So ends another year; so begins my seventh annual Top 15 Films of the Year list.
2019 wasn’t the greatest year for the film industry. A number of highly anticipated movies failed to live up to the hype; sequels and remakes continued to writhe in hollow nostalgia; and Disney’s monopolistic threat became all the more real, as they began banning older Fox movies—like Alien, Fight Club, and The Princess Bride—from theatrical exhibition, lest audiences remember fine dining while they drown in fast food. As Martin Scorsese summed up in his much-discussed op-ed, “for anyone who dreams of making movies or who is just starting out, the situation at this moment is brutal and inhospitable to art. And the act of simply writing those words fills me with terrible sadness.”
The industry’s (and world’s) inhospitality, though, makes the following films all the more remarkable. They tower over a spiritless status quo, standing as monuments of resistance through sheer quality, crucial stories, and potent humanity. The filmmakers deserve recognition and you deserve great movies, so let’s honor the best of the best that 2019 had to offer! But first, as always, the best of the rest:
Honorable Mentions:
Avengers: Endgame- the Infinity Saga’s conclusion doesn’t justify the damage that Disney/Marvel wreaked to get there, but in a vacuum, it’s hard to deny Endgame’s excellently structured and well-acted denouements. Its spectacle feels earned.
Birds of Passage- a Colombian crime epic that doubles as a beautifully shot meditation on the tension between tradition and wealth.
Hustlers- a cocktail of class consciousness and feminism that’s as thoughtful as it is entertaining, told via a true story of scheming strippers.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood- Tarantino at his most tender; the cinematic equivalent of a warm, weird goodbye hug.
Wild Rose- 2019’s best feel-good movie. A single mother in Glasgow pursues her dream of country music stardom, much to our benefit.
And now, the Top 15 Films of 2019. Disagreement energy can be channeled into unionizing your workplace.
15. Honeyland
Directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov, edited by Atanas Georgiev
What is it? Two filmmakers intended to make a documentary about the river running through the center of Macedonia, but after they happened upon Hatidze—an isolated beekeeper in the Macedonian mountains—they decided to document her life for three years instead.
Why it made the list: You’d be forgiven for thinking that Honeyland was a narrative feature, even after you finished watching it. Through means left to conjecture, Kotevska and Stefanov make themselves invisible documentarians: they never interact with their subjects on screen, nobody addresses or acknowledges the camera, and Hatidze’s days pass as if no one were watching her. It’s an unadorned window into a long-lost lifestyle. Hatidze’s main concern is caring for her bedridden mother, but when neighbors arrive and begin mass-producing honey, she has to find ways to keep her business tenable. It’s then that Honeyland becomes something more: a fascinating look at the genesis of a competitive economy and the tolls that it takes.
Where to watch: It’s currently streaming on Hulu, and is available for rental and purchase on multiple video on demand (VOD) services.
14. The Report
Written and directed by Scott Z. Burns
What is it? A political thriller centered on Daniel Jones, the U.S. Senate staffer who investigated those responsible for covering up and lying about the U.S. torture program, from Cheney to the CIA to Obama.
Why it made the list: No critic described The Report better than Leslie Felperin, who wrote that it was “practically pornography for policy wonks”. The film relays a massive amount of (true!) information—some of which was previously unknown to the general public—while retaining the pacing and impact of a quintessential thriller. Scott Z. Burns, who sharpened his screenwriting skills while writing for Steven Soderbergh over several years, is marked here by his efficiency: there is no wasted scene or languid moment in The Report. Structured like a steepening slope, its intelligence and righteous anger only grow as the minutes tick by, firing off political realities on all its indignant cylinders.
Where to watch: It’s currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
13. For Sama
Directed by Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts, edited by Chloe Lambourne and Simon McMahon
What is it? A PBS Frontline documentary captured by Waad Al-Kateab, an Aleppo-based filmmaker who gave birth to her daughter right when the Syrian opposition began fighting the oppressive government of Bashar al-Assad.
Why it made the list: It puts a face on the desperate struggle of which libertarian candidate Gary Johnson was so famously ignorant. If the American modus operandi is to obscure Middle Eastern conflict into a nebulous war of Others, For Sama is a shot of reality straight to the heart—and it’s a strong one. Seeing the destruction of Aleppo in real time is heartbreakingly recontextualized by its effect on Sama, our miniature global neighbor who’s been acquainted with fear and death from birth. But amid the devastation, the film captures startling instances of hope: the revival of a baby removed by emergency C-section after a bombing is, easily, one of the most intense and overwhelming events ever committed to documentary. I hope we keep the Samas of the world in mind as the debate over attacking Iran rages on.
