Edo Choi
2019 by international premiere date:
1. THE IRISHMAN (Martin Scorsese)
2. VITALINA VARELA (Pedro Costa)
3. AD ASTRA (James Gray)
4. MARRIAGE STORY (Noah Baumbach)
5. Mindhunter, Season 2 (David Fincher et. al.)
6. THE SOUVENIR (Joanna Hogg)
7. PARASITE (Bong Joon-ho)
8. SIBYL (Justine Triet)
9. AMERICAN FACTORY (Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert)
10. MARTIN EDEN (Pietro Marcello)
11. TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
12. OH MERCY (Arnaud Desplechin)
13. HIGH FLYING BIRD (Steven Soderbergh)
Rob Christopher
APOLLO 11 (Todd Douglas Miller)
BEAUTY #2 (Andy Warhol)
BURNING (Chang-dong Lee)
THE GREEN FOG (Guy Maddin & Evan Johnson & Galen Johnson)
IN MY ROOM (Ulrich Köhler)
KNIVES OUT (Rian Johnson)
THE ONE I LOVE (Charlie McDowell)
ROMA (Alfonso Cuarón)
SAINT FRANCES (Alex Thompson & Kelly O’Sullivan)
SUPPORT THE GIRLS (Andrew Bujalski)
THREADS (Mick Jackson)
Cody Corrall
Favorite Films of 2019 (in accordance with US release dates):
1. PARASITE (Bong Joon-ho)
2. THE FAREWELL (Lulu Wang)
3. THE IRISHMAN (Martin Scorsese)
4. KNIFE+HEART (Yann Gonzalez)
5. UNCUT GEMS (Safdie Brothers)
6. A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD (Marielle Heller)
7. THE LIGHTHOUSE (Robert Eggers)
8. CHARLIE SAYS (Mary Harron)
9. THE NIGHTINGALE (Jennifer Kent)
10. HER SMELL (Alex Ross Perry)
Favorite Films of 2019 (that have yet to be widely released in the US):
1. AND THEN WE DANCED (Levan Akin)
2. PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (Céline Sciamma)
3. MAGGIE (Lee Ok-seop)
4. LOST TRANSMISSIONS (Katherine O'Brien)
5. INICIALES S.G. (Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia)
6. BLOW THE MAN DOWN (Danielle Krudy, Bridget Savage Cole)
7. CIRCUS OF BOOKS (Rachel Mason)
8. AAMIS (Bhaskar Hazarika)
9. THE TRUTH (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
10. SWALLOW (Carlo Mirabella-Davis)
Honorable mentions: LITTLE WOMEN (Greta Gerwig), THE BEACH BUM (Harmony Korine), BLISS (Joe Begos), HAIL SATAN? (Penny Lane), US (Jordan Peele)
John Dickson
THE IRISHMAN (Martin Scorsese)
PARASITE (Bong Joon-ho)
THE IMAGE BOOK (Jean Luc Godard)
VITALINA VARELA (Pedro Costa)
HOTEL BY THE RIVER (Hong Sang-soo)
DOMINO (Brian De Palma)
HIGH LIFE (Claire Denis)
ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD (Quentin Tarantino)
UNCUT GEMS (Josh & Benny Safdie)
LA FLOR (Mariano Llinás)
Dark Horse: UNDER THE SILVER LAKE (David Robert Mitchell)
Marilyn Ferdinand
Favorite New Features (in no particular order):
WOMAN AT WAR (Benedikt Erlingsson, 2018)
COMMUNION (Anna Zamecka, 2018)
THE LITTLE COMRADE (Moonika Siimets, 2018)
WORKING WOMAN (Michal Aviad, 2018)
CHARLIE SAYS (Mary Harron, 2018)
NON-FICTION (Olivier Assayas, 2018)
BOMBAY ROSE (Gitanjali Rao, 2019)
PAIN AND GLORY (Pedro Almodóvar, 2019)
PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (Céline Sciamma, 2019)
MS. PURPLE (Justin Chon, 2019)
LITTLE JOE (Jessica Hausner, 2019)
LITTLE WOMEN (Greta Gerwig, 2019)
JOJO RABBIT (Taika Waititi, 2019)
ALELÍ (Leticia Jorge Romero, 2019)
KNIVES OUT (Rian Johnson, 2019)
Favorite New Documentaries (in no particular order):
HAPPY WINTER (Giovanni Totaro, 2017)
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY? (Astra Taylor, 2018)
ROLL RED ROLL (Nancy Schwartzman, 2018)
AMAZING GRACE (Alan Elliott, Sydney Pollack, 2018)
MAIDEN (Alex Holmes, 2018)
#FEMALE PLEASURE (Barbara Miller, 2018)
