Sumer Singh's BEST OF 2019
2019 was the craziest year for me when it came to watching film. This was the year when I enjoyed a vast variety of what the visual entertainment had to offer — from surprisingly good films like Parasite and Klaus to divisive films like Ad Astra and Joker to morally corrupt films like The Lion King and The Rise Of Skywalker and laughably bad endeavours like Cats and The Fanatic. Each and every type of film has brought up certain changes to me personally and cinema as a whole, whether it is for good or bad can only be determined by the events of the forthcoming years.
TOP TEN FILMS OF 2019
10. Midsommar
While Ari Aster's latest beast is a completely different endeavour from his last year seminal horror classics, Hereditary, it is still a shockingly vile, depressingly deep and devilishly enjoyable film that kept me at the edge of my seat till the very end.
9. Weathering With You
Makoto Shinkai's latest venture took me on a ride of variant emotions accompanied by animation and score that exemplifies the already intimate experience.
8. The Irishman
Nobody does gangster narratives better than Martin Scorsese. Enough said.
7. Booksmart
Funny, crazy and surprisingly emotional, Booksmart has every ingredient in its catalogue that will make it one of the most talked-about high school comedies in years to come.
6. Ford V Ferrari
James Mangold brilliantly brings back the character-driven and nail-bitingly emotional and thrilling car race genre that, ever since the release of 2013’s Rush, I was starving to see more of.
5. John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum
I love Keanu Reeves and Guns — this film never runs out of both.
4. Klaus
This heart-warmingly emotional film from Spanish director and animator Sergio Pablos is equal parts enjoyable and mesmerizingly beautiful to look at, giving it a worthy chair among the council of great Christmas movies.
3. Marriage Story
Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson combine forces with Meyowirtz director Noah Baumbach to give severe emotions, unconditional smiles and heartbreaks to any blessed fool who dares to sit through it till the very end.
2. Once Upon A Time In…Hollywood
Tarantino's funny and exciting tribute to 60s Hollywood is equal parts dope and introspective towards its subject matter, giving a different kind of laughs and thrills from his previous venture while also managing to retain his signature craziness in the third act.
1. Parasite
Just like Oldboy sixteen years ago, Bong Jong Hoo's seventh feature film (eighth if you count Tokyo!) came out of nowhere and stole the hearts of many with cinematic style and brilliance that just like the aforementioned film will be remembered and studied for years to come.
BEST PERFORMANCES OF 2019
BEST ACTOR - BRAD PITT + ADAM DRIVER
On one side, we have legendary actor Brad Pitt — who played both Cliff Booth and depressed Roy McBridge with equal grace — and on the other side, we have future superstar Adam Driver — who emotionally moved me in Marriage Story and kept me intrigued throughout the thrilling The Report. It is easy to say that it was difficult to decide between the two.
BEST ACTRESS - AWKWAFINA
A surprisingly dramatic turn by this mostly comedic Chinese-American actress played off in spades, as she manages to shift between various combinations of emotions that sometimes, it almost feel unnatural to think that she is even acting.
BEST FILMMAKING OF 2019
BEST DIRECTOR - BONG JOON HO
Combining all the cinematic lessons that he learned from his previous movies, Ho has proven to be an inspiring beacon to all the aspiring and currently working directors that learning from past mistakes and success can always lead to a bigger reward that one can anticipate.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - ADAM NEWPORT-BERRA
Berra gives a beautifully bleak and poetically profound view of the contrast between the thinking of the city of San Francisco and its main characters, that one can't help but lose themselves into the magical entanglement that the visual creates in The Last Black Man in San Francisco.
