Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2018: #26. Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale

Published on January 4, 2018

The Nightingale

Responsible for one of the most successful debuts over the past decade with 2014’s The Babadook (read ★★★★ review), Australia’s Jennifer Kent is ready with her sophomore film, The Nightingale. A revenge thriller set in 1825 Tasmania, a young woman convict, seeking vengeance for her slain family, takes an Aboriginal male outcast under her wing and runs into unexpected trouble. Shot in Tasmania, Kent enlisted the services of Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, Damon Herriman, Ewen Leslie, Harry Greenwood, Djuki Mala, Baykali Ganambarr and Magnolia Maymuru. Kent reteams with Jed Kurzel who since writing the score for The Babadook, has been working on larger studio projects.

Release Date/Prediction: Kent’s The Babadook premiered in the Midnight program at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Considering her established relationship with the fest, we expected her to bow in the Premieres program this year, but the team might be looking towards the Aussie friendly Croisette to unveil #2.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.