In 2024, Rotten Tomatoes released its picks for the top 300 films of all time. According to Screen Rant, this list effectively crowned 2019 as the greatest year in film history. At first, I was surprised by the claim — but after taking a closer look, it’s easy to see why 2019 is now being celebrated as a modern golden age of cinema.
With standout titles like Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, Sam Mendes’s 1917, and Todd Phillips’s Joker, 2019 delivered a striking variety of masterfully crafted films. And that’s just scratching the surface.
Part of the reason this year feels so iconic is undoubtedly shaped by the looming shadow of the pandemic that followed. There’s an undeniable nostalgia surrounding late-2010s pop culture — not just for the films themselves, but for the collective experience of cinema-going. The release of Avengers: Endgame, for example, created a cultural moment — an event film that brought people together in ways we’ve rarely seen since. But even without that context, 2019 still stands strong as an exceptional year in film history.
Perhaps no moment cemented that more than Parasite winning Best Picture at the Oscars — the first non-English language film to ever do so. Up against Hollywood heavyweights like The Irishman, Ford v Ferrari, and Jojo Rabbit, Bong Joon-ho’s victory signaled a shift not just in taste, but in the Academy’s openness to global cinema. It was a landmark win that highlighted the year’s commitment to fresh perspectives and boundary-pushing storytelling.
2019 also saw significant strides in representation, with more space given to women-led stories and female directors. Gerwig’s Little Women, Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart all offered bold, nuanced takes on gender, identity, and creativity — not just resonating with audiences, but also reshaping what mainstream cinema could look like.
And the hits kept coming. From the emotional intensity of Marriage Story to the anxiety-fueled brilliance of Uncut Gems, from the clever thrills of Knives Out to the musical magic of Frozen II, 2019 catered to every kind of film lover. It’s rare to find a year so jam-packed with films that were not only critically acclaimed, but deeply personal to so many viewers.
Everyone, I think, has at least one film from 2019 they hold dear. Whether it’s because the movie itself struck a chord, or because it was tied to one of our last pre-pandemic cinema outings, that year holds a unique place in our cultural memory. It was a creative peak that has yet to be replicated — and may never be.
For me, that’s why 2019 deserves the title of the golden age of modern film.
Photo by Krists Luhaers on Unsplash