Staff Inquiry: Our Favorite Movies of 2019

2019 has come and gone, and we’ve given our writers time to make their lists and check them twice. Now they’re ready to give you their personal top tens of the year along with some gushing about their absolute favorite or their list as a whole.

Because our staff are strewn across the globe, each person’s list is based on release dates in the country they live in. That means you may see some movies that got quite a bit of coverage in 2018, but release dates are so weird that the movie about a queer Queen of England and the women vying for her attention didn’t come out in the UK until 2019. Crazy, I know, but people must be allowed to highlight such great movies.

So here they are, our staff’s personal favorite movies of 2019.

Aaron Berry: Ash is Purest White

1. Ash is Purest White
2. Parasite
3. Uncut Gems
4. The Irishman
5. High Life
6. Climax
7. Birds of Passage
8. Pain & Glory
9. Metayouu
10. The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open

2019. Last year of the decade, and last year to mark the decade’s achievements in cinema. All things considered, film has been a better landscape over that period, and deciding to actively seek out work that would normally go unrecognized by the greater film community was for the better. Films like The Body Remembers and Metayouu are made with many limitations and minor platforms, the former being available only through a YouTube link from the director. The best works in film this year came from shocking places and by brilliant voices that reach a moderate audience, and it’s a fact I am more than content with as it gives a chance to help them reach others, especially when they cover various central themes of the creative process, late-stage capitalism, and the simple power of brave cinema.

Rose Dymock: The Irishman

1. The Irishman – A heartfelt contemplation on life and morality wrapped up in a gangster film, with some of the greatest living actors firing on all cylinders.
2. Parasite – Bong Joon-ho’s spiky satire on class in modern South Korea is a thriller that keeps on twisting, right up until the very last frame.
3. Atlantics – A film that deserved more recognition in awards season, Mati Diop weaves an intriguing and haunting love story that defies categorisation.
4. The Lighthouse – Creepy, unnerving, and completely soaked in atmosphere, Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson give outstanding performances in this supernatural drama.
5. Hustlers – What happens when you combine a killer script, grey morality, and some of the best needle drops since Scorsese? Lorene Scafaria’s lively story of strippers, Wall Street, and the recession, that’s what.
6. Bait – A unique and innovative British film which examines the enduring legacy of class, violence, and privilege in a Cornish fishing village. Mark Jenkin’s use of a 16mm camera and dubbed voices makes Bait stand out from the crowd.
7. Bacurau – A Cannes Film Festival stand-out, this bloody western examines the legacy of Brazilian politics, corruption, and the fight for survival against neo-colonialization with intriguing results.
8. High Life – Claire Denis’ first English-language film involves Robert Pattinson, a baby, and the vast emptiness of space. Hard to describe but a fascinating watch.
9. Knives Out – Rian Johnson’s ode to Agatha Christie features Daniel Craig and his accent, more double crossing than an episode of The Sopranos, and an excellent performance by Ana de Armas.
10. The Nightingale – A brutal and confrontational examination of Britain’s colonial legacy in Australia – Jennifer Kent’s follow up to The Babadook is a hard watch but an essential one.

Dave Fontana: Knives Out

1. Knives Out
2. Deadwood: The Movie
3. Parasite
4. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 
5. Dragged Across Concrete
6. Marriage Story
7. The Nightingale
8. The Irishman
9. Little Women
10. El Camino

To me, there are few directors out there who make movies with as much raw, dedicated passion as Rian Johnson. Through the years, he has made some truly outstanding films, from his first old-school noir Brick to the polarizing (but, in my opinion, excellent) The Last Jedi.

With Knives Out, he proves this further, creating a detective mystery both indepted to its predecessors as well as subverting the genre into its own, unique beast. From seemingly “solving” the mystery only a short while in, to casting the suave British Daniel Craig as a southern-drawl sleuth, to making a character usually reverted to the sidelines into the central protagonist, played by Ana de Armas, and, finally making the film incredibly funny even during the tensest of moments; Knives Out is easily the most original studio film to hit theaters in quite some time. And if you look deeper, it says a lot about current politics as well.

Although there were some exceptional films to hit theaters in 2019, nothing else impacted me quite as much as Rian Johnson‘s Knives Out. I eagerly await his next work.

Soham Gadre: Season of the Devil

1. Season of the Devil
2. Her Smell
3. An Elephant Sitting Still
4. Parasite
5. Uncut Gems
6. High Life
7. Soni
8. Our Time
9. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
10. The Irishman

We will have to wait several years, perhaps decades, to grasp whether 2019 was one of the all-time great years for cinema. I think it has the potential to be so, not only because of the diversity of filmmakers around the world producing great art, but because of the diversity of subject and the urgency with which many of the films spoke in reference to the current state of politics, economics, humanity, religion, and nature. These films, and their filmmakers, are angrier than ever before.

