"The Power of the Dog," left, and "Passing."
(Netflix)
"We're all of us passing for something or other, aren't we?" Indeed we are, something not lost on either of the two Black women (the beautifully matched Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga) at the heart of Rebecca Hall's quietly piercing Harlem drama, "Passing." Or on the seething, conflicted rancher (a never-better Benedict Cumberbatch) who gives Jane Campion's magnificent Montana western, "The Power of the Dog," its understated ferocity. Two very different visions of 1920s America, each one built around an illusion — and a relationship — that cannot be sustained.
"The Power of the Dog" is now playing in theaters and is also available on Netflix. "Passing" is available on Netflix.)
And here are 15 honorable mentions:
"Annette" and "West Side Story"The movie musical at its most doomily romantic, in which both Leos Carax and Steven Spielberg prove themselves untested masters of the form. Both deserve larger audiences than they've received so far.
Denzel Washington in "Tragedy of Macbeth."
(Alison Rosa/Courtesy of Apple)
"Azor" and "The Tragedy of Macbeth"A husband and wife venture into a heart of darkness in both Andreas Fontana's chilling portrait of Dirty War-era Argentina and Joel Coen's deeply chiaroscuro rendition of the Scottish Play.
"Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn," "The Last Duel" and "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy"Another trio, which is fitting, since each of these movies is structured like a triptych. Each one also explicitly questions the mores of a time and place that subjugates the wills and desires of women, whether it's medieval France or present-day Romania and Japan.
"Dear Comrades!" and "Quo Vadis, Aida?"Two powerfully urgent dramas set against historical tragedies, in which our attention is focused not on the blood and the horror but on the desperation of a mother at her most fiercely protective.
"The Killing of Two Lovers" and "Spencer"The end (or near-end) of a marriage, as experienced from one participant's harrowingly subjective, intensely cinematic gaze.
Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim in "Licorice Pizza."
(Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures Inc.)
"Licorice Pizza" and "The Worst Person in the World"Two zippy, episodic romantic comedies centered on heroines who heroically refuse to be hemmed in, brilliantly played, respectively, by Alana Haim and Renate Reinsve.
"The Velvet Underground" and "Summer of Soul ( … Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)"Hats off to Todd Haynes and Questlove for these spectacularly enveloping feats of '60s musical-historical scholarship, each one a layered, deeply transporting collage of sound and image. You had to be there — and now, thanks to these movies, you can be.
And 20 more close to my heart:
"All Light, Everywhere," "Bergman Island," "The Card Counter," "C'mon C'mon," "Flee," "In the Same Breath," "The Lost Daughter," "Mass," "The Mitchells vs. the Machines," "MLK/FBI," "Nightmare Alley," "Pig," "Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time," "President," "Raya and the Last Dragon," "The Suicide Squad," "Test Pattern," "Tick, Tick … Boom!," "Titane," "Undine"