ONE CHILD NATION (Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang, 2019)
F*** YOUR HAIR (Jason Polevoi, 2019)
SERENDIPITY (Prune Nourry, 2019)
AT THE HEART OF GOLD (Erin Lee Carr, 2019)
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MY MOTHER (Beniamino Barrese, 2019)
Favorite Older Films First Seen in 2019:
HOTEL IMPERIAL (Mauritz Stiller, 1927)
FRAGMENT OF AN EMPIRE (Fridrikh Ermler, 1929)
HALSTED STREET (Conrad O. Nelson, 1931)
MERRILY WE GO TO HELL (Dorothy Arzner, 1932)
THE NIGHT PORTER (Liliana Cavani 1973)
PERFUMED NIGHTMARE (Kidlat Tahimik, 1977)
THE LATE SHOW (Robert Benton, 1977)
CITY OF LOST SOULS (Rosa von Praunheim, 1983)
YEAR OF THE QUIET SUN (Krzysztof Zanussi, 1984)
WANDERERS OF THE DESERT (Nacer Khemir, 1984)
CAROL’S JOURNEY (Imanol Uribe, 2002)
SEMANA SANTA (Alejandra Márquez Abella, 2015)
Hall of Fame:
Cine-File’s very own Mike Metzger for reviving Block Cinema’s program with his excellent taste, adventurous programming, and interesting guest speakers.
Patrick Friel
Top Retrospective/Vintage Films with Chicago Public Screenings in 2019 Seen by Me for the First Time (plus One Sort-of-New Film and One New Film That Didn’t Screen in Chicago Proper)
(Note: some of these I saw via online or digital preview copies)
[SAN FRANCISCO AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE] (1906, Miles Brothers) [35mm; Chicago Film Society/Music Box Theatre and Block Cinema at the Block Museum of Art]
FILIBUS (1915, Mario Roncoroni) [Digital; Gene Siskel Film Center]
HE BUTTS INTO THE MOVIES AGAIN (1916, Gregory La Cava) [16mm; Chicago Film Society/Music Box Theatre]
WORLD CITY IN ITS TEENS: A REPORT ON CHICAGO (1931, Heinrich Hauser) [35mm; Chicago Film Society/Music Box Theatre]
LOOK-OUT SISTER (1947, Bud Pollard) [35mm; Chicago Film Society at NEIU]
THE LIFE OF JUANITA CASTRO (1965, Andy Warhol) [16mm; Block Cinema at the Block Museum of Art]
WEALTH OF A NATION (1964, William Greaves) [16mm; Chicago Film Society at NEIU]
DIALOGUE WITH CHE (1968, José Rodriguez-Soltero) [16mm; Block Cinema at the Block Museum of Art]
SANRIZUKA: HETA VILLAGE (1973, Shinsuke Ogawa) [16mm; South Side Projections at Logan Center for the Arts/University of Chicago]
EQUATION TO AN UNKNOWN (1980, Dietrich De Velda) [Digital; Music Box Theatre]
OUR CENTURY (1983, Artavzd Peleshian) [35mm; Block Cinema at the Block Museum of Art]
ISHTAR (1987, Elaine May) [35mm; Block Cinema at the Block Museum of Art]
JAZZ ’34: REMEMBRANCES OF KANSAS CITY SWING (1997, Robert Altman) [35mm; Chicago Film Society at the Music Box Theatre]
THE WANDERING SOAP OPERA (1990/2017, Raul Ruiz and Valeria Sarmiento) [Digital; Facets Cinémathèque]
6 UNDERGROUND (2019, Michael Bay) [Digital; suburban locations/Netflix]
Not on my main list, as I curated the screening they appeared in, but also these, which were at Block Cinema at the Block Museum of Art:
[Vitagraph Fragments No. 5] (1908) [35mm]
THE SALE OF A HEART (1913, Maurice Costello and Robert Gaillard) [35mm]
WHEN THE EARTH TREMBLED, OR THE STRENGTH OF LOVE (1913, Barry O’Neil) [35mm]
Jonathan Leithold-Patt
1. PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
2. AD ASTRA
3. THE IRISHMAN
4. WAVES
5. MARRIAGE STORY
6. THE BODY REMEMBERS WHEN THE WORLD BROKE OPEN
7. A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
8. I LOST MY BODY
9. LITTLE WOMEN
10. UNCUT GEMS
JB Mabe
Work seen for the first time by me theatrically in Chicago in 2019.
