What better way to kick off a new blog than with a best of list? 2019 was one of the best years for film in the last decade. I saw nearly 200 films from last year and I feel like I still have quite a few gems left to mine. However, we are into February of the new year with the Oscars right around the corner, so I figure it’s time to unveil my favorites from 2019. I’m going to divide this into two parts: part one will be my top 10 male and female acting performances from 2019 and part two will be an in depth look at my top 25 films. What was my favorite film from last year? Who do I think should win best actor and actress? Find out below.
Part One: My Favorite Acting Performances from 2019
2019 was a powerhouse year for acting and featured some of the best performances in recent memory. I am going to briefly list my 10 favorite male and female performances from the year that was and I’ll discuss some of them in further detail in part two.
Best Actor
- 10. Kris Hitchen, Sorry We Missed You
- 9. Wendell Pierce, Burning Cane
- 8. Tom Mercier, Synonyms
- 7. Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
- 6. Willam Dafoe, The Lighthouse
- 5. Robert Pattinson, The Lighthouse
- 4. Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems
- 3. Joaquin Phoenix, The Joker
- 2. Adam Driver, Marriage Story
- 1. Shia LaBeouf, Honey Boy
Best Actress
- 10. Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
- 9. Karen Allen, Colewell
- 8. Adéle Haenel, Portrait of a Lady on Fire
- 7. Lauren “Lolo” Spencer, Give Me Liberty
- 6. Aisling Francosi, The Nightengale
- 5. Awkwafina, The Farewell
- 4. Tiffany Chu, Ms. Purple
- 3. Jessie Buckley, Wild Rose
- 2. Elizabeth Moss, Her Smell
- 1. Alfre Woodard, Clemency
Part Two: The 25 Best Films from 2019 Ranked 25-1
I usually don’t have 25 films from a given year that I think are worthy of including in a best of list. However, this year was better than usual and I feel like each film on this list deserves to be here. So without further adieu, here are my favorite films from 2019:
One of the things that I’m most excited about in the current world of American cinema is the resurgence of arthouse horror. This reinvention of the horror genre is led by Ari Aster and Midsommar, his 2019 follow-up to Hereditary, is another step forward for the genre. Aster did not fall victim to the classic and dreaded “sophomore slump” and managed to produce an excellent piece of filmaking that is visually alluring, well acted, especially by the up and coming Florence Pugh, and packs that same brutal gut punch that was present in Hereditary.
Perhaps Tarantino’s swan song, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a love letter to the golden age of American filmaking and a culmination of an illustrious career for the great Tarantino. I didn’t like this film as much as some critics but it has grown on me since first viewing and I recognize how tightly constructed it is. Brad Pitt highlights a solid cast with the best performance of his career and the writing is of course as punchy as ever. It’s not Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs but it’s a solid effort from the master of spectacle.
The Irishman is another film that I wasn’t as high on as some critics but I still think it’s very good. Featuring all the classic Scorsese players, The Irishman is a love letter to the gangster film much in the same way that Once Upon a Time in Holywood is a love letter to Hollywood. Joe Pesci highlights a group of excellent performances and the pacing is as tight as ever, even for a three and a half hour film. I don’t think you can group The Irishman with the greats like Taxi Driver and Goodfellas but it doesn’t disappoint either.
Yet another master working at the top of his craft, the great Pedro Almodóvar continues to churn out compelling works of cinema. Pain and Glory is one of his most personal and touching films and it is led by a career best performance from Antonio Banderas, who carries the film on his shoulders. Tied together by an extraordinary final shot, Pain and Glory is a film that gets better the more you sit with it. A reflexive and deep piece of work, it’s a film that encapsulates the feeling of getting older and the moments that mean the most.
In a year that featured some incredible new female directing talents, Lulu Wang lead the charge. The Farewell is a lovely film that transcends culture and bridges the gap between life, death, and family. Awkafina is incredible in the lead role as a young woman attempting to process the impending death of her grandmother. She bears the weight of the knowledge of her grandmother’s cancer beautifully and delivers a masterful performance, exquisitely balancing grief and acceptance. Primarily, this is a film about the grieving process and how it can be both a personal and shared experience as well as the role of culture in family dynamics. It’s no surprise that this was one of the world’s highest grossing films of 2019 and I am excited to see what Wang does next.
Another tight, powerful film about grief and the healing process, Starfish was one of the year’s biggest surprises. Starfish uses a post-apocalyptic setting and music to tell the story of a girl processing the death of her best friend through a series of tapes that she leaves behind to be discovered. It’s a unique mashup of genres that somehow work together while director A.T. White nails a visually stunning ending that packs an emotional punch. Worth watching for the soundtrack alone, Starfish flew under the radar in the midst of a busy year, but it’s a film that deserves more attention for its unique approach to the loss of a loved one.
