Metacritic's Best Films of 2019
by rubyfruit76 | created - 05 Jan 2020 | updated - 09 Jan 2020 | PublicMetacritic gives movies an aggregate score, from zero to one hundred, based on the weighted average of the most respected critics' reviews. A score of at least 61 is favorable and a score of 81 or higher is considered to be a "must see." Below are the 2019 movies rated highest by critics, according to their Metacritic scores. All of the films below have a score of at least an 85. Which of these do you think is the best?
Discuss here (and, if interested, also see the exclusion criteria there).
Note: The films are listed in alphabetical order, except for the first five, which are chosen to represent the variety of movies on the list. None are listed in order of Metacritic score. To see them in order of metascore, go here.
Vote in these related polls: Metacritic's Best Films of 2018 and
Metacritic's Best Films of 2017
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1. Parasite (2019)
R | 132 min | Drama, Thriller
Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly-formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-sik
Votes: 960,795 | Gross: $53.37M
2. The Irishman (2019)
R | 209 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
An illustration of Frank Sheeran's life, from W.W.II veteran to hit-man for the Bufalino crime family and his alleged assassination of his close friend Jimmy Hoffa.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel
Votes: 431,394 | Gross: $7.00M
3. Atlantics (2019)
TV-14 | 106 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
In a popular suburb of Dakar, workers on the construction site of a futuristic tower, without pay for months, decide to leave the country by the ocean for a better future. Among them is Souleiman, the lover of Ada, promised to another.
Director: Mati Diop | Stars: Mame Bineta Sane, Amadou Mbow, Traore, Nicole Sougou
Votes: 10,510
4. Little Women (2019)
PG | 135 min | Drama, Romance
Jo March reflects back and forth on her life, telling the beloved story of the March sisters - four young women, each determined to live life on her own terms.
Director: Greta Gerwig | Stars: Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen
Votes: 246,261 | Gross: $108.10M
5. Cunningham (2019)
PG | 93 min | Documentary, Biography, Music
The iconic Merce Cunningham and the last generation of his dance company is stunningly profiled in Alla Kovgan's 3D documentary, through recreations of his landmark works and archival footage of Cunningham, John Cage, and Robert Rauschenberg.
Director: Alla Kovgan | Stars: Carolyn Brown, John Cage, Ashley Chen, Brandon Collwes
Votes: 449
6. 63 Up (2019)
Unrated | 145 min | Documentary, Biography
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a seven-year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Stars: Tony Walker, John Brisby, Charles Furneaux, Neil Hughes
Votes: 1,422
7. American Factory (2019)
TV-14 | 110 min | Documentary
In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a factory in an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.
Directors: Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert | Stars: Junming 'Jimmy' Wang, Robert Allen, Sherrod Brown, Dave Burrows
Votes: 23,885
8. An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
230 min | Crime, Drama
Four people in a Chinese city live through a complicated day as their lives intersect.
Director: Bo Hu | Stars: Yu Zhang, Yuchang Peng, Uvin Wang, Zi Xi
Votes: 8,010 | Gross: $0.03M
9. Apollo 11 (I) (2019)
G | 93 min | Documentary, History
A look at the Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon led by commander Neil Armstrong and pilots Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins.
Director: Todd Douglas Miller | Stars: Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins, Buzz Aldrin, Deke Slayton
Votes: 27,228 | Gross: $9.04M
10. Jiang hu er nü (2018)
Not Rated | 136 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A story of violent love within a time frame spanning from 2001 to 2017.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Tao Zhao, Fan Liao, Zheng Xu, Casper Liang
Votes: 10,621 | Gross: $0.42M
11. Birds of Passage (2018)
Not Rated | 125 min | Crime, Drama
During the marijuana bonanza, a violent decade that saw the origins of drug trafficking in Colombia, Rapayet and his indigenous family get involved in a war to control the business that ends up destroying their lives and their culture.
Directors: Cristina Gallego, Ciro Guerra | Stars: Carmiña Martínez, José Acosta, Natalia Reyes, Jhon Narváez
Votes: 13,141 | Gross: $0.51M
12. Black Mother (2018)
TV-MA | 77 min | Documentary
From red light districts to lush rain-forests, 'Black Mother' is a loving and lyrical ode to Jamaica and its people, a visual poem that is at once deeply felt love letter and ecstatic street-corner prayer.
Director: Khalik Allah
Votes: 541 | Gross: $0.02M
13. The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (2019)
TV-MA | 105 min | Drama
After a chance encounter on the street, a woman tries to encourage a pregnant domestic abuse victim to seek help.
Directors: Kathleen Hepburn, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers | Stars: Violet Nelson, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Charlie Hannah, Barbara Eve Harris
Votes: 865
14. Diane (2018)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama
Diane fills her days helping others and desperately attempting to bond with her drug-addicted son. As these pieces of her existence begin to fade, she finds herself confronting memories she'd sooner forget than face.
Director: Kent Jones | Stars: Mary Kay Place, Jake Lacy, Estelle Parsons, Andrea Martin
Votes: 1,661 | Gross: $0.34M
15. The Farewell (I) (2019)
PG | 100 min | Comedy, Drama
A Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies.