I.
MODEL TODDLE (Bob Cowan, 1967)
NOW 2 (Kevin Eskew, 2019)
DESNUDO CON ALCATRACES (Nude with Lillies, Silvia Gruner, 1986)
US (Jordan Peele, 2019)
V.
I HOPE I’M LOUD WHEN I’M DEAD (Beatrice Gibson, 2019)
GRETA (Neil Jordan, 2018)
VII.
A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD (Marielle Heller, 2019)
VII.
ONCE, MAYBE TWICE; OR, THE CLOCKWORK OF SUMMER (Dicky Bahto, 2017)
WHAT IS NOTHING (AFTER WHAT IS NOTHING) (Kristin Reeves, 2019)
X.
HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING (RaMell Ross, 2018)
Michael Metzger
Narrative:
1. I WAS AT HOME, BUT (Angela Schanelec)
2. TRANSIT (Christian Petzold)
3. VITALINA VARELA (Pedro Costa)
4. FIRE WILL COME (Oliver Laxe)
5. PETERLOO (Mike Leigh)
6. HUSTLERS (Lorene Scafaria)
7. AN ELEPHANT SITTING STILL (Hu Bo)
8. JUST 6.5 (Saeed Roustayi)
9. JALLIKATU (Lijo Jose Pellissery)
10. THE BODY REMEMBERS WHEN THE WORLD SPLIT OPEN (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn)
11. ENDLESS NIGHT (Eloy Enciso Cachafeiro)
12. BAIT (Mark Jenkin)
13. PARASITE (Bong Joon-Ho)
14. EMPTY METAL (Adam Khalil and Bayley Sweitzer)
15. GHOST TROPIC (Bas Devos)
16. PAIN AND GLORY (Pedro Almodóvar)
17. EMA (Pablo Larraín)
18. THE SOUVENIR (Joanna Hogg)
19. ROJO (Benjamin Naishtat)
20. KNIVES AND SKIN (Jennifer Reeder)
Documentary:
1. THE HOTTEST AUGUST (Brett Story)
2. SWARM SEASON (Sarah Christman)
3. BLACK MOTHER (Khalik Allah)
4. MIDNIGHT FAMILY (Luke Lorentzen)
5. MY FIRST FILM (Zia Anger)
6. ISADORA’S CHILDREN (Damien Manivel)
7. LOS REYES (Bettina Perut, Iván Osnovikoff)
8. JUST DON’T THINK I’LL SCREAM (Frank Beauvais)
9. INFINITE FOOTBALL (Corneliu Porumboiu)
10. THE TWO FACES OF A BAMILEKE WOMAN (Rosine Mbakam)
Experimental:
1. 2008 (Blake Williams)
2. A LEAF IS A SEA IS A THEATER (Jonathan Schwartz)
3 (tie). THIS ACTION LIES (James N. Kienitz Wilkins) & KODAK (Andrew Norman Wilson)
4. INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO MAKE A FILM (Nazlı Dinçel)
5. THE EDDIES (Madsen Minax)
6. GARDEN CITY BEAUTIFUL (Ben Balcom)
7. THE REVERSAL (Jennifer Boles)
8. RECEIVER (Jenny Brady)
9. MAGIC BATH (Grace Mitchell)
10. BLACK BUS STOP (Kevin Jerome Everson and Claudrena N. Harold)
11. LYNDALE (Oli Rodriguez & Victoria Stob)
Local revival screenings:
1. YAMA: ATTACK TO ATTACK (Mitsuo Sato and Kyoichi Yamaoka, Justice Hotel)
2. HARMFUL INSECT (Akihiko Shiota, Doc Films)
3. JAZZ & THE L.A. REBELLION (Chicago Film Society)
4. JEROVI (José Rodríguez-Soltero, The Gate Theater Film Festival at filmfront)
