Hear us reveal the list in podcast form:
10. The Farewell by Lulu Wang
From the podcast:
“I think people will think on The Farewell and say...this is when [Lulu Wang’s] career really started because I think she’s going to do more.”
9. Transit by Christian Petzold
“How are we in Nazi-occupied France when none of the signifiers are there?
Writer/director Christian Petzold asks us instead to consider the weight of those symbols rather than the fall into comfort of their familiarity as harbingers of evil. Why does the swastika become more recognizable than the acts committed by those who wore it? This France we are dropped into feels nothing like the occupied space we know from history because it occupies an even greater question — what if we never escaped that time?”
From the podcast:
“I think the problem with a lot of movies or just a lot of media in general that tries to say something about [fascism] in our world, sometimes they’re too on the nose and to direct. And so they fail because they just immediately get very dated and don’t age very well. But this has more of a timelessness to it by...taking a little bit of an indirect approach.”
8. Knives Out by Rian Johnson
From the podcast:
“I found it very entertaining, and I think there is some commentary to be had there in the way that it’s dealing with like prescient internet drama and how that all ties into to politics, and wealth in America.”
7. Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Bi Gan
From the podcast:
“It’s less the kind of slow cinema where you’re watching people do mundane things for an hour. It’s more of that kind of slow cinema I really like, which kind of lulls you into a state of understanding of what the reality of the world is, and then it lulls you into paying attention really closely to something. Then it will do something very small, that breaks the reality of that state that you’re in, and it’ll just completely blow you away.”
6. The Lighthouse by Robert Eggers
From our coverage of the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival:
“There’s probably a lot more to be said about The Lighthouse, but one viewing isn’t enough. Like The Witch, a deeper examination and understanding of his overall goal should uncover more, but his follow-up doesn’t lack the mania of his first film even while it adds a bit more prestige with its on-screen personalities and secludes you even more.”
From the podcast:
“The language and bizarre idiosyncrasies of the performances that will swing in one scene from being really terrifying to all of a sudden being hilarious, and then back again to being really unsettling...it’s just a wild, wild ride.”
5. Ash is Purest White by Jia Jhangke
From the podcast:
“He creates this timeless quality, but he’s also speaking very much to a historical moment because he’s able to suddenly work the infrastructure around the narrative that’s happening, and that’s shaping the drive that the characters are kind of going through.”
4. Uncut Gems by Josh and Benny Safdie
From our coverage of the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival:
“Uncut Gems drags you along the way — making you another accomplice to Howard’s grifts and hustles, hoping that they won’t finally catch up to him and leave you with nothing. It never quite allows you to take a breath while watching it, and to say that you don’t leave constantly thinking about Uncut Gems is an understatement.”
“Uncut Gems prods at the nagging worries underlying all film culture and production under capitalism, thrown into ever more stark relief by the increasing homogenization of the industry in the West. Under the crushing weight of capital, all culture collapses into a single point, an ugly black hole of unintelligible, degenerated forms, and the Safdie brothers strive to shove our faces into it as hard as they possibly can.”
From the podcast:
“The movie is occurring at the height of the Obama years, and I think that’s some of the luster and sheen of hope and change has become slightly dulled, but people still haven’t really started to notice the amassing storm and the distance.”
3. Us by Jordan Peele
“Us could’ve very easily been your standard, run-of-the-mill horror film. Because it is definitely a horror film through and through, with all of the structural imperfections and stereotypes you can expect from horror films. There’s always someone forgetting to grab the keys, or someone falling at the most inconvenient times, or someone who hears a noise outside and doesn’t bother to check it out.”
From the podcast":
“I think one of the key things that America prides itself on as an identity is its diversity, and it’s like some people value its pluralism, and that sort of thing. And this is a movie that truly embraces that and says to talk about class in America is inherently to talk about a dozen other issues.”
2. Parasite by Bong Joon-ho
“At some point, Parasite stops being a comedy, but by then it is too late to turn back – like a train hurtling downhill, too fast to be stopped. In lesser hands, such a complete play on genre could undermine the film’s impact, but Bong makes it appear natural.”
From the podcast:
“Lots of people were quoting ‘All things flow from the sacred engine’ and doing the hand motion [back when Snowpiercer came out]. There’s just something about those moments in his films that just feel special to you and they’re things that you want to imitate even though they’re super weird and out of place.”
1. The Irishman by Martin Scorsese
“As with every epic set across decades and ages, The Irishman reveals the secrets of its character and its meaning as the years progress and unravel in front of our eyes, but it never loses that quietness. The expectation of bombast – of dramatic amplifying of the situations that take place over 209 minutes – is never met. ”
From the podcast:
“You can say ‘I accomplished all of this stuff over the course of my life.’ But if at the end of it if you’re ending your day alone in this retirement home, but nobody wanted to talk to you, except for this priest who’s desperately trying to get you to repent and find some sort of faith in forgiveness out of just your core life, then what’s the point?”
