Top 10 Movies of 2019
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- DirectorGaspar NoéStarsSofia BoutellaRomain GuillermicSouheila YacoubFrench dancers gather in a remote, empty school building to rehearse on a wintry night. The all-night celebration morphs into a hallucinatory nightmare when they learn their sangria is laced with LSD.The French Extremist Climax is simultaneously one of the most perfectly coordinated and most chaotic films ever made. I mean it, folks. This movie is absolutely goddamn mad. In it, Gaspar Noé defies several filmmaking conventions but is so impressive and precise in other areas that you don’t mind the middle finger he flings at you and what you’re used to. His other middle finger seems directed at modern youths and the way they party. And boy does this film show quite the party.
With its isolated setting, trippy chromatics, constant EDM soundtrack, lengthy takes that never detach us from the increasing anarchy, and endlessly intense acting, Climax is utterly nightmarish to watch – in the best possible sense. As I wrote in my initial review early this year: “even when the takes are seemingly endless and contain 20-ish actors doing things at once and several subplots intertwining, no-one in the cast or camera crew ever miss a beat. Or the special effects team for that matter”.
And to quote Noé himself: “You despised I Stand Alone, hated Irréversible, execrated Enter the Void, cursed Love, come celebrate Climax“. Noé is defiant in the way modern Von Trier is, albeit more surefire and purposeful in his unconventionality. It is very likely that you will loathe every frame of Climax. This isn’t the important part. The important part is that you see it. - DirectorRobert EggersStarsRobert PattinsonWillem DafoeValeriia KaramanTwo lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.A24’s The Lighthouse came from the darkest depths of the human imagination. Aptly based on an unfinished story from Edgar Allen Poe, it taps into such deep-rooted universal fears as confinement, insanity, unseen forces lurking among us, and distrust in the one companion we have; all of these fears are present on the little island in The Lighthouse, enhanced by a claustrophobic frame and grainy black-and-white photography. Every single image is well-realized.
Few films aiming to replicate old cinema go out of their way to use dusty equipment or an “early talkies” aspect ratio to make the audience’s time travel seem as authentic as possible. Both are true of Robert Eggers‘ horror opus, the monochromatic look of which also brings to mind Hungarian legend Béla Tarr with its dark shadows, heavy storms, and the constant sense that something is wrong. This is one of 2019’s most clearly conceived cinematic visions; it moves from memorable comedy to harrowing dread without clunkiness and Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson carry the whole thing with top-tier aplomb – indecipherable as their accents might be. I also enjoy the idea that the forces surrounding them may be of Greek mythological origin, whether they truly exist or if Pattinson uses faith to justify his own madness and actions.
This is, no less, an unforgettable movie. This magnitude of originality and creativity is why we have A24. If you haven’t seen it yet, make sure you catch what few screenings you still can, or that you watch the VOD version on the biggest possible screen in the darkest possible room. - DirectorBong Joon HoStarsSong Kang-hoLee Sun-kyunCho Yeo-jeongGreed and class discrimination threaten the newly-formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.Bong Joon-ho‘s Parasite (org. title 기생충) is wickedly original in theory, artful and immaculate in practice, layered in its acting, and just-in-time in its commentary, even if not all who watch and understand it helm from South Korea. That’s right; two South Korean films made the cut this year! Let it also be known that my top 3 are pretty damn tight.
In Parasite, the socially downtrodden Kims, a slightly-above-homeless family of con artists, gradually make their way into the employ of the upper-class Park family, working in their household in various capacities. I think I revealed too much about how this all develops in my review, so for this post, I’ll leave it even vaguer. It is riveting and utterly unpredictable to follow, especially when another revelation is made in the Park estate. It is equal parts nail-biting and hilarious, until it finally gets horrific.
I don’t really know what I can add to this one. It is just a fantastic film with flawless performances and I’m glad it has achieved some sort of mix between accessible pop culture (without being soullessly tailored for mass appeal by a money-hungry studio) and distinctive art (without being indigestible). These things don’t happen often. - DirectorYorgos LanthimosStarsOlivia ColmanEmma StoneRachel WeiszIn early 18th-century England, the status quo at the court is upset when a new servant arrives and endears herself to a frail Queen Anne.Someone once suggested that, if “toxic femininity” is a thing, the way that Duchess Sarah Churchill and Lady Abigail tear each other apart for the affection of Queen Anne of Great Britain in The Favourite would be the best example. There is a sort of competitive hatred on display in this film we don’t associate with men (which is why, I think, it is so rarely examined).
