In conjunction with All That Film’s Film Awards.
15. Midsommar (Ari Aster)
Ari Aster returned with his sophomore feature that had garnered hype based on the success of Hereditary. Across Twitter, whispers of the film being the few modern horrors to be exclusively filmed in day time only increased the anticipation. It dropped. It was loved (mostly). Critics of the film said it was a crawl, and barely a horror. That certainly was the case however, the film defies expectations in the best way possible. It’s brightly shot, and eerily scored, but what stands out about Midsommar is that its themes are horrific enough to affect its viewers.
14. Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon (Bill Becher, Richard Phelan)
Many of us grew up with Shaun the Sheep in some form or another. Most Brits know him from the CBBC series. An excellent TV show, but an even better movie! The inhabitants of Mossy Bottom Farm are thrown for a loop when an alien crash lands in the nearby village. Chalked full of gags and references, there will be plenty of side-splitting laughs, and maybe some tears too. Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon is one of the truly successful family films of this year.
13. The Beach Bum (Harmony Korine)
If you thought ‘Matthew McConaughey seems like a fairly chill guy’, then wait til you watch The Beach Bum. If you google it, the film card says it’s a ‘stoner/comedy’. And it is guilty as charged. Although by most measures, a complete mess of a human being, Moondog (McConaughey) is a character that is so himself at all times that you can’t help but become taken by his stoner philosophy. Seeing the cast of famous faces (Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg, Zac Efron, Martin Lawrence, Jonah Hill) take on some truly zany yet fitting characters is a real treat. When looking at the ratings, the film is evidently divisive. But if you allow it to grab you, it will immediately yank you into its world.
12. Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho)
It’s common to have politics within a film. After all, what piece of media doesn’t have politics? Every year, there are a handful of overtly political films, ones that really have one thing to say and they say it boldly. In 2017, we had Get Out and Sorry To Bother You. This year, we have the bold Parasite. Bong Joon Ho has never shied away from ‘Capitalism = bad’, it was the message of Snowpiercer and Okja, but Parasite is particularly wonderful at creating a complete context of our hunger for money and its corrosiveness. All the while, the film is a strange thriller, almost hinting at eerie magical realism.
11. The Farewell (Lulu Wang)
Lulu Wang is perhaps one of the most exciting newcomers in Hollywood. It’s that simple. What she does with The Farewell, many seasoned writer/directors have failed. If you’re a first/second-generation immigrant in the west, The Farewell will perhaps hit too close to home with its honestly about the pain of marrying the two conflicting halves of yourself. And even if you’re none of those things, there is still something to feel deeply about the love of family. Lulu Wang is going to get that Academy Award someday, maybe not 2020. But someday.
10. Rocketman (Dexter Fletcher)
After the seriously divisive Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman wasn’t something anyone outside of Elton John mega-fans was looking forward to, but Rocketman defied expectations in every way. The music is, of course, instantly recognisable and wonderful. However, the best part of the film was how Dexter Fletcher managed to bring its spirit to life through imaginative takes on visuals, and the decision to make it a true musical. And the talented Taron Egerton who proves himself to be a triple threat, as an exceptional actor, singer, and dancer.
9. Knives Out (Rian Johnson)
Rian Johnson and cast wows with this one. Not only does Knives Out work as a twisty and clever whodunit, complete with an opening announcement of Johnson telling the audience to keep the ending Hush-hush, but the story is a bitingly sharp comment on America of today. By the end of Knives Out, you’re left marvelling at how it all just works.
8. Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodovar)
A semi-biopic about an ageing director coming to terms with his childhood and past relationships. The film itself is gorgeous with its flashbacks to his childhood with Mother Penelope Cruz and his burgeoning sexuality in Paterna, Spain. But the really memorable stuff is how Banderas is able to make you feel every ache and pain, emotional and physical, his life has earned him. Bring the tissues for this one.
7. Ad Astra (James Gray)
2019 was the Year of Brad. Not only does he impress his cool character Cliff Booth, Ad Astra brings us one of his most emotionally charged performances to date. Ad Astra has been generally applauded for its thoughtful portrayal of masculinity and fatherhood, and it has been criticised for its pretention and emptiness. Wherever you decide to land on, it’s Brad Pitt at his most remarkable in this visually stunning space odyssey.
6. The Irishman (Martin Scorsese)
Martin Scorsese. Robert De Niro. Al Pacino. Joe Pesci. Anna Paquin. You get my point. But if you need further elaboration, here is the review.
5. The Two Popes (Fernando Meirelles)
The Two Popes was a wonderfully packaged Netflix surprise at the end of this year. City of God, Fernando Meirelles, returns with a less sprawling, intimate story about exactly that — The Two Popes. Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins give us two of the finest performances of the year with two powerful figures who come together and discuss Catholicism, activism, and everything important to them with warmth and thoughtfulness.
4. Bait (Mark Jenkins)
Bait is one of the few truly small films that made its mark in recent years. Shot on a vintage 18mm, Mark Jenkin’s story about a small seaside Cornish village is full of anger, making this one of two maddening black and white films about seamen this year. Bait is a total surprise of a film. The less I say, the better. Bait will be available internationally on Dual format on 20/01/2020.
3. Her Smell (Alex Ross Perry)
On All That Film podcast Best of the Decade episode, Her Smell was described by myself as a project where Elisabeth Moss and her performance was the coat rack, while the rest of the film is hung on it. That’s not an insult to Alex Ross Perry. It’s just a testament to the power of Elisabeth Moss’s acting. This frustrating and brilliant take on Riot grrrl and the destructive rock star produces one of the most explosive films of the year.
2. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Celine Sciamma)
Sciamma’s groundbreaking period romance is a meditation on autonomy and the politics of gazing. There’s so much to mull over, that you’ll be thinking about this quietly revolutionary film for a long time.
Honourable Mentions:
Hustlers (Lorene Scafaria), The Lighthouse (Robert Eggers), Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach), Seahorse (Jeanie Finlay), Diego Maradona (Asif Kapadia), and Hail Satan? (Penny Lane)
Dishonourable Mentions:
Velvet Buzzsaw (Dan Gilroy), Joker (Todd Phillips), Wounds, and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (Joe Berlinger)
1. Uncut Gems (Safdie Brothers)
A male actor with a middling career who performs a career-best, hypnotic soundtrack, cast of cooky characters, wicked discomfort, looks like a Safdie brothers film! Uncut Gems is unrivalled just in terms of how delectably interesting it is. The tragic arc of an adrenaline-junkie main character, brilliantly acted by Sandler, is the centrepiece of the whole deal. But the rest of the characters are sharply drawn enough for the texture of the film to be endlessly ripe for exploration. Any number of them could have a film of their own, and many of them are non-professional actors. The Safdie brothers are able to hone into exactly where a person becomes a personality. Good Time was a tense masterpiece but in someways an incomplete one. Uncut Gems is where Safdie story, fully realised.