2019 in film. • Page 2

1. Parasite
2. Ema
3. The Wild Goose Lake

Parasite absolutely lived up to the hype and beyond. Watched and dissected to death, but the bit where the hidden staircase is revealed was one of my absolute favourite, "Ooooo here we go" moments in cinema.

Ema is Pablo Larraín's film about the volatile relationship between a pair of dancers. I really hope lead actress, Mariana Di Girolamo goes onto big things, because she was completely transfixing and magnetic, instant star quality, especially when paired with Gael Garcia Bernal. Full of energy, as you'd expect from a film about dancers.

The Wild Goose Lake is a neon and rain soaked Chinese neo-noir of sorts from Diao Yi’nan, who made the equally excellent Black Coal, Thin Ice from a few years before. As well as it's noir esque gangster story, it's also about decay, of people and the urban landscape - the film manages to even smell humid and rusty.

Honourable mentions;

Some good "alternative" (I'm sure there's a better word for it) horror this year in Saint Maud, which has God speaking Welsh and a perfect finale, Midsommar, which while a bit overlong, has some superb and iconic moments of horror, and The Lighthouse, which is an unspeakably horny film.

First Cow is a wonderful film about frontier capitalism, and the first Kelly Reichardt film I loved. I do wish I saw it in the cinema though. The Last Black Man in San Francisco is somewhere between a love letter and a mail bomb to the city, "You don't get to hate it, unless you love it". Sound of Metal is a good film, but more interesting in the fact that there are two Riz Ahmed films released within a year about a musician suddenly coming down with a condition that means he can't tour. Mogul Mowgli is the other one, and better.

A couple of slightly unconventional rom-coms from Hong Kong, My Prince Edward, which looks and has the structure of a rom-com, but instead is a grounded and unsentimental drama. Hello Love, Goodbye, is a rom-com about the Fillipino domestic helper community in Hong Kong, which is very sweet but not sappy.

A few good French films, Portrait of a Lady on Fire is an excellent period doomed romance from Céline Sciamma. The Truth is Kore-Eda's first non Japanese film, but is still his distinctive multi-generational family drama and pairs Binoche and Deneuve, which is always nice. Who You Think I Am, is a good thriller / drama about a Catfish-ed relationship. It does make the mistake of casting the impossibly beautiful Juliette Binoche as a supposed plain middle aged woman.

So Long, My Son is a breathtaking three hour Chinese film about the death of a child, and the one child policy in China, and about China as a whole.

A couple of tearful dramas about illness, Babyteeth about a teenage girl with cancer, which happened to be the first film I saw in the cinema post the first lockdown (so that's a 2020 release...). There's 37 Seconds, a Japanese film about a young woman with cerebral palsy, which is a bit more uplifting.

Pain and Glory is Almodovar's glorious autobiographical film (like most of his films) about middle age, with a great performance from Antonio Banderas.

Bacurau is a fun kind of pulpy film from Kleber Mendonça Filho about the hunting and extermination of a village.

Sorry We Missed You is Ken Loach's outrageously miserable drama about the gig economy. Bait is a great film about a Cornish village and the tourists who price the locals out - shot on a hand-cranked Bolex camera. Diego Maradona is a great documentary about the man himself, with the absolute best scene is where he's singing with his infant daughter, "Juve, Juve Fuck off, Fuck off". Extra Ordinary is a brilliantly dry supernatural comedy from Ireland.

Dishonourable mentions that I've seen this year include Black Christmas, Last Christmas (the double feature from Hell) and Charlie's Angels.

 

This was the only scene that broke verisimilitude, should've doubled down on the effects, used a body double and CGI'd his face on.

 

1. Midsommar
2. Parasite
3. The Irishman

I had no idea how loaded this year was and there are still clearly films I need to see. This 1-3 could easily be reversed tomorrow, I have a lot of trouble ordering them. Uncut Gems and The Lighthouse were very good. Haven’t seen First Cow or Once Upon a Time yet but I’ve been meaning to. These days I don’t watch nearly the amount of films I’d like to.

 

1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
2. Parasite
3. Uncut Gems

Really tough year. First Cow, Beanpole, Atlantics, Midsommar, The Irishman, Once upon a Time, Bacurau, Pain & Glory, and The Lighthouse were all worthy IMO.

 

Once Upon a Thyme in Hollyweird
A parasite
Booksmart
Midsommar
Good boys

 

1. Vitalina Varela
2. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
3. Once upon a Time in Hollywood

Probably recency bias but for now Parasite is just missing out, on a another watch it could make it to no.2

Good Boys was a very refreshing comedy.

I watched half of The Dead Don't Die on a plane and I didn't get where it was going or what it trying to say, the humour was slow and mild. After a couples of days, I kept thinking about it and so I finished watching it at home. It didn't go anywhere, it just meandered around making some meta joke while the world burned, that was the point.

 

Dead Don’t Die is a top tier Adam Driver performance

 

Highly underrated movie, I feel like it was misunderstood when it came out

 

absolutely

 

I did like Adam Driver in it, he's very watchable.

What was your reading of it?

 

1. The Irishman
2. Uncut Gems
3. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

HM: Midsommar, Ad Astra, Parasite, Last Black Man in San Francisco

strong year

 

Parasite wins it with 23 votes. The Irishman and Uncut Gems tied for second place with 15 votes each. Parasite will move on to the bracket.

 

Damn

 

2019 going to remembered as one of the great film years.

1. Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood
2. Uncut Gems
3. The Irishman

Honorable Mentions:

Parasite
Marriage Story
Midsommar
Avengers: Endgame
Us
Toy Story 4
The Farewell
The Beach Bum
Knives Out
Little Women
The Lighthouse
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Ford V Ferrari
Good Boys
John Wick Chapter 3
Ad Astra
High Flying Bird
Climax
Hustlers
Booksmart
Her Smell
The Art of Self Defense
Dolemite is My Name