Where to watch: It’s currently available in full on the Frontline PBS Youtube channel.
12. Little Women
Adapted and directed by Greta Gerwig
What is it? The sixteenth (or so) cinematic adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s famous novel.
Why it made the list: Free of the more rigid structure that undergirded the personal story of Lady Bird, Gerwig—a director who knows a thing or ten about improvisational acting—lets her cast redefine an age-old story through their performances. By rearranging the novel’s chronology, Gerwig emphasizes the infinitesimal yet deliberate choices that her actors made to define their characters across their lives, humanizing them in ways that previous adaptations could only suggest. The result is an emotive drama on an intimate scale. Even alongside several magnificent performances, Florence Pugh is a standout, bringing us a vindicated Amy March who was heretofore unknown. She’s even convincing as a 13-year-old!
Where to watch: It’s currently playing in theaters, and is expected to be available for rental and purchase in March (!) 2020.
11. The Irishman
Adapted by Steven Zaillian, directed by Martin Scorsese
What is it? Unless time is kinder than it has been, it’s probably Scorsese’s last gangster epic.
Why it made the list: In more ways than one, The Irishman serves as a conclusion to Scorsese’s legendary oeuvre. Where Mean Streets, Goodfellas, and Casino ended with the twilights of gangsters’ careers, The Irishman marches on to a more distant twilight—imagine if Goodfellas went on for an additional hour, watching Henry Hill adjust to life as a “schnook”, as he so memorably lamented in the film’s final line. In keeping with Scorsese’s stated mission of “learning to die”, he directs the tales of gangster Frank Sheeran at a leisurely pace, keeping the tone laid-back and goals directionless. This generates the feeling that we’re behind the eyelids of a man in his final moments, remembering what’s past and taking stock of what’s left. Where the latter is concerned, Scorsese builds to a revelation that bookends his legacy with unparalleled poignance—like The Godfather Part III done right.
Where to watch: It’s currently streaming on Netflix.
10. Aquarela
Directed by Viktor Kossakovsky, edited by Viktor Kossakovsky, Molly Malene Steensgaard, and Ainara Vera
What is it? A documentary about water. And how it’s coming to kill us all.
Why it made the list: Belief in the scientific consensus of human-made climate change is a prerequisite for watching Aquarela. Coined “the most dangerous documentary ever made”—and for good reason—Aquarela consists entirely of close-up footage of water at its most threatening: cars falling through an ice field that’s melting early, abnormally large storm waves swallowing a ship, a hurricane tearing Puerto Rico to pieces. Kossakovsky’s cinematography is jaw-dropping, like Planet Earth for the era of the apocalypse. In the context of global warming, it’s a nature documentary coming for revenge—the power and scope of an immovable object being forced to move.
Where to watch: It’s currently available for rental and purchase on multiple VOD services.
9. Parasite
Written by Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won, directed by Bong Joon-ho
What is it? A dark comedy/thriller about the nightmare hell of late-stage capitalism, told via the relationship between two families—one ultra-poor, the other ultra-rich—in South Korea.
Why it made the list: If Parasite isn’t Bong’s most nuanced depiction of class warfare—I’d wager that title still belongs to Snowpiercer—it’s certainly his most tonally balanced. Bong’s filmography, reliably bursting with ideas, is known for sometimes haphazard concoctions of social commentary, nail-biting thrills, and slapstick humor. These elements don’t always gel together perfectly, but Bong cracks the code with Parasite, his most cohesive film to date. It’s assembled with clinical precision: every corner of the production design serves a purpose and every intriguing setup is paired with a bizarre payoff. Parasite keeps you guessing and gasping so breathlessly that its symbolism, like its class-representation-via-verticality, might sneak up on you.
Where to watch: It’s currently playing in theaters, and is expected to be available for rental and purchase by mid-January 2020.
8. Toy Story 4
Written by Andrew Stanton and Stephany Folsom, directed by Josh Cooley
What is it? Come on, you know Toy Story. It’s the fourth one.
