2019 has been a great year for cinema, with huge hits like Joker, Parasite and – of course – Avengers: Endgame. Sadly, between this barrage of huge films and big names, some truly amazing movies got lost in all the static.
Here’s some of the most underrated movies of 2019.
The Lighthouse
While this movie scored very well with the critics, it somehow didn’t gain much traction with the audiences. The fact that it’s a movie in black-and-white, 4:3 aspect ratio and with only two actors probably doesn’t sound that enticing either. That said, the two actors (Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson) act so amazingly good in this movie that it’s almost a shame if you don’t watch it.
Arctic
Another movie that doesn’t have a huge cast – or even lots of dialogue – but still deserves a proper watch is the Arctic. Mads Mikkelsen plays in probably his best role ever as he tries to survive in the arctic in a movie that just looks and feels real.
The Mustang
This movie starring an
excellent Mathias Schoenaerts tells the tale of a former prisoner who joins in
a rehabilitation program to train wild mustangs for auction. In training a
mustang that according to many couldn’t be trained, we see the main character
deal with his inner demons and become a productive member of society once
again.
A Vigilante
We don’t really
associate Olivia Wilde with good movie roles because she had a tendency to make
bad movie choices, but A Vigilante seems to be a win for her. She plays Sadie,
who is a domestic abuse victim and spends her free time saving other women from
domestic abuse. Quite violently.
Transit
While not a known movie simply because of the fact that it’s foreign, this German movie tells the story of a German citizen fleeing to France to avoid the rise of fascism. In France, he steals someone’s identity but runs into his wife – who seems to be looking for her husband.
JoJo Rabbit
It seems a bit weird to tell the tale of Nazism through the eyes of a misguided child and using Taika Waititi’s typical, somewhat nonsensical tone. For some reason though, it really works amazingly well in this movie. Waititi manages to play a “silly” Adolf Hitler without actually diminishing the gravity of what Nazism is really about.
