Friday, March 06, 2020

Pantys '19: Fave Films, Part Two

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Well, we've done it! Our 2019 Pantys are coming to a close today with this, our favorite 10 movies of last year. I'll do a round-up post later today to help you find links to everything that's come before, but before we get to this specific list let me first summarize what I posted on Monday, my numbers 25-11 favorite films...

25. Parasite
24. The Mustang
23. Transit
22. Us
21. The Irishman
20. Piercing
19. To Dust

18. Atlantics
17. This Is Not Berlin
16. The Nightingale
15. Invisible Life
14. Peterloo
13. Waves
12. High Life
11. Pain and Glory

And now, what we've all -- and by "we all" I mean "me" because thank god I am finally done with this and can move on to the year that is 2020 properly -- been waiting for, it's time for the other 10. One more quick note first, though -- when I gave you My Favorite Horror Films of 2019 earlier this week the Top 4 of that list was missing, because I didn't want to spoil this list. So you'll see a note alongside the four Horror Films on this list where they fall on that other list, as well. That said, here we go...

My 10 Favorite Movies of 2019

(dir. Greta Gerwig)

Indelible moment: Beth by the sea

(dir. Yann Gonzalez)
(this is my #4 horror film of 2019)
-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: Cruising Part II

(dir. Lucio Castro)
-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: We met before
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(dir. Christophe Honoré)
-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: Three in the bed

(dir. Peter Strickland)
(this is my #3 horror film of 2019)
-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: Sale at Dentley and Soper's

(dir. Joe Talbot)
-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: First and last performance

(dir. Céline Sciamma)
-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: Singing by the sea

(dir. Marielle Heller)
-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: Bedside Photograph

(dir. Ari Aster)
(this is my #2 horror film of 2019)
-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: A pair of jumpers

(dir. Robert Eggers)
(this is my #1 horror film of 2019)
-- read my review here --

Indelible moment: Fonda Me Lobster

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No doubt there's no surprise on that last one, ye barnacles and deck-swabbers alike, given how I've been calling The Lighthouse my favorite film of the year since I first saw the movie in October -- the marrow-deep love was immediate and complete. But that's given me a lot of time to wonder why this movie about two wacky dudes trapped on one wacky island, out of all the movies of 2019 that speak to our political and cultural moment, was The One for me, above all of the others. 

Well as I argued in my review I personally choose to read and enjoy the film as a a gay male love story -- a fucked-up love story obviously, but love, my loves, is fucked up. In its wackadoodle symbolic way The Lighthouse is, for me, just as specific about what it means for two men, with all that turbulent masculine baggage attached, to make a home together, as is Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread about the same subject just for the straights. I mean I love Phantom Thread and saw all of that in Phantom Thread too, but with The Lighthouse it gets to be all dudes playing out the push pull power dynamics of a long-term commitment. I like that.

But then, like my favorite movie of the entire last decade -- I never officially made that list but do you really think that'd be anything except Call Me By Your Name? -- The Lighthouse is also just a movie that swallows me whole and carries me away from this world, and I like want and need that too. The look, the sound, the dialogue, the sweat and the fervent masturbation -- when I watch these movies there is nothing in the world but these movies. Cinema isn't just an escape, but what a goddamned escape it can be.


2 comments:

Frank said...

You see far more movies than I so we only have one film in common in our top ten favorites (Little Women). But I absolutely hated the Mr. Rogers film. Hanks never came across as genuine as the real Rogers and the message that you forgive your father no matter what a f#ck-up he is is bullsh#t.

I had planned to see Midsommer but the more I learn about the plot, the less interested I became. I just saw the Cinema Sins episode about it, and it confirmed my decision.

JWB said...

What a fantastic top 10