Another film that has not gotten nearly enough recognition, Clemency is a film about the emotional weight of death row executions and the toll they take on prison warden Bernadine Williams played by the impeccable Alfre Woodard. Woodard is astonishing in the film and the sorrow and guilt in her eyes is visceral and unflinching. Her stares are bone-chilling and the final scene in the film is a wrecking ball. Woodard has had a long and vibrant career but continues to go unrecognized, snubbed of an Oscar nomination for the best performance of her career and my favorite female performance of the year. She commands the screen and soaks up every second with an intense gusto. The film itself is an intriguing look at a much maligned topic and is a solid feature length effort from the relatively new Chinonye Chukwu, highlighting another powerful female directing effort from a year that was full of them.
Her Smell was an earlier 2019 release and premiered at festivals the year prior. It’s a chaotic, surreal, nightmare-driven portrayal of a punk singer, played by Elizabeth Moss in a tour de force performance, who is swallowed, chewed up, and spit back out by addiction. It’s an electric masterclass of acting and Moss has begun to cement herself among the elite American actresses. Her Smell is a film about battling demons and using trauma to recreate one’s identity. Elizabeth Moss is spectacular in the lead role and together with the unique vision of Alex Ross Perry, she takes viewers on one hell of a ride.
The follow up to 2018’s Kaili Blues, A Long Day’s Journey Into Night is a sumptuous noir fever dream. Bi Gan’s sophomore effort is no disappointment and is visually impeccable from beginning to end. Featuring a second hour that is entirely one tracking shot in 3D no less, Gan manages to create a unique take on the noir thriller while adding stylistic elements employed in Kaili Blues to greater effect via a bigger budget. Less plot driven and more focused on evoking certain feelings and a sense of longing, Gan masterfully uses dreamlike sequences to follow a man’s search for a woman he’s never been able to forget.
Synonyms is at once a satire of Israeli politics and expatriation as well as a compelling and lively drama about the search for identity. Tom Mercier is fantastic as the lead and plays an Israeli man with a fiery aplomb who flees his country in an attempt to become a French citizen. The film centers around his struggle with his nationality and the overwhelming feeling that he should not have been born in the middle east. Mercier navigates the duality of the main character beautifully and provides some of the most energetic scenes in 2019. Synonyms is a semi-autobiographical venture and director Nadav Lapid pours his soul into this film.
One of two documentaries on Syria to make my top 25, The Cave is a stunning portrait of young doctor Amani Ballour and her experiences working to help save the lives of those injured during the recent bombings in Syria. Dr. Amani works tirelessly in unimaginable conditions and does all she can to save as many lives as possible with little to no food or equipment. The film serves as a powerful testament to bravery in the face of extreme hardship and a reminder that perspective is of the utmost importance.
Set amidst riots in Milwaukee, Give Me Liberty is an affecting dramedy about the struggle to fit in in an unjust world. The film features a standout performance from Lauren “Lolo” Spencer, an actress with ALS playing a character with ALS. (Shocking!) As someone who is disabled, I appreciate the casting decision and Spencer does not disappoint in the role. Her chemistry with fellow lead Chris Galust is great and the centerpiece of the film. It’s nice to see a lead character with a disability portrayed in a way that doesn’t feel sympathetic or pitying. Give Me Liberty manages to provide insightful social commentary in addition to emotional heft while adding some laughs along the way.
I Lost My Body is my favorite animated film from 2019. It’s a whimsical story of a french man who is in search of love while his disembodied hand is in search of its body. There’s a surreal complexity to the film, which combines magical realism with a man’s search for identity and meaning. I Lost My Body received an Oscar nomination for best animated feature and deservedly so. The score is fantastic and adds to the constantly switching perspectives of the main character and his hand, both looking to be made whole, literally and figuratively. There are also a few scenes that are profoundly moving, including one in a handmade igloo on a rooftop that’s one of my favorite scenes of the year. It’s nice to see some really incredible and original independent animated content coming from a non Pixar/Disney studio.
Two words: Roger Deakins. The man is a master of his craft and the best living American cinematographer. He makes this film tick and without him, it isn’t nearly as impactful. Sam Mendes does a nice job with the direction and the performances are rock solid, especially from lead George McKay, but it’s Deakins who steals the show. The film is mesmerizing to watch and gorgeously framed and paced with some incredible lighting and masterful tracking shots. The real-time style of filmaking with only a few “hidden” cuts adds to the emotional weight of the film, which doesn’t have much of a plot and instead relies on visuals and tension to get a reaction from the viewer. One of the better war films in recent memory, 1917 is a ticking time bomb and is what Christopher Nolan wishes that Dunkirk was.