Indvidual Ballots
Nick Armstrong, Contributor
1. Glass
2. Us
3. Dolemite is My Name
4. The Irishman
5. Uncut Gems
6. Ash is Purest White
7. High Flying Bird
8. Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé
9. Gemini Man
10. Doctor Sleep
Andrew Swafford, Reviews Editor
1. Climax
2. Long Day's Journey Into Night
3. Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé
4. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
5. Under the Silver Lake
6. Transit
7. Shadow
8. Parasite
9. Hustlers
10. Knock Down the House
Jessy Alva, Contributor
1. The Peanut Butter Falcon
2. The Farewell
3. Midsommar
4. High Life
5. Greta
6. Parasite
7. Climax
8. Booksmart
9. Child’s Play
10. Always Be My Maybe
Logan Kenny, Contributor
1. Glass
2. Ad Astra
3. The Sun is Also a Star
4. Honey Boy
5. The Irishman
6. The Beach Bum
7. Ash is Purest White
8. A Hidden Life
9. Uncut Gems
10. Detective Pikachu
Miranda Barnewall, Contributor
1. The Last Black Man in San Francisco
2. Us
3. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
4. Knives Out
5. Booksmart
Reid Ramsey, Contributor
1. A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood
2. Her Smell
3. The Irishman
4. Parasite
5. Diamantino
6. Ad Astra
7. High Life
8. High Flying Bird
9. Shadow
10. Gemini Man
Rilwan Balogun, Contributor
1. The Farewell
2. Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce
3. Hustlers
4. Avengers: Endgame
5. Us
6. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
7. Knives Out
8. Hotel Mumbai
9. Captain Marvel
10. American Factory
Joshua Allen, Contributor
1. Knife + Heart
2. Us
3. 3 From Hell
4. Greta
5. Horror Noire: A History Of Black Horror
6. Beats
7. Kiss Of The Rabbit God
8. Ready Or Not
9. The Goldfinch
10. Knives Out
Mike Thorn, Contributor
1. The Irishman
2. An Elephant Sitting Still
3. Ash is Purest White
4. The Image Book
5. Gemini Man
6. Atlantics
7. Pasolini
8. Lords of Chaos
9. Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes
10. In Dog Years
Lucy Palmer, Contributor
1. Parasite
2. The Lighthouse
3. Us
4. Knives Out
5. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
6. Matthias and Maxime
7. Bad Education
8. Marriage Story
9. Sorry We Missed You
10. Blue Story
Darren Hughes, Contributor
1. The Souvenir
2. High Life
3. Transit
4. An Elephant Sitting Still
5. Ash is Purest White
6. Uncut Gems
7. The Hottest August
8. A Hidden Life
9. La Flor
10. Grass
Nadine Smith, Podcast Host
1. Relaxer
2. Transit
3. The Irishman
4. Asako I & II
5. Long Day's Journey Into Night
6. Her Smell
7. Avengement
8. 6 Underground
9. Grass
10. Jobe'z World
Malcolm Baum, Contributor
1. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
2. Uncut Gems
3. The Beach Bum
4. Richard Jewell
5. Ash is Purest White
6. The Irishman
7. Dragged Across Concrete
8. Your Face
9. Gemini Man
10. Ma
Jordan Smith, Contributor
1. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
2. The Irishman
3. Uncut Gems
4. Parasite
5. Ad Astra
6. Marriage Story
7. The Beach Bum
8. Honey Boy
9. Under the Silver Lake
10. Crawl
Maggie Frank, Contributor
1. Marriage Story
2. Little Women
3. The Irishman
4. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
5. Us
6. Jojo Rabbit
7. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
8. Glass
9. Joker
10. Knives Out
Jessica Carr, Podcast Host
1. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
2. Last Black Man in San Francisco
3. Parasite
4. A Hidden Life
5. Hustlers
6. Knives Out
7. The Lighthouse
8. Ready or Not
9. Booksmart
10. Us
Cam Watson, Contributor
1. Ready or Not
2. The Lighthouse
3. Hustlers
4. The Last Black Man in San Fransisco
5. Long Day's Journey into Night
6. Parasite
7. The Farewell
8. Shadow
9. Little Women
10. Lords of Chaos
Etan Weisfogel, Contributor
1. The Irishman
2. Peterloo
3. Gemini Man
4. Diamantino
5. Our Time
6. Asako I & II
7. Dark Waters
8. Alita: Battle Angel
9. Ash Is Purest White
10. Murder Mystery
Paige Taylor, Contributor
1. The Lighthouse
2. Knives Out
3. Parasite
4. Shadow
5. Booksmart
6. Ready or Not
7. John Wick 3: Parabellum
8. Always Be My Maybe
9. Uncut Gems
10. Midsommar
Jessica Pena, Contributor
1. The Farewell
2. Jojo Rabbit
3. Pain and Glory
4. Parasite
5. The Irishman
6. Honey Boy
7. I Lost My Body
8. Marriage Story
9. Tigers Are Not Afraid
10. For Sama
Dylan Moore, Podcast Host
1. Transit
2. Long Day's Journey Into Night
3. The Souvenir
4. Uncut Gems
5. Ash is Purest White
6. The Irishman
7. Parasite
8. Black Mother
9. A Hidden Life
10. Atlantics
Michael O’Malley, Podcast Host
1. Long Day's Journey into Night
2. The Lighthouse
3. Little Women
4. The Irishman
5. Uncut Gems
6. Parasite
7. Hustlers
8. Her Smell
9. Us
10. Transit
Gabbi Lewis, Contributor
1. Parasite
2. Late Night
3. Spider-Man Far From Home
4. Shazam
5. Us
6. Dolomite is My Name
7. The Lighthouse
8. JoJo Rabbit
9. Joker
10. Rocketman
Zach Dennis, Podcast Producer
1. A Hidden Life
2. Uncut Gems
3. The Irishman
4. Homecoming // Amazing Grace
5. Climax
6. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
7. Transit
8. Parasite
9. A Bread Factory (Part I and II)
10. Ash is Purest White