Typically I don’t place too much emphasis on New Year’s resolutions. However, something about the end of 2019, and the end of the 2010s - a decade of great significance to me - has contributed to a greater emphasis on the end of one year and the start of a new one.
For the last 13 years, I have made it a mission to see all the great movies of a given year, in preparation for writing my 10 best. It’s a tradition I cherish. If you’re reading this, I appreciate your interest and value your feedback. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been able to take this task much more seriously. Starting in 2014, I set a goal to see 100 movies annually from within the current year - and every year except one I hit that target. It’s a hobby that benefits from having built a great film community in this decade, who share this enthusiastic drive to seek out great movies. I’d like to thank my friends and family I’ve hustled to see all these movies with, the best ones are still shared experiences. There is no such thing as a bad year of movies… if you’re willing to look.
In this decade, audiences have watched a paradigm shift as the definition of movies and entertainment has changed drastically. Movies have been superseded as a dominant cultural currency by streamable TV series, a medium with many similarities, yet arguably more differences. Despite the larger shift, I have firmly remained in the movie camp, watching a handful of shows but far less than average viewers in favor of seeing more movies. There are dozens of articles with sophisticated breakdowns of this trend. The only reason I address this, is I’ve noticed that this type of comprehensive movie viewing has become increasingly niche, as the world transforms in so many ways. So many great movies go unnoticed that I am satisfied any time someone decides to see something outside their comfort zone, and always want to share movies that are worth making time for.
Within this decade, I managed to see 1,033 movies released from 2010-2019. This year I focused my movie watching exclusively on movies from within this decade to discover a few hidden gems I may have missed, along with seeing exactly 100 movies from 2019. This is an annual goal I am going to leave behind for a bit with the end of this decade. I still plan to see a lot of movies, but also want to feel liberated to take them in at my own pace, and not feel the need to act like an unofficial film critic. Regardless, this pursuit has taught me countless lessons about filmmaking that I can’t wait to take with me into the 2020s. Will there be more Top 10 lists? Most likely. Will they be sourced from 100 movies? Most likely not.
Here’s to an incredible 10 years of cinema.
Many people have created some form of “Best of the Decade” lists.
For today my focus is on 2019 movies.
If you’re curious to see previous selections (unedited from their release despite any changed opinions),
Here are my Top 10 lists from 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, & 2018.
Otherwise, without further ado…
NELSON’S TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2019
10. Her Smell
No matter how objective one tries to be, it is true that films released early in the calendar year have a disadvantage when it comes to awards and recognition. And yet this year, my first two entries were released in February and March of 2019, and have remained in my memory. Her Smell reminded me of one of my all-time favorites, The Wrestler, in that it takes us into a dismissed world, in this case 90s femme punk rock, and celebrates in the same way we cherish “high art.” Her Smell also takes a page from Steve Jobs (another film I stand behind) in that despite being over 2 hours, it only takes place in 5 scenes. As I watched it, at first I thought it would all take place in one scene. Maybe because it was an intimate scale movie, I kept expecting each corresponding scene to be the last one. But the film keeps going for more and more, making a case for every single scene as they unfold, aiming for higher targets and hitting each one. The film would be nothing without Elizabeth Moss at the center, embodying the madness and sympathy her character requires: she’s an enigma. Prior to Her Smell, I was unfamiliar with director Alex Ross Perry and his body of work. Part of what clinched this in the year’s Top 10 is that seeing this film led me to discover the rest of his work (notably The Color Wheel) and I have newfound inspiration from this belated discovery of talent. Forgive the obligatory cliche, but Her Smell rocks. It also features the year’s best end credits.
Her Smell is now streaming on HBO and available to rent on VOD
9. Us
I remember seeing Jordan Peele’s previous film, Get Out, and then continuing to find more reasons to love it as I read more about all the details I had missed. In every category, Peele is the master of movie details: he doesn’t waste a single visual moment to convey his message or connect to horror history. So when Us came around, I was ready: like everyone in the audience on opening night, we were there to see a master director unfold his new horror vision. Us was not the cultural zeitgeist picture that Get Out was. Nor was it a sophomore slump. Instead, it cements Peele as a filmmaker who has a lot of ideas to convey and that demands full attention from his viewers, on top of being truly terrifying and richly cinematic. I’ll never forget the feeling of leaving the theater and having so much to discuss and dissect with everyone in attendance, all of whom saw different pieces. This is what I want out of every movie: inspired conversations and a range of interpretable material. On top of being terrifying, Peele has crammed so much into Us that even months later I find new meaning out of particular moments. I did make a video essay showing the hidden books and other overlooked details in the movie, and through creating this found even more layers to unravel - see below. Here is to many more Jordan Peele horror movies in the 2020s.