Joker is the best comic book movie ever made. Period. However, that’s because it isn’t really a comic book movie. Joker is in fact a film about mental illness and a man’s slow and agonizing decent into madness. Yes it features the classic Batman villain “the Joker” in the title role but he merely acts as a vessel for a character study about a man succumbing to his mental illness. This is not Todd Phillips’ film. It’s Joaquin Phoenix’s. Phoenix is incredible and completely commands the screen. He turns in the best performance of his career and will likely run away with the Oscar. It’s as if Phoenix is directing himself while Phillips sits in the corner and watches the mastery in motion. The film itself is riveting and brought to life by an excellent score and beautiful art direction, costuming, and makeup. It’s not perfect but it still haunts me and that isn’t something that a film does to me often these days.
The second of two Syrian documentaries on my best of list for 2019, For Sama is a gut-wrenching documentary shot by a mother in war-torn Syria in the style of a video journal for her daughter Sama. It is a moving portrait of the atrocities and harsh living conditions in Syria and is it a miracle that the film was made and distributed at all. This is a tough watch, featuring long, drawn out scenes of gravely injured children and emotionally wrought family members. What is most engrossing is that this is a love letter from a mother to her daughter, as if to provide a time capsule of the conditions that Sama grew up in so that when she gets older, she will never forget her true home and the adversities that she overcame just to exist in an unjust world. This is as personal and triumphant as documentaries get and it is the most important watch from 2019.
Ms. Purple is the heartbreaking portrait of siblings Kasie and Carey living in Koreatown, Los Angeles. The film follows their struggle with the separation of their parents. Abandoned by their mother and brought up by their now gravely ill father, the two intertwine in a journey of self-reflection, grief, and the process of moving forward. Tiffany Chu gives one of the best performances of the year as Kasie. She plays a karaoke hostess forced to take care of her father on his deathbed as she reconnects with her brother Carey (Timothy Lee) in an attempt to enlist his help. Both do an excellent job and their chemistry is palpable. Ms. Purple is a festival circuit film that flew relatively under the radar but quickly became one of my favorites of the year due to its ability to balance character study with cultural examination using an emotionally satisfying yet restrained technique.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a film that I did not expect to like but ended up adoring. I generally don’t love period pieces but this film is so lush and the colors are so gorgeous that it’s hard not to be awestruck. The film follows a sort of forbidden romance between two women and features some of the best and most intense chemistry that I’ve seen on a screen. Noémi Merlant and Adéle Haenel are both fantastic as the two leads but it is Haenel who steals the screen with piercing stares and searing expressions that convey more emotion than any amount of dialogue could. Céline Sciamma continues the strong female direction of 2019 and knocks this one out of the park. The film is stunningly beautiful to look at and the colors are dazzling. This was the biggest surprise of the year for me and I can’t wait to see what Sciamma does next.
Uncut Gems, the Safdie brothers’ follow-up to 2017’s incredible Good Time, does not disappoint. A nonstop, thrilling, rollercoaster of a film with philosophical undertones, Uncut Gems manages to be incredibly entertaining, tightly directed and paced, and wonderfully acted by Adam Sandler and a surprisingly solid Kevin Garnett. Once Uncut Gems starts, it doesn’t stop, leading viewers on a fast-paced frenetic ride that also happens to be masterfully edited and cut together, which is ironic given the film’s title. Sandler turns in his best performance since Punch Drunk Love and this role could jumpstart a stalled career. He is at once eerily precise in his actions while also inhabiting a man who is lost behind a nonstop addiction to gambling that never satiates him. Sandler’s character has a depth behind the insanity that really adds to the film and his connection with the great NBA legend KG somehow works.
I’ve been a big fan of Noah Baumbach’s for much of his career. He has become one of the seminal American indie filmakers over the course of the last decade and I’m pleased to say that Marriage Story is his masterpiece. Channeling John Cassavetes and Kramer vs. Kramer, Baumbach expertly and deftly explores the excruciating process of divorce backed behind the power of its two central leads. Scarlett Johansson gives the best performance of her career as the wife in the aforementioned divorce. However, its Adam Driver that steals the show giving one of the best performances of the year. He tackles his role with such heartfelt nuance and grace that I often forgot that I was watching a character on screen. The scene towards the end of the film where he reads out a letter to his son written for him by his wife is one of the most powerful scenes of the year and it’s entirely due to Adam Driver’s commitment to the role. Marriage Story is a heartbreaking watch and is not easy to sit through as you witness a train wreck of a marriage slowly and painfully fall apart. However, it is also one of the best films of the year and is simply unmissable.
