Last week, I shared my thoughts on the state of the movie industry and the first half of my top ten list. In case you missed it, you can read it here. It was certainly a great year for movies – I had a hard time narrowing my list down just ten films. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on other great movies I saw this year in next week’s Oscar preview, but before that, here are my favorite films from 2019.
#5 – Marriage Story
Writer / director Noah Baumbach’s divorce opus will not just tug at your heartstrings – it will rip your heart in half and leave you emotionally spent. No special effects or action sequences to see here – this is a character study where the acting and screenplay are what make this film special. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson give amazing performances as a couple facing the collapse of their marriage as it descends into the ugliness of the divorce industrial complex.
Driver plays Charlie, an accomplished theater director in New York and Johansson plays Nicole, an actress at his theater who is lured to move back to Los Angeles after receiving an offer for a television series. Following their discussions about getting a divorce, she sets out to move with their young son and begin their new life, while Charlie is convinced they will move back to New York, their family home in his mind. Nicole realizes that her identity has been changed from who she thought she was before her marriage and who she thought she’d be as a wife, a mother, and a woman. Charlie, in denial of the seriousness of the situation with his marriage, slowly begins to realize that his life and his reality are slipping away.
As they lose control of their divorce to their attorneys (brilliantly played by Laura Dern, Ray Liotta and Alan Alda), they come to grips with what all married couples face at some point – that marriage changes who you are as an individual. Experiencing the totality of life (children, career successes and failures, economic challenges, health problems, death, grief) over a long period of time with one person affects your identity. You compromise, you make sacrifices, you do whatever you have to for your family, and those experiences shape your growth as an individual and as a couple. And sometimes, when you and your partner pull on the rope too hard in opposite directions, it breaks and so does the marriage. Driver, Johansson and Dern all received Oscar nominations, as did Baumbach for Best Picture and Best Screenplay. A masterful film that will make you appreciate the strength to make a relationship last a long time.
#4 – Uncut Gems
It’s been written many times in the last decade that The Sopranos ushered in the era of the anti-hero. By the end of that series, you found yourself rooting for Tony Soprano, despite his many flaws, criminal misdeeds, and loathsome treatment of his family. We did the same with Don Draper and Walter White and others that followed. Continuing the trend is Howard Ratner in Uncut Gems, a film that represents the best of what an original story from creative filmmakers (directors Josh and Bennie Safdie) can deliver. Adam Sandler plays Ratner, a jeweler in New York City with a staggering gambling addiction who lives his chaotic life minute to minute. Sandler has taken these serious roles from time to time throughout his career, so this isn’t necessarily a rarity, but it is a dramatic difference from the comedies he has been making the last two decades.
To describe this movie as fast-paced doesn’t do it justice. Sandler is excellent portraying the degenerate Ratner as he navigates managing his business, dodging the men he owes money to, clinging to his marriage to a wife who is done with him, maintaining a relationship with a mistress who works in his store, all while looking for the next big score. The story hinges on a relationship he develops with NBA star Kevin Garnett (playing himself) during the 2012 playoff series between the Celtics and 76ers. Garnett becomes obsessed with a rare opal that Ratner has obtained to be auctioned, because he believes it helps him play better. Ratner leverages this information by loading up on large bets on Garnett to dig himself out of his gambling hole. Unfortunately, he is always a little late or a little short on every promise he’s made and he continues to fall deeper into debt.
From the opening scenes in his store to the closing credits, you feel the stress watching Ratner jump from one crisis to another, wondering if he will somehow pull his life together by the end. Garnett delivers a strong performance, as does Lakeith Stanfield as Howard’s assistant, Idina Menzel as his wife, and Julia Fox as his mistress. A high-wire act from start to finish and an outstanding film.
#3 – 1917
Just when you think you’ve seen all that a filmmaker could bring to the screen, along comes director Sam Mendes’s World War I epic 1917. This is a thrilling and intense movie that is best experienced on the big screen – I saw it in IMAX and it was amazing. This was a late addition to the award season party, with a Christmas release in only a few cities before going wide on January 10th, a few days after winning the Golden Globe for Best Drama.
The prerelease buzz for 1917 was very strong, considering the reputation of Mendes, but more so for his decision to film the movie as if it were one continuous shot. The concept of a one-shot scene or a movie filmed to look like a continuous shot has been done before. Some of the more famous scenes include Scorsese’s Copacabana tracking shot in Goodfellas (that has been frequently copied), Kubrick’s tricycle scene in The Shining, the fantastic car attack scene in Children of Men, and (one of my favorites, albeit from television) the police shootout scene from True Detective Season 1.
One of the first directors to tackle this concept for an entire film was Alfred Hitchcock for his 1948 suspense film Rope. While this was impressive for the time, the story was set in an apartment with only a few characters, so the degree of difficulty was pretty low. More recently, 2014’s Best Picture winner Birdman was filmed as if it were primarily one continuous shot and was an impressive achievement, but again it’s primarily a character story, albeit with a lot more locations than Hitchcock faced. 1917 is a war movie – you know, with battles and planes, (large numbers of) soldiers, gunfights, and unbelievable landscapes. The cinematographer on the film, Roger Deakins is a frequent collaborator of Mendes and the Coen Brothers and has an insane resume, including Skyfall, No Country for Old Men, The Man Who Wasn’t There, The Big Lebowski, Fargo and The Shawshank Redemption to name just a few.
