The Ten Best Films of 2019—Fergus Campbell
Leave the grand summations of the cinematic periods now behind us to the professionals. (Keeping up with the flood of criticism that judges both the year and the 2010s has been especially hard.) See “My First Real Almost-Decade of Filmgoing,” also published today, for a different reflective take. Here are my favorites since January.
1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Astonishing for its intensity, control, and the hope it maps onto a relationship occupied by equals.
2. The Irishman
Two-thirds an energetic, well-acted tribute to its gangster forebears, one-third an indictment of the reckoning caused by violence, and the adjacent impossibility of forgiveness.
3. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
At first I mistook the world-building for indulgence, but recently chewed on the same scenes. The second act fundamentally changed my assessment of Brad Pitt, expertly merges Tarantino’s pop cultural and temporal and geographic tastes, and revises history with topical flair and glittering fairytale ecstasy.
4. Uncut Gems
A rippling vision of a man who owes and hopes too much, realized via his many plots and hustles, and the thrills of Adam Sandler’s acting, which are hard to overstate.
5. Little Women
Re-assemblage that becomes essential redefinition, of the feelings worth wringing and lessons worth learning from a much-adapted tale, lent color and energy by the cast, but held together in Greta Gerwig’s incisive grasp.
6. Marriage Story
An expected realism, a disappointing comicality of supporting characters, and a central conflict that comprises two of the defining performances of the decade.
7. Parasite
That twist is no doubt what I’ll continue to dwell on, but every component of this construction signifies the singular vision of the creative force behind it, and the suitability of cinema to communicate what he has to say.
8. A Hidden Life
Easy to get lost in, to cry over, to want to savor and simultaneously reject. In spite of the subject matter’s darkness, you leave the theater entirely elevated.
9. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
The film convinced me that we’d always needed it, though I’d been deeply skeptical in advance. How many New York love letters will it take for Hollywood to label Marielle Heller an auteur?
10. Booksmart
The criminally unsuccessful—and criminally funny—estrogen-fueled answer to Superbad, almost categorically superior in its ambition and urgency. Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein, consider yourselves stars.
Honorable mentions: Ford v. Ferrari, Pain and Glory, 1917, The Art of Self-Defense.
Fergus Campbell is a Culture writer and sophomore in Columbia College.