They are also running out of time. The greatest decade of American cinema, the 1970s, is seeing its premier artists confronting their own careers and their own deaths. There is a somber reckoning with mortality of the creator because while it was always assumed their art would live on, in the current state of the industry slowly being swallowed whole by conglomerates and venture capitalist, there may actually be an expiration date.

2019 features a unique mix of introspective and entreating cinema, a very real awareness of where cinema and politics both are.

Lee Jutton: Parasite

1. Parasite
2. Uncut Gems
3. Midsommar
4. Transit
5. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
6. The Farewell
7. The Lighthouse
8. Atlantic
9. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
10. Tigers Are Not Afraid

So many of the best films of recent years deal with an issue that affects us all: capitalism and the way it divides us into classes and pits us against each other in a brutal fight for societal supremacy that we shouldn’t even be having. My favorite film of 2018, Lee Chang-dong’s Burning, showed how differently young people who have been blessed with wealth live their lives in comparison with those from the lower classes; the latter must work themselves to the bone in order to get onto the same playing field as the privileged, who are content to just “play.”

My favorite film of 2019 also deals with the evergreen issue of class conflict and also comes from South Korea. At this point, it’s almost too easy, too predictable to rave about Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, winner of the Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and critically acclaimed worldwide. Yet I cannot think of a film that better encapsulated where we are as a society heading into 2020. Don’t let the subtitles scare you; Parasite’s message is universal.

Bong, who has a unique knack for taking extremely serious issues and crafting films around them that are darkly hilarious and insanely entertaining, has achieved a career height with this film chronicling how a working-class family inserts themselves into the lives of an oblivious and wealthy one. The film is beautifully designed, hauntingly scored, paced to ratchet up your anxiety at the exact right moments, and of course, marvelously acted by what can only be described as a true ensemble, with everyone playing off of each other perfectly. Bong doesn’t take the easy way out by portraying the working-class family, led by the brilliant Song Kang-ho as the hapless patriarch, as saintly and good just because they are poor; they are just as flawed as the rich idiots whose lives they slowly infiltrate. The villain in Parasite is capitalism itself, and it’s one we’re all fighting against.

Amanda Mazzillo: Midsommar

1. Midsommar
2. Parasite
3. The Lighthouse
4. Marriage Story
5. Honey Boy
6. Long Shot
7. Charlie Says
8. Knives Out
9. In Fabric
10. The Two Popes

Horror and comedy are genres which pushed me into a lifelong love of film, so seeing so many quality films in 2019 within these genres made this a year worthy of remembering. Some of my favorite films of this year brought with them a wave of nostalgia through showing me new and unique ways to explore genres and subjects that bring me back to my childhood, and my interest in cinema.

The beautiful and captivating horror films of 2019 brought me back to the time I first started to love horror, after spending 16 years of my life scared yet curious of the genre, which felt perfectly represented in my childhood dream of Frank N. Furter rising out of my toilet like he rose from that elevator. I was reminded of the friends who helped me find my way through a sea of horror. I felt this especially while watching In Fabric. This film drew me to the memory of my friend introducing me to Suspiria late at night, in a LiveJournal message.

2019 was a great year in film for me. It brought me to priceless memories of my beginnings as a film fan while reminding me to keep exploring beautiful and mesmerizing films in the many years to come.

