Best Films and TV Shows of 2019

It’s that time of year again, this is my list of the best of all the movies and tv shows I watched in 2019.

Films

All the films I am listing have had their wide release in the UK in 2019, so films like Burning which was released in Korea in 2018 still counts for 2019

Joker

Joker may have been the most buzzed-about film of 2019, well besides Avengers: Endgame that is. It’s the compelling proposition of Joaquin Phoenix as Joker that put the film on my radar when it was first announced.

A bleak and unforgiving look at how society and mental illness can warp a man. This is the darkest incarnation of the iconic Batman villain yet. Of course Joaquin Phoenix doesn’t surprise with his unflinching portrayal as a man at rock bottom. The film also rejuvenated my faith in DC as the Justice League Movie was underwhelming and while Aquaman was fun I do like a dark brooding superhero story. So this feels like a hark back to the Nolan trilogy in the best way possible.

Burning

A Korean film based on a Haruki Murakami short story. A winning combination if you ask me and if you add into the mix Director Lee Chang-dong and actors Yoo Ah-in and Steven Yeun, then you have one of the best thrillers in recent memory. It’s a poetically shot film with a powerful underlying sense of dread that builds and builds until it all comes to a crescendo at the end. I reviewed the film back at the beginning of last year so have a read if you want a full unpacking of my thoughts on the film here.

Midsommar

This film is more than just a film it’s an experience, a WTF am I watching experience that just keeps giving you weirdness after weirdness. It’s also one of the best experiences I’ve ever had watching a film at the cinema as the audience was audibly cringing and gasping together at the craziest parts of the film. My sister kept leaning over and whispering in my ear ‘what are you making me watch?’, well dear only one of the best movies of the year!

Ad Astra

James Grey’s Ad Astra is a slow study on loneliness and emotional wounds that is beautifully complemented by a symbolic journey into the furthest parts of our galaxy. Existential and awe-inspiring, Ad Astra also feels so thoroughly human and personal. Family is at the heart of the film which challenges the audience to take a closer look at what is just in front of them rather than miles and miles away.

Exit

Thanks to the London East Asia Film Festival, I won tickets to the European premiere to see this rather hilarious and smart film from Korea. Exit is a disaster action-comedy, yes that is a thing, and yes this film balances all of these genres tremendously well. The film follows Yong-nam a talented but unemployed rock climber as he tries to save his whole family and his crush from a deadly gas that has been unleashed in downtown Seoul.

Knives Out

Funny, clever and thoroughly entertaining. Knives Out is an all-star comedy whodunnit in the style of Agatha Christie but for the modern age. Ana de Armas stole the film as Marta a nurse caught up in the mystery, and Chris Evan’s first post-Captain America role as Ranson the spoiled playboy of the family was a refreshing and thoroughly un-typecasted role for the actor. Twists and turns abound and no more can be said so go watch it!

TV Shows

Watchmen

HBO’s Watchmen is a fresh and compelling entry in the myriad of superhero centric stories out there at the moment. Rather than be a retelling of the graphic novel, the Watchmen series is its own thing with a storyline that centres around race rather than the cold war. Regina King as Angela Abar/Sister Night is one of the best black female characters I have ever seen on TV. I also think the show was absolutely fantastic, exciting and kept you guessing and in wonder, as the plot twists unfolded.

The Witcher

While Game of Thrones was epic, brilliant, groundbreaking TV it lost its way towards the end due to rather strange creative ideas regarding the plotting of events and the most lacklustre ending of Bran being the one to claim the iron throne. But not to fear Netflix swoops in with the exact remedy we all were seeking, an exciting new fantasy series in the form of The Witcher. This series is so much fun, Henry Cavill is amazing in the role of Geralt of Rivia, not just because he is mind-blowingly handsome but because he inhabits the role so convincingly. Also, the crisscrossing timelines create an interesting jigsaw puzzle of events that you have to slot together to make sense of the story which makes for an enjoyable watch. Love it: the humour, the cinematography, the world-building, the character development, everything.

