Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite took the top spot among films released in 2019 in Film Comment’s annual end-of-year survey. Of the films that screened at festivals worldwide but have not announced stateside distribution, Sergei Loznitsa’s State Funeral, Eloy Enciso Cachafeiro’s Endless Night, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s To the Ends of the Earth received the top rankings.
“It’s a special treat to see Parasite, which was the cover of Film Comment’s September/October issue, reach the top of our Best Films of 2019 poll!” said Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold. “We’re proud to have supported the art and craft of the year’s greatest films through the outstanding writing and experienced voices that the movie-loving readers of Film Comment have come to expect and trust. We hope everyone enjoys these movies as much as we did!”
Film Comment’s Top 20 Films Released in 2019
1. Parasite Bong Joon Ho, South Korea
2. The Irishman Martin Scorsese, USA
3. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood Quentin Tarantino, USA/UK/China
4. Transit Christian Petzold, Germany/France
5. Atlantics Mati Diop, France/Senegal/Belgium
6. The Souvenir Joanna Hogg, UK/USA
7. High Life Claire Denis, Germany/France/USA/UK/Poland
8. Ash Is Purest White Jia Zhangke, China
9. Pain and Glory Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
10. Uncut Gems Josh and Benny Safdie, USA
11. Marriage Story Noah Baumbach, USA
12. La Flor Mariano Llinás, Argentina
13. An Elephant Sitting Still Hu Bo, China
14. Long Day’s Journey Into Night Bi Gan, China/France
15. Synonyms Nadav Lapid, France/Israel/Germany
16. Asako I & II Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, Japan/France
17. Us Jordan Peele, USA
18. The Image Book Jean-Luc Godard, Switzerland
19. Portrait of a Lady on Fire Céline Sciamma, France
20. Ad Astra James Gray, USA
Film Comment’s Top 20 Unreleased Films of 2019
1. State Funeral Sergei Loznitsa, Netherlands/Lithuania
2. Endless Night Eloy Enciso Cachafeiro, Spain
3. To the Ends of the Earth Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan
4. MS Slavic 7 Sofia Bohdanowicz and Deragh Campbell, Canada
5. Present.Perfect. Shengze Zhu, USA/Hong Kong
6. Oh Mercy! Arnaud Desplechin, France
7. Tommaso Abel Ferrara, Italy
8. Bait Mark Jenkin, UK
9. Belonging Burak Çevik, Turkey/Canada/France
10. Midnight in Paris James Blagden and Roni Moore, USA
11. No Data Plan Miko Revereza, USA
12. It Must Be Heaven Elia Suleiman, France/Qatar/Germany/Canada/Turkey/Palestine
13. Wasp Network Olivier Assayas, France/Spain/Brazil
14. So Pretty Jessie Jeffrey Dunn Rovinelli, USA/France
15. Just 6.5 Saeed Roustayi, Iran
16. Bird Island Sergio da Costa and Maya Kosa, Switzerland
17. What We Left Unfinished Mariam Ghani, Afghanistan/Qatar/USA
18. You Will Die at 20 Amjad Abu Alala, Sudan/France/Egypt/Germany/Norway/Qatar
19. Lina from Lima María Paz González, Chile/Argentina/Peru
20. The Devil Between the Legs Arturo Ripstein, Mexico