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| Best Movies of 2019 | Best Movies of 2019 |
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| A.O. Scott | A.O. Scott |
| As the movie year winds down, I would like to express my gratitude to Martin Scorsese. Not only for making “The Irishman,” his best movie in a long time and one of the best of 2019 (see below), but also for reminding the world of the value of cinema. | As the movie year winds down, I would like to express my gratitude to Martin Scorsese. Not only for making “The Irishman,” his best movie in a long time and one of the best of 2019 (see below), but also for reminding the world of the value of cinema. |
| The art form is in one of its periodic identity crises. A big chunk of our collective attention — we don’t yet know how big, or with what consequences — is migrating to streaming platforms whose offerings include a lot of the stand-alone single-episode narratives that we used to see mainly in theaters. (Yes, I know: We saw a lot of sequels, too.) Movie theaters, meanwhile, are dominated by franchise, I.P.-driven spectacles like the entities in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, which Scorsese singled out, in an interview in Empire magazine and then in a New York Times Op-Ed, as “not cinema.” | The art form is in one of its periodic identity crises. A big chunk of our collective attention — we don’t yet know how big, or with what consequences — is migrating to streaming platforms whose offerings include a lot of the stand-alone single-episode narratives that we used to see mainly in theaters. (Yes, I know: We saw a lot of sequels, too.) Movie theaters, meanwhile, are dominated by franchise, I.P.-driven spectacles like the entities in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, which Scorsese singled out, in an interview in Empire magazine and then in a New York Times Op-Ed, as “not cinema.” |
| The dust-up that followed his remarks was predictable. Members of the aggrieved superhero-loving community — some of whom draw Disney paychecks — tut-tutted Scorsese for being old, out of touch, overrated and, most of all, elitist. Accusing Scorsese (and his defenders) of elitism was exemplary pseudo-populism, a defense of corporate hegemony disguised as a celebration of mass taste. To question the apparent preferences of millions of consumers is to risk being labeled a snob. | The dust-up that followed his remarks was predictable. Members of the aggrieved superhero-loving community — some of whom draw Disney paychecks — tut-tutted Scorsese for being old, out of touch, overrated and, most of all, elitist. Accusing Scorsese (and his defenders) of elitism was exemplary pseudo-populism, a defense of corporate hegemony disguised as a celebration of mass taste. To question the apparent preferences of millions of consumers is to risk being labeled a snob. |
| In the imaginations of their sore-winner, alpha dog-underdog opponents, the snobs are simultaneously too dangerous to ignore and too enfeebled to take seriously. The response is basically, Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Nobody’s listening to you anyway! And the anti-elitist argument is at bottom a matter of numbers, of quantity trumping quality. That “Avengers: Endgame” and “Joker” broke records at the global box office surely means something, even if the movies themselves don’t. | In the imaginations of their sore-winner, alpha dog-underdog opponents, the snobs are simultaneously too dangerous to ignore and too enfeebled to take seriously. The response is basically, Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Nobody’s listening to you anyway! And the anti-elitist argument is at bottom a matter of numbers, of quantity trumping quality. That “Avengers: Endgame” and “Joker” broke records at the global box office surely means something, even if the movies themselves don’t. |
| But to paraphrase Justin Timberlake’s character in “The Social Network”: a billion dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? Movies that offer something more than the sullen pseudo-politics of “Joker” or the elaborate pro-status-quo theatrics of “Avengers.” Movies that, rather than fetishizing self-pity or sentimentalizing domination, illuminate the cruelty, the comedy and the grace of the human condition. Movies that treat you as something other than a passive spectator or an obedient, presold “fan.” Movies that are actually worth arguing about, and thinking about. | But to paraphrase Justin Timberlake’s character in “The Social Network”: a billion dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? Movies that offer something more than the sullen pseudo-politics of “Joker” or the elaborate pro-status-quo theatrics of “Avengers.” Movies that, rather than fetishizing self-pity or sentimentalizing domination, illuminate the cruelty, the comedy and the grace of the human condition. Movies that treat you as something other than a passive spectator or an obedient, presold “fan.” Movies that are actually worth arguing about, and thinking about. |
| Which is more or less what Scorsese meant by “cinema.” The word might make even some of his sympathizers a little uncomfortable. Because it also exists in other languages, including French, using it might make you sound like you’re putting on airs. (I myself prefer the Italian pronunciation.) But far from signifying snootiness, the cosmopolitanism of the term is a sign of the essentially democratic nature of the art form itself, which is able to leap over barriers of language, custom and ideology like few others. | Which is more or less what Scorsese meant by “cinema.” The word might make even some of his sympathizers a little uncomfortable. Because it also exists in other languages, including French, using it might make you sound like you’re putting on airs. (I myself prefer the Italian pronunciation.) But far from signifying snootiness, the cosmopolitanism of the term is a sign of the essentially democratic nature of the art form itself, which is able to leap over barriers of language, custom and ideology like few others. |
