Retrospective 2019- A Year in Film

March

The March Mix

Image sources: Disney, Universal, MUBI & Arrow Films

As usual March proved to be a bridge between the award season films and the the summer’s blockbuster releases, which gave UK audiences some big broader fare in the form of Tim Burton’s live-action remake of classic Disney animation ‘Dumbo‘ and female-centric comedy remake ‘What Men Want‘, plus Jordan Peele’s much anticipated latest socially perceptive horror flick and sophomore effort ‘Us‘.

They were sandwiched between plenty of indie films and smaller studio flicks like David Robert Mitchell’s meandering L.A. mystery ‘Under the Silver Lake‘, confronting New York drama ‘The Kindergarten Teacher‘, and wholly unique dark Swedish realist fairy-tale ‘Border‘. There were also biographical period dramas like Ralph Fiennes’ Rudolf Nureyev defection biopic ‘The White Crow‘, Netflix’s account of the hunt for Bonnie and Clyde in ‘The Highwaymen‘, and Jonas Åkerlund’s disturbing portrait of the Norwegian black metal scene in ‘Lords of Chaos‘.

Oh Yes, it’s Ladies’ Night

Image Source: Disney

March also saw Marvel fully jumping on the wave of female empowerment sweeping through Hollywood, as their cinematic universe (MCU) delivered its first female-led standalone movie and introduced arguably its most powerful superhero to the masses in the form of Brie Larson as ‘Captain Marvel‘—raking in $1.1 billion along the way. And it’s perhaps fitting that a controversial character—who has a murky history between both Marvel and DC comics—should ruffle a few feathers and feed into the ongoing culture wars in the West. But with the loss of Iron Man and Captain America (supposedly) and with the MCU’s women taking centre stage, Carol Danvers is almost certainly here to stay . . . like it or not.

Those We Lost

Image source: Fox, Wire, Paramount, UA & MK2

Among others March brought the unexpected loss of American star and 90s heartthrob Luke Perry (52) (Beverly Hills, 90210, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), veteran Hollywood executive and Steven Spielberg mentor Sid Sheinberg (84), and veteran Golden Age character actors Richard Erdman (93) (Stalag 17, Tora! Tora! Tora!) and Nancy Gates (93) (Suddenly, Comanche Station)—as well as revered Franco-Belgian filmmaker Agnès Varda (90) (Cleo from 5 to 7, Faces Places).

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