I'm often happily surprised by the quality of English-language movies which make it over here to lovely South Korea, but then again I do miss a few "artier" ones. (The Lighthouse, Jojo Rabbit, and The Last Black Man in San Fracisco to name three.) Anyhow, here are five movies I saw in 2019 that I think everyone should see at least once.
5. Midsommar -- If you witnessed a brutal ritual human sacrifice, would you run the hell away and contact the authorities, or stick around for a bit? Midsommar asks a lot of you to "buy in" to what's going on, but throw in the Platonic ideal of a shitty boyfriend, overly competitive Ph.D. candidates who have stumbled onto the ideal dissertation material, and the disconcerting spectacle of preternaturally gorgeous Swedish people engaged in heinous depravity, and oh what a movie you've made! One that I admire, but never want to watch again!
4. Parasite -- Obviously this Korean film winning the Palm d'Or was a huge deal here. It's at turns dark as hell but also hilarious, and there's a certain matter-of-fact quality that stuck with me, a sense that class-based cruelty in as inevitable as bad weather.
3. Us -- I had some serious Twitter-fights about this one, because I think it's better than Get Out (which was truly excellent). Granted, I'm an 80's kid who actually participated in Hands Across America, so maybe that made the difference for me. Not sure why so many people mentioned that having an underground "mirror" all of humanity would be impossible. Symbolism, people! Symbolism! And about class, not race this time.
2. High Life -- Wiki says this came out in 2018, but it's being included on a lot of 2019 lists and that's when I saw it, so there you go. I saw this after the kind of interesting but also very dull Ad Astra and found it a compelling "answer" of sorts to the same questions regarding the infinity of space travel versus the claustrophobic nature of human relationships, family or otherwise. But High Life, not an easy film to watch by any means (TW for violence, rape), takes a group of condemned criminals and roils and shakes in violent, chaotic waves where the former film sees fit to give trite little reassurances. High Life blooms into a finale that's as disturbing as it is beautiful. This is a sci-fi classic as far as I'm concerned, up there with Annihilation in terms of movies that didn't get nearly enough credit or attention. Also, a great soundtrack. Robert Pattinson has a great voice. (Not joking!)
1. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood -- QT's best film, hands down, bringing together his long-time obsessions with violence, pop culture, and the act of film-making itself into something approaching pure allegory as washed up star Leonardo diCaprio seeks, struggles, suffers, and ultimately earns a passage into the Hollywood version of salvation. (That last few minutes of the film, getting invited "up the hill" to still-alive and still-pregant Sharon Tate's mansion? Yup, that's Rick Dalton ascending into heaven at the invitation of Mary, mother of unborn Hollywood Hills Jesus. Duh.) Also, another great soundtrack. Also, the "Easy Breezy" sequence with the female child actor, and Leo breaking into tears? Pure genius. The hippies tried their damnedest to kill "Old Hollywood," and at least within this powerful vision (revision?), they've failed horribly.
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