Yorgos Lanthimos is shaping up to be one of my absolute favorite filmmakers. His Killing of a Sacred Deer made my 2017 list and The Lobster was added posthumously to my 2016 one. As for the Greek-language Dogtooth, ’tis still high on my watchlist. It took us a while, but Lanthimos is getting the attention he deserves. As you may recall, his latest production received quite a number of Oscar nominations; I am happy for Lanthimos and his long-overdue attention, regardless of how I may generally feel about the Oscars.
In terms of sets and costuming, The Favourite is as flawless a look into a past historical period as Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, but being directed by Lanthimos ensures that it will also be one of the most darkly strange and comically depressing pictures of the year. Add to that the unimpeachable performances of Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz and the rightfully awarded Olivia Colman, who portrays Anne, and you’ve got one of the surefire winners of 2019 (yes, it was released in my country a bit late). - DirectorBenny SafdieJosh SafdieStarsAdam SandlerJulia FoxIdina MenzelWith his debts mounting and angry collectors closing in, a fast-talking New York City jeweler risks everything in hope of staying afloat and alive.Uncut Gems is one of the longest films on my top 5, yet it is also one of the most remorselessly intense and hectic. It is beautifully made, yet it is also gloriously gritty and nasty. Adam Sandler‘s gambling-addicted New York jeweler is difficult to adore, yet we also relate to his escalating stress (even as we don’t excuse the perpetual tornado of debt and violence he’s put himself into). When something seems to be getting sorted out, Sandler’s addiction finds a way to make it worse again.
Being directed by the Safdie brothers also gives Uncut Gems one of the more distinct personalities on this list. Like their previous film Good Time, it has immersive cinematography, strong colors, and highly unique electronic music courtesy of Oneohtrix Point Never. My one issue here would be the sound mixing; the music is just a little too loud at times.
Distributed by A24 in the US and by Netflix everywhere else, it may be the start of something new for Adam Sandler, henceforth attractive to high-class filmmakers in spite of his record as a low-brow comedian – with such promising exceptions as Funny People and Punch-Drunk Love. If he wins an Oscar, I will not eat my hat because I always knew Sandler was better than he typically lets on. If Schneider goes through something similar, on the other hand. - DirectorDavid Robert MitchellStarsAndrew GarfieldRiley KeoughTopher GraceSam, a disenchanted young man, finds a mysterious woman swimming in his apartment's pool one night. The next morning, she disappears. Sam sets off across LA to find her, and along the way he uncovers a conspiracy far more bizarre.A24’s “hipster-noir” Under the Silver Lake is a visual feast and auditory delight that is about a little bit of everything. It touches on the dark myths surrounding Los Angeles and the typical characters you may find there; the attention-seeking performance artists, the aspiring musicians, the aspiring actors, et al. It also touches on giant conspiracies that involve underground tunnels, hidden codes (some knowable only to the audience), assassins, ancient symbols, apocalyptic bunkers which you may only enter through a highly specific ritual, an indie band that produces subliminal messaging, and the way our entire pop culture may have been shaped throughout the last century.
Experiencing it all is Andrew Garfield as low-life Sam, who only wants to know where the girl he saw by his pool (Riley Keough) has ended up. He has been compared to The Dude; a bum of a man who starts off wanting one thing but is dragged into a vast underworld he can barely follow. There is much going on and the movie makes little sense. This is the point; we understand just as much about the Rabbit Hole as Sam does.
Under the Silver Lake is visually varied, has a charmfully old-school synth score, and makes me question reality as we know it more successfully than any garden-variety Alex Jones rant about mind-control agents and “gay frog water”. And to think, all I wanted to do was find out what happened to Riley Keough. - DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsLeonardo DiCaprioBrad PittMargot RobbieA faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles.As often as Hollywood revisits eras like the 1960’s, there is something exceptionally magical in how Margot Robbie captures the decade’s female beauty ideal in Quentin Tarantino‘s latest, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, wherein she portrays actress and Manson victim Sharon Tate. The way she looks, moves, and emotes has never been matched by any film that takes us back to this age of cinema.