| Cinema also migrates across platforms, which is another reason to embrace the old/new name. In the digital age, “film” is a technological misnomer, attached to the glories of a specific, no-longer-dominant (though not entirely obsolete) way of making and projecting pictures. “Movies” are, mostly, what we see in theaters (or cinemas, just to confuse the issue further), while “moving pictures” pop up on nearly every surface, distracting us from our distraction. | Cinema also migrates across platforms, which is another reason to embrace the old/new name. In the digital age, “film” is a technological misnomer, attached to the glories of a specific, no-longer-dominant (though not entirely obsolete) way of making and projecting pictures. “Movies” are, mostly, what we see in theaters (or cinemas, just to confuse the issue further), while “moving pictures” pop up on nearly every surface, distracting us from our distraction. |
| “Cinema” is more capacious and also more specific, because it refers to an aesthetic rather than a technological category. The medium, right now, is a mess. But the art form is in a state of rude, contentious health. Looking back on my favorites released in the United States since January, I’m struck by how many bristle with an argumentative energy that seems to match the times, even if a lot of the filmmakers cast their glances back toward earlier modern moments. | “Cinema” is more capacious and also more specific, because it refers to an aesthetic rather than a technological category. The medium, right now, is a mess. But the art form is in a state of rude, contentious health. Looking back on my favorites released in the United States since January, I’m struck by how many bristle with an argumentative energy that seems to match the times, even if a lot of the filmmakers cast their glances back toward earlier modern moments. |
| Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” and Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” unfold in a restless present tense, but so does Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women,” even though it takes place more than 100 years ago. “The Irishman” and “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” feel like elegies to an older cinematic ethic, while “Atlantics” and “The Edge of Democracy” press into an uncertain future, the terms of which are prophesied by the blood and rhetoric of Mike Leigh’s mighty “Peterloo.” The top two entries on my list do all of that and more, digging so deep into the particular lives of their characters — a North Macedonian beekeeper and a film student in London — that they seem to transcend time altogether. | Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” and Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” unfold in a restless present tense, but so does Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women,” even though it takes place more than 100 years ago. “The Irishman” and “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” feel like elegies to an older cinematic ethic, while “Atlantics” and “The Edge of Democracy” press into an uncertain future, the terms of which are prophesied by the blood and rhetoric of Mike Leigh’s mighty “Peterloo.” The top two entries on my list do all of that and more, digging so deep into the particular lives of their characters — a North Macedonian beekeeper and a film student in London — that they seem to transcend time altogether. |
| There’s more. There’s always more! As long as we trust our eyes and know where to look. | There’s more. There’s always more! As long as we trust our eyes and know where to look. |
| Conceived as a government-sponsored informational video, this documentary is nothing less than a found epic, a real-life environmental allegory and, not least, a stinging comedy about the age-old problem of inconsiderate neighbors. | Conceived as a government-sponsored informational video, this documentary is nothing less than a found epic, a real-life environmental allegory and, not least, a stinging comedy about the age-old problem of inconsiderate neighbors. |
| Honor Swinton Byrne plays a diffident version of the director’s younger self in an elusive autobiographical film that also functions as a kind of superhero origin story. | Honor Swinton Byrne plays a diffident version of the director’s younger self in an elusive autobiographical film that also functions as a kind of superhero origin story. |
| I can’t think of a film that made me sadder about the state of the world and more jubilant about the state of movies. | I can’t think of a film that made me sadder about the state of the world and more jubilant about the state of movies. |
| What is cinema? If you have three and a half hours to spare — and you do — this is a pretty good answer. | What is cinema? If you have three and a half hours to spare — and you do — this is a pretty good answer. |
| The joys and miseries of a creative family in 21st-century New York and Los Angeles. | The joys and miseries of a creative family in 21st-century New York and Los Angeles. |
