The Best Films of 2019

The Strange Harbors Picks for 2019’s Top Ten Best Films

2019 was an embarrassment of riches when it came to cinema. While it’s true that most years require at least some thoughtful contemplation when it comes to whittling down a top ten, 2019 was especially difficult in curating a “best of” list. In the final year of the 2010s, we had tender space odysseys, biting showdowns between the haves and have-nots, treatises on loves won and lost, and deeply personal stories mined from the past - just to name a few. The movies were a hell of a place to be last year. So, let’s pour one out for the decade as it sails into history by celebrating some of my favorite films of 2019.

10. Ad Astra

An intimately human story told in the vastness of space, Ad Astra is a stunning deconstruction of the American pulp hero. Brad Pitt puts forth one of the most subdued - yet poignant - performances of his career as astronaut Roy McBride. Tasked with finding his wayward scientist father (Tommy Lee Jones), Roy embarks upon a perilous journey that brings him face to face with not only the dangers of space, but the limitations of his collective cool. A sprawling meditation on fathers, sons, and masculinity, Ad Astra profoundly deconstructs a traditional character archetype with a deft hand.

9. Knives Out

Perhaps the most purely entertaining film on this list, Rian Johnson’s rollicking whodunnit is an absolute blast from beginning to end. When famous mystery novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) dies under suspicious circumstances on his 85th birthday, “gentleman sleuth” Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is hired to investigate the writer’s oddball family. Johnson delivers an ingeniously twist-laden mystery while also unpacking skewering satire. Knives Out was the most fun I had in theaters in 2019, and a breath of fresh air for the detective genre.

8. Midsommar

Ari Aster’s feature-length debut, Hereditary, was my favorite film of 2018. And while his sophomore effort, Midsommar, doesn’t quite reach the levels of nightmare-inducing terror of his first film, it’s just as effective as a meditation on grief and trauma. Florence Pugh puts forth one of the best performances of the year as Dani Ardor, a grief-stricken young woman who takes a last-minute trip to Sweden with her self-centered boyfriend (Jack Reynor) and his friends. Folk festivities quickly turn to folk horror as the group is plunged into the horrifying customs and traditions of a place they can only begin to comprehend.

7. The Nightingale

Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale is the best film on this list that I’m in no hurry to revisit again anytime soon. With its gruesome violence and multiple instances of rape, it’s a film that’s particularly hard to watch, but never exploitative. Offered as an unflinchingly brutal teaching moment, the director’s followup to The Babadook is a stark gauntlet of brutality and terror that also happens to be one of this year’s most powerful films - a dark mirror that reflects the horrors of colonialism, racism, and misogyny. Featuring blistering performances from Aisling Franciosi and Baykali Ganambarr as a duo hunting for the men who took everything from them, The Nightingale is one of the year’s most harrowing narratives.

6. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film may also be his most tender and sentimental. A project that feels deeply personal, the film dials down the director’s penchant for provocation and sensationalism, and instead delivers a mature snapshot of friendship, vintage Tinseltown, and a time that has escaped our grasp. The trifecta of Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie are excellent; Robbie in particular - despite the naysayers - is sublime in one of my favorite dialogue-lite performances of all time as the real-life Sharon Tate.

5. Marriage Story

Fueled by two megawatt performances in Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story is equal parts moving, tender, and heart-wrenching. The implosion of a marriage from two perspectives, the film portrays decent people whose civility and compassion are slowly stripped away by the legal rigmaroles of divorce. Marriage Story is Baumbach at his best, deconstructing a contentious uncoupling into a string of powerhouse set pieces.

4. Portrait of a Lady on Fire

A defiant tribute to star-crossed love, director Céline Sciamma’s lesbian romance is a rebellious anthem and a tour de force of forbidden longing. Rich with lush texture and deeply affecting performances from Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel, Portrait of a Lady on Fire cuts sharply against the grain of 18th century French propriety. With nary a man in sight, the film looks through a rarified lens at forgotten history; Portrait touches upon themes of gay love, female friendship, and body politics during a darkly prohibitive time period. And it also packs a hell of an emotional punch, with one of the most moving and powerful endings in recent memory.

3. The Farewell

No film in 2019 spoke to me quite like Lulu Wang’s The Farewell. As a second-generation Chinese American myself, it hit home as a sobering examination of the gap between cultures and generations. Awkwafina is a subdued revelation as Billi, a Chinese American student struggling to come to grips as her traditional family hides a terminal cancer diagnosis from her grandmother. In my review last year, I wrote: “The Farewell closely mirrors my experience as a child of immigrants. But what resonates with me is more than just a passing resemblance to Billi’s journey; the film delves into a deep and arduous conflict that almost every second-generation American can relate to.” I felt a deeply personal connection to The Farewell, and I can only imagine its effects on others just like me.

2. Uncut Gems

What can only be described as a powder keg of nervous energy and anxiety, the Safdie brothers’ followup to their 2017 thriller Good Time is a white-knuckle ride and a whiplash-inducing rollercoaster. Adam Sandler puts forth one of his best performances as Howard Ratner, a New York City jeweler and a degenerate gambler who believes that a rare Ethiopian black opal will yield a windfall, absolving him of some dangerous gambling debts. Bolstered by an incredible supporting cast (Julia Fox, Idina Menzel, and Kevin Garnett playing himself), Uncut Gems exudes a self-destructive energy that is simply mesmerizing.

1. Parasite

Parasite is hardly an original pick for best film of the year, but it’s difficult to categorize Bong Joon-ho’s latest as anything other than a masterstroke. A defiance of convention and a brazen display of cinematic confidence, the film seamlessly switches genres to keep its audience guessing. Parasite boils down to a ceaselessly entertaining reverse heist, wrapped up in a complex meditation on class and human nature that disguises its most devious twists.

OTHER 2019 FAVORITES

Little Women
Luce
Transit
Long Day’s Journey into Night
The Irishman
Her Smell
Avengers: Endgame
Us
Hustlers
Fast Color
One Cut of the Dead
Tigers are Not Afraid
The Standoff at Sparrow Creek
The Lighthouse
Shadow