At first glance, this is the calmest, most character-driven, and least comical of Tarantino’s films. However, the note of hilarious bloodlust on which it ends (not to mention a glorious scene where Bruce Lee, as played by Mike Hoh, features) is worth the wait; not that there isn’t much to cheer for before the climax.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are excellent as the Burt Reynolds-inspired screen actor and his more charismatic stunt double, respectively (I love it when directors allow Pitt to actually act). The aforementioned Robbie is one of several things, along with convincing locations and costumes plus well-utilized music, that make us truly feel as we’re in a more glamorous era of Hollywood magic. Quentin Tarantino seems the only auteur left who generates long lines at the theater without the aid of Marvel or Disney logotypes. We need to cherish such things. - DirectorTodd PhillipsStarsJoaquin PhoenixRobert De NiroZazie BeetzDuring the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.The film radicalizes entitled right-wing “Anonymous” incels, yelps the one end of modern politics. It glorifies AntiFa, whines the other. I get to thinking, perhaps it does not directly glorify, nor target, either of those (in spite of parables that, admittedly, evokes both) and is about something greater that’s malfunctioning in mankind? Perhaps its all-encompassing but approachable message – the fact that anyone from anywhere can be corrupted – is what confuses those who need there to be clear heroes and villains? Even if the rioters in this film are AntiFa (or Nazi incels or whatever), neither they nor the flawed establishment they rail against are wholly good. What was truly the fall of Gotham?
Whatever the answer may be, I would argue it is important to recognize Joker‘s objective achievements as a pure piece of filmmaking. This is a career-best for Joaquin Phoenix (not that he has a shortage of great performances) and it mops the floor with its comic-book competition in terms of cinematography, production design, music, and unnerving but sometimes thoughtful themes (although issues of mental illness have been addressed more gracefully). Endgame won the money this year, but it seems Joker won the hearts. Even detractors on both sides are more interested in this than the fight against Thanos. They love talking about how “obvious” and “unoriginal” it is, but not all great films are as impenetrable as Fellini’s – and it is certainly necessary for fans of superhero pop culture to try this gateway drug to more artful movies.
Some people also dislike its twist, regarding the main character’s perception of the world, but the reveal I’m referring to isn’t the ultimate point of this character detail. It is to show how Arthur Fleck rationalizes his descent into violence and to finally leave us with the implication that this entire film may have been in his head the whole time. As such, the movie is pretty difficult to fault on a script consistency and believability level. Bravissimo, DC! - DirectorLee Chang-dongStarsYoo Ah-inSteven YeunJeon Jong-seoJong-su bumps into a girl who used to live in the same neighborhood, who asks him to look after her cat while she's on a trip to Africa. When back, she introduces Ben, a mysterious guy she met there, who confesses his secret hobby.Burning (org. title 버닝) is a South Korean mystery based on a Japanese short story that’s all the more intriguing because I am still not sure what to make of what I saw. I am still pondering its puzzle; the disappearances, the burning greenhouses, and the unexplained phone calls that make no sounds. What the movie suffers from is the odd filler moment, although I don’t discount the possibility that I simply missed something in these scenes. Some might decry the depiction of Jeon Jong-seo, as well, but there’s more to her than meets the eye.
The way the film’s mystery made me uneasy and almost paranoid, coupled with how well-directed all its crowd shots and camera movements are, struck me as very “Haneke” (I recall feeling similarly about Caché, but I liked that one better).
Burning is well-performed, dazzlingly shot, and refreshing in the sense that we get to see Steven Yeun of The Walking Dead fame do more with a character than that which American mass-appeal television typically permits. One might find it delightfully unusual to hear him speak his native tongue for a change. - DirectorNoah BaumbachStarsAdam DriverScarlett JohanssonJulia GreerNoah Baumbach's incisive and compassionate look at a marriage breaking up and a family staying together.I am obliged to open my summary of Marriage Story with a defense. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, although praised for their leading performances during the movie festivals (which is where, as far as I’m concerned, the purest cineasts make their views heard), they were accused of over-emoting and purely playing assholes (a willful simplification) when Film Twitter got its paws on the Netflix release. Johansson, in particular, was dismissed as just “doing her job” when her convincingness garnered praise.
Firstly, the “over-emotive” fight near the finale (which can admittedly seem over-the-top and reminded me of a gag in Nirvanna the Band the Show) is a culmination of the rage and frustration we’ve seen the actors display up to that point, although before then, they also successfully portrayed the characters trying to keep these feelings at bay – far more powerful, I think, than a proper outburst. One such example is a single-take monologue where Johansson’s character addresses her divorce lawyer (Laura Dern), which is the part people dismiss because, hey, stage actors technically do one-take performances every night. But Johansson, partially since this is a more intimate medium, gets to do more with her emotions and facial expressions than stage actors might.
Browsing Film Twitter, it is easy to assume that this fact is being ignored mainly because Johansson was nearly cast as a trans person and sort-of played an Asian cyborg once, and we can’t review a piece of art honestly if sanctimonious bloggers happen to deem one of the actors “problematic” and bad for representation, right? Alas, I tried anyway. - DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroAl PacinoJoe PesciAn illustration of Frank Sheeran's life, from W.W.II veteran to hit-man for the Bufalino crime family and his alleged assassination of his close friend Jimmy Hoffa.
