At the risk of an extreme case of deja-vu – here we are again, then, with another year (and a decade) done. Business as usual, in many respects – but if I was to identify anything particularly significant about 2019, it’d be to say that the distance between mainstream cinema and independent cinema never seems to have been greater. I have attended a standard, or high street cinema just a handful of times, at least once to see what has become an unlikely crossover success. For the rest of the time, all the new films I’ve seen have come via film festivals, where – sad to say – a lot of excellent cinema thereby goes overlooked by many people who might find plenty to love. Some of the bigger-budget films have struck a chord with audiences of all stripes, however, and in many respects it’s been a pleasure to dodge some of the big-budget guff that’s been hurled at audiences who might not know there’s a big, bad, but better world out there, beyond bloody Marvel and, at the time I write, Cats…
But anyway, 2019 has brought along a host of great films: here are my personal favourites.
Black Circle
Bringing cult heroine Christina Lindberg back to the screen for the first time in decades, I really enjoyed this science-meets-occult film, an original idea which effectively merged the creep factor with a workable fantasy world all of its own. Playing with two familiar ideas – the notion of ‘self help’ and the notion of self-hypnosis – Black Circle revolutionises the trope whereby all vinyl records with supernatural potential are bound to be heavy metal, bound to summon Old Scratch. Not so here. It’s a film which knows how to splice traditional ideas with new, and it had me gripped. You can check out the full review here.
3 From Hell
Step around the point that this is a very unlikely sequel, both in terms of time passed and how events last unfolded on-screen, and what you have here is a filmmaker who has nothing to prove, nothing to worry about, only a deep desire to make films in his own way. The result is, effectively, several films rolled up in one, and whilst it’s a really sad note that actor Sid Haig’s poor health prevented him from reprising his role as Spaulding in the way Rob Zombie originally intended, 3 From Hell is a fun nod to the exploitation cinema of the late 70s and early 80s. Yes, in many ways it’s a retread of the plot from The Devil’s Rejects, and it doesn’t surpass the earlier film, but it certainly has its own fair share of energy, violence and cruel wit. With no agenda to fulfil, it’s still enough of its own beast. You can check out a full review here.
The Nightingale
A film which couldn’t really be further from the film above in terms of tone and treatment, The Nightingale is one of the most staggeringly brutal films I have ever seen, and I can honestly say I don’t think I will ever watch it again. I will still encourage anyone with a stomach for stone-cold historical epics to see it once themselves, however, as without preaching or sentimentalising, this film has a message which will stick to your skin for weeks to follow – as it should. Its tale of a young, abused woman in early colonial Australia, seeking the help of a native Australian to help her pursue the men who took everything from her is a gruelling, upsetting watch, but the supreme efforts taken over the verisimilitude, acting, locations and direction elevate it beyond most films I have seen. You can find out more about The Nightingale here.
Joker
I have no interest in the vast majority of comic book adaptations and the sheer glut of them is equally off-putting (‘watch these ten to understand this new one’) but Joker cut through a lot of the usual noise, because it seemed to irritate paternalistic critics and commentators who were alarmed that, for reasons not usually fully explained, the film might (gulp) inspire violence in its audiences. It hasn’t, of course, but this terror that the film bore some sort of message was intriguing in its own right. What were the great thinkpiece army afraid of? It turns out they were afraid of a sophisticated, finely-wrought character study of a damaged man; modern cult narratives of privilege and superiority are undone here slowly and meticulously, as Joachin Phoenix’s masterful performance gives us not a two-dimensional comic book stalwart but a real, sympathetic, if flawed person, sinking in a world which is not designed to help him. Links to the Batman universe are minor at most here, only underlining the undeniable distance between the powerful and the disempowered. No wonder the establishment hated this; they should do. You can read Helen’s great appraisal of Joker here.
Midsommar
Ari Aster’s riff on possession horror, Hereditary, was a massive statement of intent and ability; Midsommar, his most recent film, couldn’t look more different nor feel more different than the earlier film, but it is still a masterclass in showing us people out of their depth, surrounded by a knowing community with a functional, mutually-understood but downright dangerous culture. By moving the action to rural Sweden, Aster is able to channel the best of the folk horror tradition: alongside Robin Hardy, he shows us that nature can be a beautiful, expansive, but utterly indifferent setting for human misery (although you could argue that this ultimate break-up movie has a happy ending, of sorts). Midsommar has some familiar elements, sure, but it is still a highly original piece of storytelling, combining the age-old horror of ‘a stranger in a strange land’ with a prettified, theatrical isolated community (another folk horror staple) – this is undeniably horror to my mind, it’s an instant classic, and it’s the best film I’ve seen this year. You can check out my full review of Midsommar here.
Honourable mentions:
Why Don’t You Just Die! – Russian splatstick which works brilliantly within its confined set, hurling grisly sequence after grisly sequence at the audience. For all that, it’s not mindless and has an interesting story at heart which it delves into in good time. Check it out here.
The Color Out of Space – whilst not every element worked for me (I’m not sure what film Nicolas Cage thought he was acting in, even by his standards) it takes some guts to come back after a hefty career break and attempt to take on the vagaries of Lovecraft – but Richard Stanley did it. It’s a lurid, bold attempt to adapt a tricky story and as such it deserves credit. Take a look at the review here.