ReelBob: 2019’s top 10 movies

By Bob Bloom

Like most years, 2019 started off slowly with January and February featuring movies studios were dumping off simply to fill multiplexes.

As the months passed, movies started improving, transforming from summer blockbusters to fall and winter prestige releases seeking film festival and Academy Award recognition.

Throughout the year, my choices for my top 10 list was in flux. It nearly changed week to week.

Many of the movies shown in October at the Heartland International Film Festival in Indianapolis, helped solidify my choices. There I saw, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” “Marriage Story,” “Jojo Rabbit” and “Waves,” all of which are included on my list.

I kept vacillating about what my top film would be. And, the more I thought about it, the more one title continued to reverberate. I kept coming back to it, comparing it to the other films I had seen during the year. This movie clung to my like a barnacle on a freighter.

So, here they are:

1.“Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”: Quentin Tarantino’s fairy tale taps into our psyche about the movies, which allow us to escape to far-off lands, the past, the future and even galaxies far far away.

Plus, the story about a washed-up former TV Western star, played by Leonardo Di Caprio, his stuntman-best friend, played by Brad Pitt, a young starlet named Sharon Tate, a vivacious Margot Robbie and the cult whose dark shadow loomed over Hollywood during the summer of 1969, was a delightful look at an industry at a crossroads in which studios were fading and performers were taking control of their careers.

The capper was Tarantino’s decision to give us an ending in which everyone we cared about lived happily ever after.

2.“Parasite”: Bong Joon-ho’s dark and satiric examination of class and family may be set in South Korea, but its themes are universal, applicable in any nation or culture.

The Kim family, at the bottom rung of the financial ladder, gets the chance to insinuate themselves into the lives of the wealthy Park family. It’s a symbiotic relationship: the Kims provide comfortable services, while the Parks offer financial security.

Soon, though, Bong transforms his movie into a story of dashed dreams and sunken expectations that explode the worlds of both families.

“Parasite” is a move that will make you laugh and shudder.

3.“For Sama”: I caught up with this devastating documentary a couple of months after it was shown at Heartland.

The movie covers the siege of Aleppo in Syria during the civil war in that nation that has killed thousands, including hundreds of innocent women and children.

The documentary was shot by woman journalist Waad al-Kateab and is a video diary — a love letter of sorts — to her infant daughter who was born during the struggle to rid Syria of the corrupt Assad dynasty.

The film displays so much death and grief that it brings tears to your eyes. You want to reach out and pull these civilians to safety.

Luckily, al-Kateab’s journey ends on a note of optimism for her and her daughter. Sadly, many innocent victims remain in Aleppo while the world watches and does nothing.

4.“Little Women”: Greta Gerwig’s reinterpretation of the oft-told story of the four March sisters is brought to vibrant life in this smart and sassy adaptation that, despite being set during the Civil War, feels very contemporary and relevant.

Gerwig’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel is made more accessible because she remains true to the spirit of Alcott’s story. The strong cast Gerwig has assembled, including Saorise Ronan, Florence Pugh, Emma Watson and Eliza Scanlen as Jo, Amy, Meg and Beth, creates a warm glow of familial love and support that permeates the entire project.

5.“Marriage Story”: Noah Baumbach’s melancholy drama that looks at the trauma of divorce and how outside forces — mostly lawyers — create a climate in which two people who want to amicably end their marriage are driven to their emotional and financial limits because of miscommunication, bitterness and resentment.

Strong performances by Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, with capable support by Laura Der and, Alan Alda, offer insights into the toll divorce takes not only on the couple, but their children and families.

Smartly, Baumbach, who also wrote the script, offers a ray of hope, detailing how festering wounds heal, reconciliation of sorts is reached, life goes on and a new normalcy is established.

6.“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”: Wisely, director Marielle Heller’s movie is not a biopic about Fred Rogers, the Pittsburgh children’s show host whose “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood” influenced millions of youngsters with his philosophy of kindness and understanding.