Why it made the list: Like The Last Jedi before it, Toy Story 4 is an example of artists overcoming the corporate-mandated mediocrity of the Disney machine. Breaking from traditional Hollywood structure, the film builds its narrative out of a series of micro-scale stories that revolve around a central theme: the dizzying, dreadful purposelessness that stems from awareness of one’s own consciousness. Fun! The franchise had long toyed with the existential, but by embracing the miasma of superfluity that hangs around a “trilogy’s” fourth entry, Toy Story 4 is downbeat and melancholy enough to forefront the hard questions. Gone is the emotional manipulation of the entire cast sliding towards an incinerator; here is the genuine consideration of what it means to live. And it actually is fun—where else can you watch the birth of a sentient spork?
Where to watch: It’s currently available for rental and purchase on multiple VOD services.
7. Invisible Life
Adapted by Murilo Hauser, Inés Bortagaray, and Karim Aïnouz, directed by Karim Aïnouz
What is it? An adaptation of the acclaimed novel The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, in which two sisters in 1950s Brazil yearn to find each other after they’re separated by patriarchal rule.
Why it made the list: Although drastically different in content and tone, Invisible Life shares a formal kinship with Coppola’s first Godfather. Both films have a grand, melodramatic narrative firmly grounded in time and place, transforming cultural dynamics—ethnicity in The Godfather, gender in Invisible Life—into a story of macrocosmic scale. And yet, despite their wide scopes, both films are shot with a disarming naturalism: the characters are just humans, and whatever larger issue their trials represent, their personal lives still mean the world. To watch Invisible Life is to understand the frustrations and strengths of Latin American women; it’s also to share in the painfully realistic suffering of two women whose dreams are suffocated by the men around them. The differences in the sisters’ paths end up speaking volumes on both the personal level and the cultural.
Where to watch: It’s playing in theaters, but only in a few large cities. Announcements for streaming and VOD dates are forthcoming.
6. An elephant sitting still
Written and directed by Hu Bo
What is it? The feature debut of lauded novelist Hu Bo, who tragically took his own life at 29 shortly after finishing the film.
Why it made the list: There’s a dangerous tendency to put the work of profoundly depressed artists on a pedestal, regardless of the work’s quality. The praise for An Elephant Sitting Still is not so misplaced, though: it’s a truly visionary work, one that exhales the fog of profound depression through every aesthetic choice, and with formidable talent. It’s not an easy film to recommend—it’s replete with despair and four hours long—but it needs each minute of those four hours to impart its esoteric misery. Contextually, it’s the misery of modern-day China, its citizens driven to hopelessness and hostility by the rise of state capitalism and the ruthless individualism wrought with it. But through Hu’s lens, that misery is incarnated as four characters. Long, close-up tracking shots and persistently shallow depth of field—a style that consumes the film—isolates the characters even as they interact; a sparse but heavy-hitting score echoes the torture in their very guts. The film knows no hope, but its enormously affective final shot transcends the knowable.
Where to watch: It’s currently streaming on The Criterion Channel, and is available for rental and purchase on Amazon Prime.
5. Marriage Story
Written and directed by Noah Baumbach
What is it? The story of a bitter divorce between two artists, inspired by Baumbach’s own divorce and the separations of other loved ones.
Why it made the list: Decades of writing character-centric movies has honed Baumbach’s ability to craft multifarious humanity, and Marriage Story finds him at the height of his talent. Nicole and Charlie contain universes of flaws, hopes, conflicts, regrets, virtues, and capacities for making meaning, and Baumbach avoids the pitfall of defining them by whatever aspect is currently most operable in the divorce process. Rather, these characteristics are, unlike the people they belong to, inseparable, hiding and colliding in coded communications that are contextualized by the world around them. Marriage Story is a thorny movie, resistant to compartmentalization and paradigmatic of the complexities of romance. It’s also funny, heartrending, and achingly authentic—an unmissable portrait of people facing their most human challenges, together and apart.
Where to watch: It’s currently streaming on Netflix.
4. Peterloo
Written and directed by Mike Leigh
What is it? A historical drama chronicling the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, when Northern England’s ruling class sanctioned the slaughter of a movement demanding workers’ rights and representation.
