#10 – Apollo 11
This year’s best documentary is a stunning, unfiltered view into one of the greatest adventures in modern history. This film, about the 1969 Apollo 11 mission to the moon, consists solely of archival footage, released in 70mm film, with no narration, interviews or recreations. For 90 minutes, director Todd Douglas Miller takes you on a chronological journey of the mission with incredible footage that is intricately pieced together to create a thrilling and detailed depiction from start to finish. Even with the outcome known, the film’s ability to generate and maintain suspense is impressive, and only speaks to the power of the video itself. This story of ambition and hope, trial and fear, is one of our great American memories, and Apollo 11 is a spectacular account of this historic moment. – Matt Miller
#9 – The Laundromat
The Laundromat plums the depths of the dark side of America’s financial system and the numerous and creative machinations the ultra-wealthy and corporations undertake to dodge contributing back to society via paying taxes. The script’s brilliant storytelling begins through the anecdotal lens of Streep’s protagonist, an angry small-town widower who is fighting a world of financial trickery to track down the actual company responsible for the fraud that robbed her of her husband’s life insurance money after his tragic fluke death. As she becomes aware of mergers, buy-offs, shell companies and more, and travels intercontinentally in search of where in the world that money went, it becomes a farce that shows how easy it is for the wealthy to hide their cash and how difficult it is for the average citizen–or governmental agencies–to do anything about it. – Luke Brogden
#8 – Peanut Butter Falcon
With “Honey Boy,” which would have made this list if released earlier and “Peanut Butter Falcon,” Shia LeBeouf proved his legitimacy in 2019. The latter is a brilliant, heart-warming tale that soars with powerful storytelling, incredible acting and mesmerizing cinematography. LeBeouf and Zack Gottsagan, who has Down syndrome, shine with memorable performances, creating an odd couple adventure that is uplifting and insightful to its core. This duo produces some very human moments that are gripping, and times of happiness and sadness are extremely authentic and emotional. Still sitting at a strong 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, this must-see film will leave you inspired and ready to make the most of today. – MM
#7 – I Lost My Body
Naoufel is a lonely guy living in the city and his severed hand is searching everywhere on an epic quest to make it back to him. This is the bizarre premise behind the dreamy animated French drama by Jeremy Clapin that has taken the film world by storm. In between dramatic sequences of the hand making its way through the city, the film cuts back and forth from the leadup events to Naoufel losing his hand and his life afterwards, revealing a lot about the ironic isolation and detachment of the digital native generation. Visionary writing and animation make this one of the most unique, artistic films this year and for the second year in a row, Alia Shawkat is represented in BLANK’s films of the year. – LB
#6 – The Irishman
The tale of Jimmy Hoffa has been previously covered in the cinematic world–Danny DeVito’s 1992 version starred Jack Nicholson as the beleaguered yet defiant union leader–but never in such grand fashion. The fresh angle Scorcese takes is adapting the story from the voice of longtime bodyguard and mob hit man Frank Sheeran, who in Charles Brandt’s book confesses to having been in the killer in the notoriously unsolved case (Hoffa was officially ‘missing’ until 1982, when he was declared dead in absentia). Like many Scorcese pictures, this one’s a doozy of an epic saga, clocking in at 3.5 hours long. It follows the hot-headed but ever-dependable Sheeran (Robert DeNiro) from his humble beginnings as a teamster freight driver, through his chance encounters with Russel Buffalino (Joe Pesci), who puts him on to several hit jobs for the mob (the hiring euphemism from which Brandt draws the title of his book: “I Heard You Paint Houses”), and onwards and upwards to his long stints serving as a bodyguard and advisor to Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa, continuing as a mob liaison while also rising through the ranks of the union himself.
