by Nathaniel

Better late than never. And since we're of the calendar-denying opinion that each film year doesn't really end until Oscar night, we're not too late. (Rationalization is a useful skill, isn't it?). Still what is a calendar? What is a year? Distributors and filmmakers can't seem to stay on schedule either. Of this year's top nineteen, five are out-of-time, with four premiering at festivals way back in 2018 and one still waiting around to show its captivating face (though its here due to its qualifying release). However you define 2019 is up to you. These 19 pictures are how I define it.

If you see them, which I hope you will, they'll take you from ramshackle abodes in the mountains of Macedonia and cave-homes in Spain to an architectural wonder in Seoul and even past the rings of Jupiter. They'll trap you, tripping, in an empty school with house music throbbing or drop you in Dakar where the ocean is ever roaring with its promise and its ghosts. Socioeconomic anxiety permeated the cinema this past year, which is no surprise given the world we're living in. Though many of the top 19 spoke directly to the now, they weren't always "modern" in the literal sense. Our cinematic time travelling stretched from third century China through the Civil War era in New England to Hollywood in the summer of '69 and  the stubbornly vague "near future" of science fiction...