In a tremendous year for filmmaking, across all genres and disciplines, this list could easily go 20-30 deep, in terms of finding powerful, memorable films we will talk about for years to come.

Without further adieu, here are the 10 best films I watched, among the 200 or so new releases I experienced over the course of the year.

Enjoy! And queue them up!

THE TOP 10 FILMS OF 2019

10. US
Director: Jordan Peele
Release Date: March 22, 2019

The Signature Moment:
Jason tells his parents - “There’s a family in our driveway…”

Jordan Peele’s second feature, Us, tells the story of a family of four, whose vacation plans in Santa Cruz, California, are interrupted by another family, dressed in red, who break in and attack them. One catch: The family in red look just like them… — Jordan Peele’s second feature, Us, tells the story of a family of four, whose vacation plans in Santa Cruz, California, are interrupted by another family, dressed in red, who break in and attack them. One catch: The family in red look just like them.
Jordan Peele’s doppelgänger horror film digs deeper and far beyond what we see, painting a far-ranging and symbolic look at American culture and how we treat one another and compartmentalize and suppress truths we see and take for granted each and every day.
Starring Lupita Nyong’o in a dual performance that has earned her nearly 30 prizes for acting from critics groups and organizations all over the world.

Jordan Peele **told NPR in March**: “I tried to apply this idea of duality to everything in the film. And you know, I think the piece of the puzzle that pushed me to embark on this is this idea of the doppelganger family. That's when the movie sort of went from being about self-introspection to this idea of a societal or collective introspection.”

9. BOOKSMART
Director: Olivia Wilde
Release Date: May 24, 2019

The Signature Moment:
The argument.

In a world defined by box office dollars, Olivia Wilde’s breakneck comedy and directorial debut, Booksmart, might be considered a disappointment. In reality, this is a movie people will likely be influenced by for years to come.Framed in convention,… — In a world defined by box office dollars, Olivia Wilde’s breakneck comedy and directorial debut, *Booksmart*, might be considered a disappointment. In reality, this is a movie people will likely be influenced by for years to come.
Framed in convention, Wilde’s film crams an entire year or more into one night as 4.0 students and Ivy League-bound high school students Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) learn that all the kids who they see as screw-ups and wasting their opportunities, have achieved just as much, if not more, than they have. As they attempt to take four years of debauchery, partying, and everything else, and cram them into one solitary night, they learn more about themselves and their peers than they ever could have imagined.
**Wilde told *The Guardian* in May**: “…The greatest generational anthems in my film-watching experience, specifically *The Breakfast Club* and *Ferris Bueller’s Day Off*, were a real celebration of the exciting independence of youth. There’s something punk rock about it: “We’re in charge, our voices matter and we know more than the grown-ups.” And that represents this young generation to me now. They’re like: “You’ve put us in a f***ed-up political situation, the Earth is dying, there are maniacs in power, you’ve created this binary way of thinking about gender and sexuality, which we don’t accept. We’d actually like to shift this paradigm – you’re done!”

8. TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID
Director: Issa López
Release Date: August 21, 2019

The Signature Moment:
Estrella is handed three pieces of chalk from her teacher and, in turn, receives three wishes.

Issa López’s Tigers are Not Afraid starting playing film festivals in the summer of 2017. After receiving praise from dignitaries like Stephen King and Guillermo del Toro, as well as a loyal and dedicated following, the film finally earned a limited… — Issa López’s *Tigers are Not Afraid* starting playing film festivals in the summer of 2017. After receiving praise from dignitaries like Stephen King and Guillermo del Toro, as well as a loyal and dedicated following, the film finally earned a limited theatrical release in August 2019.
Set against the backdrop of vicious cartels and drug wars which have crippled families and communities all over Mexico, *Tigers are Not Afraid* details a young girl, Estrella, who finds her mother go missing. Suddenly alone, she connects with a group of homeless, orphaned boys, and a kinship is made among the youth. A stolen cell phone, strange visions, and horrors, both real and imagined, crash together as the kids try to survive and Estrella desperately hopes to find her mother safe and sound.
**López** **told Film Comment in August 2018**: “…the other thing that happens to you when you go through tragedy when you’re really young is that the realization that the world is not a nice place necessarily hits you very early. And when that happens, you start looking for and questioning what you see around you, and wondering if this is it. If this is all. That what we can see is all of it, or if there’s more. And if there’s stuff that is not as evident, and only manifests in certain circumstances. And then you start falling in love with ghost stories, because they point to the fact that death is not an end. And you start reading science fiction, because maybe the world is wider. Maybe there’s more in the future. And you start reading fantasy, because what about magic? Maybe if you wish really really hard, you know? So you start falling in love with genre. And that’s what happened to me.”

