficult not to feel the January slump. Time of the year doesn’t as frequently dictate quality, as it used to, seeing plenty of films with February and March release, dates that both critically and commercially flourish, but January still can’t shake the dumping ground mentality for films that studios didn’t quite know what to do with.

Continue reading 10 Movies To See In January: ‘Glass’ ‘Serenity’ & More at The Playlist.

After debuting at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Jean-Luc Godard’s latest film, “The Image Book,” has been receiving rave reviews. But even after winning the Special Palme d’Or at Cannes and being selected to play at the Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival, we’re not any closer to really being able to describe the film to someone.

READ MORE: ‘The Image Book’: Jean-Luc Godard’s Offers Another Radicalist, Experimental Assault [Cannes]

So, with that in mind, the trailer for Godard’s film takes on the herculean effort and, for the most part, succeeds.

Continue reading ‘The Image Book’ Trailer: Jean-Luc Godard’s Cannes Award Winner Gets A Truly Unique First Look at The Playlist.

As we post the year-end collection of publications’ Best of 2018, a few things become very clear. We begin to notice that some films appear almost on every list, and roughly in the same order. And we also are constantly surprised that some films pop up that are nowhere to be found in any other lists. This shows not only that the quality of films in 2018 is incredible, but also that there are just so many films that can be considered among the very best that this year had to offer.

Continue reading ‘Roma,’ ‘Burning,’ & ‘The Image Book’ Among Sight & Sound’s Top 20 Films Of 2018 at The Playlist.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the main selections for the 2018 New York Film Festival, and it won’t disappoint the city’s cinephile community.  It also confirms that barring a last minute addition or secret screening there are no world premieres at this year’s NYFF.  Then again, the fest is programming a significant number of Foreign Language Film contenders even if the homegrown selections are slight.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite,” Alfonso Cuarón‘s “Roma“ and Julian Schabel‘s “At Eternity’s Gate“ were previously announced as the opening, centerpiece and closing night films for this year’s fest.

Continue reading ‘If Beale Street,’ ‘Cold War’ & ‘Ballad Of Buster Scruggs’ Among Main NYFF 2018 Selections at The Playlist.

It’s been a long time since making traditional or even vaguely conventional “movies” has interested legendary French New-Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard. If anything, the director’s movies over the last 20 or so years have been experiential audio/visual collages more interested in pictures, sounds, cuts, and de-saturation; a maddening barrage of dadaist statements. Even with all that being said, his latest, “The Image Book,” playing in competition at Cannes, should be considered as radical a Godard-ian statement as any.

Continue reading ‘The Image Book’: Jean-Luc Godard’s Offers Another Radicalist, Experimental Assault [Cannes] at The Playlist.

We are one day away from the premiere of Jean-Luc Godard’s latest film “The Image Book,” and yet there’s hardly anything known about the film. We recently shared a teaser for the film, which definitely fits the bill of a “teaser.” And we do know a little about the story behind the film. Other than that, and considering the filmmaker’s recent interest in being incredibly abstract, it’s difficult to know exactly what to expect when the film debuts at Cannes.

Continue reading Jean-Luc Godard’s Cannes Film ‘The Image Book’ To Become A Traveling Art Exhibit at The Playlist.

Filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard is a legend. No two ways about it. So whenever there’s a new film on the horizon created by the director, we are always excited to see what he has up his sleeve next. Godard’s most recent film, “Le Livre d’image (The Image Book)” has been selected to compete with the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and we finally have our first look.

Continue reading ‘The Image Book’ Teaser: Jean-Luc Godard Is Back With What Might Be His Most Challenging Film To Date at The Playlist.