Thanksgiving weekend may be over, but the season of “best of” lists is just beginning. As every publication is posting its own Best of 2019 list, we begin to see some films appear in multiple lists, roughly in the same order. Though we haven’t seen “Cats” yet, most of the big movies of 2019 have already been released, and with that the top 20 list of 2019 from Sight & Sound magazine.
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The British publication, which features ballots from 100 international film critics, programmers, and academics who contribute to the magazine, just announced their list of the best films of the year, and it is topped by none other than Sundance hit “The Souvenir,” which stars breakout Honor Swinton Byrne as a filmmaker whose life is torn by the arrival of a charming heroin addict.
Most of the entries on the list are the usual suspects, like Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite,” or Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman.” A bit more surprising is the inclusion of a triple threat of sophomore horror films comprising of Jordan Peele’s “Us,” Robert Eggers‘ “The Lighthouse,” and Ari Aster’s “Midsommar.” Then there are the truly surprising (and very much welcome) additions of “Happy as Lazzaro” by Alice Rohrwacher, and Lorena Scafaria’s hit, “Hustlers.”
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Check out Sight & Sound’s top 20 below.
20. “Martin Eden” (Pietro Marcello)
19. “Hustlers” (Lorena Scafaria)
18. “Happy as Lazzaro” (Alice Rohrwacher)
17. “The Lighthouse” (Robert Eggers)
16. “Midsommar” (Ari Aster)
15. “For Sama” (Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts)
14. “Marriage Story” (Noah Baumbach)
13. “Monos” (Alejandro Landes)
12. “Uncut Gems” (Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie)
11. “High Life” (Claire Denis)
10. “Vitalina Varela” (Pedro Costa)
9. “Us” (Jordan Peele)
8. “Bait” (Mark Jenkin)
7. “Atlantics” (Mati Diop)
6. “Pain and Glory” (Pedro Almodóvar)
5. “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” (Céline Sciamma)
4. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (Quentin Tarantino)
3. “The Irishman” (Martin Scorsese)
2. “Parasite” (Bong Joon Ho)
1. “The Souvenir” (Joanna Hogg)