So what makes for a great overlooked film, or a hidden gem as I like to call them? For me, it’s simple. Any movie that resonated with me, that I found some connection with, and feel others will find a similar connection if they give it a chance. As with any year, there are so many movies that it’s easy for a lot of great ones to simply fly under the radar. Fantastic performances go unnoticed, unique storylines sit waiting to be discovered (or copied), but this year it was tough to come up with a lengthy list of options.
Part of the reason is that I simply didn’t see as many movies I think would qualify as “overlooked”. For example, I struggled whether to put Fighting with My Family on here, a legitimately great film that was the start of Florence Pugh’s meteoric rise to stardom this year. It premiered at Sundance then did okay at the box office. It was definitely underseen, but overlooked? Ultimately, I decided to include it because high quality pro wrestling dramas are so rare, and that may be why it didn’t do better. And what about Happy Death Day 2U, a superior sequel that fell between the cracks? Or The Last Black Man in San Francisco, which was showered with praise that didn’t translate into the big audience it deserved? Lots of tough decisions to make.
I do want to apologize for the lateness of this post, as well as for my upcoming Best of 2019. The amount of time consumed by my Top 100 of the Decade pushed everything back, and left me mentally exhausted. It’s because of you, and the emails you sent asking whether I would be doing these lists that gave me the push to complete them. So thank you for that. Enjoy!
Paddleton
Director: Alex Lehmann
Cast: Ray Romano, Mark Duplass
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (review)
Director: Joe Talbot
Cast: Jimmy Fails, Jonathan Majors, Danny Glover, Tichina Arnold, Rob Morgan, Mike Epps, Finn Wittrock
Shadow (review)
Director: Zhang Yimou
Cast: Deng Chao, Sun Li, Zheng Kai
Little Woods (review)
Director: Nia DaCosta
Cast: Tessa Thompson, Lily James, Luke Kirby, James Badge Dale, Lance Reddick
Dragged Across Concrete (review)
Director: S. Craig Zahler
Cast: Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter, Tory Kittles, Michael Jai White
Fighting with My Family (review)
Director: Stephen Merchant
Cast: Florence Pugh, Jack Lowden, Lena Headey, Nick Frost, Vince Vaughn, Dwayne Johnson
Her Smell
Director: Alex Ross Perry
Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Dan Stevens, Amber Heard, Cara Delevingne
The King
Director: David Michod
Cast: Timothee Chalamet, Joel Edgerton, Robert Pattinson, Ben Mendelsoh, Thomasin McKenzie, Sean Harris
The Sun is Also a Star (review)
Director: Ry Russo-Young
Cast: Yara Shahidi, Charles Melton
I Am Mother (review)
Director: Grant Sputore
Cast: Hilary Swank, Rose Byrne, Clara Rugaard