5. GEORG (Stanton Kaye, The Gate Theater Film Festival at filmfront)
6. NOTHING HAPPENED THIS MORNING (David Bienstock, The Gate Theater Film Festival at filmfront)
7. TRUST (Hal Hartley, Chicago Film Society)
8. WORLD CITY IN ITS TEENS (Heinrich Hauser, Chicago Film Society
9. THE BIG CITY (Satyajit Ray, Doc Films)
10. OLD BOYFRIENDS (Joan Tewkesbury, Chicago Film Society)
Scott Pfeiffer
Top 10 of 2019
1. THE IRISHMAN (Martin Scorsese)
2. ROLLING THUNDER REVUE: A BOB DYLAN STORY BY MARTIN SCORSESE (Martin Scorsese)
3. LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (Bi Gan)
4. PARASITE (Bong Joon-Ho)
5. UNCUT GEMS (Josh and Benny Safdie)
6. THE IMAGE BOOK (Jean-Luc Godard)
7. US (Jordan Peele)
8. AN ELEPHANT SITTING STILL (Hu Bo)
9. VARDA BY AGNES (Agnes Varda)
10. ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD (Quentin Tarantino
Kathleen Sachs
Favorite New(-ish) Releases I Saw for the First Time in 2019
1. “I DO NOT CARE IF WE GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS BARBARIANS” (Radu Jude, 2018)
2. THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS (Simon Lereng Wilmont, 2018)
3. PAIN AND GLORY (Pedro Almodóvar, 2019)
4 (Tie). CHEZ JOLIE COIFFURE/THE TWO FACES OF A BAMILÉKÉ WOMAN (Rosine Mbakam, 2019)
5. LYNDALE (Oli Rodriguez and Victoria Stob, 2018)
6. PETERLOO (Mike Leigh, 2019)
7. THE BLONDE ONE (Marco Berger, 2019)
8. SWORD OF TRUST (Lynn Shelton, 2019)
9. VARDA BY AGNÈS (Agnès Varda, 2019)
10. BLACK BUS STOP (Kevin Everson and Claudrena Harold, 2019)
Special Mentions: RICHARD JEWELL (Clint Eastwood, 2019); PASOLINI (Abel Ferrara, 2014); THE SOUVENIR (Joanna Hogg, 2019); GRASS (Hong Sang-soo, 2018); A HIDDEN LIFE (Terrenc Malick, 2019); FORD V FERRARI (James Mangold, 2019); COME COYOTE (Dani Leventhal ReStack and Sheilah ReStack, 2019); DARK WATERS (Todd Haynes, 2019); TERMINATOR: DARK FATE (Tim Miller, 2019); AD ASTRA (James Gray, 2019); STAN & OLLIE (Jon S. Baird, 2018); THE DEAD DON’T DIE (Jim Jarmusch, 2019); TEMBLORES (Jayro Bustamante, 2019); QUEEN & SLIM (Melina Matsoukas, 2019); FRANKIE (Ira Sachs, 2019); DESTROYER (Karyn Kusama, 2018); ASH IS PUREST WHITE (Jia Zhangke, 2018); THE SOWER (Marine Francen, 2019); 36 HOURS (Adam Sekuler, 2019); THE FAREWELL (Lulu Wang, 2019)
Harrison Sherrod
TOP 10 NEWISH FILMS OF 2019 (no order)
Lots of doppelgängers, ghosts, and strange metaphysical glitches & feedback loops. Cinema died in the 2010s! Long live cinema!
1. LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT, dir. Bi Gan
2. THE COMPETITION, dir. Claire Simon
3. THE WHISTLERS / INFINITE FOOTBALL dir. Corneliu Porumboiu
4. ASAKO I & II, dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
5. ATLANTICS, dir. Mati Diop
6. TRANSIT, dir. Christian Petzold
7. AD ASTRA, dir. James Gray
8. EVERYBODY IN THE PLACE, dir. Jeremy Deller
9. A FAITHFUL MAN, dir. Louis Garrel
10. DEATH STRANDING (Launch Trailer), dir. Hideo Kojima
\ \ \
TOP 10 FILMS NOT MADE IN 2019 THAT I WATCHED IN 2019
1. HYEENAS, dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty (1992)
2. A MAN VANISHES, dir. Shohei Imamura (1967)
3. MINUTE BODIES: THE INTIMATE WORLD OF F. PERCY SMITH, dir. Stuart A. Staples (2018)
4. OFFICE KILLER, dir. Cindy Sherman (1997)
5. MARATHON MILE, dir. Steve De Jarnatt (1989)
6. THE GREEN FOG, dirs. Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson (2017)
7. THE ONION FIELD, dir. Harold Becker (1979)
8. BLACK COAL, THIN ICE, dir. Diao Yinan (2014)
9. THE TASK, dir. Leah Ledare (2018)
10. THE CENTURY OF THE SELF, dir. Adam Curtis (2002)
Michael Glover Smith
My Top 10 Films of 2019 (only including titles that first screened in Chicago theatrically in the past calendar year):
10. BLACK MOTHER (Khalik Allah)
9. ATLANTICS (Mati Diop)
8. UNCUT GEMS (Josh and Benny Safdie)
7. HIGH LIFE (Claire Denis)
6. I WAS AT HOME, BUT... (Angela Schanelec)
5. A HIDDEN LIFE (Terrence Malick)
4. COINCOIN AND THE EXTRA-HUMANS (Bruno Dumont)
3. THE IMAGE BOOK (Jean-Luc Godard)
2. (tie) THE IRISHMAN / ROLLING THUNDER REVUE: A BOB DYLAN STORY (Martin Scorsese)
1. VITALINA VARELA (Pedro Costa)
Extended Top 25 with commentary here: https://whitecitycinema.com/2019/12/20/my-top-25-films-of-2019/
K.A. Westphal
Best Films of 2019
BEANPOLE (Kantemir Balagov) *
A BREAD FACTORY (Patrick Wang)
DIVINE LOVE (Gabriel Mascaro) *
EMA (Pablo Larraín) ^*
GIVE ME LIBERTY (Kirill Mikhanovsky) ^
GREENER GRASS (Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebee)
HER SMELL (Alex Ross Perry)
INCITEMENT (Yaron Zilberman) *
INVISIBLE LIFE (Karim Aïnouz)
LITTLE WOMEN (Greta Gerwig)
MARRIAGE STORY (Noah Baumbach
MONEYCHANGER (Federico Veiroj) §
LOS REYES (Iván Osnovikoff and Bettina Perut)
ROUNDS (Stephan Komandarev) §
SIBYL (Justine Triet) ^*
SUNSET (László Nemes)
TRAVEL STOP (Mike Gibisser)
^ Disclosure: Distributed by my employer, Music Box Films
* 2020 Theatrical Release
§ No US distributor
Best Films I Saw for the First Time in 2019
AUDIENCE (Barbara Hammer, 1983)
THE CRY OF JAZZ (Edward Bland, 1959)
DAGUERRÉOTYPES (Agnès Varda, 1976)
DRIFTING CLOUDS (Aki Kaurismäki 1996)
DRIVE-IN (Rod Amateau, 1976)
HOTEL IMPERIAL (Mauritz Stiller, 1927)
PLAY IT AS IT LAYS (Frank Perry, 1972)
REMEMBRANCE: A PORTRAIT STUDY (Edward Owens, 1967)
SATAN MET A LADY (William Dieterle, 1936)
SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS (Sergei Parajanov, 1964)