Chocolate

Heartwarming, tragic, life-affirming are a few ways to describe the Korean language drama Chocolate. The drama follows Lee Kang and Moon Cha-young, a neurosurgeon and a chef as they fall in love while working at a hospice together. They have a complex history that adds another layer of intensity to the story, but the magic of the show is in the way everyone’s lives at the hospice intersect and everyone ends up teaching each other a valuable lesson about life, from the patients with limited time to the cold Lee Kang who softens over time. And at the heart of the show is food, the characters eat according to feelings and elevate food to more than just sustenance, its a way of bonding, of remembrance and of recovery. I wept my eyes out at most episodes because the story touched my heart so much and it became a cathartic and heartwarming moment each week for me, and the soundtrack is beautiful and it’s the only one I’ve listened to on repeat since One Spring Day and Something in the Rain. I will hands down say that this is one of my favourite Korean dramas to date, and I have watched an awful lot of them so that definitely says something about this one.

Swiss Cinema - Sarah joue un loup-garou (Sarah Plays a Werewolf) Review

A gripping portrayal of growing up and the dangerous isolation of being a misfit.

Swiss filmmaker Katharina Wyss’ debut is a powerful statement about growing up. Filmed in a 4:3 ratio to give every frame an uneasy claustrophobia we follow Sarah as she tries to connect with those around her. Her family life is bizarre, with not so subtle hints of incest. Sarah’s only outlet is to abandon herself onstage at her theatre group. But like many young imaginative and disturbed people Sarah falls into a dangerous waltz with depression.

Loane Balthasar’s fearless performance as Sarah drives the film and the realism in the direction makes it feel achingly true. Rich opulent colours dominate the colour palette of the film which gives it a sense of excess that veers towards the grotesque, a metaphor for Sarah’s psyche perhaps. Another aspect of the cinematography and style of the film that I enjoyed was he lingering shots on critiques of theatre performances, opera and Nietzsche which is very indie French cinema.

Overall, Sarah joue un loup-garou is a fantastic psychological journey into the mind of a girl on the cusp of womanhood who is too fragile to survive in a harsh and indifferent world.

Korean Cinema – 누구의 딸도 아닌 해원 (Nobody’s Daughter Haewon) Review

Poignant, thought provoking and subtly charming. Hong Sang-soo blends reality and whimsy in this snapshot of life.

Haewon is a young woman still trying to find her place in the world when she finds herself abandoned by her mother who has suddenly decided to emigrate to Canada. And to make matters worse soon after her affair with a melancholy married professor comes to light, she is thus ostracised by her classmates and feels utterly alone. 

I loved the simple direction in this film which made it feel really real, like I was simply observing a moment in someone else’s life. This effect was also helped by the natural and conversational dialogue and the lack of a soundtrack (except for a key recurring song). This style of filmmaking is to me simply wonderful, it’s perhaps the closest you can get to reading a book which makes it an utterly charming experience to watch.

Another key factor that makes Nobody’s daughter Haewon such an interesting watch is the abundance of recurring motives throughout the film. And for the sake of not spoiling what that alludes to I’m just going to leave it there. So if you haven’t watched the film yet keep your eyes peeled for them and if you have seen this indie gem then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

You can catch this film and 5 more of Hong Sang-soo’s films as part of the Mubi “selectrospective” of the prolific directors filmography titled Solving Puzzles: The Cinema of Hong Sang-soo. If you don’t want to miss this movie Mubi works is a little different to Netflix or other online streaming platforms so you do have to watch the films within 30 days before they disappear from the library making way for new content!

P.S. I have started a little film club over on Instagram on my Film Account so if you fancy joining head over there and get involved!!! This film was my first pick as I was super excited to find out about Mubi showcasing Hong Sang-soo’s work as most of his films have never been released here in the UK!!

High-Rise Review: Brutalist architecture & the fall of society

Ben Wheatley’s cinematic adaption of High-Rise, the iconic J.G Ballard novel of the same name, is nothing short of a heady trip through the decay of society using the thoroughly modern (for its time) high-rise complex as a microcosm.

In essence, the film is Kubrickian in style and Orwellian in prothetic tone; it’s a disturbingly amusing Social Satire that will take you on a diabolically dizzying kaleidoscope of a journey through a society governed by debauchery and opulence.

The film opens at the end with a bedraggled Robert Laing creeping around the ruined High-Rise and tucking into a roasted dog on his balcony. This scene right away sets the tone of the film; it’s surreal and totally bonkers. Moreover, starting the film in a non-chronological order shows the viewers the consequences before they see the actions that got the characters to this disastrous place; thus, a curiosity as to how this happened bubbles.

