15 Best Hidden Gem Movies Of 2018

12. First Reformed

Making waves earlier this year as a return to form for writer-director Paul Schrader, First Reformed has sadly fallen out the conversation a little since its release. It's not perfect, of course, and its big messages and themes are as on-the-nose and distracting as A Ghost Story's were last year, but fortunately A24's hit has more going for it than its nihilistic environmental messaging.

Audiences have been treated to the whole struggling-priest-becomes-disillusioned-with-his-faith shtick plenty of times before, but Ethan Hawke's potentially career-best performance ensures that this characterisation never feels trite or cliched, instead imbuing it with pathos and genuine tragedy. Schrader does well to blow out this character's inner conflict - and inevitable decline - through considered imagery as well, making the most of the film's claustrophobic 1.37:1 aspect ratio and sparse, but hauntingly beautiful, explosions of colour.

It's a movie very clearly gunning for awards season, but there's passion and intent behind every directorial decision, and with an ending as punishingly impactful as the one it has, it deserves to be remembered come February.