Metacritic 40 Best of 2019, a list by Chaz Larson

8.5

/1133941/

85

/43995/

85

/19948/

4.5

/4844739/

99

/485/

90

/2503/

97

/56/

4.0

age 16+

All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

87

8.1

/14153/

78

/492/

75

/178/

4.0

/23070/

99

/134/

89

/37/

95

/24/

4.0

In the aftermath of a tragic fire in a Romanian club, burn victims begin dying in hospitals from wounds that were not life threatening. A team of investigative journalists move into action uncovering the mass corruption of the health system and of the state institutions. Collective follows journalists, whistle blowers, and authorities alike. An immersive and uncompromising look into a dysfunctional system, exposing corruption, propaganda, and manipulation that nowadays affect not only Romania, but societies around the world.

80

76

7.4

/5850/

72

/224/

66

/102/

3.9

/19038/

97

/66/

81

/40/

95

/15/

age 13+

15-year-old Rocks fears that she and her little brother Emmanuel will be taken into care and forced apart if anyone finds out that their mother has left them. Against all odds, and with the help of her loyal friends, she evades the authorities and navigates the most defining days of her young life.

89

8.0

/124754/

81

/4680/

81

/2833/

4.4

/994684/

97

/338/

92

/98/

95

/48/

4.0

age 15+

On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.

85

7.9

/368279/

77

/11220/

77

/7264/

4.0

/1312435/

95

/408/

85

/35/

94

/53/

4.0

age 16+

A stage director and an actress struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal extremes.

83

7.8

/466305/

75

/16627/

75

/7285/

3.9

/864023/

95

/468/

86

/325/

94

/55/

3.5

age 17+

Pennsylvania, 1956. Frank Sheeran, a war veteran of Irish origin who works as a truck driver, accidentally meets mobster Russell Bufalino. Once Frank becomes his trusted man, Bufalino sends him to Chicago with the task of helping Jimmy Hoffa, a powerful union leader related to organized crime, with whom Frank will maintain a close friendship for nearly twenty years.

79

7.4

/347506/

73

/14000/

71

/5180/

4.0

/1527877/

91

/351/

52

/2789/

93

/59/

4.0

age 16+

A charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win.

72

6.4

/15489/

64

/570/

60

/274/

3.5

/61624/

90

/184/

37

/241/

92

/45/

4.0

age 15+

A shy but ambitious film student falls into an intense, emotionally fraught relationship with a charismatic but untrustworthy older man.

75

?

6.5

/138/

80

/1/

50

/4/

3.4

/232/

100

/8/

91

/4/

After The Missing Picture (Un Certain Regard winner 2013 and Oscar nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film in 2013) and Exile, Rithy Panh continues his personal and spiritual exploration. S21 the Khmer Rouge Killing Machine and Duch, Master of the Forges of Hell analyzed the mechanisms of the crime. Graves Without a Name searches for a path to peace. When a thirteen-year-old child, who lost the greater part of his family under the Khmer rouge, embarks on a search for their graves, whether clay or on spiritual ground, what does he find there? And above all, what is he looking for? Spectral trees? Villages defaced beyond recognition? Witnesses who are reluctant to speak? The ethereal touch of a brother or sister’s body as the night approaches? A cinematic movie that reaches well beyond the story of a country for that which is universal.

82

?

8.1

/240/

73

/9/

70

/4/

100

/5/

91

/4/

Explore the transformative years following the American Civil War, when the nation struggled to rebuild itself in the face of profound loss, massive destruction, and revolutionary social change. The twelve years that composed the post-war Reconstruction era (1865-77) witnessed a seismic shift in the meaning and makeup of our democracy.

83

7.8

/279085/

78

/10286/

78

/6656/

4.2

/2525674/

95

/441/

92

/3346/

91

/57/

3.0

age 10+

Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.

90

8.6

/27123/

84

/1579/

86

/1484/

4.3

/24113/

100

/43/

94

91

/11/

age 14+

A caveman forms a bond with a dinosaur as they struggle to survive in a hostile world.

76

35

6.6

/346/

64

/19/

55

/4/

3.5

/239/

100

/14/

89

/11/

89

/4/

Five friends embark on a 1,200 mile journey along the US-Mexico border from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico to learn first hand what effect a border wall will have on the natural landscape and the wild animals roaming the land.

81

73

8.1

/3574/

74

/259/

80

/65/

89

/4/

age 7+

Guy-Am-I, an inventor, and his friend Sam-I-Am go on a cross-country trip that would test the limits of their friendship. As they learn to try new things, they find out what adventure brings.

