my favorite movies of 2019:

(1) Parasite

(2) Rocketman

(3) Portrait of a Lady on Fire

(4) Knock Down the House

favorite of 2019:

Parasite

[Korean: Gisaengchung]    기생충  

(Song Kang-ho, Lee Jung-eun, Choi Woo-shik, Cho Yeo-jeong, Lee Sun-kyun, Park So-dam, Jang Hye-jin, Park Myung-hoon. Directed by Bong Joon-ho.)

This dark-comedy thriller is the only movie in any language other than English that’s ever won the Oscar for Best Picture in over 90 years. That’s at once a great honor and a great absurdity. As director Bong Joon-ho said while accepting the Oscar for Best Director: “Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you’ll be introduced to so many more amazing films.”

You know what kind of plan never fails? No plan … because life cannot be planned.

Stream it on Max, Hulu, or Kanopy. I also recommend the Criterion blu-ray (or DVD), which has a lot of bonus features including a black and white version of the movie — I enjoyed it more than color. All Criterion discs are 50% off in the Barnes & Noble sale every July and November. (Amazon might lower some of its prices in response.)

2nd favorite of 2019:

Rocketman

(Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard. Directed by Dexter Fletcher.)

Elton John’s story comes to life in dizzying fantasy and sobering reality.

You gotta kill the person you were born to be in order to become the person you wanna be.

(How to stream Rocketman.)

3rd favorite of 2019:

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

[French: Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu] 

(Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami. Directed by Céline Sciamma.)

In solitude, I felt the liberty you spoke of. But I also felt your absence.

Stream it on Hulu or Kanopy.

4th favorite of 2019:

Knock Down the House

(Documentary. Directed by Rachel Lears.)

This is on Netflix, which has also put the whole movie on YouTube, free for non-subscribers:

A documentary about a political campaign is the opposite of most movies: we the viewers know from the beginning what’s going to happen, and we know that the people on screen didn’t know at the time. That reversal of the norm is particularly striking in this documentary about upstart candidates who challenged Democratic incumbents for Congress in 2018, leading to one of America’s biggest electoral shocks in a long time.

Some of the best parts are future Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez behind the scenes — goofing around with her boyfriend, mocking her opponent’s campaign leaflet, giving herself a pep talk before a debate, etc.

I wish every American would watch Knock Down the House along with Mitt (the documentary about Romney that’s one of my favorite movies of 2014), and realize you can go to a place on the political spectrum that’s far from where you live and still find good people.

In the beginning, the fundamental question is: “Why you? Why do you think you can do this?” The reason why: because nobody else would. So literally anybody could! Because the alternative is no one.

Click here for the full list of my favorite movie(s) of each year from 1920 to 2020.