Films of the year, 2019:
- Once upon a Time in Hollywood
- Us
- Burning
- Doctor Sleep
- Midsommar
- In Fabric
- Joker
- Marriage Story
- Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
- The Favourite.
Honourable mention:
- The Dead Don’t Die
- El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
- Toy Story 4
- Avengers: Endgame.
David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive and Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard both explore the darker sides of the Hollywood film industry. However, Quentin Tarantino’s Once upon a Time in Hollywood is, in many ways, a heartfelt homage to his childhood in 1960s Los Angeles – and the prevailing sense of innocence before Charles Manson dominated the headlines. Being a Tarantino film, it’s not short of dark humour or violent scenes, but for the most part it is a restrained portrait of a specific period in time – and one that adopts a refreshingly respectful attitude to its historical characters.
There is nothing retrained about Jordan Peele’s Us, in which a family is terrorised by their twisted doppelgängers, but the film is a thrilling exploration of duality and oppression (which also manages some surprising belly laughs along the way). However, there is little relief to be found in Ari Aster’s Midsommar, in which a young group of friends take part in an ancient Swedish festival of an increasingly sinister nature. The film chooses an original setting in which to explore a disintegrating relationship. And the damage that divorce can do to a family is explored in the surprising Marriage Story.
South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong adopted Haruki Murakami’s short story ‘Barn Burning’ into 2018’s Burning, which was released in the UK this year. Despite relocating the Japanese story to Korea and making the characters younger, the film establishes a very Murakami-esque sense of mystery, and maintains a subtly disquieting tone throughout.
It’s unlikely that Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep will be discussed and analysed for as long (and in the same depth) as Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, but the film addresses the conflicts between Kubrick’s film and both of Stephen King’s novels in an inventive manner. The members of the cast all turn in fine performances, and the cinematography effectively evokes the original film’s atmosphere while managing to achieve something unique.
While Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman was a profound disappointment, Todd Phillips revisited the themes of King of Comedy and Taxi Driver for a very different kind of comic book movie in this year’s Joker. It’s not without its flaws, but Joaquin Phoenix gives a fantastic central performance – and the film offers a refreshing contrast to the market dominance of Marvel.
Meanwhile, Peter Strickland delivered another effective giallo homage in the form of In Fabric – a darkly comic satire on mass consumerism about a haunted dress from a mysterious department store.
South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong adopted Haruki Murakami’s short story ‘Barn Burning’ into 2018’s Burning, which was released in the UK this year. Despite relocating the Japanese story to Korea and making the characters younger, the film establishes a very Murakami-esque sense of mystery, and maintains a subtly disquieting tone throughout.
It’s unlikely that Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep will be discussed and analysed for as long (and in the same depth) as Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, but the film addresses the conflicts between Kubrick’s film and both of Stephen King’s novels in an inventive manner. The members of the cast all turn in fine performances, and the cinematography effectively evokes the original film’s atmosphere while managing to achieve something unique.
While Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman was a profound disappointment, Todd Phillips revisited the themes of King of Comedy and Taxi Driver for a very different kind of comic book movie in this year’s Joker. It’s not without its flaws, but Joaquin Phoenix gives a fantastic central performance – and the film offers a refreshing contrast to the market dominance of Marvel.
Meanwhile, Peter Strickland delivered another effective giallo homage in the form of In Fabric – a darkly comic satire on mass consumerism about a haunted dress from a mysterious department store.
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