78

71

7.5

/4172/

75

/199/

70

/39/

100

/36/

59

89

/12/

age 15+

A narrative series set in a limitless magical reality full of dynamic, hilarious characters and celebrity guests presenting sketches performed by a core cast of black women.

83

72

7.8

/16378/

77

/681/

76

/368/

4.0

/37686/

94

/35/

92

/5/

89

/6/

Wherever 9-year-old Benni ends up, she is expelled. She has become what child protection services call a “system crasher.” But she is not looking to change her ways, and has one goal: go back home to her mother. When anger management trainer Micha is hired to help, suddenly there is hope.

85

7.5

/75144/

76

/3579/

74

/1500/

4.1

/319477/

97

/350/

87

/477/

89

/47/

4.0

age 11+

A headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is given a terminal diagnosis. Billi struggles with her family's decision to keep grandma in the dark about her own illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see grandma one last time.

89

8.5

/13676/

84

/647/

82

/298/

4.4

/27125/

98

/102/

92

/48/

89

/19/

4.0

age 15+

A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.

82

80

7.6

/7195/

73

/329/

74

/59/

100

/31/

85

88

/20/

age 17+

When Miri Matteson returns home after eighteen years, can she integrate back into her old life? With a terrible event from her past hanging over her, it won’t be easy.

87

8.1

/28391/

81

/2682/

78

/679/

4.1

/43387/

99

/191/

90

/311/

88

/35/

4.0

age 5+

A look at the Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon led by commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin.

85

69

7.7

/5993/

77

/252/

77

/211/

4.2

/14336/

100

/36/

92

/2/

88

/9/

Two married couples adjust to the vast social and economic changes taking place in China from the 1980s to the present.

82

7.3

/2966/

72

/89/

69

/57/

3.7

/2623/

100

/47/

83

/4/

87

/17/

4.0

Together for 20 years, a couple that has grown apart over time receives difficult news that will impact the entire family. As they try to make sense of the changes, they end up rediscovering their love for one another.

76

49

6.9

/933/

69

/39/

74

/16/

3.8

/4629/

97

/35/

62

/12/

87

/8/

age 15+

When Áila encounters a young Indigenous woman, barefoot and crying in the rain on the side of a busy street, she soon discovers that this young woman, Rosie, has just escaped a violent assault at the hands of her boyfriend. Áila decides to bring Rosie home with her and over the course of the evening, the two navigate the aftermath of this traumatic event.

75

7.5

/8517/

74

/330/

70

/141/

3.9

/26649/

92

/96/

81

/29/

87

/27/

2.0

Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream, this film captures the troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during the fall of that year.

86

7.9

/3048/

78

/163/

70

/36/

3.9

/4300/

100

/44/

96

/18/

87

/12/

4.0

Digging through the vast collection of his father's home videos, a young man reconstructs the unthinkable story of his boyhood and exposes vile abuse passed through generations.

83

7.5

/66618/

74

/2404/

73

/1862/

4.1

/159380/

96

/306/

91

/78/

87

/43/

3.5

age 17+

Salvador Mallo, a filmmaker in the twilight of his career, remembers his life: his mother, his lovers, the actors he worked with. The sixties in a small village in Valencia, the eighties in Madrid, the present, when he feels an immeasurable emptiness, facing his mortality, the incapability of continuing filming, the impossibility of separating creation from his own life. The need of narrating his past can be his salvation.

69

50

6.8

/1521/

65

/51/

62

/37/

3.5

/3147/

89

/19/

47

/6/

87

/8/

Three teenagers are shaken up by their first loves in the turmoil of their youth. At a time when others are conforming, they stand their ground and assert their right to love and be free.

74

6.8

/8634/

66

/218/

65

/212/

3.7

/22791/

95

/104/

62

/7/

87

/30/

3.0

A reflection on human life in all its beauty and cruelty, its splendor and banality, guided by a Scheherazade-esque narrator. Inconsequential moments have the same significance as historical events. Simultaneously an ode and a lament, presents a kaleidoscope of all that is eternally human, an infinite story of the vulnerability of existence.

85

8.1

/15907/

75

/892/

83

/298/

97

/101/

88

87

/36/

age 15+

Middle school as it really happened. Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle star in this adult comedy, playing versions of themselves as thirteen-year-old outcasts in the year 2000, surrounded by actual thirteen-year-olds, where the best day of your life can turn into your worst with the stroke of a gel pen.

87

8.8

/156230/

85

/4641/

82

/968/

96

/85/

89

86

/27/

3.5

age 15+

Five teens from Harlem become trapped in a nightmare when they're falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park.

85

8.2

/26180/

79

/1956/

76

/350/

4.2

/17610/

97

/81/

91

86

/23/

age 14+

After getting into a near fatal car accident, Alma discovers she has a new relationship with time and uses this ability to find out the truth about her father’s death.