Why it’s on the list: It’s criminal that the latest film from Mike Leigh, venerable film and theater auteur of the working class, isn’t a bigger deal. Peterloo is a staggering, elaborately historical yet hauntingly modern, rousingly class-conscious achievement; richly written and clothed in proletariat contempt. If not for its length and period accuracy, Leigh could’ve staged Peterloo as a play: the story consists of several pieces moving all at once, so stylistic additions are kept at a minimum for clarity’s sake. The film’s lack of cinematic flourish makes it feel all the more urgent, as the dredges of everyday oppression are perceptible in its methodical pacing. It’s an essential moment of workers’ history translated into essential workers’ cinema.
Where to watch: It’s currently streaming, ironically, on Amazon Prime.
3. Monos
Written by Alejandro Landes and Alexis Dos Santos, directed by Alejandro Landes
What is it? A dreamlike tale of child soldiers, their American captive, and a very important cow.
Why it made the list: It’s Lord of the Flies meets Apocalypse Now, except even better than Apocalypse Now. Monos may seem like a stylistic exercise at first glance—it’s certainly more ethereal than any war film in recent memory, far more so than Malick’s The Thin Red Line—but its underbelly is meaningful and traumatic. Monos is told like mythology and directed with the detached aestheticism of a nature documentary; its refusal to divulge sociopolitical context makes real-world Columbia seem like an unexplainable nightmare. Tense, beautiful, numbing, and terrifying—especially due to Mica Levi’s most disquieting score yet—it floats above narrative and character details until the origin of any conflict is superfluous information. All that’s left is war, and how it feels, and how we need it to stop.
Where to watch: It’s currently available for rental and purchase on multiple VOD services.
2. The Nightingale
Written and directed by Jennifer Kent
What is it? It’s 1825, and the British Army is colonizing Aboriginal Australia. Clare Carroll and her husband are Irish convicts at the service of the British Army, forced to work for them while trying to raise their baby. After Clare reports a British lieutenant for raping her, the lieutenant savagely attacks her family, provoking Clare to pick up the pieces and take revenge.
Why it made the list: How cinema should approach violence has been the subject of much debate since the medium’s birth. Filmmakers that want to treat it seriously are typically found between two ends of a spectrum: keeping violence totally off-screen, in order to rob the act of any power or catharsis; and depicting it completely uncensored, so as to acknowledge its terrible power and effect on victims. The Nightingale is very, very firmly on the latter end of that spectrum. Where Kent’s previous film The Babadook allegorized the horror of motherhood, The Nightingale finds horror in stark reality—being a woman in a world ruled by men is far worse than metaphorical monsters. This film is a tough watch. Acts of unspeakable violence are shown no-holds-barred, and Kent frames them in a formal prison of oppression: a squarish aspect ratio boxes in Clare’s existence, as if there’s nowhere to run from the awful things she’s endured. So when she fights back, The Nightingale finds a broken but restorative power in the righteous anger of the marginalized, acknowledging both its pragmatic futility and personal necessity. It’s an exorcism in the midst of hell, and a brutal masterpiece.
Where to watch: It’s currently streaming on Hulu, and is available for rental and purchase on multiple VOD services.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Written and directed by Céline Sciamma
What is it? In 18th century France, a young woman named Héloïse is set to be married off against her will to a Milanese nobleman. The marriage cannot take place until Héloïse has had her portrait painted for the occasion, so she refuses to pose. In response, Héloïse’s mother hires a painter named Marianne, who pretends to be Héloïse’s companion so that she can memorize her features and paint her portrait in secret.
Why it’s the best film of 2019: The year gave us two masterpieces of righteous female anger, each unique in its execution. Where The Nightingale is admirably brazen, Portrait of a Lady on Fire is elegant and subtle. Rare is the movie with so much command over its every scene, shot, and bit of subtext—every gorgeous frame overflows with intention and purpose; each vignette in the story between the three protagonists is the impetus for a resonant idea. Sciamma, who at this point should be considered one of cinema’s masters, allegorizes portraiture as trapping a subject within a gendered gaze, and conveys the simple power of women seeing each other through their own gaze. The symbolism, craft, and performances are all stunning. Portrait of a Lady on Fire is the most artful response imaginable to a woman being told to smile, and an antithesis to how women have been utilized in art for centuries: it captivates rather than captures, creating a feminist vision with a frown on its face and a fire in its heart.
Where to watch: It’s already had a limited theater release in larger cities, and will open to most other theaters in February 2020.
Thank you for reading! If any of these films intrigued you, get to watching. :)