| The joys and miseries of a creative family in 19th-century Massachusetts. | The joys and miseries of a creative family in 19th-century Massachusetts. |
| British politics in 1819, full of passion and pageantry, bad faith and factionalism. It feels like a very short march from then to now. | British politics in 1819, full of passion and pageantry, bad faith and factionalism. It feels like a very short march from then to now. |
| This harrowing documentary, a thoughtful inside look at the events leading up to the election of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s populist president, is the scariest movie of the year. | This harrowing documentary, a thoughtful inside look at the events leading up to the election of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s populist president, is the scariest movie of the year. |
| Another answer to the “what is cinema?” question, with special attention to Brad Pitt’s jawline and Margot Robbie’s feet. | Another answer to the “what is cinema?” question, with special attention to Brad Pitt’s jawline and Margot Robbie’s feet. |
| See No. 3. A startlingly original debut feature about the specters that haunt Dakar, and everywhere else. | See No. 3. A startlingly original debut feature about the specters that haunt Dakar, and everywhere else. |
| And … “American Factory,” “Ash Is Purest White” “Birds of Passage,” “Booksmart,” “The Chambermaid,” “An Elephant Standing Still,” “Ford v Ferrari,” “I Do Not Care if We Go Down in History as Barbarians,” “Gloria Bell,” “Her Smell,” “High-Flying Bird,” “The Nightingale,” “Pain and Glory,” “Richard Jewell,” “Transit,” “Us.” | |
| Manohla Dargis | Manohla Dargis |
| Seen any good or great movies lately? If you are a film critic making a Top 10 list of the year’s best, your annual agony is never that there are not enough choices — just the opposite. About 800 new movies will have opened in New York by the end of the year, which is 11 percent fewer than were released a couple of years ago. The changes in how movies are now distributed are having a pronounced impact on theatrical exhibition, which may be a disaster or a welcome course correction in a glutted market. | Seen any good or great movies lately? If you are a film critic making a Top 10 list of the year’s best, your annual agony is never that there are not enough choices — just the opposite. About 800 new movies will have opened in New York by the end of the year, which is 11 percent fewer than were released a couple of years ago. The changes in how movies are now distributed are having a pronounced impact on theatrical exhibition, which may be a disaster or a welcome course correction in a glutted market. |
| The better movies generally open in theaters, just as they have long done. In the past, a lot of junky titles would have gone straight to video; these days a lot go straight to streaming, while many others quickly open and close in theaters before they too flow into streaming purgatory. Despite this online maw, movies still play in theaters because, well, people still like the big screen. Some play solely to qualify for awards or because filmmakers also like the big screen. Amazon and Netflix open movies in theaters because they see those same filmmakers and awards as a way to keep, and attract, subscribers. | The better movies generally open in theaters, just as they have long done. In the past, a lot of junky titles would have gone straight to video; these days a lot go straight to streaming, while many others quickly open and close in theaters before they too flow into streaming purgatory. Despite this online maw, movies still play in theaters because, well, people still like the big screen. Some play solely to qualify for awards or because filmmakers also like the big screen. Amazon and Netflix open movies in theaters because they see those same filmmakers and awards as a way to keep, and attract, subscribers. |
| Cinema has always been a moving target, from the cinematograph era to the streaming. That’s one reason the debate that raged over Martin Scorsese’s comments about Marvel movies not being cinema feels like a dead end. He is right that nothing is at risk in them, or rather very little. Even the best ones are absent real risk because they are not films in the old-fashioned sense: They are delivery systems for an integrated array of products and experiences (other movies, theme parks, toys). Their formula is a feature not a bug. The appeal of the familiar is one way powerful entertainment companies turn ardent viewers into brand loyalists, reaching fans with a cradle-to-grave consumer strategy. | Cinema has always been a moving target, from the cinematograph era to the streaming. That’s one reason the debate that raged over Martin Scorsese’s comments about Marvel movies not being cinema feels like a dead end. He is right that nothing is at risk in them, or rather very little. Even the best ones are absent real risk because they are not films in the old-fashioned sense: They are delivery systems for an integrated array of products and experiences (other movies, theme parks, toys). Their formula is a feature not a bug. The appeal of the familiar is one way powerful entertainment companies turn ardent viewers into brand loyalists, reaching fans with a cradle-to-grave consumer strategy. |
