So we draw to a close on another year, and with it, another decade, as people with a smart-arsed sense of humour are very keen to point out. No, sir, I'm only throwing the one stone, the glass walls should hold. To be honest, I felt 2019 was a strangely underwhelming year for film; where normally most of the year's top five is pretty straightforward, and usually, at least one film becomes a new favourite of mine, 2019 comparatively hasn't delivered as much.
Now as always, the defence is that the cream of 2019's crop, things like Parasite or The Lighthouse or 1917 will probably come to define the year in retrospect, but I've decided this is a game I am finally sick of playing. I'm not indulging a load of films that feel they're too good to bother releasing in the UK in the year they claim to hail from, and would rather show up fashionably late just to show that they can get away with it, whilst still being judged alongside all the good films that actually did come out on time. The one student who's always tardy shouldn't be absolved from punishment just because his homework was really good; in the real world, punctuality is everything. They won't hold down a job long if they don't show up when they say they will.
Nick, are you trying to punish Hollywood release schedules like they're trouble-making scoundrels and you're some kind of matronly school teacher again? Lose the wig and the riding crop and get on with the blog.
OK, well how about this. From now on, I don't care if you've been on general release in America for months, I am from this point on only counting films that have had a general UK release within 2019 as 2019 films. Film festivals don't count, so yes, even though a lot of these films get shown at the London Film Festival which is open to the public, that's still not general release so it will not count. For anyone who follows my Letterboxd, I have updated my previous years' ranked lists to allow for this new rule, which has caused some shakeups in the 2015 list, if nothing else.
And if it turns out Parasite is the greatest thing since marmite toast, then brilliant, well done. Good for it. We can hear all about in the top five of 2020 list, but this year's list will not be touched. You're a 2020 release now, Parasite. Well, you should have thought about that before you stapled an arbitrary number of months onto your release date. Why we're being forced to wait this long for a film that's already been translated and is months into its general run in America is ridiculous. And they wonder why pirating is on the rise.
Anyway. It's New Year's Eve, now. Warmth and love and celebration and alcohol poisoning. Hurrah. Top five of 2019. Go!
5. Ad Astra - James Gray
One of this year's surprise gems, I went in pretty much expecting a run-of-the-mill space exploration with Brad Pitt's nice, big marketable face slapped all over it, but what I wasn't expecting was an artful and meditative retelling of Apocalypse Now with some stellar visuals and atmosphere to boot. It's definitely far from perfect, though: it feels like the studio hands have been meddling at certain points in fear that a mainstream audience won't get it. A moon buggy chase sequence feels particularly out of place, and there's a tacked-on happy ending as well as plenty of voice-overs from the main character, explaining exactly what he's thinking, which remind me of the original cut of Blade Runner. Like that film, I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of years down the line we get a director's cut of Ad Astra with all the strange additions trimmed off, lifting this to become a new cult classic. Another one of these oddities is an ongoing device about Brad Pitt's heartbeat never rising above 70bpm, which is apparently supposed to show he's depressed, but is such a laughably mechanical approach to showing depression it sounds like it was written by a robot. But ultimately, underneath all the dodgier elements and creative decisions, there is a heart of classic hard sci-fi, which beats with ideas of existentialism and the human condition. The further Pitt travels from Earth into space, the weaker the signs of human life become, our attempts to commercialise space thwarted by the sheer scale of it, and its these kinds of emotions and images where the film really shines. I hope Gray turns his hand to sci-fi again soon, because I can see real potential and passion in this, and with just a few improvements, we could be onto something great here. 8/10, Medium Recommendation
4. The Favourite - Yorgos Lanthimos