- DirectorSergio PablosCarlos Martínez LópezStarsJason SchwartzmanJ.K. SimmonsRashida JonesA simple act of kindness always sparks another, even in a frozen, faraway place. When Smeerensburg's new postman, Jesper, befriends toymaker Klaus, their gifts melt an age-old feud and deliver a sleigh full of holiday traditions.
- DirectorJacques AudiardStarsJohn C. ReillyJoaquin PhoenixJake GyllenhaalEli and Charlie Sisters, an infamous duo of gunslinging assassins, chase a gold prospector and his unexpected ally in 1850s Oregon.
- DirectorClaire DenisStarsRobert PattinsonJuliette BinocheAndré 3000A father and his daughter struggle to survive in deep space where they live in isolation.EXTRA HONORABLE MENTION. Something I truly value is a film where its mere mention instantly and clearly reminds me of images, sounds, sequences, and pieces of music from within it. While Claire Denis‘ High Life is a flawed movie, it exemplifies that kind of film – these are some of the most striking and unsettling sequences of the year (even though this is a 2018 picture, depending on where you looked).
Quoth the synopsis, “the film focuses on a group of death row criminals who are sent on a mission to travel on a spaceship toward a black hole while taking part in scientific experiments”. Most of the inmates aboard the ship in question, sans the level-headed Robert Pattinson (who also sings on the soundtrack), are more animal than human. Juliette Binoche plays a scientist who keeps the inmates in check via sedatives, but has her own motives of creating a baby through artificial insemination, using the inmates as guinea pigs.
As I said in my review, the movie might be focused on a little too much at once; artificial pregnancy, humans reverting to animalism in captivity, and a life-saving journey toward a black hole. However, it all circles around the purity of Pattinson’s character. The successful seed is his, he remains is the most human inmate, and… I dare not give away the rest. - DirectorPeter JacksonStarsThomas AdlamWilliam ArgentJohn AshbyA documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of the end of the war.Documentaries like this are why I don’t take it lightly when people try and fail to dismiss cinephilia or even cinema itself as mere pastime. Last time I heard it, ’twas from someone who thinks remembrance of historical heroes is among the “real” important things. If one then thinks this documentary also constitutes a fun waste of time by virtue of indeed being “a film”, it’d ultimately constitute a paradox.
Watching They Shall Not Grow Old – a film in which Peter Jackson has cleaned up and restored, not footage of World War II, but what footage we have of World War I – is like walking among ghosts. You start to believe in eternal life. It is a film that ensures we will always remember what happened and do so “vividly”. This is what movies can do for us now.
The narration consists exclusively of archive audio of WW1 veterans recounting their experiences. Not everything is riveting, I suppose, and the visuals can look a little weird (I hope Jackson didn’t cheat too much in his restoration of these images by animating bigger explosions or whatever). Still, I had to talk about it in some capacity. It is a very useful film, perhaps especially to the biggest fans of war. Quoth the veterans: “We were just doing a job, if it came it came.” - DirectorJames GrayStarsBrad PittTommy Lee JonesRuth NeggaAstronaut Roy McBride undertakes a mission across an unforgiving solar system to uncover the truth about his missing father and his doomed expedition that now, 30 years later, threatens the universe.
- DirectorRoy AnderssonStarsJessica LouthanderTatiana DelaunayAnders HellströmRoy Andersson adds to his cinematic oeuvre with a reflection on human life in all its beauty and cruelty, its splendour and banality.
- DirectorAri AsterStarsFlorence PughJack ReynorVilhelm BlomgrenA couple travels to Northern Europe to visit a rural hometown's fabled Swedish mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.
- DirectorBarry JenkinsStarsKiKi LayneStephan JamesRegina KingA young woman embraces her pregnancy while she and her family set out to prove her childhood friend and lover innocent of a crime he didn't commit.
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsThom YorkeDajana RoncioneFrida Dam SeidelIn a short musical film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, Thom Yorke of Radiohead scores and stars in a mind-bending visual piece. Best played loud.I’m never quite sure how to rank exceptional short films or exceptional audio-visual experiments when I do these lists. Paul Thomas Anderson‘s Anima, a companion piece to Thom Yorke‘s similarly titled album, meets both definitions. Available on Netflix, it is certainly a sight to behold and its length prevents me from spoiling as much as I did of last year’s Bandersnatch.