Mark McPherson: Parasite

1. Parasite – Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite starts as a dark comedy at first and then takes an unpredictable turn to make for one of the most surprising and chilling pictures of the year. During a year where we’ve already seen numerous pictures that questioned and savaged the capitalist structure, this is by far the strongest at taking aim and shooting to kill.
2. The Farewell – Lulu Wang’s The Farewell is such an emotional trip of warm laughs and tragic tears that dares to question why we lie to ourselves for both the sake and love of others. A fantastic commentary on a cultural issue of staying true to our feelings and family.
3. Us – Jordan Peele’s Us is is an exceptionally crafted horror that brings up tough and uneasy questions on the nature of ourselves as individuals and the system. With vivid cinematography, fearful staging, intense editing and one of the finest performances by Lupita Nyong’o.
4. Ad Astra – Brad Pitt delivers a nuanced performance as a introverted astronaut coming to terms with both his father and his emotions in a chaotic and rustic future. Absolutely beautiful visuals in a story of space travel that dives inward to ask questions about our minds and place in the galaxy.
5. The Art of Self-Defense – A dry satire on toxic masculinity, this is one of the funniest films of 2019. Jesse Eisenberg is in his element as a meek man turned troubled, Alessandro Nivola has that dead-pan role of a hotshot dojo master, and Imogen Poots has a great presence as a woman struggling to literally fight her way into a man’s world. Armed with pointed satire and a darkly hilarious take on manipulating the meek and using insecurity as a tool for evil.
6. Marriage Story – Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver deliver some of the finest acting all year as a couple who slowly crumble on their road to divorce. Far from merely being sad for the predictable split, Marriage Story buries us deep within these characters to love them enough to make that split hurt.
7. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – Less the Fred Rogers biopic and more of an embodiment of Rogers’ caring nature. Tom Hanks radiates wholesomeness to a degree that brought me to the same amount of tears as when Rogers asked an audience for a moment of silence to think about those who loved us. Brilliantly surreal and emotionally touching all around.
8. The Irishman – Scorsese is at the top of his game when adapting the life of Frank Sheeran. Boasting some of the finest performances from Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, and bundled with one of the strongest fourth acts of any Scorcese picture, it’s a deeply fascinating observation on how lives of crime all lead to an emptiness.
9. The Last Black Man in San Francisco – An operatic, deeply personal and breathtaking picture about life, legacy, and finding your place in the world when there doesn’t seem to be much left for the future.
10. Knives Out – Rian Johnson’s whodunnit is a murder mystery with teeth and a fantastically pitch-perfect ensemble. Smart, witty, biting and an intensely entertaining romp that has fun with the genre while still offering something new.

Reyzando Nawara: Marriage Story

1. Marriage Story
2. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
3. The Farewell
4. High Life
5. Pain and Glory
6. Parasite
7. Her Smel
8. Ad Astra
9. Little Women
10. Synonyms

Falling in love with someone is one of the most wonderfully miraculous feelings that human beings experience, but more often than not people also fall out of love. This portrait of people falling out of love is not exactly uncommon anymore in films and television. Robert Brenton’s Kramer vs. Kramer, Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road, and Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage are a few of the best films that explore this theme. This year, it is Noah Baumbach’s best film to date, Marriage Story, that becomes a new addition to that list.

While it’s true that the story is loosely inspired by his own experience when he was going through a divorce with Jennifer Jason Leigh in 2013, Marriage Story is more than just a personal emblem, but rather a universal portrait of how painful it is to experience the end of a relationship and the feeling of loss that comes with it. The film also asks us to witness the fact that the technical messiness of a divorce system may be fully designed to make people who were once in love detest and hurt each other for the sake of benefiting their legal case.

Still, even when the film starts to wreck our hearts into pieces, Baumbach’s treatment remains very thoughtful and well-observed, with a sprinkle of his signature overlapping dialogues that are played for laughs. Heartbreaking but never resorting to sentimentalism, Marriage Story will perforate your heart and leave you with an uneasy feeling of devastation when it ends. You’ll cry, you’ll laugh, and you’ll cry some more.

Linsey Satterthwaite: High Life

1. High Life
2. Little Women
3. The Favourite
4. Monos
5. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
6. Knives Out
7. Marriage Story
8. In Fabric
9. The Peanut Butter Falcon
10. Ad Astra

You know when you see a film at the cinema and you become completely immersed in that world, mesmerised by every scene and shot and leaving feeling completely disorientated? That is the greatest feeling, and this year one of the greatest creators of this was Claire Denis with her hypnotic and demanding High Life. Denis’ debut English-language film paints giant brush strokes of life’s biggest themes: the notion of what it is to be human and whether we carry on when we are hurtling towards an inevitable end.

The film involves a space mission to harvest energy from a black hole to bring back to earth, but the journey itself would outlast the crew’s lifespan and therefore they were expected to procreate. At the hands of Juliette Binoche’s enigmatic but devious Doctor Dibs, the crew, made up of former death row inmates, are forced to breed another generation that would continue and complete the assignment. But fevered tensions and opposing characters creates a microcosm of sexual conflict and violence that tears the crew members apart.

Denis’ film is full of startling, striking imagery, where a single glove can perform a zero-gravity sad ballet or bodies floating in outer space fall in a dreamlike state, like stars slowly plummeting into a black abyss. There is such a stark, astonishing visceral quality to scenes that once seen, you are unable to wipe away. The film’s aesthetic recalls 1970s sci-fi, the ship which carries the crew looks like a cube shaped trash compacter and shades of Silent Running pepper the garden scenes. It is a bold and impressive move to reject the usual conformity of shiny and futuristic set design that echoes the film’s sensibilities that modern technology will not be our saviour.

High Life is challenging cinema at its finest – uncompromising, visionary, disturbing, and astounding in equal measure. It is a film that gets under your skin, clings to your fibres and refuses to let go, gnawing at your thoughts for days and weeks and perhaps till the end of our own mortal lifespan.

