2019 was comfortably one of the strongest years of the decade for cinema.

As close to a traditional list as possible, here’s ILT’s 10 favourite reels of the year…
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10. Uncut Gems

Dir: Josh & Benny Safdie

A24 has long made a habit of unearthing diamonds in the rough. The studio brought the Safdie brothers to the attention of a wider, albeit still predominately indie audience with 2017’s Good Time, after which it decided to back the directors to go all the way with their next feature about a gambling-addicted Jewish New York jeweller by the name of Howard Ratner. And boy, did that bet pay off. Initially, Uncut Gems was set to miss out on this list (those involved would no doubt have been gutted), due to the first half not quite matching the quality of the second. Once you watch it, however, it stays with you, grows on you, comes to you in stressful flashbacks and heavy beats that blur the lines of conscious thought. Adam Sandler turns in his best performance in years as Ratner, sparring beautifully with the ageless Kevin Garnett, newcomer Julia Fox, the lad Lakeith Stanfield, and, for some reason, The Weeknd. An insanely intense viewing experience built on subtle technical mastery, Uncut Gems is proof that movies a) about sports betting, and b) featuring Sandler can be critical winners.
Watch the trailer here…

9.Us

Dir: Jordan Peele

If you haven’t seen Us, you may have heard that the plot has a few holes in it; that the rules of its world do not stand up to scrutiny. Well, you heard right, but for the love of horror please do not let it stop you from taking in Jordan Peele’s latest and so far greatest exploration of the genre. What Us lacks in consistent plot coherency, it more than makes up for with thematic attention to detail and its stark depiction of classism and societal isolation. Following the success of Get Out, Peele once again succeeds in intertwining and projecting revolutionary horror and haunting social commentary against the backdrop of an unwitting modern America. Crucially, he also continues the golden age of non-annoying child actors by casting newcomers Shahadi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex as the children of Adelaide (baffling Oscar snub Lupita Nyong’o), a mother whose dark past returns to fatally taunt not only her, but every human being on earth.
Watch the trailer here…

8. Toy Story 4

Dir: Josh Cooley

When Toy Story 4 was announced, head scratching abounded. 2010’s third installment may not have been a patch on Toy Story or Toy Story 2, but it was an emotional and altogether satisfactory conclusion to a beloved saga that broke new ground in animation, visual effects, and cinematic storytelling. A fourth film did not seem necessary, but despite our scepticism we all knew that Pixar already had our money in its pockets, so it made sense to give it a chance. Naturally, the studio proceeded to nail our doubts to the wall with a sequel that surpasses Toy Story 3 in every way by avoiding another traditional follow up and instead managing to reinvent the series. Its success hinges on the wise decision to strip back the role played by Andy and Bonnie’s classic toys in favour of greater emphasis on Woody, who through Bonnie’s homemade friend Forky (one of a host of surprisingly effective newcomers) and old flame Bo Peep, finally comes to terms with his own path in life and where he fits in the wider world. It’s a story of personal growth that will 100% draw a tear.
Watch the trailer here…

7. The Lighthouse

Dir: Robert Eggers

Horror has always had its cycles. Hammer, Hitchcock, the slasher era, haunted houses; they’ve all fucked with our minds over the years, but recently the genre had grown noticeably stagnant. Then came Robert Eggers (The Witch), David Robert Mitchell (It Follows), Ari Aster (Hereditary; Midsommar), and John Krasinski (A Quiet Place), all of whom sought to reinvent the theatrical horror experience with a set of slow burning, increasingly unsettling nightmares, realised in part thanks to the refreshing and highly effective emphasis placed on technical aspects such as sound design and cinematography. Eggers’ The Lighthouse is arguably the peak of this experiment so far. Moody monochrome and blood-curdling sirens set the tone for a darkly amusing, ultimately frightening downward spiral into the souls of wickies Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as they face the wrath of God somewhere in the Northwest Atlantic. Upon completion you’ll be either clamouring for an immediate rewatch or to avoid seeing it again at all costs.
Watch the trailer here…

6. Little Women

Dir: Greta Gerwig

For those with zero connection to Louisa May Alcott’s 19th century novel (save for Moe Szyslak reading it to a group of homeless men on The Simpsons) or the various incarnations of Little Women that followed, yet another adaptation was unlikely to turn many heads. Then we saw who was involved. Following the unexpected success of 2017’s Lady Bird, writer Greta Gerwig was quickly punched up to the director’s chair. Then came Lady Bird herself, Saoirse Ronan, who signed on to play lead sister Jo March. The prospect of director and star reuniting so soon quickly put us all in on the trials and tribulations of the East Coast women left behind during the Civil War. Expertly woven by Gerwig, the picture is driven by the performances of Ronan and Florence Pugh, both of whom frequently scene steal with the help of Alcott and Gerwig’s superior sense for character development within the themes of love, power, and a woman’s place in the world. Pugh, in particular, is sensational, and though she will likely miss out on Best Supporting Actress (ironically to co-star Laura Dern for Marriage Story), her career (which also includes this year’s Midsommar) looks set to go through the stratosphere.
Watch the trailer here…

5. The Irishman

Dir: Martin Scorsese

Scorsese. De Niro. Pacino. Pesci. Never has a film marketed itself as easily as The Irishman. The gangster cinema legacy associated with such a collaboration was so overwhelming that it was barely possible to believe it was happening. Probably because it almost didn’t. Greenlit by Netflix with a blank cheque and effective final cut after Paramount and others balked at the $150M+ budget, Scorsese and De Niro went to town on Charles Brandt’s I Heard You Paint Houses, a disputed but entertaining telling of the life and death of legendary Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino) and his ties to organised crime, specifically his close personal relationship with Russell Bufalino (Pesci) and mob hitman Frank Sheeran (De Niro). As it is almost impossible to unpack an epic force of nature that clocks in at 209 minutes of soul searching, internal conflict, and tragic regret in a mere paragraph, just know that the performances are immense (it’s like Pesci was never away), the de-aging process is jarring at first but impressive overall, and Scorsese can say and do as he likes. Oh, and it’s not too long.
Watch the trailer here…

