I was getting a little nervous about my annual Top 10 list for the first two-thirds of 2019, but the fall saw an explosion of incredible selections. That’s especially true when it came to foreign films – three of them made my list this year. Not because I’m a snobby critic who needs my list to be pretentious, but because these stories are so powerful, with such strong writing, performances, cinematography, score, etc., that they transcend the language barrier.
As always, a reminder that this list isn’t chiseled in stone like the 10 Commandments. My views change over time just like everyone else’s. Instead, consider these 10 films (and 10 honorable mentions) the ones that stayed with me and impacted me most over the final year of the decade.
10. Avengers: Endgame
It’s nearly impossible for a beloved franchise to wrap up a multi-film narrative in a satisfying way (just ask Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker), but somehow the folks at Marvel pulled it off with arguably the year’s biggest crowd-pleaser. Aside from its less-than-graceful treatment of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), practically every other storyline concludes in an emotionally resonant way, especially the powerful goodbyes to Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans). Endgame also understands that a constant barrage of fan service is fine if it furthers the story, rather than hiding the lack of one.
9. Pain and Glory
Antonio Banderas delivers career-best work in writer/director Pedro Almodóvar’s semi-autobiographical look at an ailing filmmaker revisiting his past while on the edge of a crippling drug addiction. It’s heavy stuff, but Banderas’ genial, deeply humane performance keeps the movie from feeling like “misery porn.” Penelope Cruz, Asier Flores, Asier Etxeandia and Leonardo Sbaraglia are phenomenal in supporting roles, and the gasp-inducing final scene might be my favorite of the year.
8. Booksmart
This poignant teen comedy, about two nerdy friends (Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein) who cram four years of missed fun into the night before graduation, disappeared quickly from theaters. While that’s a shame, actress Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut should develop a passionate fanbase once people start to discover it at home. The brilliant screenplay (credited to Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins and Katie Silberman) correctly assumes viewers will see the characters as stereotypes, so it slowly chips away at our preconceived notions until we see the real people underneath.
7. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Although it won’t open locally until Valentine’s Day, I urge you to keep this deeply moving French drama on your radar. On paper, the plot seems like the epitome of stuffy awards bait: an 18th century artist (Noemie Merlant) is commissioned to paint the portrait of a patron’s daughter (Adele Haenel) for her potential wealthy suitor, but the two women fall in love during the process. However, writer/director Celine Sciamma’s film is far more complex and engaging than that simplistic description. Also, Claire Mathon’s stunning cinematography is among the best I saw all year.
6. Knives Out
Rian Johnson makes films in many genres, but he uses his work to examine what makes those categories so engaging, taking them part, studying the pieces and putting them back together again in a different way. With his latest, he tackles the whodunit – but he doesn’t just make an Agatha Christie homage. Instead, Johnson and his incredible cast (including Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis and Ana de Armas, in a phenomenal breakthrough performance) use that template to comment on the modern current social climate using razor-sharp satire instead of preaching at the audience for two hours.
5. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Quentin Tarantino’s films are pretty much always divisive and his latest – a love letter to the final days of the 1960s and Old Hollywood – was no exception. His usual heightened reality and colorful dialogue are here, but Tarantino’s ultraviolent streak is dormant until the last few minutes of the film’s nearly three-hour runtime. It’s the context of that violence that proved a no-go for many viewers. However, Tarantino’s fairy tale version of horrific, real-life events comes across as painfully bittersweet (rather than a no-stakes happy ending) and the film’s charismatic trio of actors – Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie – helps sell the dicey, history-altering narrative.
4. 1917
A World War I movie about two soldiers (George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman) ordered to stop an ambush by delivering a message behind enemy lines sounds generic, yet Sam Mendes’ astonishing film is anything but. He crafts the film like it’s a single, two-hour-long shot. Takes are broken up and stitched together thanks to movie magic, but there are still staggeringly extensive sequences where epic moments play out with the intimacy of theatre. Mendes (who cowrote the screenplay with Krysty Wilson-Cairns) and director of photography Roger Deakins, along with MacKay and Chapman – whose performances ground the nonstop chaos in humanity – have made the best war film since Saving Private Ryan.
