2019 has been a stellar year for movies. I may be jumping the gun a bit, but I’d venture to say this is our best year for film since 1999. As such, I couldn’t stop at a top 10…expect plenty of honorable mentions.
Honorable Mentions:
The Wolf Hour
Most critics and audiences seem to hate this one. In fact, I don’t even know if it’s seen a release yet. I still love the claustrophobic single-setting thriller, and I’m completely okay with the story’s dependence on The Summer of Sam. When this finally sees the light of day, make up your own mind.
The Farewell
You’ve probably heard it before – Awkwafina is amazing. The Farewell is more than deserving of its multiple Golden Globe nominations, and its funny, sensitive, and complex portrayal of such touchy subject matter makes this an important watch, especially for Western audiences.
Under the Silver Lake
I still don’t know if this movie was extraordinarily pretentious or incredible, but I enjoyed watching it regardless. It’s a perfectly-replicated neo-noir homage with a surreal bent, and Andrew Garfield gives us a surprisingly complex performance.
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
It’s the latest Tarantino film. Of course I loved it.
High Life
Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, and Mia Goth star in the latest Claire Denis film. It’s advertised like a Prometheus knock-off, but it’s a Denis film through and through. It just happens to take place in space.
Booksmart
Olivia Wilde made a gender-swapped Superbad that didn’t make me angry.
Piercing
The strange plot and the acting of Mia Wasikowska and Christopher Abbott are what make this little indie thriller special. It has problems, but it would be a terrible shame if this went overlooked.
On to the actual list:
10) Midsommar
The most mispronounced movie of the year (I don’t care if the director says “Mid-soh-mar”, I will continue to say “Mid-summer” because it’s more likely to be correct, dammit!), Midsommar received mostly positive reception. Many have compared the cinematographer’s style to that of John Alcott, Kubrick’s cameraman of choice, but the film is more derivative of another work – The Wicker Man.
I expected this to be much less original than it turned out to be. The movie’s biggest weakness is probably that the director’s previous film, Hereditary, was released just last year. Those are some big shoes to fill, so the fact that this wasn’t a huge, polarizing disaster is something of a miracle.
9) Tell Me Who I Am
The concept of the Netflix documentary Tell Me Who I Am is remarkably terrifying. Twin brothers Marcus and Alex Lewis are somewhat estranged from each other. At 18, Alex was in a tragic motorcycle accident and lost most of his memory from prior to that point. Marcus isn’t exactly honest about their past, seeing an opportunity to erase those bad memories and replace them with something pleasant. Now, the twins are over 50 years old, and Alex is curious about what Marcus isn’t telling him.
Obviously, this documentary probably wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t something shocking and memorable about it. Its presentation is fantastic, so I won’t spoil anything else for you. This was probably the saddest and most existentially-perplexing film I saw all year.
8) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
I don’t give a shit that this movie was filmed in 8k, or that the leads are real-life ex-lovers. Portrait of a Lady on Fire is an undeniably tragic masterpiece, and it’s the acting and clever camerawork that elevate it to high art – not the type of camera used.
Most of the film focuses on Marianne, a young painter who has been hired to paint a portrait of the willful Héloïse, who is to be married off to a stranger in Milan shortly. The only catch is that Héloïse does not want her portrait drawn, and Marianne must paint her in secret. Lesbian sex happens. Do I need to say more?
7) Climax
I think of Climax as a film from last year, but I’m seeing it on plenty of top-ten lists for 2019, so I’ll include it anyway.
Gaspar Noé does not make easy-to-watch films. Whether it’s the 9-minute rape scene of his masterpiece Irreversible or the misogynistic rantings of I Stand Alone, Noé has never made a film strictly to entertain. Climax is probably the closest he’s ever been to creating a film that some people may WANT to watch.
Filmed in only a few takes, Climax is the dizzying story of a dance troupe whose punch gets laced with acid. Shit goes down. That’s really all you need to know about the plot.