Emily Wheeler: The Nightingale

1. The Nightingale
2. Apollo 11
3. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
4. Parasite
5. The Wild Pear Tree
6. Marriage Story
7. Monos
8. Hail Satan?
9. Hustlers
10. Booksmart

Even more than most years, 2019 showed that if you really want to see the best movies, you better reach outside English-language narratives. It was a down year for American mainstream movies in particular, but despite this, more than a few movies left me stunned in my seat.

Jennifer Kent’s colonization nightmare The Nightingale bowled me over for reasons I outlined here. Apollo 11 articulated so clearly the beauty of science that I was nearly moved to tears. Such uncomfortable questions were asked in The Wild Pear Tree, Monos, and Hail Satan? that they remained in my head for months. Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Parasite are the masterpieces everyone says they are. Then there’s the few American narratives that did stand out, with Marriage Story, Hustlers, and Booksmart finding fresh entry points to age-old stories.

The moral of last year is to cast your cinema net far and wide. Read subtitles, get acclimated to documentaries. Hopefully you do both of these already, because if you don’t, you’ll miss the absolute best.

Tynan Yanaga: The Irishman

1. The Irishman
2. Marriage Story
3. Transit
4. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
5. Jojo Rabbit
6. Ad Astra
7. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
8. The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash
9. Emanuel
10. Avengers: Endgame

Due to geography and various preoccupations, I didn’t view too many new releases this year, hence the dearth of my top 10. However, The Irishman was one in-theater experience that dwarfed all others. It felt like an event, and it’s true the story bears the markers of some of Martin Scorsese’s best work.

Some might liken it to his sweet spot, pairing him with such a robust lineup including usual suspects like Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Harvey Keitel, with the always dynamic addition of Al Pacino.

What becomes apparent is not the length or the CGI effects, it’s how Scorsese’s stories always fall back on the fundamental nature of human relationships. It relies not so much on violence to maintain our attention as it does universal themes of camaraderie, honor, and pride.

If it proves to be the capstone summation of the Scorsese-De Niro collaboration, it seems like an impeccable treatise, invariably in dialogue with their own lives. Because this is a story, again, not just about Jimmy Hoffa and controversial hitman Frank Sheeran nor mafioso Russell Buffalino – it extends even further.

To my mind, it has more in common with Scorsese’s previous passion project – 2016’s Silence – than many other people might realize. Because it goes beyond the mere scope of a historical drama, equally engaged with headier ideas altogether. Consider, for one thing, aging and with that death, the nature of immortality, and fading away. This is all part of The Irishman’s lasting impression.

I’ll stand by my words; it still feels like Martin Scorsese’s Citizen Kane. To steal a line out of the earlier film, the tragedy of Frank Sheeran’s life is he didn’t have any love to give. All the things he took to his grave might as well be as inconsequential as Rosebud.

Stephanie Archer: Joker

1. Joker
2. Little Women
3. Rocketman
4. Jojo Rabbit
5. Marriage Story
6. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
7. For Sama
8. Apollo 11
9. Us
10. Avengers: Endgame

When Christopher Nolan brought to life his vision of the Batman, the depiction of comic book adaptations was changed forever. Gone were the “Whams!”, “Pows!” And cheesy dialogue, replaced with character depth, rich storytelling and cinematography that would set a bar that has yet to be rematched. While superhero films have each strived for the same greatness, many achieving their own unique success, it was 2019’s Joker that truly answered the challenge.

Controversial for its depiction of mental illness and madness, Joker is the first film to truly look into the mind of the Joker, a revered character with a devoted fan base, whose performance by Heath Ledger has been unmatched. What truly brings the success of Joker is the ability to maintain the madness within the mind of a mad man, all while giving a backstory explaining what had originally been unexplainable. The Joker had always been a character infatuated with chaos, a character who “just liked to see the world burn” – a description that continually satisfied.

What Todd Philips and Joaquin Phoenix did with Joker was phenomenal. They were able to give a reason for the chaos, to multilayer a beloved character, without negating it. Yet, this is not just an attempt to deliver reason. Throughout their depiction viewers are given an extreme look at mental illness. The Joker is no longer a mad man, but someone who is sick, someone who is in need of help, someone who is lost within his own mind – and not receiving the help he needs. It is also a reflection of the heartless nature of society and its regard for those who suffer from mental illness.

I think much of the pushback comes from a society that does not like seeing its reflection in the mirror and does not like to accept the understanding behind madness. We do not care why someone does what they do. It is this pushback on both sides that further makes Joker the best film of the year. It is a true example of the power of cinema – to evoke emotion, to evoke conversation.

Those are our favorite movies of 2019. What are yours?