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2019 witnesses some amazing movies which are a must-watch. New ideas and varied perspectives will empower you with new ways of thinking. Thanks to the efforts of the IndieWire who organizes such a platform for critics to discover some great piece of art to admire. Among the best movies, I will list the 11 best movies that IMDB rated more than 8 stars.
Little Women
Greta Gerwig’s period drama Little Women is a 2019 American movie that received huge acclamation from the audience. It was chosen both by Time magazine and the American Film Institute as one of the top movies of 2019. The movie is an adaptation of the novel Little Women(1868) by Louisa May Alcott.
The story narrates the journey of four sisters turning point in the aftermath of the Civil War in America. The movie received two nominations, including Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama for Ronan.
Little Woman as the name alludes is essentially speaking about women who are intelligent as man and is capable to handle things in society.
Society always belittles the power of women and thus the title of the movie ironical to what women can do. As Jo says in the movie “Women have minds and souls as well as hearts, ambition, and talent as well as just beauty, and I’m sick of being told that love is all a woman is fit for,” starring Saoirse Ronan as Jo March, Emma Watson as Meg March, and Timothée Chalamet as Laurie have different dreams to pursue. These March sisters’ showcase sisterhood, generosity and the importance of community which will truly inspire the new generations.
Parasite
The Parasite is another movie of the highly acclaimed South Korean director Bong Joon -Ho. After the dystopian SnowPiercer and OKja, Parasite is his other great thriller comedy. It had its World Premiere at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. It is the first Korean film to win the Palme d’Or and the first film to do so with a unanimous vote since 2013’s “Blue is the Warmest Colour.” With overused content these days it is highly challenging to create exemplary movies. But the director showcased his talent by producing the amazing movie Parasite.
Income inequality is a grave issue all over the world. Related tho this recurring theme the movie Parasite is plotted. In the opening scene, we see the city of Seoul in a descriptive way, in the bashful, dingy roach-infested apartment of Kim’s household. All the four members in the household are unemployed Ki-Tack(father), Chung-Sook (mother) Ki-woo and Ki-Jung (children) fold Pizza boxes for change.
To escape poverty the family could go to any extent and thus they fetch a plan. When the son Ki-woo gets a golden opportunity to teach English to the daughter of the wealthy Park Family, by an old friend, he grabs it. To sound professional Ki-woo forged a diploma and degree with the help of his sister. His sister, Ki-Jung had great photoshopping skills. she cleverly made a forged degree for her brother.
Amazed by the stunning estate of the Parks’ Ki-woo hatches his next plan. He gradually refers his family to the parks for various jobs. His sister Ki-Jung as an art therapist to the younger son. The father as a chauffeur by replacing the earlier and eventually replaces the long-time housemaid with their mother. Kim’s ruled as temporary landlords when the Park went on vacation. But the turning point of the story is when the old housekeeper pays a visit. Now it is not the strife between the rich and the poor but the poor and the poorer. This portrayal of the sad reality is what the story reflects. The movie is a big hit as it captures the Korean sentiment reflecting the countries income gap continues to widen.
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1917
The movie 1917 is an epic war movie. Directed by Sam Mendes. MacKay plays the role of a young British soldier, Schofield. He was nearby his mate Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), accepts a dangerous task. The task is the two must cross enemy lines to send a message to British troops. It should be done on the other side by the next day’s dawn. Blake has a personal stake in the task as he has a brother among the troops at risk. Schofield thinks that the mission has no output but he sticks by his friend anyway.
The things that will strike you is the young boys who are barely out of their boyhood and the devastating effects of war.
In the HBO, miniseries ‘Band of Brothers’ created by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg reflect the similar war picture and the miserable condition of the soldiers. Although all the war movies reflect the same imagery which is bleak, dank trenches, dead horses and the bodies of the dead soldiers. Mendes captures all of that tense sadness of war with his co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns and dedicated the movie to his grandfather, a veteran of the war.
Portrait of a Lady
The movie Portrait of a Lady is 2019 French Historical drama by Celine Sciamme set in France in the late 18th century. The movie narrates a tale of an unlawful affair between an aristocrat and a painter commissioned to paint her portrait. She was not ready to get married and thus Marianne arrives disguising herself as a companion observing Heloise by day and secretly painting her.
As the two women spend time together intimacy grows between them. This extols presentation of 18th- century same-sex relationships is a new perspective. It seems that the historians are not bothered about the same-sex relationship or want to hide them by stating that “its just too romantic relation”.
Although media for many years kept quiet about same-sex relations now the LGBT community is taken quite literally. The movie shows how any desire can begin in any era and we must change our perspective to see it.