7. KNIVES OUT
Director: Rian Johnson
Release Date: November 27, 2019

The Signature Moment:
A mysterious man in the back of the room plinks a lone piano key.

Rian Johnson’s devilish, precocious murder-mystery throwback to the Agatha Christie days of yore, Knives Out, is one of the most entertaining and enjoyable films of the year.Private investigator Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is hired by an unknown ben… — **Rian Johnson’s devilish, precocious murder-mystery throwback to the Agatha Christie days of yore, *Knives Out,* is one of the most entertaining and enjoyable films of the year.**
Private investigator Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is hired by an unknown benefactor to lend a hand to the investigation on the apparent suicide of wealthy novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer). A vast array of wealthy, entitled family members (a tremendous all-star cast assembled by Johnson makes each scene so…much…fun) are screened by Blanc and two private investigators, as one last series of interviews and questions attempts to get to the bottom of what exactly happened in the moments leading up to Harlan’s death.
**With nearly $140 million grossed domestically, a sequel/spin-off is in the works with Craig set to return as Blanc once again.**
**Johnson** **told Slash Film in December**: “Every genre that I’ve ever done is one that I deeply, deeply love, and for me, it’s about boiling it down to the essence of what I love about it and get that up on the screen. You have to readjust your brain a bit, and say ‘What is this?’ and lean in. The entire purpose is not just to give a twist, but your senses are awoken and you get the real punch of the genre.
With the whodunit genre, that’s very much what I was trying to get at. It’s something I deeply love, and I was trying to get all the pleasures out of it into a form that feels like it could still surprise you. Hitchcock always said about whodunits is probably true, which is that the potential weakness of them is the middle section of the movie, where you’re just gathering information, and at a certain point you think ‘I’m never going to guess this; I’m just going to hang out until the detective explains it to me.’ It’s more about surprise than suspense, and Hitchcock cared about suspense. So the initial idea [with *Knives Out*] was to take the engine of a Hitchcock movie and put it in the middle of a whodunit and still get all the pleasures o(f) a whodunit. Basically, hide the whodunit behind a Hitchcock thriller.”

6. THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
Director: Joe Talbot
Release Date: June 7, 2019

The Signature Moment:
Jimmie tells two residents of San Francisco, riding together on a bus, complaining about the city he grew up in - “You don’t get to hate it unless you love it.”

One of the most impressive debuts and films of 2019, Joe Talbot’s moving and powerful drama, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, looks at the power of community and how it shapes us, defines us, and can harm us when gentrification and short-sighted… — One of the most impressive debuts and films of 2019, Joe Talbot’s moving and powerful drama, *The Last Black Man in San Francisco*, looks at the power of community and how it shapes us, defines us, and can harm us when gentrification and short-sighted political decision-making strips culture and legacy away from those who have devoted their lives to making their community better for those who live and work there.
Co-written by lead actor Jimmie Fails, the childhood friendship of Fails and Talbot, and Fails’ own personal experiences, makes this a deeply personal story, which sees a strong performance by Fails and co-star Jonathan Majors (as Montgomery). In the film, Fails tries to reclaim his grandfather’s Victorian-style home, and preserve his family’s legacy. Along the way, Jimmie and Montgomery struggle to see their past existing in a place they have always called home, and wrestle with the notion of self, with surreal, eccentric, and deeply affecting characters and moments lining up like memories made in the past and present.
**Talbot** **told RogerEbert.com in June**: “The first draft was angrier because I think we were still working through it, through our emotions. I think with each draft it got more complex, and I think more layered, and it became more and more focused on being in some ways to the San Francisco that we care about. I think in that way, that’s something that, Jimmie is fighting for this home. If you don’t feel his love, and see what’s worth loving in this city, everything from the small interactions with the naked man in the bus stop who we actually probably have some connection to, to the very details of the house that make it so special, it was important to capture those that I think you really see why his fight is worth fighting. I think otherwise, it’s intellectual. And you’re being told, ‘I get that this is important.’ Versus the visceral feeling of, ‘I love this city, too. I don’t want him to lose this city.’ We tried to do it through love, because I think that’s a more universal emotion that we’ve felt for a place.”

