Year-End Lists

Sight & Sound Poll: The 50 Best Films of 2019 (a poll of 100 contributors published by Sight & Sound Magazine)

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. The Souvenir
   Joanna Hogg
2. Parasite
   Bong Joon-ho
3. The Irishman
   Martin Scorsese
4. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
   Quentin Tarantino
5. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
   Céline Sciamma
6. Pain and Glory
   Pedro Almodóvar
7. Atlantics
   Mati Diop
8. Bait
   Mark Jenkin
9. Us
   Jordan Peele
10. Vitalina Varela
    Pedro Costa
11. High Life
    Claire Denis
12. Uncut Gems
    Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie
13. Monos
    Alejandro Landes
14. Marriage Story
    Noah Baumbach
15. For Sama
    Waad Al-Khateab and Edward Watts
16. Midsommar
    Ari Aster
17. The Lighthouse
    Robert Eggers
18. Happy as Lazzaro
    Alice Rohrwacher
19. Hustlers
    Lorene Scafaria
20. Martin Eden
    Pietro Marcello
21. Beanpole
    Kantemir Balagov
22. Border
    Ali Abbasi
23. Transit
    Christian Petzold
24. A Hidden Life
    Terrence Malick
25. The Farewell
    Lulu Wang
26. The Hottest August
    Brett Story
27. Ad Astra
    James Gray
28. Varda by Agnès
    Agnès Varda
29. I Was at Home, But
    Angela Schanelec
30. In Fabric
    Peter Strickland
31. Knives Out
    Rian Johnson
32. Booksmart
    Olivia Wilde
33. Ash is Purest White
    Jia Zhang-ke
34. Synonyms
    Nadav Lapid
35. Zombi Child
    Bertrand Bonello
36. America
    Garrett Bradley
37. No Data Plan
    Miko Revereza
38. Eighth Grade
    Bo Burnham
39. Joker
    Todd Phillips
40. Ray & Liz
    Richard Billingham
41. Hale County This Morning, This Evening
    RaMell Ross
42. I Lost My Body
    Jérémy Clapin
43. Holiday
    Isabella Eklöf
44. Honeyland
    Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov
45. Rocks
    Sarah Gavron
46. Rose Plays Julie
    Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor
47. If Beale Street Could Talk
    Barry Jenkins
48. Just Don't Think I'll Scream
    Frank Beauvais
49. The Favourite
    Yorgos Lanthimos
50. The Mule
    Clint Eastwood

This list summarizes other lists, including these:

• Sight & Sound Poll: B. Ruby Rich: The Best Films of 2019
• Sight & Sound Poll: Caitlin Quinlan: Ten Best Films of 2019
• Sight & Sound Poll: Christina Newland: The Best Films of 2019
• Sight & Sound Poll: Elena Lazic: Best Films of 2019
• Sight & Sound Poll: Erika Balsom: Best Films of 2019
• Sight & Sound Poll: Jonathan Rosenbaum: Ten Best Films of 2019
• Sight & Sound Poll: Simran Hans: The Best Films of 2019
• Sight & Sound Poll: So Mayer: The Best Films of 2019
• Sight & Sound Poll: Vadim Rizov: The Best Films of 2019

Dan Sallitt: Top 35 Films of the Decade, as posted to Twitter with the caveat that "I think it's 1.5 to 2 years too early to make a decade list, but a lot of my favorites could use a little more attention...." Ordered by director's last name.