Love, Antosha is my favorite documentary of 2019 and one of the best films of the year. It is an incredible homage to a passionate, driven, and committed Anton Yelchin. Yelchin was tragically taken from this world at the age of 27 in a freak accident but lived life to the fullest extent. The film gives us an in depth view at the late actor’s rich life and his previously unknown struggles with cystic fibrosis. It’s a film that hit close to home for me because of my own disability and it’s a beautiful reminder to live life to the fullest every day because we never know when it might end. Yelchin had an incurable hunger for film and his drive and passion are inspirational. It doesn’t hurt that the film is also expertly composed and pieced together with fragments from Yelchin’s life. Love, Antosha is an incredibly affecting and important piece of documentary filmaking.
I’ve always been a fan of Bong Joon-Ho’s work. While I still think Memories of Murder is his best film, Parasite is close behind. Joon-Ho has a unique ability to command misé en scéne and framing while also using his characters in intelligent ways to provide riveting social commentary. He excels at this combination in Parasite, a rare beast of a film that has received both critical and mass acclaim. Most of Parasite takes place in a house and while that may sound confining, Joon-Ho uses simple stylistic flourishes to flesh out the story and the message he is working to convey with his quirky and frankly fucked up characters. He uses architecture to brilliant effect and presents an art house vibe wrapped up in an entertaining and darkly comic setting. What separates Parasite from the field is how well it walks the line between mass appeal and intellectual and meaningful cinema. Not to mention, it’s simply a ton of fun.
Yet another powerhouse female directorial effort, Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale is sensational. It’s brutal, unflinching, beautifully filmed and acted, raw, and it features one of my favorite final shots in quite some time. The film follows Clare, an Irish convict working as a servant to the British army in 1800s Australia. After she is raped and her baby is killed by one of the British sergeants, she goes on a vicious quest for revenge with the help of an aboriginal tracker named Billy. Aisling Francosi is exceptional as Clare, somehow balancing a nurturing, motherly persona with an uncanny bloodlust. The film is not for the faint of heart in its depiction of brutality but Kent makes it all work in sublime fashion. This film was not seen by nearly enough people but it one of the best from last year and it solidifies Jennifer Kent as a force to be reckoned with.
Robert Eggers has outdone himself. The Witch was an amazing piece of filmaking but 2019’s The Lighthouse is a masterpiece. This is a film with so many layers and intricacies all shot in beautiful black and white. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson are both masterful as the two lighthouse keepers and the writing is poetic and haunting. The interplay between the two leads makes up much of the film, which takes place almost entirely on a single secluded island during a storm. Watching Pattinson and Dafoe slowly descend into madness through a complex dance of loneliness and sexual frustration is spellbinding and the final shot is at once an homage to Hitchcock and a force all its own. Eggers has come through with an incredible sophomore effort and is primed to become one of the great auteurs of this decade. There are so many amazing moments in this film but the way that each of the actors command the screen is never less than riveting. This one blew me away and I immediately saw it a second time in the same week as the first. The Lighthouse is not just one of the best films of 2019 but one of the best of the decade.
At last, I have arrived at my favorite film of 2019. Honey Boy is a remarkable, unique, deeply heartfelt and emotionally raw masterpiece. I can’t say enough about this film. Films like Honey Boy are why I am a film buff. That distinct feeling of having my breath taken away as the credits roll is what I chase every year and it’s a rare feat. I have always been a big proponent of the much maligned Shia LaBeouf. He has struggled mightily with addiction and mental illness over the course of his young life but I also find him to be a brilliant actor with endless amounts of talent. The issue has always been whether or not he is able to harness his trauma and use it to fuel his performances. In Honey Boy, he plays the role of his own father, an alcoholic rodeo clown who always loomed large over Shia’s shoulder. Their relationship was a tumultuous one and the idea of LaBeouf playing the role of his own father as a form of art therapy is exciting and emotionally devastating. There are some scenes where the viewer watches LaBeouf simultaneously act the role of his father while consequently working through past trauma and it is no less than stunning. Noah Jupe and Lucas Hedges are also both brilliant as childhood Shia and young adult Shia and Alma Har’el’s ability to rein in the tempestuous force that is Shia LaBeouf, honing his skills to write the screenplay for Honey Boy as well as commanding the lead role, is nothing short of miraculous. This is the film that affected me the most in 2019 and subsequently, it is also my favorite film of the year. Shia LaBeouf has been unleashed and he is an unstoppable force of nature.
That wraps up the first official post for Film is the Warmest Color. There were plenty of remarkable films from 2019 and I saw as many as I could but still have a few left. The films I’ve yet to see that remain on my list include A Hidden Life, 3 Faces, First Love, Bacarau, Vitalina Varela, Rojo, Fast Color, Greener Grass, Corpus Christi, La Flor, and Les Miserables. Here’s to hoping that 2020 picks up where 2019 left off.