5. FOR SAMA
Director: Waad Al-Khateab, Edward Watts
Release Date: July 26, 2019

The Signature Moment:
Giving birth by C-section, as bombs reign down all around them.

In a year of dozens of tremendous and unforgettable documentaries, one remains incredibly haunting, and impossible to forget. For Sama documents the Syrian civil war in a new and astonishing way - through the eyes of a newborn mother. Director Waad … — In a year of dozens of tremendous and unforgettable documentaries, one remains incredibly haunting, and impossible to forget. *For Sama* documents the Syrian civil war in a new and astonishing way - through the eyes of a newborn mother. Director Waad Al-Khateab initially wanted to document what was happening in Aleppo, similarly to work she had done for Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. Initial footage is amateurish and scattered. As she continues to document her experiences, and that of her young family, she not only becomes a better videographer, but her footage takes on new meaning as she, herself, becomes a mother and the horrors of everyday life take on a deeper, unnervingly personal depth and feel.
This is an incredibly difficult film to watch at times, but for the long list of documentaries which have shown us the Syrian experience in recent years, *For Sama*, is the only one that carries a constant beacon of hope through the little girl, whose name appears in the name of the film. As horrors are filmed (and Al-Khateab and co-director Edward Watts have acknowledged shooting hours of film they simply refused to include), Al-Khateab also sees the larger context for why her camera becomes so important. A woman, faced with a horrible reality, turning to the camera and having the presence of mind to yell “Film this!” is one of the decade’s most heart-wrenching and jaw-dropping moments captured on film.
**Al-Khateab** **spoke with The Guardian in August**: “Whenever I watch the film, it is when everyone else is laughing that I cry. We were creating hope and it was destroyed by the violence of the regime and by the Russians. At the last screening, sitting next to Ed, I started crying as I watched the early days of the revolution. And he was asking me: ‘What’s the matter?’ And I said: ‘It’s the hope.’
It’s been amazing – audiences have given me hope, shown me they really care. I’ve been to Nantucket, Washington, Toronto, and even film distributors, who normally sample a film for 10 minutes and then leave, have stayed and been very moved. I can’t describe how proud and happy it made me.”

4. 1917
Director: Sam Mendes
Release Date: December 25, 2019

The Signature Moment:
A plane crashes into a hillside.

Sam Mendes’ incredible achievement, 1917, is designed to resemble one-take and compresses several hours into just under two of them - a film that replicates the “fog of war” and doubles down on the mission given to two young British soldiers during … — Sam Mendes’ incredible achievement, *1917,* is designed to resemble one-take and compresses several hours into just under two of them - a film that replicates the “fog of war” and doubles down on the mission given to two young British soldiers during World War I.
Soldiers Schofield (George MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) are tasked with delivering an urgent message, across enemy lines, that will potentially save 1,600 of their fellow soldiers from an unforeseen ambush. Though not based on a true story, the film is inspired by stories shared by Mendes’ grandfather - who served in the war and later shared his experiences with his family as he grew older.
Shot by the inimitable Roger Deakins, *1917* looks and feels different than pretty much any other film released in 2019. Seamlessly constructed, with intense surprises that catch viewers as off guard as it does it characters, we will be talking about this film for a long time to come.
**Mendes spoke to NPR in December**: “This is a war that finished, that ended over 100 years ago, and we are still so aware of it, and that the generation of men that went missing. If you go to the Somme, you go to these places which are very, very moving — these beautifully kept memorials to the fallen — the number of unmarked graves is what strikes you, just white crosses everywhere. And it struck me as very appropriate, therefore, that the two men we should follow are unknown, in a sense. You know, it's the first time that I've been on a set and found myself moved by the event that we were depicting rather than anything in the movie. I mean, honestly, a movie set's the least-moving place in the world. You know, it's just full of technicians and equipment. But I found myself lost on several occasions.”