[see also 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2012]

• The Seen and Unseen
  Kamila Andini
• Bad at Dancing
  Joanna Arnow
• Fail to Appear
  Antoine Bourges
• The Sleeping Beauty
  Catherine Breillat
• Ben Zaken
  Efrat Corem
• The Kid with a Bike
  Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
• Young Ahmed
  Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
• Love Battles
  Jacques Doillon
• Classical Period
  Ted Fendt
• Western
  Valeska Grisebach
• Things to Come
  Mia Hansen-Løve
• Something, Anything
  Paul Harrill
• I Wasn’t There
  Sky Hirschkron
• Exhibition
  Joanna Hogg
• Hahaha
  Hong Sang-soo
• The Day He Arrives
  Hong Sang-soo
• The Day After
  Hong Sang-soo
• L for Leisure
  Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn
• On the Edge
  Leila Kilani
• Sleeping Beauty
  Julia Leigh
• The Mend
  John Magary
• Of Women and Horses
  Patricia Mazuy
• A Month in Thailand
  Paul Negoescu
• John From
  João Nicolau
• Scaffold
  Kazik Radwanski
• Michael
  Markus Schleinzer
• About 12
  Martín Shanly
• Alms for a Blind Horse
  Gurvinder Singh
• The Whispering Star
  Sion Sono
• Uncle Kent
  Joe Swanberg
• All the Light in the Sky
  Joe Swanberg
• Easy, episode "Package Thief"
  Joe Swanberg
• Old Dog
  Pema Tseden
• Radio Mary
  Gary Walkow
• Be My Baby
  Gary Walkow

Smithsonian: Favorite Books of 2019, as selected individually by Smithsonian scholars

[see also 2018]

• Searching for Black Confederates

  The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth
  Kevin M. Levin
• The Greatest Beach

  A History of the Cape Cod National Seashore
  Ethan Carr
• Peary's Arctic Quest

  Untold Stories from Robert E. Peary’s North Pole Expeditions
  Susan Kaplan and Genevieve LeMoine
• Solitary

  Unbroken by Four Decades in Solitary Confinement. My Story of Transformation and Hope
  Albert Woodfox
• Sea People

  The Puzzle of Polynesia
  Christina Thompson
• With the Fire on High
  Elizabeth Acevedo
• Illusions of Emancipation

  The Pursuit of Freedom and Equality in the Twilight of Slavery
  Joseph P. Reidy
• Extinct Monsters to Deep Time

  Conflict, Compromise, and the Making of Smithsonian's Fossil Halls
  Diana E. Marsh
• We Return Fighting

  World War I and the Shaping of Modern Black Identity
  Kinshasha Holman Conwill (editor)
• Gods of the Upper Air

  How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century
  Charles King
• The Collected Schizophrenias
  Esmé Weijun Wang
• Zora and Langston

  A Story of Friendship and Betrayal
  Yuval Taylor
• The Only Woman in the Room
  Marie Benedict
• The Uninhabitable Earth

  Life After Warming
  David Wallace-Wells
• Empire's Tracks

  Indigenous Nations, Chinese Workers, and the Transcontinental Railroad
  Manu Karuka

Jordan Cronk: Top 20 Films of 2019, as submitted to the Film Comment poll and limited to U.S. theatrical releases

[see also The Ten Best Experimental Films of 2022 • Top Ten Films of 2022 • Top Ten Films of 2021 • Top Ten Films of 2020 • The 50 Best Films of the 2010s • Top 20 Films of 2018 • Top Ten Films of 2017]

1. La Flor
   Mariano Llinás
2. The Image Book
   Jean-Luc Godard
3. The Irishman
   Martin Scorsese
4. Long Day's Journey Into Night
   Bi Gan
5. High Life
   Claire Denis
6. An Elephant Sitting Still
   Hu Bo
7. Synonyms
   Nadav Lapid
8. What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire?
   Roberto Minervini
9. Transit
   Christian Petzold
10. Coincoin and the Extra-Humans
    Bruno Dumont
11. Angela's Diaries: Two Filmmakers
    Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi
12. A Hidden Life
    Terrence Malick
13. Hotel by the River
    Hong Sang-soo
14. End of the Century
    Lucio Castro
15. Ash is Purest White
    Jia Zhang-ke
16. Asako I & II
    Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
17. Diamantino
    Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt
18. In My Room
    Ulrich Köhler
19. The Plagiarists
    Peter Parlow
20. The Wandering Soap Opera
    Raoul Ruiz and Valeria Sarmiento