"But that's a 2018 film, Nick". No, it's a 2019 film now. It may claim it's a 2018 film, but that's because it's a liar. UK general release was on the 1st January 2019, therefore it's a 2019 film. Maybe if it had come out a day earlier I would have let it keep the 2018 title, but then it wouldn't have made my top five last year, so maybe coming out this year was advantageous after all. Sorry, I'm supposed to be talking about how much I like this film, aren't I? It's not you, The Favourite: it's Parasite that's pissed me off. I'm still as sore as I was at the time about The Favourite's poor performance at the Oscars, besides its one Best Actress win which it completely deserved, because this film seemed far and away one of the better of the main contenders this year. Lanthimos' films are generally pretty weird, with a particular idiosyncratic edge, and The Favourite is no different, translating his bizarre stylings into the stately homes and frivolities of 18th-century royals. The performances and style, as well as the surprising amount of humour, are what really makes this film work so well, and elevate it above the usual period drama ranks into something special. Not to mention Horatio, the fastest duck in the City. Move over Colman, he's the real MVP of this film. 8/10, Medium Recommendation
3. Joker - Todd Phillips
Yes, I'm putting it this high on the list. No, I still wouldn't call it a masterpiece, and in a more interesting year this probably wouldn't have made the top five either, but as I said in my review, it's still a good film, and it's definitely left an impression. Whether you agree with the film's message or even on what the message is, it's difficult to deny that it's a very well made film, and I don't think people would be reacting as strongly to it if it weren't so thoroughly absorbing and atmospheric. 8/10, High Recommendation
2. Midsommar - Ari Aster
Ari Aster is definitely one of the directors whose career I'm currently watching with keen interest, along with Chazelle and Villeneuve among others. A comparison with last year's Hereditary is pretty much inevitable, and while Midsommar is more consistent, I think Hereditary still had a deeper effect on me. There's a level of micromanaged perfection in this film that reminds me of Refn, where every shot seems to have been meticulously polished and tightened, right down to the steadiness of the camera as it glides through the environment. It's not an easy film to get fully on board with: its plot I feel is meant to be interpreted more metaphorically than literally, which isn't unusual for horror, and I think it'll be one of those films that starts to click into place a bit more on rewatches, but if nothing else this film has an absolutely suffocating atmosphere. It captures an overpowering sense of isolation, despite the characters being trapped in a field and surrounded by apparently helpful villagers. It creates a horror of boundaries, about a clash of cultures where the monsters aren't acting out of malice but merely enforcing their own traditions and practices, ones that are so alien to our own culture as to seem inhuman entirely. It almost seems like a comment on how Americans seem to perceive other cultures and the outside world, as creatures to be feared that are plotting against us, when they're the ones being intruded upon, and they're just trying to welcome you to their custom. I wouldn't say it's a scary film, as such, more intimidating and at points uncomfortable, but in a good way. Aster seems to have found a new spin on horror that works for the modern age, and as we enter the new decade, I cannot wait to see where it takes him next. 8/10, High Recommendation
1. Knives Out - Rian Johnson
Another film that I was not expecting to be anywhere near as good as it was, Johnson's Agatha Christie-inspired whodunnit is an excellently written romp. As a lot of people have already said, it's kinda difficult to talk about without going into detail on the plot, and this is not the kind of film you want spoiled for you. What I will say is that not an inch of this script is wasted, and every little moment has some significance later on, in a way that I found very satisfying as a writer. It's a film that's very self-aware and is able to throw even the smartest of viewers off the scent incredibly early on, so while you're distracted with what seems like the solution, you don't even notice all the other clues being established that point towards the true answer, even when some of them are staring you right in the face. It's an all-star cast, and there's this brilliant sense that each of them are loving every second of it, chewing the scenery and each getting their moment to shine in their malicious brilliance. Not all the jokes land, and there are definitely characters that I wish got a bit more to do, but overall this was a really slick and enjoyable thriller, and the final shot had me beaming ear-to-ear, which has historically been a good sign. 9/10, High Recommendation
And there we go, end of a decade. A shining sea of possibility stretches out before us as we enter the 2020s. What sights will this decade bring? First man on Mars? First woman on Mars? Hell, first everyone on Mars, as we all flee our doomed planet and let the politicians fight over what's left.
"Don't feel sad, Timmy. Yes, the Earth got destroyed by global warming, but we have Mars now, and it's got blackjack and hookers... and we even had time on the way over to collect every single copy of Cats and jettison them into space where they fucking belong."
Happy new year.
NB: For those interested, you can see my full 2019 ranking here
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