I can’t mention Climax without harping on this year’s weirdest homage. Jordan Peele must have seen this a few years ago, because his latest film, Us, lifts the entire introduction of Climax shamelessly, all the way down to the replicated color palette and similar-looking television. That strange call-back (and the frequency with which those call-backs occur) is exactly why Us isn’t appearing on this list.
6) Luce
A film that received plenty of buzz at this year’s Sundance (even though I missed seeing it until recently), Luce reunites Naomi Watts and Rim Roth for the first time since their performances in my favorite film of all time, Funny Games.
It would be really easy to see this as a preachy, flimsy ‘racial commentary thriller,’ and you probably wouldn’t be wrong. However, it’s the shocking moral ambiguity of the characters and the compelling, engaging pacing that keep this movie riveting as hell for almost two hours. This is a movie that will make you think – whether you want to or not – and because of that, I don’t foresee this gaining much traction for award season. Go seek out a copy before it becomes difficult to find, because this is precisely the kind of movie I could see fading away into obscurity rather quickly.
5) The Lighthouse
The Lighthouse is a fairly last-minute addition to my list, but it deserves this slot. As with many movies here, this would have likely been my favorite film of another year.
This is Robert Eggers’ second directorial effort after 2015’s The Witch, and this one is as good if not better. Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe give career-defining performances, which is no small statement for either of them. Some of the imagery in this film is so haunting that I’m not likely to forget it any time soon. The first half is a little slow, but don’t let that deter you from experiencing one of the most thrilling climaxes of the year.
Also, it involves sex with fish-people, so it has a decent shot at Best Picture this year.
4) Vox Lux
Earlier this year, I was convinced this would be my number one of 2019, and it nearly was. I’m a bit biased toward Brady Corbet, but this study of the negative effects of fame, a topic we continuously run into the ground, still contains one of the most shocking scenes of the year. Portman’s performance is notable, but Raffey Cassidy (as young Celeste and Portman’s daughter) is the real stand-out, and hopefully has a long and successful career ahead of her.
3) Marriage Story
After years of making progressively lamer proto-mumblecore indie films, I fully expected Noah Baumbach to become an obscure name I’d be defending for the rest of my life. Kicking and Screaming is still one of my favorites of all time, but I’ve never been a huge fan of The Squid and the Whale – usually quoted as his best film up until now. I tuned his career out after the release of Mistress America, which I somewhat enjoyed until I realized I was just watching Frances Ha again, and I didn’t even bother with The Meyerowitz Stories. When I heard Baumbach was releasing a drama on Netflix, I yawned and went on with my day.
After the tremendous amount of hype, I had to stop everything and watch it. It definitely lives up to some of the wild claims critics and audiences have been making about it, and it demonstrates a remarkable level of newfound maturity in Baumbach. His previous works are frequently accused of being slow and trite, but the director has finally discovered a happy medium. The film is paced and edited so well that it feels far shorter than its run time.
Another popular criticism of Baumbach is that his scripts are usually better than the actors involved. This is not the case with Marriage Story. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson’s performances are riveting from the first few seconds, and they really hold this together. Laura Dern, Alan Alda, and Ray Liotta are also great as the lawyers that represent the central couple.
This is Baumbach’s best since his debut, and easily one of the best films of the year.
2) An Elephant Sitting Still
An Elephant Sitting Still, with its sadistically-long run-time and unrelentingly-bleak story, is one of the most challenging cinematic experiences I’ve had this year. I may never watch it again, and I’m completely fine with that. If you’re after a good cry and a deep feeling of emptiness, this is your movie.
1) Parasite
If I haven’t pushed this one down your throat in the last six months, then someone else probably has. Parasite’s reputation as the default best movie of the decade has really gotten out of hand, and that’s mostly due to the film’s well-deserved positive traction after winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes…unanimously. I almost wish I could disagree, but it’s just so damn entertaining and well-made. Everyone involved in Parasite brings their A-game, and its incredible polish makes it deserving of, at the very least, best film of the year.