TIFF Cinematheque: The Best of the Decade: An Alternative View, a poll of film curators, archivists and historians from Canada and abroad

1. Zama
   Lucrecia Martel
2. Toni Erdmann
   Maren Ade
3. Goodbye to Language
   Jean-Luc Godard
4. Moonlight
   Barry Jenkins
5. Sieranevada
   Cristi Puiu
6. The Assassin
   Hou Hsiao-Hsien
6. Transit
   Christian Petzold
7. Film Socialisme
   Jean-Luc Godard
8. Holy Motors
   Leos Carax
8. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
9. The Master
   Paul Thomas Anderson
9. Ida
   Pawel Pawlikowski
9. Get Out
   Jordan Peele
9. Neighboring Sounds
   Kleber Mendonça Filho
9. Faces Places
   Agnès Varda and JR
9. Vitalina Varela
   Pedro Costa
10. The Turin Horse
    Béla Tarr & Agnes Hranitzky
10. Burning
    Lee Chang-dong
10. The Strange Case of Angelica
    Manoel de Oliveira

The Skinny: Top Ten Albums of 2019

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015]

1. Ghosteen
   Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2. Two Hands
   Big Thief
3. All Mirrors
   Angel Olsen
4. Cuz I Love You
   Lizzo
5. Crushing
   Julia Jacklin
6. I Am Easy to Find
   The National
7. U.F.O.F.
   Big Thief
8. Magdalene
   FKA twigs
9. When I Get Home
   Solange
10. Titanic Rising
    Weyes Blood

Chris Ryan: Top 10 Movies of the 2010s, as as discussed on The Ringer's podcast The Big Picture

1. The Social Network
   David Fincher
2. The Wolf of Wall Street
   Martin Scorsese
3. Lady Bird
   Greta Gerwig
4. Arrival
   Denis Villeneuve
5. Before Midnight
   Richard Linklater
6. Drive
   Nicolas Winding Refn
7. Mad Max: Fury Road
   George Miller
8. Minding the Gap
   Bing Liu
9. The Master
   Paul Thomas Anderson
10. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
    Quentin Tarantino

Amanda Dobbins: Top 10 Movies of the 2010s, as as discussed on The Ringer's podcast The Big Picture

1. The Social Network
   David Fincher
2. Lady Bird
   Greta Gerwig
3. Parasite
   Bong Joon-ho
4. Moneyball
   Bennett Miller
5. Phantom Thread
   Paul Thomas Anderson
6. Skyfall
   Sam Mendes
7. Frances Ha
   Noah Baumbach
8. Arrival
   Denis Villeneuve
9. Magic Mike
   Steven Soderbergh
10. Fast Five
    Justin Lin

Sean Fennessey: Top 10 Movies of the 2010s, as as discussed on The Ringer's podcast The Big Picture

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021]

1. The Social Network
   David Fincher
2. The Master
   Paul Thomas Anderson
3. Inside Llewyn Davis
   Joel & Ethan Coen
4. Whiplash
   Damien Chazelle
5. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
   Quentin Tarantino
6. Get Out
   Jordan Peele
7. Frances Ha
   Noah Baumbach
8. Mad Max: Fury Road
   George Miller
9. O.J.: Made in America
   Ezra Edelman
10. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
    Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman

Richard Lawson: The 10 Best Movies of the 2010s, as published by Vanity Fair

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013]

1. Mad Max: Fury Road
   George Miller
2. Phantom Thread
   Paul Thomas Anderson
3. Dawson City: Frozen Time
   Bill Morrison
4. Melancholia
   Lars von Trier
5. Parasite
   Bong Joon-ho
6. Get Out
   Jordan Peele
7. Eden
   Mia Hansen-Løve
8. Force Majeure
   Ruben Östlund
9. Weekend
   Andrew Haigh
10. Princess Cyd
    Stephen Cone