CYNTHIA ERIVO
HARRIET
Erivo’s rise since her Tony Award-
winning The Color Purple turn
continues. Here she stars as Harriet
Tubman, brilliantly imbuing the
heroic Underground Railroad pioneer
with grit and humanity.
BEANIE FELDSTEIN
HOW TO BUILD A GIRL
If you thought her riotous work in
Booksmart would mark the peak
of Feldstein’s year, think again. She
is spectacularly appealing in Girl,
which chronicles a young woman’s
bumpy, risqué path to becoming
a music journalist.
JOAQUIN PHOENIX
JOKER
Phoenix follows in the footsteps
of Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson
as the latest great actor to inhabit
the Joker’s skin. He undergoes what
may be his biggest transformation
yet in this dark exploration of the
Batman villain’s origins.
JASON SEGEL
THE FRIEND
Segel is powerfully understated in
this tearjerker, playing the best
friend to a married couple in which
the wife (Dakota Johnson) has been
given months to live.
KRISTEN STEWART
SEBERG
Stewart anchors this politically
charged drama as the acclaimed
late actress Jean Seberg, one
of the main targets of a covert
FBI program used to neutralize
“subversive” organizations.
CONSTANCE WU
HUSTLERS
The Crazy Rich Asians star
adds emotional heft to Hustlers
as Destiny, a struggling single
mother-turned-stripper. She joins
forces with Ramona (a magnetic
Jennifer Lopez) to scam wealthy
men in the wake of the 2008
financial crisis.
The DirectorsNOAH BAUMBACH
MARRIAGE STORY
Baumbach brings his gift for depict-
ing moments of intimacy and humor
to the story of a divorce—searingly
told from the perspectives of the
husband (Adam Driver) and the wife
(Scarlett Johansson).CHINONYE CHUKWU
CLEMENCY
The story of death-row warden Ber-
nadine Williams (Alfre Woodard)
makes for an intoxicating character
study in the hands of Chukwu.ALMA HAR’EL
HONEY BOY
Har’el had the unenviable task of
making Shia LaBeouf’s wild autobio-
graphical script her own, but does
so beautifully, honing in on the
dynamic between father and son.BONG JOON HO
PARASITE
Bong has already won Cannes’ Palme
d’Or for this darkly comic thriller
about a poor family’s involvement
with a rich one—as entertaining
as it is morally urgent.JAMES MANGOLD
FORD V FERRARI
The tale tracks the team building
the Ford GT40, a race car with thecapacity to outperform Italy’s Fer-
rari. Mangold films the hell out of the
drama and mines great perfor-
mances from his starry cast, too.LORENE SCAFARIA
HUSTLERS
We already gave props to Con-
stance Wu, but the woman behind
her performance, Scafaria, deserves
equal recognition for delivering
a timely, captivating crime movie.TAIKA WAITITI
JOJO RABBIT
Waititi has helmed indie comedies
and blockbusters alike, but this↓Michael B. Jordan
and Jamie Foxx
in Just Mercy