Best Films of 2019

[This post was originally published on Facebook and Reel Fanatics in December 2019.]

The decade ends on a high note. I wouldn’t have said that in June, but in crafting my year-end list, it’s clear now 2019 was one of the strongest movie years of the 2010s. I haven’t been this satisfied with my top ten since probably 2013. Briefly, some observations:

(1) It probably won’t be recognized at the Oscars (again), but 2019 was a damn good year for women directors. Alles Ist Gut, Atlantics, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Booksmart, The Chambermaid, Clemency, The Farewell, High Life, Honey Boy, Hustlers, Little Women, The Nightingale, One Child Nation, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Queen & Slim, The Souvenir, Sword of Trust—all of these and more won awards, critical acclaim, and/or ardent fans. You’ll find a number of these among my favorites.

(2) Filmmakers went personal. We had a conspicuous number of films from directors or writers that were autobiographical or semi-autobiographical: The Farewell, Honey Boy, Marriage Story, Pain & Glory, Ray & Liz, The Souvenir, Synonyms.

(3) We’re reckoning with the past. Maybe it’s the state of the world or the state of the industry, but a number of filmmakers examined the past—to understand it, to learn from it, to conquer it, to change it: Birds of Passage, Blinded by the Light, Bombshell, Dark Waters, A Hidden Life, The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Leaving Neverland, The Nightingale, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, One Child Nation, Pain & Glory, Peterloo, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Ray & Liz, The Report, Richard Jewell, The Souvenir, Sunset, Transit. They weren’t all successful (I think there are a few failures in there); nevertheless, one can see the filmmakers’ goals.

(4) Disney is taking over. I’m concerned about what the consolidation of studio power in Hollywood means for the future of cinema. It’s good for business, but it’s not good for art. And if the way Disney is handling the 20th Century Fox catalog is a sign of things to come, we’re in real trouble. I also find the trend of remaking their animated classics into live-action films to be a cynical, artless, exploitative endeavor. So feel free to enjoy your Disney+ subscription; just recognize that Disney isn’t the benevolent dream factory you thought of as a kid. It’s a profit-driven media conglomerate.

Okay. Onto to the list.

Below you will find my picks for the best of 2019. The same three categories I used in 2018: “Best of the Rest” contains 20+ solid films worth watching; “Honorable Mentions” features five films just beyond the #10 spot; “Top Ten” is just that. The only eligibility requirement was a 2019 U.S. commercial release. Notably unseen: American Dharma, Frankie, Gemini Man, Give Me Liberty, Motherless Brooklyn

Best of the Rest

Honorable Mentions

apollo .jpg — ***APOLLO 11***

Impressive assembly of archival footage into a doc that makes the historic Apollo 11 mission about as thrilling as the day it launched. No talking heads, no narration, just the mission as it unfolded. Great electronic score from Matt Morton, too.

Asako 2.jpg — ***ASAKO I & II***

A slippery yet touching variation on the twisted romance of Hitchcock’s *Vertigo*: years after a young woman is abandoned by her boyfriend, she meets another man who looks just like him. Does she love this (new?) person, or is she caught in the past, in love with a memory?

Belmonte 1.jpg — ***BELMONTE***

A sharply observed character study of a Uruguayan working artist that circumvents the creative process almost entirely. Mundane yet amusing interactions are juxtaposed with a casual convergence of reality and imagination.

***THE CHAMBERMAID***

The feature debut of Mexican director Lila Avilés, this empathetic portrait of a maid in an upscale Mexico City hotel examines the daily obstacles she faces in her attempt to improve her life and that of her young daughter.

Little Women.jpg — ***LITTLE WOMEN***

Greta Gerwig’s inspired adaptation of this American classic rearranges the narrative into parallel timelines. The ace cast (notably, Saoirse Ronan as Jo and Florence Pugh as Amy) bring vibrancy, charm, and modernity to this beloved coming-of-age story.

Top Ten

10. A HIDDEN LIFE

After spending much of the decade working in a highly elliptical, quasi-experimental mode, Terrence Malick delivers his most narratively grounded film in 14 years. A Hidden Life is the true story of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian conscientious objector during WWII whose rejection of Nazi rule brought life-altering repercussions. A film for our times, this meditative drama is a potent call for resistance in the face of authoritarianism and a prayer for the principled practice of Christianity. Like 2016’s Silence before it, A Hidden Life immediately joins the ranks of the great films about religious faith.

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9. ASH IS PUREST WHITE

Jia Zhangke’s latest is arguably his most conventional (because it fits into an easy genre model better than most of his output), but that descriptor betrays the scope and lucidity of his vision. Zhao Tao plays Qiao, who takes the fall for her gangster boyfriend and serves a prison sentence. When she gets out, she discovers her world and her nation have changed. For over twenty years, Jia has been one of China’s essential filmmaker voices, daring to criticize the government. While Ash Is Purest White is less overtly political than his past work, he still weaves critique into this intimate epic about the passage of time, the decay of love, and a society marching onward. And Zhao, as always, is phenomenal.

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8. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is Quentin Tarantino’s most personal film. It’s a look back at the Los Angeles he remembers from his youth (and a significant portion of the story almost works as an LA guided tour, with Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth cruising around town and an occasional narrator pointing out landmarks) but also a reflection on a dark turning point for the city and the filmmaking industry. That is the context for a hangout story that traces the trajectories of a fading TV star, his best friend and stuntman, and rising actress Sharon Tate, whose fates, in a bold bit of revisionist history, are inextricably tied together. But perhaps most controversially, it is a film that grapples with the legacy of cinema violence. Hollywood is not QT’s best work but the one likely to engender the most critical study.