| History will remember this period for Disney’s monopolistic muscle; it will also remember Scorsese’s films. It seems unlikely, though, that history will remember many of the movies Disney now makes. This probably matters little to the media giant, which has had a busy, record-breaking year. In March, it finalized its purchase of 21st Century Fox, effectively destroying a Hollywood pillar. The origins of Fox can be traced back to around 1904, when William Fox bought a share of a Brooklyn nickelodeon. Disney picked up the empire that rose from that humble beginning for $71.3 billion and will absorb it for the express purpose of leveraging Fox assets to become a global streaming behemoth, just like Netflix. | History will remember this period for Disney’s monopolistic muscle; it will also remember Scorsese’s films. It seems unlikely, though, that history will remember many of the movies Disney now makes. This probably matters little to the media giant, which has had a busy, record-breaking year. In March, it finalized its purchase of 21st Century Fox, effectively destroying a Hollywood pillar. The origins of Fox can be traced back to around 1904, when William Fox bought a share of a Brooklyn nickelodeon. Disney picked up the empire that rose from that humble beginning for $71.3 billion and will absorb it for the express purpose of leveraging Fox assets to become a global streaming behemoth, just like Netflix. |
| The end of Fox feels like another rattle in the slow death of what many still call the studio system, which hasn’t resembled the factorylike days of the old MGM for a long time. You can mourn the end of the studios and revere their legacy — the art, craft and technique — but there’s no mourning their racism, sexism, cultivated stupidity and contempt for art. The old Hollywood studios perfected a way of making films and hired artists and artisans who succeeded within those confines or transcended them (or failed or fled). Like the young Scorsese and his friends, the Cahiers du Cinéma critics who became directors, championed those films. André Bazin honored “the genius of the system.” | The end of Fox feels like another rattle in the slow death of what many still call the studio system, which hasn’t resembled the factorylike days of the old MGM for a long time. You can mourn the end of the studios and revere their legacy — the art, craft and technique — but there’s no mourning their racism, sexism, cultivated stupidity and contempt for art. The old Hollywood studios perfected a way of making films and hired artists and artisans who succeeded within those confines or transcended them (or failed or fled). Like the young Scorsese and his friends, the Cahiers du Cinéma critics who became directors, championed those films. André Bazin honored “the genius of the system.” |
| I tend to think that Hollywood reached its zenith before 1960. Many of the greatest American films made in the decades since were produced in spite of terrible studio ideas, more by accident than design, or were made in the independent realm (at times with European or Asian money) or while the studios were having a fling with adventure. One such moment was in the 1970s; another occurred recently when Miramax shook up the indie world and the studios noticed. Their interest was fleeting but it’s worth recalling that Disney released Wes Anderson’s “Rushmore,” Paramount backed Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” and Warner Bros. put out Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunset.” | I tend to think that Hollywood reached its zenith before 1960. Many of the greatest American films made in the decades since were produced in spite of terrible studio ideas, more by accident than design, or were made in the independent realm (at times with European or Asian money) or while the studios were having a fling with adventure. One such moment was in the 1970s; another occurred recently when Miramax shook up the indie world and the studios noticed. Their interest was fleeting but it’s worth recalling that Disney released Wes Anderson’s “Rushmore,” Paramount backed Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” and Warner Bros. put out Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunset.” |
| It is also worth remembering that both Spike Lee and Kathryn Bigelow, two of the filmmakers Scorsese holds up as exemplars of cinema, have nurtured careers beyond Hollywood and sometimes despite it. After Lee made his breakout film, “She’s Gotta Have It,” he worked with the major studios but he also battled them to protect his vision and integrity. Bigelow has never directed movies that were financed by a major studio, though some have released her features. Scorsese’s recent movies have been made, as he recently pointed out, without studio help. “In the last 10 years,” he said, “my films have been independently financed under difficult circumstances.” | It is also worth remembering that both Spike Lee and Kathryn Bigelow, two of the filmmakers Scorsese holds up as exemplars of cinema, have nurtured careers beyond Hollywood and sometimes despite it. After Lee made his breakout film, “She’s Gotta Have It,” he worked with the major studios but he also battled them to protect his vision and integrity. Bigelow has never directed movies that were financed by a major studio, though some have released her features. Scorsese’s recent movies have been made, as he recently pointed out, without studio help. “In the last 10 years,” he said, “my films have been independently financed under difficult circumstances.” |
| That is a sobering description of American mainstream movies in the age of global media conglomerates. Yet, as our yearly lists of favorites attest, great work always happens. | That is a sobering description of American mainstream movies in the age of global media conglomerates. Yet, as our yearly lists of favorites attest, great work always happens. |