Apollo 11
The movie Apollo 11 is a 2019 American documentary film edited, produced and directed by Todd Douglas Miller. Apollo 11″ cannot be compared to other documentaries about the first moon mission, It is, in fact, magnificent and unique, an adrenaline shot of wonder and skill.
Todd Douglas Miller, the edited and directed of “Apollo 11,” tells the story entirely in the present tense. He omitted the historian interviews and vintage news clips that you expect to see in films on this kind of movie. The film is a psychedelic sound-and-light show, apprehended in the spirit of a “trip” film-like “2001: A Space Odyssey,”. The story is intuitively assembled, fond of the grand gesture, and often playful. The movie focuses on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, the first spaceflight from which men walked on the Moon.
The film consists of archival footage, including 70 mm film not released to the public, and does not feature narration, interviews or modern recreations.
Marriage Story
Marriage Story is a 2019 American comedy-drama film. The movie is written, directed and produced by Noah Baumbach. Starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson The film narrates the tale of a married couple (Johansson and Driver) proceeding to divorce.
The movie begins with a pair of voice-over monologues by the married couple, Charlie Barber (Adam Driver) and Nicole Ryder Barber (Scarlett Johansson). The monologues are all about what each partner loves about the other. Charlie gives reference to Nicole’s emotional understanding, familial commitment, and different skills, personal intensity, total dedication to their son. and willingness to pursue a burgeoning career as a movie star. Nicole speaks of Charlie’s self-sufficiency.
Nicole speaks of Charlie’s paternal devotion, his strength as a “self-made” man and made the theatre a company that he founded his home. Although these words were never spoken by the two but only they themselves Knew about it.
Nicole and Charlie wrote themselves at the suggestion of a separation mediator, in order to read them aloud in his office. But when the mediator (Robert Smigel) asks them to start, Nicole puts a stop by refusing to read.
Baumbach presents the elusive nature of love in the movie. The ineffable spark at its core and the realm of practicalities by which it’s defined and realized. He testifies to the phrase by Pierre Reverdy made famous by Jean Cocteau: “There’s no such thing as love, there’s only proof of love.”
Knives Out
Knives Out is a 2019 American murder mystery written, produced, and directed by Rian Johnson. The death of a patriarch of an eccentric, combative family is investigated by a detective is the entire storyline. The wonderful entertaining mystery structure of “Knives Out” is one of the most purely entertaining films in years. It is the work of a cinematic magician, one who keeps you so focused on what the left hand is doing that you miss the right. a wonderfully entertaining mystery structure that would make Agatha Christie smile.
Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is a renowned mystery writer and he is dead. The housekeeper Fran (Edi Patterson) finds him with a slit throat. The knife still in his hand looks like an attempt to suicide case. But there are some questions like who really does slit their own throat?
A couple of cops (the wonderful pair of LaKeith Stanfield and Noah Segan) come to the Thrombey estate to investigate the matter. The film opens with their conversations with each of the Thrombey family members. Daniel Craig plays the role of the detective here as Benoit Blanc. The question of who brought in Blanc drives the narrative as much as who killed Harlan.
The Lighthouse
The Lighthouse is a 2019 black comedy psychological horror movie directed and produced by Robert Eggers. Life is harsh for Thomas and Ephraim from the first gloomy frame of “The Lighthouse.” The movie opens with the two men, played by Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, arriving to work a shift at a lighthouse on the edge of the world. Thomas, played by Dafoe, is the older one and he is the boss of the action.
He orders around Pattinson’s Ephraim, making sure he takes care of all of the daily duties like cleaning and repairing but always reminding him who is in charge. Thomas often addresses Ephraim in diminutive terms like “lad” and orders him various jobs when he is not telling a long-winded story.
The Irishman
The Irishman (also titled onscreen as I Heard You Paint Houses) is a 2019 American epic crime movie based on the 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt. the movie is directed and produced by Martin Scorsese and written by Steven Zaillian. Starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, with Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Jesse Plemons, and Harvey Keitel in supporting cast.
The film opens showing Frank Sheeran (De Niro), a truck driver who becomes a hitman involved with mobster Russell Bufalino (Pesci) and his crime family, including his time working for the powerful Teamster Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino).
Waves
Waves is a 2019 American drama film written and directed by Trey Edward Shults. The movie opens starring Kelvin Harrison Jr., Lucas Hedges, Taylor Russell, Alexa Demie, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Sterling K. Brown.
The film is set against the vibrant landscape of South Florida, it maneuvers the emotional journey of a suburban family as they gradually touch love, forgiveness and coming together in the aftermath of a loss. It’s about how a series of compounding wrong decisions can ultimately impact a good decision.