4. Under the Silver Lake

Dir: David Robert Mitchell

Technically a 2018 festival release, Under the Silver Lake proved so divisive at Cannes that A24 displayed a rare moment of panic. Confused as to how to market David Robert Mitchell’s highly anticipated first project since It Follows, and clearly worried by its polarising critical reception, they held Under the Silver Lake back from wide general release before dumping it on Amazon Prime earlier this year. Even since then viewers continue to have love/hate relationship with it. Naturally, those who hate it need help, as it is one of the most underrated, under-the-radar indie gems of the decade. Sticking with Andrew Garfield’s wondering (but Garfield-good looking) loner for virtually the entire run time, Mitchell crafts a vibrant, oft-hilarious deep dive down through the shallow surface of Hollywood and into the heart of its grimy underbelly, a black well drenched in conspiracy theories and hidden messages that explain everything from pop music to The Legend of Zelda. Sporting cinematography that makes suburban LA pop beneath a grin-inducing soundtrack, Under the Silver Lake should be considered a late, well-deserved Christmas present to yourself.
Watch the trailer here…

3. Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Dir: Céline Sciamma

The fact that Portrait of a Lady on Fire is not the highest placed foreign language entry on this list demonstrates the strength of world cinema in 2019, as French director Céline Sciamma brings her nation’s traditionally fiery cinema to a literal crescendo with the 18^th century tale of Marianne (Noémie Merlant), a young painter, and her reluctant subject, Héloïse (Adèle Haenel), whose refusal to pose stems from the knowledge that a completed portrait will be used to entice a suitor. Utilising minimal cast members, dialogue, sets, and score (with a masterful emphasis on organic sound), Sciamma fashions an intense, intimate love story that flows and evolves with patient, natural ease, making the payoff all the more rewarding. Merlant and Haenel are mesmerising, commanding the screen with a presence befitting Sciamma’s razor sharp script (Best Screenplay winner at Cannes) and leaving you with the realisation that you have just watched one of this century’s most important co-lead performances.
Watch the trailer here…

2. Parasite

Dir: Bong Joon-ho

Long considered one of the most interesting and original filmmakers on the world stage, Bong Joon-ho had previously flirted with mainstream success in the West with the magnificent Snowpiercer and Netflix-backed Okja. It is his return to his native Korea, however, that has seen him reach new levels of thoroughly deserved international recognition. Many cutting edge pictures have emerged from Seoul this century, but Parasite is a game changer on par or even ahead of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy; a scalding, witty, altogether beautifully tragic breakdown of the dynamics of family, society, and class divide in one of Asia’s largest cities, told through the perfectly cast Kim family (poor) and Park family (rich). The car crash at the end of their collision course may seem inevitable, but that would be too easy. Instead, Bong plants so many well-placed twists and turns that by the end, like the two cursed families, you’re not quite sure what just hit you.
Watch the trailer here…

1. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Dir: Quentin Tarantino

After a decade roaming Nazi-occupied France, the American South, and deepest Wyoming, it seems Quentin Tarantino was ready to come home. And what a homecoming it was. One of Tarantino’s finest moments, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is an ode to the life, times, figures, and fuck ups of the old Tinseltown he adores so much, underpinned by career performances, biting humour, and a soundtrack to die for. Not one to pull any punches, the divisive director decided to put his viewers on a knife edge amongst the vibrancy by setting us on course for the brutal 1969 murder of actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) at the hands of the Manson Family, an event orbited by the amusing antics of washed up television star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his aimless stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). What follows is a Tarantino masterclass in the art of simultaneously entertaining and fucking with his audience so vigorously, yet so seamlessly that you barely notice it until someone blasts you with a flamethrower; all in the name of romanticising Hollywood’s fanciful immortality while laying bare its behind-the-scenes mortality. A four-hour cut is on the way, and it cannot come soon enough.
Read ILT’s full review here…
Watch the trailer here…

Best of the Rest

Plenty of interesting indie flicks and blockbuster bangers were released this year from an outstanding collection of filmmakers. If you need something to watch, check out any and all of the following (click the link to see the trailer):

1917 (Dir: Sam Mendes)
6 Underground (Dir: Michael Bay)
Apollo 11 (Dir: Todd Douglas Miller)
Booksmart (Dir: Olivia Wilde)
Ford v Ferrari (Dir: James Mangold)
Her Smell (Dir: Alex Ross Perry)
High Flying Bird (Dir: Steven Soderbergh)
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (Dir: Chad Stahelski)
Jojo Rabbit (Dir: Taika Waititi)
Knives Out (Dir: Rian Johnson)
Long Shot (Dir: Jonathan Levine)
Marriage Story (Dir: Noah Baumbach)
Midsommar (Dir: Ari Aster) – pictured
Motherless Brooklyn (Dir: Edward Norton)
Richard Jewell (Dir: Clint Eastwood)
The Beach Bum (Dir: Harmony Korine)
The Farewell (Dir: Lulu Wang)
The King (Dir: David Michôd)
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Dir: Joe Talbot)
The Twentieth Century (Dir: Matthew Rankin)

Looking for recommendations from the past decade? ILT can help…
ILT’s Top 10 Films of 2018!
ILT’s Top 10 Films of 2017!
ILT’s Top 10 Films of 2016!
ILT’s Top 10 Films of 2015!

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