On December 26, 2018, I published my list of best (and worst) films of the year, and then on January 14, 2019, I published my list of best actors. Now, here is my list of the (often) unsung artists and craftspeople who are essential to the filmmaking process: the writers, cinematographers, editors, production designers, visual-effects artists, and music composers. As with my other lists, the hyperlinked movie title will take you to my review, if one exists (or the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes page, if one does not). In addition, I hyperlink the artists’ names to IMDb (if they have previous credits) or, for the composers, to their own personal websites (or some such thing), so you can see what other work they have produced over their careers. If they have no previous work credited, then I leave their names unlinked. For the composers list, I link to the movie’s actual soundtrack, as well, on a site where you can hear it.
In each category, I have chosen only five (however hard that may be – and it is hard), in alphabetical order. These are the films where I thought that the work in that particular area truly enhanced the quality of the movie. If a film is not on this list, I may still really like the work within it, but not as much as my top five. Enjoy!
Best Screenplay (adapted and original, combined):
- Blindspotting: Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs
- Eighth Grade: Bo Burnham
- The Favourite: Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara
- First Reformed: Paul Schrader
- The Rider: Chloé Zhao
Best Cinematography:
Best Editing:
- Cold War: Jaroslaw Kaminski
- The Favourite: Yorgos Mavropsaridis
- If Beale Street Could Talk: Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders
- We the Animals: Keiko Deguchi and Brian A. Kates
- You Were Never Really Here: Joe Bini
Best Production Design:
- Border: Frida Hoas
- Cold War: Benoît Barouh, Marcel Sławiński and Katarzyna Sobańska-Strzałkowska
- The Favourite: Fiona Crombie
- Hereditary: Grace Yun
Best Visual Effects:
[Too many people to mention all, so I have simply hyperlinked, next to the title, to the movie’s crew page on IMDb page, where you can look at the multitude of people involved in the many visual-effects teams]
- Ant Man and the Wasp: movie crew page on IMDb
- Aquaman: movie crew page on IMDb
- Avengers: Infinity War: movie crew page on IMDb
- Hereditary: movie crew page on IMDb
- Ready Player One: movie crew page on IMDb
Best Original Score:
[Again, here the movie titles are linked directly to the soundtrack, and here the artists’ names take you to their personal websites or the closest thing]
- First Reformed: Brian Williams (as Lustmord)
- Hereditary: Colin Stetson
- If Beale Street Could Talk: Nicholas Britell
- Incredibles 2: Michael Giacchino
- You Were Never Really Here: Jonny Greenwood (guitarist for Radiohead)
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