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7. SUNSET

László Nemes made a name for himself on the world cinema stage when his debut feature, Son of Saul, won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2015. It’s strange then that his sophomore feature, Sunset, has largely remained under the radar, and that’s a shame, as I’d argue it’s an even more stunning piece of filmmaking. Sunset opens in Budapest on the even of WWI, as a young woman, played with quiet intensity by Juli Jakab, arrives at the millinery store that bears her family’s name, hoping for employment. Instead, she is pulled into a dark mystery. Thus, what opens as a lush period drama soon transforms into an immersive, harrowing trip down the rabbit hole that unfolds solely through the eyes of its determined protagonist.

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6. AD ASTRA

It has been a big year for Brad Pitt! First his excellent supporting turn in Hollywood and then his starring role in James Gray’s Ad Astra. Virtually a one-man show, here Pitt is tasked with not only carrying the film but managing the emotional labor of the character and his Heart of Darkness-inspired mission in this galaxy-spanning adventure. And he nails it: this is exceptional work from an actor who has continued to grow as a performer throughout his career. Of course, Gray, too, deserves major credit for the film’s achievements. It’s a wonder a sci-fi tale so intimate yet so expensive to produce even got made—and by a genuine auteur. An incredible balancing act of lyrical moments and grand set pieces, Ad Astra stands alone.

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5. MARRIAGE STORY

In a strong year for personal filmmaking, Noah Baumbach’s entry is the best of the bunch. This is the second film of his to offer a semi-autobiographical examination of divorce. In 2005’s The Squid and the Whale, he looked at it from the perspective of the children. In Marriage Story, it’s about the parents, Charlie (Adam Driver) and Nicole (Scarlett Johansson), whose agreement to resolve matters without lawyers soon goes awry, turning an amicable divorce into a bitter, ugly one. Baumbach’s script is a wonder to behold, blending humor, anger, love, and regret into every conversation and argument. There’s an authenticity to these exchanges, further corroborated by the sterling supporting cast of Laura Dern, Ray Liotta, and Alan Alda. Marriage Story joins a relatively short list of the great divorce films.

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4. UNCUT GEMS

Josh and Benny Safdie are making some of the most exciting American movies right now. 2017’s Good Time was an electric crime caper with an indelible lead performance. Uncut Gems doubles down, literally: New York City jeweler and inveterate gambler Howard Ratner (a crackerjack Adam Sandler) is looking to turn his bad luck around, so he sets in motion a big play that could save his neck or cost him everything. This scuzzy character study of a man on the edge of ruin is an exhilarating and darkly funny two-hour anxiety attack that hardly lets you catch your breath between gut punches. But perhaps most impressive is how the Safdie brothers turn a 2012 NBA playoff game into a source of sheer tension—whether you already know the outcome or not.

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3. THE IRISHMAN

The Irishman marks Martin Scorsese’s return to the world of the Mafia he thoroughly explored in Goodfellas and Casino over two decades ago. But this long-gestating project is no rehash or victory lap; it is a meditation on what a life in crime does to the soul. Based on the memoir of mob hitman Frank Sheeran (played with understated brilliance by Robert De Niro), The Irishman is a sprawling story about a WWII veteran who returns home and becomes a different kind of soldier. That world, as Scorsese depicts it this time around, is haunted by the specter of death—and the allure of the gangster life is nowhere to be found. It is the film’s sublime final hour (yes, it’s quite long) that surveys the incalculable personal and historical toll of Sheeran’s morbid work. Accordingly, the (admittedly imperfect) de-aging visual effects bear great significance: Sheeran can no longer see the young man he once was, and any reflection on the past is inevitably filtered through much older, experienced, and weary eyes. The Irishman might be the definitive mob film of a master filmmaker.

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2. PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE

Céline Sciamma, one of the great contemporary filmmakers of coming-of-age stories about young women, has delivered her first masterpiece. Set in 18th century France, Portrait of a Lady on Fire is the tale of a painter (Noémie Merlant) and the prospective bride (Adèle Haenel) whose portrait she is to discreetly paint while posing as her handmaid. In the course of the task, a forbidden attraction develops between the two women. Crackling fires and crashing waves abound on the soundtrack: a sonic rendering of their suppressed desires. What starts out as a slow-burn drama of desirous gazes, coded gestures, and intimate disclosures ignites into a passionate romance, elevated further by the impeccably controlled performances of Merlant and Haenel. More than just a romance, Portrait considers the constraints and limitations of women in a patriarchal society, including how art through the ages has largely been the creation, or at least domain, of men. Well, here is a beautiful film that obliterates the male gaze.

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1. PARASITE

Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite was the rare unanimous winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes in May, and it’s not hard to see why. The film, which follows two families, one rich, one poor, on a collision course (I shall say no more), is a brilliant, class-conscious thriller that fuses social critique with genre material for a narrative of clockwork precision that is mysterious, terrifying, and wholly unpredictable. As with all of Bong’s work, though especially Mother, there is a moral complexity that challenges one’s allegiance to the ostensible protagonist(s). The Korean filmmaker is not only a sharp writer but a supreme stylist, using visual language to elucidate theme: most effectively, orchestrating socioeconomic strata as physical spaces. But for all of the expert craftsmanship on display, the key to the film’s ultimate impact—what makes it resonate long after the breathless second half concludes—is the preservation of humanity in the midst of chaos and tragedy. A dazzling, provocative, and perceptive film, Parasite is the year’s best.