Director: Lulu Wang | Stars: Shuzhen Zhao, Awkwafina, X Mayo, Hong Lu
Votes: 71,184 | Gross: $16.88M
16. For Sama (2019)
TV-PG | 100 min | Documentary, Biography, War
FOR SAMA is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war.
Directors: Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts | Stars: Waad Al-Kateab, Sama Al-Khateab, Hamza Al-Khateab, Afra
Votes: 12,824 | Gross: $0.04M
17. Genesis (2018)
Not Rated | 129 min | Drama
Three teenagers are shaken up by their first loves in the turmoil of their youth. At a time when others are conforming, they stand their ground and assert their right to love and be free.
Director: Philippe Lesage | Stars: Noée Abita, Théodore Pellerin, Pier-Luc Funk, Jules Roy-Sicotte
Votes: 1,419 | Gross: $0.01M
18. The Ground Beneath My Feet (2019)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama
A high-powered business consultant struggles to keep her professional and personal lives from colliding after her schizophrenic sister attempts suicide.
Director: Marie Kreutzer | Stars: Valerie Pachner, Pia Hierzegger, Mavie Hörbiger, Michelle Barthel
Votes: 1,394 | Gross: $0.02M
19. Honeyland (2019)
Unrated | 89 min | Documentary, Drama
The last female bee-hunter in Europe must save the bees and return the natural balance in Honeyland, when a family of nomadic beekeepers invade her land and threaten her livelihood.
Directors: Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov | Stars: Hatidze Muratova, Nazife Muratova, Hussein Sam, Ljutvie Sam
Votes: 19,420 | Gross: $0.82M
20. Long Day's Journey Into Night (2018)
Not Rated | 138 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A man went back to Guizhou, found the tracks of a mysterious woman. He recalls the summer he spent with her twenty years ago.
Director: Bi Gan | Stars: Tang Wei, Jue Huang, Sylvia Chang, Hong-Chi Lee
Votes: 9,416 | Gross: $0.50M
21. Marriage Story (2019)
R | 137 min | Drama, Romance
Noah Baumbach's incisive and compassionate look at a marriage breaking up and a family staying together.
Director: Noah Baumbach | Stars: Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Julia Greer, Azhy Robertson
Votes: 346,630 | Gross: $2.00M
22. One Child Nation (2019)
R | 83 min | Documentary, History
After becoming a mother, a filmmaker uncovers the untold history of China's one-child policy and the generations of parents and children forever shaped by this social experiment.
Directors: Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang | Stars: Nanfu Wang, Zaodi Wang, Zhimei Wang, Tunde Wang
Votes: 7,207 | Gross: $0.18M
23. One Cut of the Dead (2017)
Not Rated | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, Horror
Things go badly for a hack director and film crew shooting a low budget zombie movie in an abandoned WWII Japanese facility, when they are attacked by real zombies.
Director: Shin'ichirô Ueda | Stars: Takayuki Hamatsu, Yuzuki Akiyama, Harumi Shuhama, Kazuaki Nagaya
Votes: 29,767
24. Pain and Glory (2019)
R | 113 min | Drama
A film director reflects on the choices he's made in life as the past and present come crashing down around him.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Nora Navas
Votes: 63,160
25. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
R | 122 min | Drama, Romance
On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
Director: Céline Sciamma | Stars: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami, Valeria Golino
Votes: 109,733 | Gross: $3.76M
26. Rolling Thunder Revue (2019)
TV-MA | 142 min | Documentary, Biography, History
In an alchemic mix of fact and fantasy, Martin Scorsese looks back at Bob Dylan's 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour and a country ripe for reinvention.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Patti Smith, Martin von Haselberg
Votes: 7,717
27. The Souvenir (2019)
R | 120 min | Drama, Romance
A young film student in the early '80s becomes romantically involved with a complicated and untrustworthy man.
Director: Joanna Hogg | Stars: Neil Young, Tosin Cole, Jack McMullen, Frankie Wilson
Votes: 14,498 | Gross: $1.04M
28. Uncut Gems (2019)
R | 135 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
With his debts mounting and angry collectors closing in, a fast-talking New York City jeweler risks everything in hope of staying afloat and alive.
Directors: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie | Stars: Adam Sandler, Julia Fox, Idina Menzel, Mesfin Lamengo
Votes: 318,475
29. Varda by Agnès (2019)
Not Rated | 119 min | Documentary, Biography
Agnès Varda, photographer, installation artist and pioneer of the Nouvelle Vague, is an institution of French cinema. Taking a seat on a theatre stage, she uses photos and film excerpts to provide an insight into her unorthodox oeuvre.
Stars: Agnès Varda, Sandrine Bonnaire, Hervé Chandès, Nurith Aviv
Votes: 2,554
30. The Wild Pear Tree (2018)
188 min | Drama
An unpublished writer returns to his hometown after graduating, where he seeks sponsors to publish his book while dealing with his father's deteriorating indulgence into gambling.
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan | Stars: Dogu Demirkol, Murat Cemcir, Bennu Yildirimlar, Hazar Ergüçlü
Votes: 27,903 | Gross: $0.03M
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