My Favourites of World Cinema 2019

Best of 2019

Exasperating Experience… Maybe this is the right way to put forth what I have gone through in trying to find a few best films out of all 2019 had to offer. With the year gone by, we have to always say goodbye to some bad memories and relive good ones. Films at theatres or even on the small screens have a great impact on me than anything else. I believe it is the same for many.

2019 had varied films to look forward to and I would be shocked if someone said, it is easy to sort out a list of good films. While one language disappointed, the other one said, “Don’t worry Bro, I’m here.” Similarly, another one in the next month. So, there are at least 10 months out of 12, where I could catch one best at a theatre or my small screen.

Well, my list of bests won’t be month-wise, I just used it as a metaphor. There was plenty to be thankful for on screens both big and small and as is always the case, these are the movies that most spoke to me this year, conveying something interesting about what it feels likes to be alive right now…

World cinema showed us in 2019 that internal struggles and immensely personal journeys can be just as thrilling as traversing the farthest reaches of space. It also showed franchise cinema will continue to spawn sequels, prequel films, wholly original stories that can be still be created and told through innovative methods.

As previously mentioned, it’s impossible to catch every big movie that comes out every year, and even harder to find time for the treasures that seemingly come out of nowhere to universal praise and critical acclaim. The Oscars are still weeks away with many movies still to come out between now and then.

But for now, here are my favorite movies of 2019.

As always, Let’s start off with Indian Cinema.

Tamil: Super Deluxe | 2019| Crime Drama | Thiagarajan Kumararaja (Review)

Telugu: Jersey | 2019 | Sports | Gowtam Tinnanuri (Review)

Malayalam: Kumbalangi Nights | 2019 | Drama Romance| Madhu C. Narayanan (Review)

Kannada: Gantumoote | 2019 | Drama | Roopa Rao

Hindi: Soni | 2019 | Drama| Ivan Ayr

Hollywood Films:

• A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood | 2019 | Drama | Marielle Heller | USA
• American Factory | 2019| Documentary | Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert| USA
• Ad Astra | 2019 | SCI FI | James Gray | USA
• Apollo 11 | 2019 | Documentary | Todd Douglas Miller | USA
• Avengers Endgame | 2019| Russo Brothers| Action Adventure| USA (REVIEW)
• Crawl | 2019| Action Drama| Alexandre Aja| USA
• Doctor Sleep | 2019 | Fantasy Horror | Mike Flanagan | USA
• Booksmart | 2019| Comedy| Olivia Wilde| USA
• Ford Vs Ferrari | 2019 | Drama, Action | James Mangold | USA
• Joker | 2019 | Drama, Thriller | Todd Phillips | USA
• Knives Out | 2019| Crime Drama| Rian Johnson| USA
• Knock Down The House | 2019 | Documentary | USA
• Marriage Story | 2019| Romance Drama| Noah Baumbach| USA
• Midsommar | 2019 | Mystery| Ari Aster | USA
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | 2019| Drama, Thriller | Quentin Tarantino | USA
• Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story | 2019| Biography | Martin Scorsese | USA
• Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark | 2019 | Horror Mystery | Andre Ovredal | USA
• The Last Black Man in San Francisco | 2019| Drama| Joe Talbot| USA
• The Farewell | 2019 | Lulu Wang| Comedy Drama| USA
• The Lighthouse | 2019 | Fantasy | Robert Eggers | USA
• The Irishman | 2019 | Crime Drama | Martin Scorsese | USA
• The Toy Story 4 | 2019| Comedy| Josh Cooley| USA
• Uncut Gems | 2019 | Crime, Thriller| Safdie Brothers| USA
• Us | 2019| Mystery Thriller| Jordan Pele| USA

Foreign Films:

• Aamis | 2019| Horror Drama| Bhaskar Hazarika | India
• Article 15 | 2019 | Crime Drama| Anubhav Sinha| India
• Atlantics | 2019 | Romance | Mati Driop | France
• Dylda | 2019 | War, Drama | Kantemir Balagov | Russia
• Breathe | 2014 | Drama | France
• Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles | 2019 | Animation, History | Salvandor Simo | Spain
• Border | 2018 | Drama, Fantasy | Ali Abbasi | Denmark
• Bring The Soul | 2019 | Documentary | Park Jun Soo| South Korea
• Certified Copy | 2010 | Drama | Italy
• Clash | 2016 | Thriller | Egypt
• Cold Case Hammarskjold | 2019 | Documentary| Mads Brugger | Denmark
• Douleur et Glorie | 2019| Drama| Pedro Almodovar| Spain
• Diqiu Zuihou De Yewan | 2019 | Gan Bi | Mystery | China
• Everybody in The Place: An Incomplete History of Britain 1984-1992 | 2019 | Documentary | Jeremy Deller | UK
• Exit | 2019| Comedy, Action | South Korea
• For Sama | 2019 | Documentary | Waad Al Kateab, Edward Watts | UK
• Game Over | 2019 | Drama. Thriller | Ashwin Saravanan | India (Review)
• Grace a Dieu | 2018 | Drama Crime | Francois Ozon | France
• Hagazussa | 2017 | Horror | Lukas Feigelfleld | Germany
• Hamid | 2019| Drama| Aijaz Khan| India
• Helen | 2019 | Thriller | Mathukutty Xavier | India
• Honeyland | 2019 | Documentary | Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov | Macedonia
• Investigation of a Citizen above Suspicion | 1970 | Elio Petri | Crime | Italy
• Ishq | 2019 | Romance, Thriller | India
• Jallikattu | 2019| Lijo Jose Pellissery| Drama| India
• J’ai Perdu Mon Corps | 2019 | Fantasy Drama| Jeremy Clapin| France
• Jaungin | 2019 | Crime Drama | Han Lee | South Korea
• Jojo Rabbit | 2019| Comedy Drama| Taika Waititi| Czech Republic
• Kaithi | 2019| Action| Lokesh Kanagaraj | India (Review)
• Kavaludaari | 2019| Thriller| Hemanth M Rao| India
• Les frères Sisters | 2018 | Crime | Jacques Audiard | France
• L’Insulte | 2017 | Crime | France
• Lun Lok Yan | 2018 | Drama | Oliver Siu Kuen Chan | Hong Kong
• Monos | 2019 | Drama | Alejandro Lanes | Argentina
• Ne Zha Zhi mo tong jiang shi | 2019| Fantasy| Yu Yang | China
• One Cut Of The Dead | 2017 | Comedy, Horror|  Shinichiro Ueda | Japan
• Peranbu | 2019 | Drama | Ram | India (Review)
• Parasite | 2019 | Comedy Thriller | Bong Joon Ho | South Korea
• Portrait De La Jeune Fille En Feu | 2019 | Romance | Celine Sciamma | France
• Queen Of Hearts | 2019 | Drama | Denmark
• Shao Nian De Ni| 2019| Crime Drama| Derek Tsang |. China
• Shadow | 2019 |
• Section 375 | 2019| Crime Drama| Ajay Bahl | India
• Sir | 2018 | Drama,Romance | Rohena Gera| India
• Silenced | 2011 | Drama | Hwang Dong Hyuk | South Korea
• Sonchiriya | 2019| Crime Drama| Abhishek Chaubey| India
• Spring | 2014 | Romance | Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson | USA
• Synonyms | 2019 | Drama | Nadav Lapid | France
• Tenki No Ko | 2019| Fantasy | Makoto Shinkai| Japan
• To Let | 2019 | Drama | Chezhian Ra | India
• The Burial Of Kojo | 2018 | Drama | Blitz Bazawule | South Africa
• The Elephant Queen | 2019 | Mark Deeble, Victoria Stone| Documentary | Kenya
• The Edge of Democracy | 2019 | Documentary | Petra Costa | Brazil
• The Tashkent Files | 2019| Drama Thriller| Vivek Agnihotri| India
• Three Colours: Blue (1993) White (1994) Red (1994) | Mystery | Krzysztof Kieslowski| France
• The Wild Pear Tree | 2018 | Nuri Bilge Ceylan | Turkey
• They Shall Not Grow Old | 2018 | Documentary | Peter Jackson | UK
• Uyare | 2019| Drama| Manu Ashokan| India
• Virus | 2019| Drama Thriller| Aashiq Abu| India
• Varda By Agnes | 2019 | Documentary | Agnes Varda | France
• Where We Belong | 2019 | Romance | Kongdej Jaturanrasamee| Thailand

TV Series:

• Fauda | 2015 | Crime Drama | Israel
• Fleabag | 2016 | Comedy | Phoebe Waller-Bridge | UK
• Sahsiyet | 2019 | Crime Drama | Onur Saylak | Turkey
• Unbelievable | Crime Drama | Susannah Grant, Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman | USA
• Chernobyl | 2019| History| Craig Mazin| USA
• Watchmen | 2019 | Action Mystery | Damon Lindelof | USA
• Dynasties | 2018 | Documentary | UK
• Kota Factory | 2019 | Comedy, Drama | Saurabh Khanna | India
• Money Heist | 2017 | Crime Action | Alex Pina | Spain
• The End of the F***ing World | 2019 | Crime Comedy | UK
• When They See Us | 2019 | Drama | Ava DuVernay | USA

Thank you all for your support for another year. Bring on the next decade… Bis zum nächsten Mal!!

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