3. Little Women
With this umpteenth cinematic version of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel, actress-turned-filmmaker Greta Gerwig proves that her 2017 masterpiece Lady Bird was no fluke. Rather than doing a straightforward adaptation, Gerwig shuffles the story’s chronology, fusing the kid and grown-up sections together through a series of thematically connected flashbacks. Her writing also makes the story feel more modern without resorting to overtly anachronistic language or behavior. The terrific cast – including Saoirse Ronan (as beloved heroine Jo), Florence Pugh, Timothee Chalamet, Laura Dern, Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper – makes practically every moment funny, poignant or both. Plus, the film looks and sounds beautiful courtesy of Yorick Le Saux’s cinematography and Alexandre Desplat’s score.
2. The Irishman
Don’t let the three-and-a-half-hour runtime of Martin Scorsese’s epic tragedy about a mafia hitman (Robert De Niro) scare you away from experiencing a complicated, morally dubious man’s life unfold before your eyes. While it’s true the subject matter is morose and frequently violent, The Irishman never feels like homework. You get to see three acting titans (De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci) at the top of their game, the time flies by thanks to Thelma Schoonmaker’s brilliant editing, and Steven Zaillian’s razor-sharp screenplay ensures the narrative is constantly engaging and frequently hilarious. Oh, and Scorsese delivers one of the best films of his career at 77-years-old while making it look easy.
1. Parasite
This dark comedy/thriller from renowned South Korean director Bong Joon-ho (Snowpiercer, Okja) might be his most accessible and affecting work. He brilliantly comments on the tragic consequences of class warfare in a way that’s entertaining and engaging, instead of lecturing viewers. It’s also a story that mainstream American audiences will understand all too well. The poor, yet street-smart Kim family and the naïve, wealthy Park family collide in ways that should make perfect sense to people whose livelihoods are frequently dependent on factors beyond their control. Parasite is one of the sharpest, most affecting satires I’ve seen in quite some time.
Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):
As always, a reminder that this list isn’t chiseled in stone like the 10 Commandments. My views change over time just like everyone else’s. Instead, consider these 10 films (and 10 honorable mentions) the ones that stayed with me and impacted me most over the final year of the decade.
It’s nearly impossible for a beloved franchise to wrap up a multi-film narrative in a satisfying way (just ask Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker), but somehow the folks at Marvel pulled it off with arguably the year’s biggest crowd-pleaser. Aside from its less-than-graceful treatment of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), practically every other storyline concludes in an emotionally resonant way, especially the powerful goodbyes to Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans). Endgame also understands that a constant barrage of fan service is fine if it furthers the story, rather than hiding the lack of one.
Antonio Banderas delivers career-best work in writer/director Pedro Almodóvar’s semi-autobiographical look at an ailing filmmaker revisiting his past while on the edge of a crippling drug addiction. It’s heavy stuff, but Banderas’ genial, deeply humane performance keeps the movie from feeling like “misery porn.” Penelope Cruz, Asier Flores, Asier Etxeandia and Leonardo Sbaraglia are phenomenal in supporting roles, and the gasp-inducing final scene might be my favorite of the year.
This poignant teen comedy, about two nerdy friends (Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein) who cram four years of missed fun into the night before graduation, disappeared quickly from theaters. While that’s a shame, actress Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut should develop a passionate fanbase once people start to discover it at home. The brilliant screenplay (credited to Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins and Katie Silberman) correctly assumes viewers will see the characters as stereotypes, so it slowly chips away at our preconceived notions until we see the real people underneath.