It is more about how the impact Rogers had on others through his selflessness, kindness, compassion and acute understanding of people and their imperfections.

The movie, shaped like an episode of one of Rogers’ programs, offers life lessons on forgiveness, reconciliation and the importance of family.

The film was inspired by an “Esquire” magazine article and the friendship between Rogers and the article’s writer, Tom Junod. The movie is a five-hankie tearjerker that speaks softly but carries a big message.

7.“Jojo Rabbit”: Taika Waititi’s dark comedy is an anti-war satire of Nazi fanaticism as seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old boy whose imaginary friend is Adolf Hitler.

Jojo wishes he was old enough to carry a rifle and fight for his Fuhrer. His room is decorated with posters of swastikas and portraits of his idol.

This all may sound sick, but young Roman Griffin Davis’ innocence and naivete make it work. The best parts of the film are the exchanges between Jojo and his imaginary Adolf.

“Jojo Rabbit” stands out because of the choices Waititi employs to convey his story. For example, he uses contemporary music instead of the cliched German militaristic compositions of the era.

Waititi also is not afraid to change course. After 90-plus minutes of childhood goofiness, the movie takes a dark and tragic turn that forces Jojo to confront the reality of war and his devotion to his idol.

The movie puts a spotlight directly into the eyes of evil, as well as ridiculing hateful ideologies and dialogues contaminating today’s world.

8.“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”: This intensely romantic historical drama from France is heartwarming and heartbreaking. It is set in 1760 and tells the story of a woman painter commissioned to create the wedding portrait of a young woman who has just left the convent.

The young woman refuses to pose so Marianne, the painter, arrives at the chateau where Héloïse lives supposedly to be her companion.

Marianne observes Heloise during the day and paints her from memory at night. As the two women continue being around each other, a relationship develops.

The potency of writer-director Celine Sciamma’s movie is watching as the two women slowly grow from friendship to attraction and, finally, to love. Inspired performances by Noémie Merlant as Marianne and Adèle Haenel as Heloise elevate the film, as does the stunning cinematography.

9.“Waves”: A poignant movie that follows the ebb and flow of an upper middle-class black family as they face turbulence, tragedy and, finally, a sense of acceptance.

Director Trey Edwards Shults basically has created two movies — the first, deals with anger, loss, desperation, turmoil and despair, while the second is commanded by hope, love, reconciliation, compassion and forgiveness.
Acting accolades go to two of the movie’s young cast members, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Taylor Russell.
“Waves” is, at first, emotionally shattering, but then slowly brings us back into the light and allows us to once again breathe easy.

10.“One Child Nation”: A harrowing documentary that examines the ramifications and repercussions of China’s one-child policy.

It’s a disturbing movie that details the devastating toll of government policy on its people. The program was launched in 1979, when Chinese leaders were worried that overpopulation would lead to famine and economic hardship.

A byproduct of this inhumane program was the termination of thousands of pregnancies, the abandonment of countless infants — the vast majority of whom were female — and a nation’s population where, today, men vastly outnumber women.

The movie will not only open our eyes to this dark and disgusting chapter in China’s history, but it will preserve these atrocities so they cannot be buried and forgotten.

Below are, in alphabetical order, my five honorable mentions; movies that I thoroughly enjoyed, but could not quite crack the 10 titles above:
“Avengers: Endgame”
“Ford v Ferrari’
“In Fabric”
“The Lighthouse”
“Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice”

Finally, simply to get some peoples’ blood boiling, here are my choices, again alphabetically, for the worst and most disappointing movies of 2019:
“Dark Phoenix”
“Gemini Man”
“Glass”
“Men in Black International”
“Shaft”

Thus, let the games and second-guessing commence.

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My reviews appear at ReelBob (reelbob.com) and Rottentomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com). I also review Blu-rays and DVDs. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com or on Twitter @ReelBobBloom. Links to my reviews can be found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.