Whoa, what a great year for movies it was, right? This list easily could’ve been expanded to the thirty most memorable flicks this year, but since we’ve reached the home stretch of 2019 already, neither I’m able to gain a second wind for writing about thirty different ones, nor will you find the time and patience to read it all. So let’s have a quick run through ten films that really left an impact - well, at least in our world - this year, shall we?!

MONOS by Alejandro Landes
The most impressive and vigorous film at this year’s Berlinale about teenage soldiers with laughable code names is part existential drama, part thriller and part feverish dream - resulting into a highly unique experience that feels like a “Apocalypse Now“ remake shot by a young Werner Herzog.

BEANPOLE by Kantemir Balagov
For those who carry more than just a soft spot for the occasional heavy dose of stunning arthouse misery, “Beanpole“, set in a Leningrad hospice around the end of WWII and directed by one of Russia’s brightest shining talents, will certainly work as this year’s holy grail.

PARASITE by Bong Joon Ho
When a film arrives with as many laurels as “Parasite“, you’re automatically getting either suspicious or annoyed or both. And while you often do so for a good reason  - see “Joker“ - Bong Joon Ho’s latest is this flawless masterpiece, indeed.

MIDSOMMAR by Ari Aster
Let the festies begin! With the overall haunting “Hereditary“ Aster explored the ubiquity of dysfunction and grief via a heavy family drama disguised as a genre film. His latest picks up these threads, but the horror is displayed in broad daylight this time around

MARRIAGE STORY by Noah Baumbach
Baumbach somehow pulls the trick to turn a movie with an extremely bitter subject into this year’s most generous and heartbreaking feature. It’s impossible to not reflect on any relationship you’ve ever been through, currently have or might cherish in the future after Baumbach’s masterpiece.

EMA by Pablo Larrain
The always surprising Chilean filmmaker delivered one of this year’s wildest rides, a hypnotic, elusive, intense and overall feverish mess of a movie with a great score by Nicolas Jaar that (luckily) refuses to curb its many ideas for the sake of a compelling plot.

I LOST MY BODY by Jérémy Clapin
A severed hand trying to reunite with the rest of its body might sound overall gimmicky and absurd on paper, but in actuality forms the basis for a flawlessly animated (and told) story about the profound longing for happiness and identity.

THE LIGHTHOUSE by Robert Eggers
Eggers spins another great tale of gothic Americana with his follow-up to “The Witch“, a bold and darkly funny ride into the mouth of madness where alcohol, farts and cocky seagulls give fuel to a very unique nightmare.

THE BODY REMEMBERS WHEN THE WORLD BROKE OPEN by E. M. Tailfeathers & K. Hepburn
Intense dramas on domestic abuse sure aren’t for everybody - and neither are movies that allegedly are realized via a single-take. This Canadian indie on two indigenous women trying to find their way to break the vicious cycle of violence is essential nevertheless.

THE LODGE by V. Franz & S. Fiala
In a rather underwhelming year for genre movies, the highly-anticipated follow-up to “Goodnight Mommy“ delivered the real deal, as a pair of siblings and their invidious cult-survivor of a stepmom are slowly losing it in the eponymous, claustrophobic setting.