31 Dec 10 of the very best films released in 2018 are already on Netflix Canada

Why wait for all of the films on year-end best-of lists and award nomination slates to find their way to streaming services? Here are the ten best-reviewed films of the year that are available right now to watch on Netflix Canada.

10. The Other Side of the Wind

Directed by: Orson Welles (Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, The Magnificent Ambersons)
Notable performances: John Huston, Peter Bogdanovich, Oja Kodar
Honours & Awards: Inaugural Campari Passion for Film Award (Bob Murawski), William K. Everson Award for Film History
Watch because: Effectively lost for decades, the final film project of Orson Welles, which he filmed from 1970 to 1976, has been rescued from oblivion.
Also watch: They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead is the excellent companion documentary by Morgan Neville (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Best of Enemies) that was simultaneously released on Netflix; Welles’ own The Stranger and Touch of Evil are also on the service.
Trailer and reviews for The Other Side of the Wind

9. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Directed by: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men; The Big Lebowski; Fargo)
Notable performances: Tim Blake Nelson, Tom Waits
Honours & Awards: Best Screenplay—Venice Film Festival
Watch because: Yes they are six separate stories, but they have a surprisingly unified, cumulative, and politically engaged effect.
Also watch: the Coens’ 2016 gem Hail, Caesar!
Trailer and reviews for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

8. Let the Sunshine In

Directed by: Claire Denis (Beau Travail; White Material; Trouble Every Day)
Notable performances: Juliette Binoche, and someone else that I don’t want to mention because it kinda spoils the ending
Honours & Awards: SACD (best screenplay) award at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2017
Watch because: It’s fun watching Denis bend the rom-com genre almost unrecognizably out of shape, and, yeah, the stunt-casting.
Trailer and reviews for Let the Sunshine In

7. Annihilation

Directed by: Alex Garland (Ex Machina)
Notable performances: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac
Honours & Awards: Best visual effects and best musical score from a number (won, and nominated) from a number of film critic associations
Watch because: For the cast, surely, but also for the “jump-scares that are more than just scares.”
Trailer and reviews for Annihilation

6. Mountain

Directed by: Jennifer Peedom (Sherpa, Miracle on Everest)
Notable performances: Willem Defoe (narration)
Honours & Awards: Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards 2018: Best Cinematography in a Documentary, Best Sound in a Documentary, Best Original Music Score in a Documentary
Watch because: Come for the remarkable music score and dulcet narration; stay for the best high-altitude cinematography you’ve ever seen.
Trailer and reviews for Mountain

5. Happy as Lazzaro

Directed by: Alice Rohrwacher (The Wonders; Corpo Celeste)
Notable performances: Adriano Tardiolo, Nicoletta Braschi
Honours & Awards: Best Screenplay, Cannes Film Festival (also nominated for the Palme D’Or)
Watch because: It’s a strikingly original film that “finds fairy-tale resonances in modern actualities.” And FWIW this is my personal favourite film of 2018.
Trailer and reviews for Happy as Lazzaro

4. A Fantastic Woman

Directed by: Sebastián Lelio (Disobedience; Gloria; Gloria Bell)
Notable performances: Daniela Vega
Honours & Awards: so many but most notably Best Foreign Language Film—2018 Oscars
Watch because: Daniela Vega: “As an actress, I don’t mind if a cisgender actor plays trans. But as a trans woman, I feel that many times we weren’t allowed to show what we can do and we can do many things.”
Also watch: Lelio’s more recent release Disobedience is also streaming
Trailer and reviews for A Fantastic Woman

3. Black Panther

Directed by: Ryan Coogler (Creed, Fruitvale Station)
Notable performances: Michael B. Jordan, Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o
Honours & Awards: African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA): Best Picture, Best Director, Best Song
Watch because: Every one of the three collaborations between director Coogler and actor Jordan is something special. As a bonus, this film has serious game when it comes to Easter-egg planting.
Trailer and reviews for Black Panther

2. Foxtrot

Directed by: Samuel Maoz (Lebanon)
Notable performances: Lior Ashkenazi, Sarah Adler
Honours & Awards: Silver Lion (Venice Film Festival), Best Foreign Language Film (National Board of Review, USA), and 8 Israeli Film Academy Awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Art Direction, Best Music, Best Sound
Watch because: Any Israeli film that pisses off the Israeli government this much has got something worthwhile to say. I was personally very impressed with this film and director Samuel Maoz’s Q&A at TIFF 2017.
Trailer and reviews for Foxtrot

1. Roma

Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mamá También; Gravity; Children of Men)
Notable performances: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira
Honours & Awards: New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematographer
Watch because: It’s “thrilling, engrossing, moving – and just entirely amazing, an adjectival pileup of wonder.“
Trailer and reviews for Roma