In addition to the brilliant filmmaking from Mendes and Deakins, 1917 features terrific performances from the two lead actors, George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman. They play British soldiers sent on a mission to travel several miles across enemy territory to warn a division of 1,600 men that the attack they are about to begin is a trap by the German army. The two soldiers traverse the French countryside encountering the worst of war’s horrors, desperate to complete their mission, knowing the risks at stake. The one-shot technique could have come across as a gimmick, but when packaged together with the story, performances, the cinematography, score, and special effects, it’s a triumphant film.
#2 – Parasite
Writer / director Bong Joon-ho’s dark comedy/thriller is a completely original story that will leave you thinking about what you just saw when it is over and is instantly rewatchable. Winner of the Palm d’Or (Best Picture equivalent) at the Cannes Film Festival and one of the few “must-see” movies of 2019, it received six Oscar nominations and is the favorite for Best International Feature Film.
Parasite tells the story of two families in South Korea who represent two ends of the economic spectrum. The Kims live in a basement apartment, struggling to make ends meet and looking for any angle that will help their family’s day to day lives. Their son Ki-Woo poses as a college student to take over his friend’s tutoring job for the daughter of the wealthy Park family. As Ki-Woo builds trust with the family, his sister and parents all eventually secure jobs with the Park family, but posing as four strangers, not a family of four. I won’t spoil the plot any further, but the film takes a few unexpected turns that you will not see coming and your perspective of hero and villain will change as the story unfolds.
I rarely watch foreign language movies with subtitles, but I’m glad I took the chance on Parasite, following all of the positive reviews that I saw. Bong put it perfectly in his Golden Globe speech after winning Best Foreign Language Film: “Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” Parasite brings together a perfect combination of story, performances, music, and beautiful cinematography that offers a commentary on family, social class and the true definition of “wealth.” An instant classic.
#1 – Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood
I’ll start by saying that even though I absolutely loved this movie, it may not be for everyone – in fact, it might not even be for every Quentin Tarantino fan. It’s long (2 hours, 40 minutes), it has numerous plot threads that don’t neatly fit together, and has a controversial ending that takes a revisionist view to a horrific event that many people think of as the symbolic end to the peace and love era of the 1960s.
Initially described as “Tarantino’s take on the Manson murders,” it’s actually his ode to the Hollywood of his youth. Set in the summer of 1969 in the Hollywood Hills, Rick Dalton (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) is struggling to face the reality that his better days of a leading actor are behind him, relying on his best friend and stunt double Cliff Booth (played by Brad Pitt) for moral support. Rick lives next door to director Roman Polanski and his actress girlfriend Sharon Tate (played by Margot Robbie). Members of the Manson “family” play supporting roles, primarily in their interactions with Cliff around Hollywood and at the Spahn Movie Ranch, an old Hollywood filming location for western television shows. And yes, the evening of August 9 (when Tate and others were murdered by member of the Manson family) is covered, in a way that only Tarantino could create.
To me, what makes this film special are the performances by DiCaprio (arguably our best living actor), Pitt and Robbie, as well as the combination of music and production design, staples in every great Tarantino project. Much like Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino has a way of integrating songs of an era that fit with the screenplay and look and feel of the movie. And some of these are relatively unknown songs by major artists. The production design is incredible and something I focused on a lot more during my second viewing. This film just oozes late 1960s Hollywood. The houses, the clothes, the theaters and restaurants, the cars and streets are all brought together in a way that makes you feel like you are living among the characters. I’d put this up there with any of Tarantino’s films, although it’s probably not #1 for me – I still like Inglourious Basterds the best.
As I described in my post about Ford v Ferrari, sometimes it’s nice to watch movie stars bringing their “A game” to a film and when you combine DiCaprio, Pitt and Robbie (plus a number of major actors in supporting roles) together with Tarantino, you get a high-quality movie. DiCaprio plays a very wide range throughout the film, as we see him struggle to capitalize on his glory days on the TV show Bounty Law, but having to accept guest roles on TV shows and weighing offers for spaghetti westerns in Italy. His scenes while guesting on the TV show Lancer, playing alongside Timothy Olyphant, Julia Butters (in a fantastic performance) and Luke Perry (in his final role) are some of the best work DiCaprio has ever done. Pitt won a Golden Globe and is nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor Oscar, and it’s well deserved. He brings a comic counterbalance to DiCaprio’s seriousness, and he owns the scenes with the Manson family like the star that he is. While Robbie does not play a large role, she is very good as Tate, who at the time was an actress on the rise. The scene where she goes to watch her own movie is something you don’t often get to see portrayed – an actor watching their own work. Here, Tarantino made an interesting choice – instead of using CGI to put Robbie into the movie she is watching, he left Tate’s performance untouched. So, while you may ask why the actress on film doesn’t look like Robbie, I think it’s a nice tribute to Tate.
Winner of three Golden Globes and nominated for ten Academy Awards, I can definitely see myself revisiting this movie over the years, if only to hear Neil Diamond’s Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show, see Leo’s meltdown in the studio lot trailer, or just to hear Brad say to Leo, “You’re Rick Fucking Dalton – don’t you forget it.”
That’s it for this week. I’ll be back next week for an Oscar preview and then some thoughts on some great documentaries that I liked this year. Thanks again for reading.
Loved your take on these films, if only i could find time to see all of your top ten!