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The 50 Best Movies of 2019

There were more than 900 movies released in theaters in 2019. Even more went directly to streaming platforms. These are the 50 best, according to the Film School Rejects team.
Best Movies of 2019
By  · Published on December 31st, 2019

40. Joker

Joker

For me, the key to Joker lies in a single alleyway shot sandwiched between two closeups of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) near the very end of the movie. What does a person do with their rage? For the wannabe Clown Prince of Crime, the world is against him. Every person who surrounds him has been placed on this Earth to hurt him, and now it’s time for them to feel his pain. Much of the film is a childish, obvious, woe-is-me gateway into the mind of a hateful psychopath. But then there is that alleyway and the boy who suffered equally but responded drastically different. We don’t get that kid’s movie. Not here. We already know it by heart. Our history with that alleyway kid is the final condemnation that Joker offers its lead. The film is not a celebration. It’s a miserable, drawn-out drag that ultimately highlights the profound power of the Dark Knight detective. (Brad Gullickson)


39. Hagazussa: A Heathen’s Curse

Hagazussa

I’ve described Hagazussa to friends, family, and strangers as cinema’s preeminent horny plague movie and I am not wrong. Set in Austria in the 1400s, Hagazussa follows Albrun (Aleksandra Cwen), a reclusive single mother who’s strangeness invites sideways glances and outright cruelty from superstitious townsfolk. What follows is an unwell mind pushed to its breaking point with devastating and frighteningly sumptuous results. Hagazussa takes the slow-burning scenic route through Melancholia, Mandy, The VVitch, and Possession to deliver the year’s most unnerving horror entrant. For those open to its earthy drones, this here’s a film that can hypnotize and horrify in equal measure. Mark my words: Hagazussa is director Lukas Feigelfeld’s Beyond the Black Rainbow. He’s one to watch. And really, what better way to bid adieu to 2019 than a muddy magic mushroom murder spiral? (Meg Shields)


38. The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open

The Body Remembers

The historically near-invisible perspectives of Indigenous Canadian women burst forth with clarity and honesty in Elle-Maija Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn’s first collaboration, which was released by Ava DuVernay’s production company and is now streaming on Netflix. From Rosie (Violet Nelson) singing in a near-whisper to her unborn child to Aila (Tailfeathers) trying to convince a stranger to escape her abuser in fits and starts of advice and prodding, The Body Remembers is a tug-of-war between gentle gifts and harsh realities. It unfolds in real-time across 105 minutes, and you’ll hang on every one of them. (Valerie Ettenhofer)


37. I Lost My Body

I Lost My Body

The thought of losing your hand is already terrifying, but the idea that it might find a life of its own and then work its way back to you is the stuff of nightmares. It’s a horror story, to be sure, but this animated film from France takes a different tact with it and delivers a beautifully haunting and emotionally affecting tale about loss, longing, and loneliness. As the title suggests, the hand’s journey is every bit as important as the body’s, and they work collectively to tell a story about the whole. It’s not often that animated movies leave you feeling, thinking, and reflecting, but this film manages all three. (Rob Hunter)


36. Jojo Rabbit

Jojo Rabbit

Taika Waititi’s entry into the “Don’t Forget, Nazis are Bad” genre is simultaneously deeply charming and, especially in its third act, extraordinarily harrowing. It’s an odd mix, but then again, Taika himself plays an imaginary goofball version of Hitler created by the mind of a precocious Nazi youth who himself is dealing with all kinds of trauma. It’s a meditation on extremism, the impressionable nature of youth, and the harsh truths that people sometimes hid within the walls of their home. Also, Sam Rockwell and Alfie Allen are doing some things in the periphery of this film that are deeply funny, especially given the context. Classic Taika. (Neil Miller)


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