Us is now streaming on HBO and available to rent on VOD
8. Cold Case Hammarskjöld
(my full Cinemacy review here)
Years ago it seemed more plausible that a mere poster could instantly sell you on seeing a movie. I can’t remember the last time this happened: yet the second I saw this poster for Cold Case Hammarskjöld (pronounced “hammer-scold”), I had to see the movie behind it:
A winner of a directing award at Sundance 2019, the unfolding documentary is true crime thriller aiming for the impossible: to solve a possible conspiracy that happened over 50 years ago. Dag Hammarskjöld, the controversially progressive UN Secretary General, died in a mysterious plane crash in the Congo in 1961. Eerie archival footage shows none other than President Kennedy speaking about this tragic and unexpected loss for the world. Danish director Mads Brügger, who appears in the film as the primary investigator, has a compelling lead that indicates this may not have been as accidental as it was initially described. What he ends up finding is a massive coverup with secret organizations and nefarious activity against the background of post-colonial Africa. And yet, solving a 50-year-old crime has its limitations, and as a filmmaker, Brügger embraces the shortcomings through his art and rolls with the punches. The unfolding film has the intrigue of any true crime story matched with a keen filmmaking eye, and advocacy for oppressed voices of the African continent. By far the least seen movie on this list, I urge all to take the time and check this one out.
Cold Case Hammarskjöld is now streaming on Hulu
7. Marriage Story
From the very first sequence, Marriage Story draws viewers into its characters, and portrays a dissolving marriage with care and compassion. This was a rare example of a film I was glad to watch alone: it evokes a situation that hits close to home for seemingly any American family, and for my own life experiences I needed to process this one without worrying about my neighbor’s opinions, or what my face looked like during certain scenes that hit close to home. Beginning to end, it’s as rich of a drama as one could ask for, and never failed to captivate me. In the moment, scenes play out with organic authenticity, and only after viewing the whole film does the deliberate structure suddenly permeate, unbelievably effective screenwriting from Noah Baumbach - certainly his best work to date. A natural showcase for actors with perhaps the most stacked ensemble of the year, along with the leads Adam Driver and Scarlett Johannson, we get terrific performances from Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Martha Kelly, and my favorite standout, Ray Liotta.
In honesty, there are times where I disagree with some of the choices made: Baumbach leans in heavily to the LA stereotypes, and there are story choices that make it hard to empathize with certain character decisions, and yet the sum of the parts is so overwhelmingly well crafted and emotionally engaging, I can set aside small differences and take the film for its excellence.
Marriage Story is now streaming on Netflix
6. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
It should speak to this film’s lovability that months later, after two viewings, I am still jamming out to the film’s soundtrack as I drive around Los Angeles. Seeing the movie on opening night at director Quentin Tarantino’s theater, the New Beverly Cinema, the line was blurred between where the movie began and the real world ended: it is an immersive portal into a fantasy of 1969 in Hollywood I’m happy to enter and re-enter. The lengthy runtime is a continuous string of memorable moments, never relenting or wasting quality time with its cast. There is a brilliant subtext as Leonardo Dicaprio’s character, Rick Dalton, spends the day pretending to be a cowboy as an actor, while his stuntman, Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth, is out and about actually living a modern cowboy adventure. And yet both face the impending feeling of obsolescence, which feels all the more relatable at a time when fewer and fewer people care about movies, especially in the way Tarantino does. Two of the very best performances of the year, surrounded by countless other memorable actors, and Brad Pitt at his career best stealing every scene he’s in. It’s a movie for anyone to fall in love with movies again, with the same level of detailed intrigue as the rest of the movies on this list.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is still playing in cinemas and available to rent on VOD platforms
5. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
