In alphabetical order because I don't particularly want to sort them (although I'll be posting a favourite film of 2019 separately for the decade exercise so... there's a favourite and then there's 9 second places). It's based on Australian release dates and doesn't include anything that only got released as streaming (though one of these got only a cursory Melbourne/Sydney cinema release).
Border - a romance, a horror story, a thriller and a creature-feature, all in one - poignant and strange and touching, this Swedish film about a customs agent with a special ability to sniff out contraband, and what happens when she makes some discoveries about herself, didn't get a particularly wide release (though it's available on SBS on Demand), but it's worth tracking down.
Burning - another romance/thriller, this time Korean, as a three-sided relationship develops increasing paranoia as a disappearance leads to increased tension. All three leads are compelling, and there's a skillful mix of music, performances and shooting that builds all the way through to a stunning finale.
Eighth Grade - this was the first movie I saw in Australian cinemas this year, and it stuck with me throughout. It's a rare case of a teen movie that is very recognisably about contemporary teens, not just a middle aged screenwriter applying their own teenagehood to modern performers. Elsie Fisher as the lead is touching and hilarious and heartbreaking as a girl just on the verge of hitting the senior years of high school, trying to find her way in a world where social media seems all important and finding her place seems incredibly difficult.
Hustlers - There's a lot of fairly trashy movies about the exotic dance world - but this beats the rest of them by virtue of actually having a plot and a point to it, along with some great performances. In a cast where all the important characters are female, it rarely caters to the male gaze except to look at the ways it can be manipulated by cunning women. Jennifer Lopez issues a big reminder why she's a skilled performer when the right role comes along and owns large chunks of the screen, but there's a great array of talent here.
Knives Out - A great examination of the standard country-house murder mystery, with more than a couple of twists. The thoroughly loaded cast of great talents includes a couple who are basically there to be red-herrings (which is standard in the model), but there's also some great non-standard surprises on the way to a thoroughly satisfying ending, all the way through to the final shot.
Marriage Story - Scenes from a disintegrating marriage as a couple prepare for their divorce, which seems to be going so simply until the lawyers get involved - as both find that the dissatisfactions they've been burying begin to bubble to the surface. I've seen some argue that it's one-sided but to me we get a clear understanding why both sides do what they do - and why it gets so brutally hurtful as both find themselves unable to compromise for the sake of the other.
Parasite - If you haven't been told yet that this is awesome ... it is. It's a clever modern thriller as a poor Seoul family catch a break when the son manages to con his way into becoming a tutor for the daughter of a rich family - and I really shouldn't go much further because this is a film that twists, twists again, pulls the rug out from under you, wraps you up in the rug then rolls you right down the hill before finally setting the rug on fire. There's astonishingly tense sequences here, many with minimal dialogue, as people get into more and more desperate plights. It's a triumph.
Us - Yeah, I loved this. No, it's not strictly realistic, but I don't think it's aiming to be - there's a very definite allegory of the underclass being pushed here, of how western society kinda relies on someone else suffering to keep itself running, and about what might be coming to stop it - and it's beautifully and terrifyingly executed, both in performance (particularly Lupita N'yongo) and in production.
Who You Think I Am - a tension builder from France as Juliette Binoche plays a divorcee whose online affair becomes increasingly obsessional. A key quote here is "Social media is both the shipwreck and the liferaft" and, here the simple human desire to connect is twisted again and again in ways that are engrossing to behold.
Woman at War - An icelandic souffle of a film, as an environmental activist carries out strikes against an aluminum factory - much of the film is devoted to those missions in the gorgeous Icelandic countryside, to an engrossing klezmer score, it's a great example of deadpan thrills mixed with exceptional charm, particularly the wonderfully stoic p
erformance of Halldora Geirharosdottir.