Although it won’t open locally until Valentine’s Day, I urge you to keep this deeply moving French drama on your radar. On paper, the plot seems like the epitome of stuffy awards bait: an 18th century artist (Noemie Merlant) is commissioned to paint the portrait of a patron’s daughter (Adele Haenel) for her potential wealthy suitor, but the two women fall in love during the process. However, writer/director Celine Sciamma’s film is far more complex and engaging than that simplistic description. Also, Claire Mathon’s stunning cinematography is among the best I saw all year.
Rian Johnson makes films in many genres, but he uses his work to examine what makes those categories so engaging, taking them part, studying the pieces and putting them back together again in a different way. With his latest, he tackles the whodunit – but he doesn’t just make an Agatha Christie homage. Instead, Johnson and his incredible cast (including Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis and Ana de Armas, in a phenomenal breakthrough performance) use that template to comment on the modern current social climate using razor-sharp satire instead of preaching at the audience for two hours.
Quentin Tarantino’s films are pretty much always divisive and his latest – a love letter to the final days of the 1960s and Old Hollywood – was no exception. His usual heightened reality and colorful dialogue are here, but Tarantino’s ultraviolent streak is dormant until the last few minutes of the film’s nearly three-hour runtime. It’s the context of that violence that proved a no-go for many viewers. However, Tarantino’s fairy tale version of horrific, real-life events comes across as painfully bittersweet (rather than a no-stakes happy ending) and the film’s charismatic trio of actors – Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie – helps sell the dicey, history-altering narrative.
A World War I movie about two soldiers (George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman) ordered to stop an ambush by delivering a message behind enemy lines sounds generic, yet Sam Mendes’ astonishing film is anything but. He crafts the film like it’s a single, two-hour-long shot. Takes are broken up and stitched together thanks to movie magic, but there are still staggeringly extensive sequences where epic moments play out with the intimacy of theatre. Mendes (who cowrote the screenplay with Krysty Wilson-Cairns) and director of photography Roger Deakins, along with MacKay and Chapman – whose performances ground the nonstop chaos in humanity – have made the best war film since Saving Private Ryan.
With this umpteenth cinematic version of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel, actress-turned-filmmaker Greta Gerwig proves that her 2017 masterpiece Lady Bird was no fluke. Rather than doing a straightforward adaptation, Gerwig shuffles the story’s chronology, fusing the kid and grown-up sections together through a series of thematically connected flashbacks. Her writing also makes the story feel more modern without resorting to overtly anachronistic language or behavior. The terrific cast – including Saoirse Ronan (as beloved heroine Jo), Florence Pugh, Timothee Chalamet, Laura Dern, Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper – makes practically every moment funny, poignant or both. Plus, the film looks and sounds beautiful courtesy of Yorick Le Saux’s cinematography and Alexandre Desplat’s score.
Don’t let the three-and-a-half-hour runtime of Martin Scorsese’s epic tragedy about a mafia hitman (Robert De Niro) scare you away from experiencing a complicated, morally dubious man’s life unfold before your eyes. While it’s true the subject matter is morose and frequently violent, The Irishman never feels like homework. You get to see three acting titans (De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci) at the top of their game, the time flies by thanks to Thelma Schoonmaker’s brilliant editing, and Steven Zaillian’s razor-sharp screenplay ensures the narrative is constantly engaging and frequently hilarious. Oh, and Scorsese delivers one of the best films of his career at 77-years-old while making it look easy.
This dark comedy/thriller from renowned South Korean director Bong Joon-ho (Snowpiercer, Okja) might be his most accessible and affecting work. He brilliantly comments on the tragic consequences of class warfare in a way that’s entertaining and engaging, instead of lecturing viewers. It’s also a story that mainstream American audiences will understand all too well. The poor, yet street-smart Kim family and the naïve, wealthy Park family collide in ways that should make perfect sense to people whose livelihoods are frequently dependent on factors beyond their control. Parasite is one of the sharpest, most affecting satires I’ve seen in quite some time.
Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):
Ad Astra
Doctor Sleep
Dolemite Is My Name
The Farewell
Jojo Rabbit
Marriage Story
The Peanut Butter Falcon
Rocketman
Uncut Gems
Us
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