All hail Marielle Heller. Her third film and second consecutive entry onto my personal Top 10, after last year’s amazing Can You Ever Forgive Me?. Cynically, despite Heller being the director, I didn’t expect too much from a Mister Rogers biopic. After Morgan Neville’s documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, I had a hard time believing a narrative version of the story would feel essential. Consider me proven wrong and then some. Instead of choosing the formulaic route of making Mister Rogers the protagonist and delivering a paint-by-numbers, greatest-hits biopic that we’ve seen a dozen times (and still win people Oscars almost every year), the film brilliantly chooses an intimate true story that speaks to the larger magnitude of Fred Rogers. By making the protagonist the ultimate non-believer, it gives us the opportunity to recognize just how special of a person he is, and how much we all stand to absorb and revisit his message. This is to say nothing of Heller’s deft touches: the film is structured in a way that is tailor made to the world of Fred Rogers, and no detail or opportunity is wasted. I love how much care and craft went into this film. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Tom Hanks is excellent in the role, but it’s a great reminder that no matter how many people he plays, he always comes up with something new. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is a beautiful movie and far more worthy of recognition than one may realize. It’s an absolute gem.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is now playing in cinemas
4. Honeyland
A groundbreaking documentary that could pass as a narrative film, Honeyland features no narration, no sit-down interviews, none of the traditional components that traditionally service non-fiction storytelling. Instead, Honeyland draws from hundreds of hours spent beekeeping in Macedonia, and the unexpected conflict that stems from this tradition. Beginning with a lone woman making a dangerous trek up a mountain to collect honey from bees living in an unbelievable location, it’s hard to believe the film even takes place in present day, as so few people live in harmony with nature and removed from a modern, urban lifestyle. From there, Honeyland continues to venture into uncharted territories. As opposing forces enter the protagonist’s traditional lifestyle, the film quietly becomes an environmental allegory. By discarding the typical documentary tactics in favor of something more unique, it transcends into a higher echelon of filmmaking. At the end of the movie I was thoroughly impressed, and then in a Q&A, one of the directors off-handedly remarked that they knew they had something good when they saw the “bee metaphor” at play. And that’s when it really clicked: on top of everything else, every character introduced corresponds to the bees they take care of - worker bees, queen bees, etc. - and the human conflict directly resembles conflict between neighboring hives. Absolutely brilliant.
Honeyland is available to rent on VOD platforms, including Amazon and YouTube
Let me take a moment to break from talking about the movies themselves, and acknowledge that one production company, NEON, has had an unrivaled banner year of excellence. Three of the movies in the top five of my list (#4, #3, and #1) all came from one company, and earn their individual keeps as best of the year. And this is a company with presumably a fraction of the resources of the studios and streaming juggernauts, and that is still not as established as the perennial indie favorite A24. Having been so impressed with entry after entry, I made a point to see as much as I could from their stacked 2019 lineup: Apollo 11, Clemency, Monos, Wild Rose, Amazing Grace, and The Biggest Little Farm. (I still need to see Luce and The Beach Bum). These films are almost all impressive forces and worthy Top 10 contenders. If I could work faster, I would dedicate a whole video to just how incredible it is to see a single company with such an eclectic range of quality output. For now, back to…
3. Parasite
Parasite is in every way the crown jewel of the Neon slate. Bong Joon Ho’s Cannes winning film is an uncategorizable blend of comedy, drama, horror, and social satire. As something entirely its own invention, Bong reaches new heights that cross cultural boundaries and cuts deep into the current state of the world, with a massive divide between the rich and the poor. Parasite follows two families: one with too much money, and one with not enough. Slowly but surely, the families begin to feed off one another (who is the real parasite is open to interpretation), and with every beat the plot becomes increasingly suspenseful and intriguing. It is both timeless and undeniably relevant. Everyone has been on at least one side (and perhaps even both) of the economic interaction dynamic, and yet few movies so precisely capture this complex relationship. This is as poignant a commentary on capitalism as has ever been created.
Consensus agrees that the Best Picture race has already come down to three titles: Parasite, The Irishman, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Of those, the favorite to win appears to be Hollywood, as a great movie but more importantly to the Oscars, a love letter to LA and movies, their catnip. I stand by it as a great movie, and yet my own rankings aside (I love all three of these movies), I wholeheartedly am rooting for Parasite for Best Picture, which would be the first foreign language film ever to win the prize, and a bold entry far outside their norm. It’s an uphill battle, but not as challenging as what the characters face within this movie. Regardless of what occurs, Bong Joon Ho’s work is cemented in cinema history, and I look forward to many more conversations about this movie.