3. LITTLE WOMEN
Director: Greta Gerwig
Release Date: December 25, 2019

The Signature Moment:
Jo takes a deep breath before walking into a publisher’s office.

Leave it to Greta Gerwig to take your hesitations and questions about why we need “another” Little Women, and quell them within mere moments of her film’s opening. Gerwig’s take on the Louisa May Alcott novel, which explores the March family - four … — Leave it to Greta Gerwig to take your hesitations and questions about why we need “another” *Little Women*, and quell them within mere moments of her film’s opening. Gerwig’s take on the Louisa May Alcott novel, which explores the March family - four sisters dealing with growing up and life choices - in Civil War-era Massachusetts.
Shifting the story into a non-linear presentation, may throw some purists off-center, but Gerwig recognized Alcott’s story has frequent doubling throughout her novel. By revisiting events of the past, with moments in the present, Gerwig found a unique way to bring the sisters’ stories together and share them in a unique and clever way. A stellar cast, led by Saoirse Ronan, and featuring Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Laura Dern, and Timothée Chalamet, among others, bring her words to life and Gerwig finds commonality between Alcott’s themes and ideas and struggles which are still felt by women to this very day.
**It’s audacious work and yet, somehow feels effortlessly constructed.**
**Gerwig** **spoke with Film Comment in the fall**: “The distance between life and fiction is moving to me in general. This particular project was so satisfying to me in all the research and all the figuring out of how to make it, finding these puzzle pieces that fit—even the little things that no one will notice. When I was figuring out how I was going to weave this story this way, I suddenly noticed that when Meg goes to Vanity Fair, they call her Daisy, and later, she calls her daughter that, because it’s the last time she felt free. Doesn’t that just kill you? I felt that kind of satisfaction of things that jump out at you, that I would feel sometimes when I wrote papers. But luckily, unlike with papers, [with movies] I don’t have to fully answer everything. I can just enjoy the view of a neat thought.”

2. THE FAREWELL
Director: Lulu Wang
Release Date: July 12, 2019

The Signature Moment:
Billi decides to fly to Changchun to see Nai Nai against her parents’ wishes.

Lulu Wang’s The Farewell is a movie “based on an actual lie.” And though we are met with this title card at the beginning of the film, we still ride an emotional rollercoaster in this extraordinary story of a family honoring tradition over their bet… — Lulu Wang’s *The Farewell* is a movie “based on an actual lie.” And though we are met with this title card at the beginning of the film, we still ride an emotional rollercoaster in this extraordinary story of a family honoring tradition over their better judgment when faced with the news that their matriarch, Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen) has a terminal disease and only has a few months left to live. The family stages a wedding as a reason to get the family together to see Nai Nai one last time.
Starring Awkwafina as Billi, the comedienne breaks out and deliver a dramatic performance that shows depth few, if any, had ever seen from her before. More than that, the film speaks to loss, remembrances, and cherishing your culture, heritage, and family. While the challenges facing the Wang family make them go to extreme lengths to keep the truth from Nai Nai, one cannot deny that having the opportunity to tell those closest to you how much you love and value them, no matter the context, is a desire we all would like to have one more time.
Mislabeled a comedy, *The Farewell* does have some terrific humor, balanced with emotional drama, and insightful commentary. I was consumed with the movie for days after I watched it. A viewing late in the year only confirmed that Lulu Wang’s film is one of the most underrated and underseen films of 2019.
**Wang spoke to NPR in February**: “What I really wanted to do was tell the story of somebody who was a disappointment to herself and felt like a failure, and having to go home and face her dying grandmother with those thoughts — that's what I wanted to explore. I liked the idea of going against the convention by making the bride and groom the backdrop. You know, that is part of the whole conceit. They are supposed to be the main event, but they are somehow someone they are always in the backdrop.”

1. PARASITE
Director: Boon Jong-ho
Release Date: October 11, 2019

The Signature Moment:
Min returns from university and gives the destitute Kim family a scholar’s rock and offers best friend Ki-woo a tutoring opportunity with the wealthy Park family.