80

7.4

/24930/

73

/1511/

72

/488/

3.7

/38966/

95

/93/

82

/98/

86

/23/

3.5

age 14+

In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.

75

6.7

/1741/

69

/85/

61

/37/

3.5

/3397/

93

/100/

70

/35/

86

/28/

3.5

Diane is a devoted friend and caretaker, particularly to her drug-addicted son. But as those around her begin to drift away in the last quarter of her life, she is left to reckon with past choices and long-dormant memories.

75

6.7

/2622/

67

/102/

67

/68/

3.9

/9618/

95

/64/

57

/4/

86

/22/

3.5

A Cape Verdean woman navigates her way through Lisbon, following the scanty physical traces her deceased husband left behind and discovering his secret, illicit life.

65

51

6.1

/2409/

58

/126/

59

/82/

3.1

/7236/

85

/27/

44

/1/

86

/8/

In 2027 Brazil, civil servant Joana mainly deals with divorce cases. As a member of a branch of evangelical Christians known as the Divino Amor group, she uses her position to offer a kind of physical therapy to couples who want to separate. Although Joana and her husband Danilo regularly consummate their marriage, neither her constant prayers nor any other methods of assistance seem to be able to fulfill their desire for a child.

81

8.4

/42580/

81

/2879/

83

/1123/

96

/141/

62

85

/27/

age 17+

Harley Quinn has finally broken things off once and for all with the Joker. Now, she's trying to make it on her own as the criminal Queenpin of Gotham City, with help from Poison Ivy and a ragtag crew of DC castoffs.

79

8.2

/144308/

80

/8421/

76

/1530/

4.2

/101435/

96

/119/

57

85

/35/

age 17+

Set in an alternate history where “superheroes” are treated as outlaws, “Watchmen” embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel while attempting to break new ground of its own.

83

65

8.1

/1952/

76

/113/

74

/21/

3.9

/1563/

100

/11/

85

/8/

3.5

age 14+

Transcending the music documentary genre by creating a new lane that merges music, socio-cultural commentary and and intimate family portrait of the Wu-Tang Clan.

73

6.7

/1975/

66

/79/

63

/59/

3.6

/8306/

93

/44/

53

/4/

85

/10/

3.5

A young Japanese woman named Yoko finds her cautious and insular nature tested when she travels to Uzbekistan to shoot the latest episode of her travel variety show.

76

6.9

/1470/

72

/54/

70

/31/

3.6

/3495/

89

/37/

57

/3/

85

/9/

4.0

When Bruce Chatwin was dying of AIDS, his friend Werner Herzog made a final visit. As a parting gift, Chatwin gave him his rucksack. Thirty years later, Herzog sets out on his own journey, inspired by Chatwin’s passion for the nomadic life, uncovering stories of lost tribes, wanderers and dreamers.

80

7.5

/7741/

75

/405/

72

/161/

3.8

/16137/

98

/102/

86

/53/

85

/25/

3.0

age 17+

Through interviews with both victims and instigators, Nanfu Wang, a first-time mother, breaks open decades of silence on a vast, unprecedented social experiment that shaped — and destroyed — countless lives in China.

77

6.7

/11109/

67

/417/

67

/273/

3.7

/43899/

96

/159/

64

/26/

85

/30/

4.0

age 15+

Arranged to marry a rich man, young Ada is crushed when her true love goes missing at sea during a migration attempt — until a miracle reunites them.

80

7.2

/12999/

71

/418/

70

/342/

3.8

/29435/

93

/111/

76

/43/

85

/26/

4.0

1945, Leningrad. World War II has devastated the city, demolishing its buildings and leaving its citizens in tatters, physically and mentally. Two young women, Iya and Masha, search for meaning and hope in the struggle to rebuild their lives amongst the ruins.

84

8.0

/20336/

78

/795/

79

/291/

4.0

/34978/

100

/128/

86

/104/

85

/27/

3.5

When nomadic beekeepers break Honeyland’s basic rule (take half of the honey, but leave half to the bees), the last female beehunter in Europe must save the bees and restore natural balance.

67

7.0

/31986/

66

/965/

63

/228/

3.5

/33419/

98

/96/

26

84

/26/

Explores the experiences of James Safechuck and Wade Robson, who were both befriended and sexually abused by singer Michael Jackson, and the complicated feelings that led them both to confront their experiences.

76

?

5.9

/218/

75

/2/

3.3

/304/

100

/9/

84

/5/

The seemingly separate lives of an anxious, disillusioned teen girl and a troubled, alienated man converge fatefully.

81

8.0

/17760/

73

/846/

72

/137/

95

/99/

84