Cleverly, a stark contrast from the squalor of Laing’s surroundings is made when we jump back three months to when the young Doctor first arrived at the pristine High-Rise building. The complex is in the Brutalist architecture style, which acts as a metaphor to mirror the story; the inhabitants are just as harsh and domineering as the space they occupy.

To be honest, Brutalism was the only architectural style the filmmakers could have used for the story; anything else would have missed the point and being someone who is mildly obsessed with the style, I really liked the building and the symbolism. Laing’s apartment is severe and empty, and the self-contained amenities of the complex, such as the onsite Supermarket, have a Warholian sterileness to them. This is a Retro-Future that is very much a satire of what today’s society is turning into, which is why J.G Ballard’s novel and this movie, in turn, are still so relevant to a modern audience.

The High-Rise is subjected to not-so-subtle class divisions, the poor families at the bottom (although they are still wealthy enough to live in the establishment, unlike most of society), Upper-Class Professionals such as Laing live in the midsection of the building, and the top of the High-Rise belongs to the Super-Rich and the Architect himself.

The Architect is a regal and self-appointed “god” figure named Anthony Royale (played deftly by Jeremy Irons) who sections himself off in the Penthouse suite complete with a gorgeous garden that Laing visits and is surprised to see a horse on the “44th floor”. The sheer arrogance of Royal is ultimately his downfall, demonstrating that those who put themselves above society will sooner or later have to answer to it, no matter how savage or civilised it is.

Everyone seems to get into everyone’s business in the High-Rise, which takes a toll on the usually secluded Laing, who slowly becomes unhinged, and the divide between the top and the bottom of the building intensifies as the manufactured society slowly falls to pieces as everyone gives in to their carnal urges that result in raging parties to rival the bacchanalias of ancient Rome, fistfights and rape.

This, in essence, explores the very idea of how the survival of society depends on control and suppression of our innate animalistic desires and pleasure-seeking and that such a decayed and damaged society is a feasible future.

In conclusion, this film is not for everyone, but for those who long for a return of cerebral and eccentric films that study the human condition then give it a watch and you may just be surprised as to how much you’ll think about it after you leave the cinema, unlike the usual mass-produced popcorn fare that we seem to greedily consume.

A disturbingly amusing Social Satire that will take you on a diabolically dizzying kaleidoscope of a journey through a society governed by debauchery and opulence

Now I’m off to read the novel by J.G Ballard, care to join me?

The Revenant Review

Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki’s latest team-up is hardly a film and more like a wildly poetic audio-visual experience. From the moment the film begins to when the credits roll The Revenant is an exquisitely engaging affair that transports you into the icy and unforgiving world of a group of fur trappers and hunters trying to navigate the 19th century Louisiana Purchase.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy are exceptional in their roles as Hugh Glass and John Fitzgerald respectively and it is therefore unsurprising that both have received Academy Award nominations for their brutal performances. DiCaprio’s Glass is a man hellbent on exacting his revenge for the unlawful murder of his beloved son and his ferocity and tenacious hold onto his life is somewhat awe-inspiring seeing that he almost dies on several occasions (The superbly shot Bear Mauling, near suffocation, Falling off a cliff, being shot at and stabbed)  and in most cases it would have been easier for him to give in to the cold embrace of death. And it’s through this obsessive determination that sees Glass soldier on through one tortuous ordeal after another that when he finally meets with the cowardly Fitzgerald that one of the most nail-biting scenes take place that I’ve seen in a film for a very long time.

Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography is perhaps the greatest thing about this film, sure the performances are superb and the soundtrack by Ryuichi Sakamoto is hauntingly beautiful, and there’s that certain quote “I ain’t afraid to die anymore. I’d done it already” which is surely going to become iconic someday, but its the visuals of this film that really make it as truly sublime as it is. And while watching The Revenant I found myself comparing it to another piece of Lubezki’s work The New World by the illustrious Terrence Malick. And I found that what these two films had in common (apart from Mr Lubezki) was that they were both slow and poetic journeys and what better way to capture these profound films than with long languid lingering shots of action and in doing so I believe that this film is in all its visceral and grisly realism cinematically perfect.

Overall The Revenant is a gloriously bloody tale of one man’s struggle to appease his desire to seek revenge against another man and if you love great (I need a better word!) exceptional, stunning, awe-inspiring, simply sumptuous cinematography and a damn good storyline then go and see The Revenant, yes its 3 hours long but its filmmaking at its finest and those 12 Academy Award nominations just go to prove my point.