| In this wistful, deeply felt masterwork, a filmmaker faces his own mortality, awakens desire and transforms ragged life into art. | In this wistful, deeply felt masterwork, a filmmaker faces his own mortality, awakens desire and transforms ragged life into art. |
| One of the finest movies of Scorsese’s career, this haunting epic about a murderer for the mob is about tribal loyalty, male violence and a grim vision of homegrown fascism. | One of the finest movies of Scorsese’s career, this haunting epic about a murderer for the mob is about tribal loyalty, male violence and a grim vision of homegrown fascism. |
| A perfectly directed movie from one of the greatest filmmakers working today. If you want to know what cinema is, watch this — well, just watch everything on this list. | A perfectly directed movie from one of the greatest filmmakers working today. If you want to know what cinema is, watch this — well, just watch everything on this list. |
| At once faithful and blissfully liberated, this beautiful interpretation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel is the story of a woman finding her voice, directed by one who already has. | At once faithful and blissfully liberated, this beautiful interpretation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel is the story of a woman finding her voice, directed by one who already has. |
| Tarantino’s nostalgic panegyric to Los Angeles, the internal combustion engine and old-school masculine cool is a dream of a movie. I could spend hours watching Margot Robbie’s character watch herself in a film and Brad Pitt’s cruise the magically smog-free city in a buttery yellow 1966 Cadillac. | Tarantino’s nostalgic panegyric to Los Angeles, the internal combustion engine and old-school masculine cool is a dream of a movie. I could spend hours watching Margot Robbie’s character watch herself in a film and Brad Pitt’s cruise the magically smog-free city in a buttery yellow 1966 Cadillac. |
| In this corrosive, funny and sometimes shocking existential cry, a young ex-soldier flees Israel and tries to shed his country and his identity by turning himself into a Frenchman. | In this corrosive, funny and sometimes shocking existential cry, a young ex-soldier flees Israel and tries to shed his country and his identity by turning himself into a Frenchman. |
| A brilliant allegory that imagines a world in the grip of fascism and that — as throngs of desperate people seek asylum — becomes a frightening, all-too-real vision of our own world. | A brilliant allegory that imagines a world in the grip of fascism and that — as throngs of desperate people seek asylum — becomes a frightening, all-too-real vision of our own world. |
| This powerful documentary tracks what happens when a Chinese company takes over a shuttered Ohio General Motors factory. Everyone loses but the billionaire owner. | This powerful documentary tracks what happens when a Chinese company takes over a shuttered Ohio General Motors factory. Everyone loses but the billionaire owner. |
| Both site specific yet transcending borders, this devastating documentary is a damning look at how China’s propaganda controls both minds and bodies. | Both site specific yet transcending borders, this devastating documentary is a damning look at how China’s propaganda controls both minds and bodies. |
| A heartfelt, often supremely lovely movie about loss, memory, race and place that Talbot created with his longtime friend, Jimmie Fails, who also stars. | A heartfelt, often supremely lovely movie about loss, memory, race and place that Talbot created with his longtime friend, Jimmie Fails, who also stars. |
| And … “3 Faces”; “Ad Astra” (Brad Pitt!); “Apollo 11”; “Atlantics”; “Ash Is Purest White”; “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” (sniff, sniff); “The Brink”; “The Cave” “Charlie Says” (Mary Harron directed this year’s other must-see movie tied to the Manson murders); “Clemency” (Alfre Woodard!); “The Disappearance of My Mother”; “Dolemite Is My Name” (for the cast, especially Wesley Snipes); “Ford v Ferrari” (Matt Damon’s Tommy Lee Jones voice deserves its own credit); “Give Me Liberty” (my No. 11); “Gloria Bell” (hail Julianne Moore!); “Hail Satan?” (a great double bill with “The Brink”); “Invisible Life”; “Honeyland”; “Knock Down the House”; “Late Night”; “Leto”; “Marriage Story”; “Midnight Family”; “Pasolini”; “Peterloo”; “Richard Jewell” (minus the risible Olivia Wilde journalist); “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese” (No. 12); “The Souvenir”; “Uncut Gems”; “Us”; “Varda by Agnès” (adieu); “Waves.” (No. 13). | And … “3 Faces”; “Ad Astra” (Brad Pitt!); “Apollo 11”; “Atlantics”; “Ash Is Purest White”; “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” (sniff, sniff); “The Brink”; “The Cave” “Charlie Says” (Mary Harron directed this year’s other must-see movie tied to the Manson murders); “Clemency” (Alfre Woodard!); “The Disappearance of My Mother”; “Dolemite Is My Name” (for the cast, especially Wesley Snipes); “Ford v Ferrari” (Matt Damon’s Tommy Lee Jones voice deserves its own credit); “Give Me Liberty” (my No. 11); “Gloria Bell” (hail Julianne Moore!); “Hail Satan?” (a great double bill with “The Brink”); “Invisible Life”; “Honeyland”; “Knock Down the House”; “Late Night”; “Leto”; “Marriage Story”; “Midnight Family”; “Pasolini”; “Peterloo”; “Richard Jewell” (minus the risible Olivia Wilde journalist); “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese” (No. 12); “The Souvenir”; “Uncut Gems”; “Us”; “Varda by Agnès” (adieu); “Waves.” (No. 13). |