The seemingly immutable codes of the mob continue to put Sheeran in a tough spot between them and the irascible, defiant Hoffa, who is convinced he’s let organized crime dip its hands into the pension fund one too many times. The epic showdown of wills is an acting master class from Al Pacino as the strained but fierce Hoffa and the surprisingly cold, understated performance from Pesci as Bufalino and Harvey Keitel as his boss Angelo Bruno. A final thought: the movie’s drawn heat for what some say is the limited role given to sole female star, Anna Paquin, as Sheeran’s adult daughter. But her multiple speechless roles silently judging her father building up for half the movie make her single line at the end all the more powerful. As a whole, the sprawling, understated drama unleashes the full scope of Scorcese’s mastery. – LB
#5 – Joker
Joaquin Phoenix delivers an incredible performance with his portrayal of one of the most infamous villains in existence, The Joker. In this version, poor Arthur Fleck just can’t catch a break. Plagued by mental illness and unable to escape his bleak existence as a street clown, Arthur goes full-on mad and turns into the real clown who believes in nothing other than chaos. Joker was one of the best films I’ve seen in quite a while and the same can be said of Phoenix’s portrayal. – DM
#4 – The Lighthouse
In one of the most original films I’ve ever seen, David Eggers (director of The Witch) delivers a tale of two men (Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson) stuck together on an island keeping watch over a lighthouse near New England. The two characters slowly reveal hidden details about themselves to one another, and the story takes a turn into straight up mythological territory. If you’re into Mermaids, Lovecraft and enchanted Lighthouses, then this is the film for you! – DM
#3 – Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood
With his lateset, Quentin Tarantino continues his recent trend of retro-romping, gleefully violent revisionist history (as partially manifested in Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained). His target this time: preventing the Mansion murders of Sharon Tate, her unborn baby and her friends via her fictional neighbor, the boozy, washed-up TV Western actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), and his wild-living former stuntman-turned personal assistant Cliff Boothe (Brad Pitt). When the two start to get mixed up with Charlie Manson’s girls, Dalton’s curmudgeonly cockiness and Boothe’s stuntman fearlessness come in real handy. Margot Robbie plays a hauntingly innocent, happy Sharon Tate as an eager, excited new starlet and soon-to-be mother. There’s all the classic trademarks of vintage Tarantino. There are long, quiet spurts of languid dialogue punctuated by rapid-onset melees of extreme, almost comical violence. There’s groovy music. And then there are also lots of shots of dirty female feet (his rumored fetish). But the real joy for most viewers will be the instant elemental joy provoked by watching Pitt and DiCaprio ham it up together, sharing the leading roles in what is ultimately a large-scale buddy movie. – LB
#2 – Jojo Rabbit
This deadly serious, coming-of-age comedy about Nazis (yes, you read that right) from director Taika Waititi is this year’s love it or hate it film (last year’s Green Book). Waititi, who also plays an imaginary version of Hitler, isn’t subtle, but remains delicate in his extreme use of satire to explore a not-so-funny theme. This journey follows a young German boy named Jojo, played by an impressive Roman Griffin Davis, and features Scarlett Johanson and Sam Rockwell, who make every movie they’re in better. The script’s emotional poignancy and delightful irreverence is a blend of Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson, greatly increasing Waititi’s reputation as a great filmmaker. His ability to balance smart, goofy humor with the acknowledgement of real-life horrors is impressive, creating a dark comedy that uses satire as resistance in a very entertaining fashion. The end result is a hilarious, haunting, erratic and daring film that should remain important and relevant for some time. – MM
#1 – Parasite
It’s difficult to fully convey the brilliance of Parasite, the first foreign language film ever to top BLANK’s year-end list. This instant classic about a poor family struggling to find work in modern day South Korea refuses to fit into any box, swiftly bouncing between genres with a graceful intelligence. It hooks you from the beginning with a unique style of dark comedy that soon transitions into an emotional rollercoaster of anxiety, sadness and shock. This suspenseful drama on the surface is layered in deep metaphors of class division, tragedy and moral questioning. Every detail has a story of its own, as director Bong Joon Ho’s use of visual language and framing is exceptional. This is not just another great film. It’s a masterpiece. – MM
