Jay Stone’s Top 10 movies of 2019
(Along with one honourable mention and one movie that every one else loved conspicuous by its absence)
By Jay Stone
Here are my favourite movies of 2019, in alphabetical order:
Honeyland: An amazing documentary, filmed in Macedonia, about a female beekeeper who lives with her ailing mother in rocky isolation, and harvests honey in a way compatible with her deep understanding of the life of bees. This hard-scrabble harmony is disrupted by a family of raucous nomads who move next door. The result is a galvanizing drama about society, greed, culture and, well, bees.
Gloria Bell: Sebastián Lelio’s remake of his own 2013 Spanish-language movie Gloria stars Julianne Moore as a divorcee who assuages her loneliness at dance clubs, and John Turturro as the constricted man who falls for her. The final scene, with the magnificent Moore dancing to the titular disco hit, is one of the great cinematic shouts of joy of the year.
Jojo Rabbit: New ...
Knives Out hides a pointed satire beneath cloak of mystery
Movie review: Knives Out
The director behind Brick, Looper and the Last Jedi plays a clever trick on Agatha Christie cliché by framing a murder mystery as morality play that examines the corpse of the patriarchy, and the idea of inherited privilege.
Chris Buck was on the verge of quitting, then he won an Oscar
Interview with Chris Buck, co-diretor of Frozen
The Kansas-born director was finishing Frozen when tragedy struck in 2013. "I was ready to kind of say: Cartoons are a joke. Why am I doing this?” Yet, in persevering he found purpose, and a deep belief he was put on this planet for a reason: “to bring hope and inspiration.”
Review: Midway torpedoes MAGA hat hate
Movie review: Midway
Roland Emmerich shows uncharacteristic restraint in his ode to the Battle of Midway, an against-all-odds story of courage and bravery that truly made America “great."
Review: Before You Know It finds new edge to family dysfunction
Movie Review: Before You Know It
Soap opera star Judith Light plays to her strengths as an actress who gave up her two daughters to pursue her career, only to be reunited as an awkward family in later life. Director, actor and co-writer Hannah Pearl Utt finds a female way of communicating -- wrapped in apology and accusation -- that gives the unconvincing plot a jolt of novelty that serves the larger purpose.
Review: Downton Abbey’s fairy tale continues to fester
Movie Review: Downton Abbey
Julian Fellowes created a perfect little universe inside a crystal ball, then filled it with the suggestion of outside elements — a pinch of painted sand and glitter that he can agitate to conjure a snowstorm of conflict. The new feature film stays inside the gorgeous snow globe as a Royal Visit shakes up the Crawley family, and sets the stage for the next century -- as well as a continuing film franchise.
