CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
A sweet film about frauds, failures, and responsible cat ownership (did director Marielle Heller get hold of my autobiography?).

BOOKSMART
I haven't laughed that hard since I saw SUPERBAD. This takes a tried and tested formula, replaces the male leads with their female siblings (Jonah Hill/Beanie Feldman), modernises it, turns it upside down, stamps on it, sets fire to it and pushes it overboard with helium balloons attached - all to the vocals of Alanis Morrisette. The Barbie scene!

CAPERNAUM
“And the Oscar for Best Actor goes to… the baby!”

EIGHTH GRADE
Such a perfect encapsulation of the awkwardness of early puberty, I’m sure most of you will identify with it as much as I did! What makes Elsie’s Fisher’s portrayal of a 13 year old girl about to enter secondary school so exceptional, is that she isn’t just a confident actor playing a shy teenager; she’s a confident actor playing a shy teenager pretending to be confident. Weirdly, this film evoked exactly the same amount of tears from my ducts as Toni Erdmann did - what are the chances?!

LITTLE WOMEN (2019)
Ooh, you guys are in for a Christmas treat! Bring extra large hankies. [Alright, yes, I’m a big cry-baby wuss, so cussing what].

MINDING THE GAP
Just when I was considering theming my list ‘Girl Power’… in comes this documentary, which is the very definition of male angst. First-time filmmaker Bing Liu's documentary Minding the Gap is a coming-of-age saga of three skateboarding friends in their Rust Belt hometown hit hard by decades of recession. In his quest to understand why he and his friends all ran away from home when they were younger, Bing follows 23-year-old Zack as he becomes a father and 17-year-old Keire as he gets his first job. It’s an incredible documentary, as Bing starts off wanting to be a skate-board filmmaker (which he excels in!), and then, as the (ten!) years roll by, the stories of his friends become quite compelling. He, unusually, breaks the fourth wall to bring his personal story into it as well. It’s warm and funny and heartbreaking. What talent, one to watch.]

FOXTROT
I saw this over a year ago, so it feels weird adding it here (for example, The Favourite isn’t making the list purely for those reasons). This Israeli socio-political family drama satirises the futility of war in a sometimes droll, but mostly poignant, way.

BORDER
Existential Scandiwegian drama about an odd looking loner with an amazing sense of smell, who develops an attraction to another odd looking loner [wait a minute...?!].
**Includes one of the most memorable sex scenes you’ll never be able to unsee!!**

ONCE UPON A TIME IN… HOLLYWOOD
I know, I know, there have been better films made this year… but I’d be in the wrong job if I didn’t love this! Tarantino’s love-letter to the last days of the Golden Age of Hollywood is so sumptuous, your eyes are just scanning every inch of the screen trying to take it all in, and wanting more. I’m just putting this out there… it’s Tarantino, back to PULP FICTION form [-cowers-].

RAY & LIZ
Richard Billingham takes his familial photography and extends the artform by creating this bleak, beautiful and scatological film, a fly-on-the-wall portrayal of his grim childhood. I know you’re not meant to laugh at social realism and those less fortunate than you, so I’m really hoping it’s deliberately humorous at times?


NOTES: “What, no horror or cult films, Lydia?” I hear you say. I don’t know what you’re talking about: US, MIDSOMMAR, LORDS OF CHAOS and GREENER GRASS are up there, in my top ten, too.


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