Parasite is now playing in cinemas
2. The Irishman
It seems like nobody can talk about Martin Scorsese’s new film without mentioning how long it is. Oh yeah, 3.5 hours is nothing to take lightly. Especially in my case, when I saw it in theaters (my pal Austin and I went to the bathroom twice ahead of time to be 100% sure I wouldn’t have to get up in the middle). And for home viewing, where most audiences will see it, the inevitable interruptions or pauses could make the film seem like a bottomless pit. And yet, the runtime transforms the movie into something entirely new: at no point in the film did I have any real gauge of how far into the movie we were, and therefore I was liberated from thinking about structure and where the movie was headed, and stay present for every single scene.
In the very first shot, as the camera winds through an old folks senior center, I was instantly reminded of my 96-year-old grandfather, who went on hospice care the day before yesterday. As Robert De Niro tells the story, the film is a reconciliation of age, and how that manipulates the way we think about our time in life. Unlike many gangster movies, where we can remove ourselves from that kind of lifestyle, Scorsese chooses front and center to make this a movie about the bigger questions in life we all must face. The film then cuts to a seemingly mundane road trip, and uses these two places in time as the flashback anchors. Why this road trip? What makes it worthy of the editing structure presented? We are here to learn that - Scorsese’s longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker delivers some of the most brilliant choices in how to tell the story, her most memorable work since The Departed.
Throughout the movie we’re given memorable scene after memorable scene of De Niro going toe-to-toe with his fellow acting titans Joe Pesci and Al Pacino, his character serving as the liaison between the two. The three legends are each at their very best, and the results are as iconic as the original roles that made them household names and Oscar winners. In many instances, when actors and directors reunite to make something that homages their past work, it feels like a retread. For Scorsese and company, it’s evidence that he has so much more to say. His year seems to be overshadowed by his feud with Marvel about the definition of cinema. That’s a conversation for another time. For now, let it be known that Scorsese’s latest is on the same level as the classics that have made him a filmmaking superhero.
The Irishman is now streaming on Netflix
1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Quickly, I must address the unfortunate release information surrounding this movie: because it was not chosen as the “Best International Feature” submission by its home country of France (every country only gets one movie, a problematic situation for another day), Céline Sciamma’s masterful film is likely to get overlooked entirely by the awards, and will not make its way into theaters outside of LA/NY until February 14, capitalizing on Valentine’s Day and post-Oscar screen space. That said, it is still a 2019 movie despite its unconventional rollout release. Consider this a case for why despite any distribution setbacks, this is one to remember long past its initial release year.
Marianne, a young female painter in the late 1700s, is escorted to a remote French island with an impossible task: she must paint the troubled Heloise, without her knowing that she is Marianne’s muse. Heloise is to be married, this portrait will be what seals the future relationship. For Marianne to accomplish this, she must befriend Heloise, who has rejected this marriage, and conceal the true assignment at hand. This is just the beginning of an unforgettable story I would venture to call a masterpiece.
One of the most exciting components of the film is that the story invites the audience to participate in the character’s goals. Marianne is tasked with a straightforward yet challenging goal: study a woman close enough to be able to paint her accurately. With this premise and an excellently paced reveal of information, we too join in on this quest. When we see Heloise for the first time, we are also studying every possible detail; every glimpse aids us in being able to imagine what the portrait would be like. Director Céline Sciamma cleverly points us toward what to observe, be it her eyes, her ears, etc.
This is but one example of how every scene is a memorable, often suspenseful, reveal of information and development of the protagonists. What sets the film apart for me is just how richly satisfying the entire process is. No moment feels wasted - when we reach a conclusion it is more cinematically satisfying than anything in recent memory. The first time I saw it my jaw dropped. The second time I saw it, I smiled in awe of its craft. This is a film whose intrigue is best seen with a fresh set of eyes (I would skip the trailer if you have the option), and repeat viewers will get to savor it even further, like a fine work of art we would see in a gallery. I hesitate to lay on more accolade, for I prefer readers to make their own discovery of its invention. That said, there is no question at which movie-going experience was my favorite of the year. Portrait of a Lady on Fire is my #1 movie of 2019.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire was released in NY/LA December 14th,
and will receive a nationwide release February 14th
due to the discussed Oscar business. Don’t miss it then!
Honorable Mentions: Ad Astra, The Edge of Democracy, Greener Grass, Midsommer, Uncut Gems
Thank you for reading!