2019 has been a good year for movies, be it big-ticket films like Avengers: Endgame, Frozen 2, Joker, The Lion King or end of the year surprises like The Irishman.

However, there were also those movies that weren’t talked about much in Oman. Here are seven movies from 2019 that are a must watch if you’re a fan of good cinema:

#7. The Dead Don’t Die

A ‘political zombie comedy,’ The Dead Don’t Die has a rather straightforward premise: After a routine police investigation two police officers (Billy Murray, Adam Driver) realise something odd going on; Animals go mad, the dead rise up from their graves, and (as zombies do) begin to eat the living.

With this premise, Jim Jarmusch cleverly (and sometimes rather flamboyantly) portrays everything that’s wrong with the world today. If you’re a die-hard fan of arthouse oddball films. This is it.

#6. The Art of Self Defense

Writer/Director Riley Stearns explores toxic masculinity in his latest film The Art of Self-Defense. The movie, a dark comedy that’s equal parts amusing and disturbing, comes at a time when there is much discourse around gender and gender revisionism.

While The Art of Self-Defense doesn’t build up to the kind of feel-good finale that you’d expect, Jesse Eisenberg’s inspiring performance adds a je ne sais quoi to this anti-underdog tale.

#5. Midsommar

Can Ari Aster (Hereditary) do no wrong? If you’ve already watched Midsommar, the resounding answer would be, “no.” Folk-horror film, Midsommar, is supposed to be set somewhere in northern Sweden bounded by eerily beautiful forests and lakes. But what starts off calmly (albeit unnervingly) soon blurs the line between the psychological and the mythic, the ordinary and symbolic.

#4. Laundromat

OK, hear me out. It’s easy to hate on Steven Soderbergh’s take on Pulitzer-winner Jake Bernstein’s book, Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers. While critics have labeled Laundromat a ‘hot mess’, I stand contrary to this claim.

Meryl Streep’s execution of the grieving widow is flawless (as we have now come to expect). And so are the brief appearances by David Schwimmer and Rober Patrick. And during our time of late-stage capitalism, this movie is a must watch – even if it serves as a preface to something bigger.

#3. Marriage Story

I watched this movie the minute it aired on Netflix solely because it was directed by Noah Baumbach (While We’re Young, Frances Ha) and starred Adam Driver (Girls, What If). 

It is certainly true, Baumbach’s themes of marriage and divorce have formed a narrative arc of their own. But as I write this synopsis, and reflect on all his other movies, Marriage Story is perhaps his most uplifting movie yet.

What’s so uplifting about a couple going through a divorce? Guess you’ll just have to watch and find out.

I fell in love with him two seconds after I saw him and I’ll never stop loving him even though it doesn’t make sense anymore.#MarriageStory

(Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach, 2019) pic.twitter.com/BWFU3as9pL

— Gloria Massana (@gloriamassana) December 9, 2019

#2. Booksmart

Booksmart is the first feature directed by Olivia Wilde – and what an incredible debut at that. Witty, topical, innocent, accompanied with a brilliant score, and sans the snark that we all come to expect from high-school films – Booksmart is a breath of fresh air in the high-school film genre (and would have easily been one of my favourite films of 2019 had it not been for the next movie on the list.)

#1. Parasite

Directed by Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho (known also for Memories of Murder, Snowpiercer and Okja), Parasite is by far my favourite movie of 2019. If I were to sum it up, Parasite is a “comedy”/thriller that portrays class divide. But that would be grossly simplifying this masterpiece.

Without delving into details (because it is best to dive into this movie cold), Parasite starts off as a con movie and progressively gets more convoluted as the plot thickens.

Went into #Parasite thinking it was one thing, only to learn it was SO MANY THINGS.

One of which is A GD MASTERPIECE. 🙌🍑 pic.twitter.com/CJxpLaKIeP

— Chasing Geekdom (@ChasingGeekdom) December 14, 2019