From Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Photograph to Jallikattu, top 10 films of 2019 you probably haven’t seen (but absolutely must)
From Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Photograph to Kerala filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellisery’s Jallikattu, here are the top 10 films of 2019 that you probably haven’t seen, but absolutely must.
Perhaps the only flip side to living in an age where so many wonderful films and television shows are available to us, is that so many wonderful films and television shows are at the risk of getting lost.
While it is understandable for Netflix to stake out prime homepage real estate for the Adam Sandler comedy Murder Mystery, and not, say, the hidden gem The Perfection, it is slightly disappointing when films that deserve to be seen by a larger audience don’t even get the opportunity to present their case. Practices such as this -- Amazon, too, made it nearly impossible for a casual viewer to discover its fantastic crime series Too Old To Die Young -- perpetuate a circle wherein audiences are presented only with a certain kind of entertainment. The poor viewers, over a period of time, are forced into a dull submission, having assumed that good films are simply not being made anymore.
Also read: From The Irishman to Marriage Story, the top 10 streaming films of 2019
Which brings us to lists like this. Here are the top 10 films of 2019 that you probably haven’t seen, but absolutely must. And if you have, then take a moment and pat yourself on the back. After that, do your duty and spread the good word.
I Lost My Body
Delicately animated and deftly written, Netflix’s I Lost My Body is one of the finest films of 2019. It’s a stunningly original vision that will no doubt find tremendous love at the Oscars, just like it did at the Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered to warm enthusiasm over the summer.
Jallikattu
A gloriously nutty celebration of cult filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellisery’s excesses, Jallikattu (available on Amazon) is at once a parable about human hubris, and a white-knuckle survival thriller. Pellisery remains one of India’s finest visual storytellers, a talent that is allowed to flourish thanks to the little resources he usually has to work with.
Midsommar
Director Ari Aster’s follow-up to Hereditary is an equally ambitious picture that establishes him as not just one of the finest horror filmmakers working today, but also one of the most unique voices to emerge out of American cinema in recent years. Midsommar is many things -- a story about grief and loneliness, about the disintegration of a relationship -- but it is first and foremost a grim fantasy, a princess story that Walt Disney himself would have been proud of.
Ready or Not
Funnier than most comedies and scarily thought-provoking when it needs to be, Ready or Not is a sneaky little surprise. Directed by two-thirds of the horror collective known as Radio Silence, it is the sort of movie that - given the right kind of publicity push and championed by the right critics - has the potential to become a cult classic. It certainly deserves to.
Blinded by the Light
Films like Blinded by the Light (available on Netflix) might seem run-of-the-mill, but they’re anything but. As boisterous as it may be on the surface, its successes are subtle. Javed Khan is not only a beacon for representation — for South Asians and Muslims and immigrants — but also for a different kind of male movie ‘hero’. He cries; he runs away from fights; he sings and dances; he is a poet and a gentleman. I don’t know about you, but we could do with more like him.
Missing Link
It’s absolutely distressing that one of the finest films produced by the artisanal animation studio, Laika, is also its most financially unsuccessful. Featuring terrific voice performances by Hugh Jackman as a gentleman explorer, and Zack Galifianakis as a mild-mannered yeti, Missing Link is a technically flawless, rip-roaring adventure.
Photograph
Photograph (available on Amazon) finds director Ritesh Batra at his poetic best. It’s a bit of a crime, really, that we aren’t paying more attention to his work, considering just how instrumental he has been in announcing to the world what Indian filmmakers are capable of. While his sensibilities remain as international as ever, Photograph is rooted in its Indianness.
Serenity
Director Steven Knight’s film (available on Netflix) is one of the most aggressively original cinematic experiences of the year, understandably panned by the majority of the people who actually saw it. It saddens me that we live in a world where we can appreciate Black Mirror but not this.
Paddleton
The absolute disappearance of Netflix’s Paddleton, director Alex Lehmann and writer-actor Mark Duplass’ follow-up to their tremendous Blue Jay, has been particularly difficult to swallow. But spreading the word about it, in whatever way possible, is truly why lists such as this exist. Had it been granted a theatrical release, an Oscar nod for Ray Romano would’ve been on the cards.
Cold Pursuit
Cold Pursuit is both a parable on the emptiness of revenge and a snarky takedown of the sort of movies Liam Neeson has been making for the last decade. It is a pitch black comedy - reminiscent slightly of an idea the Coen Brothers might flirt with, and then discard.
