Wednesday, January 1, 2020

2019 One-Week-Run Manhattan Premieres

I seem to have caught up already with most of the 2019 films that I can still see. So here are my favorite films that played at least one week in Manhattan for the first time in 2019, in approximate order of preference:

1. Styx (Wolfgang Fischer, Germany)
2. Grass (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea)
3. Diane (Kent Jones, USA)
4. Los Reyes (Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff, Chile)
5. Our Time (Carlos Reygadas, Mexico)
6. In My Room (Ulrich Kohler, Germany)
7. Light From Light (Paul Harrill, USA)
8. The Chambermaid (Lila Avilés, Mexico)
9. Dragged Across Concrete (S. Craig Zahler, USA)
10. The Crossing (Bai Xue, China)
11. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, USA)

Other than the Paul Harrill and Tarantino films, all the above had their premieres in 2018, so this list records the vagaries of distribution more than it does the current state of cinema. Two of the 2019 theatrical premieres that I'm most sorry not to have seen are David Michôd's The King and Heiward Mak's Fagara.