The 2019 Jim Ridley Film Poll

Every year, we at the Scene poll a diverse assemblage of film fans, critics and experts about their favorite flicks of the year, and we present our findings in the Jim Ridley Film Poll — named for the Scene’s late, great editor and brilliant film writer. Below, find the top 25 films of the year according to some of the country’s sharpest film buffs, and read their responses to our questions.

The 25 Best Films of 2019

1. Parasite

2. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

3. The Irishman

4. Uncut Gems

5. The Lighthouse

6. Portrait of a Lady on Fire

7. The Farewell

8. Little Women

9. Marriage Story

10. Pain and Glory

11. Knives Out

12. Dolemite Is My Name

13. The Last Black Man in San Francisco

14. Midsommar

15. Long Day’s Journey Into Night

16. Climax

17. Transit

18. Jojo Rabbit

19. Us

20. An Elephant Sitting Still

21. A Hidden Life

22. In Fabric

23. Her Smell

24. The Souvenir

25. Knife + Heart

Participants:

Jason Adams, Siddhant Adlakha, James Adomian, Danny Bowes, Sean Burns, Erica Ciccarone, Charles Cosner, Jacob Davison, Alonso Duralde, Nat Dykeman, Ben Empey, Steve Erickson, Matthew Essary, Dr. Gangrene, Zack Hall, Sheronica Hayes, Odie Henderson, Elizabeth Howell, Anthony Hudson, Allison Inman, John Leavitt, John Lichman, Craig D. Lindsey, Brian Lonano, William Mahaffey, Scott Manzler, Matt McGuire, Thashana McQuiston, Richie Millennium, Tiffany Minton, Mae Moreno, Joe Nolan, Brian Owens, Parik Pilly, Stacie Ponder, Lauren Ponto, Matt Prigge, D. Patrick Rodgers, Jason Shawhan, Michael Sicinski, Graham Skipper, Nathan Smith, Sam Smith, James Spence, Scout Tafoya, Kyle Turner, Dave White, Lisa Williams, Cory Woodroof, Ron Wynn, Tony Youngblood

In general, do you feel you have access to properly exhibited films/DCPs in theaters?

It all comes down to one thing: consistency. While there are numerous corporate-run theaters in Nashville that have the equipment to properly project a film, none have consistent quality in that area. Sometimes it’s perfect, and other times it’s an out-of-focus, muddled mess. It’s hard to say whether this is due to lack of training or just not caring though. Sadly, I don’t think it will improve anytime soon. Matthew Essary

Thanks to the preservation of film and expert projectionists at Portland, Ore.’s Hollywood Theatre, I feel a little spoiled, but that only pertains to the repertory films and the few first-runs we get. Watching first-run films in most theaters is a disaster, between bad digital projectors, venues not optimized for viewing and, worst of all, audiences who sit and stare at their phones with full brightness throughout the duration of a movie. Anthony Hudson

It continues to improve, but it definitely feels muted locally, as Washington, D.C., is still changing after the 2016 lawsuit between Landmark Theaters and Regal Cinema where the former (correctly) alleged the latter’s quiet enforcement of a monopoly that barred any type of new movie theater to open inside the District’s limits. Since then, new theaters have opened and given the chance for a wider range of films to show — for a little while. John Lichman

What’s the best needle-drop sequence of the year?

“Psycho Killer” by The Talking Heads, sung roughly by the cast of Kirill Serebrennikov’s Leto as they cause a ruckus on public transport. Siddhant Adlakha

Ari Aster is two-for-two now with his final-credits song choices — Frankie Valli crooning the words “Loneliness is the cloak you wear” as Florence Pugh’s radiant smile still burns in your retinas at the end of Midsommar is about as perfect as they come. Jason Adams

Special Ed’s “I Got It Made” at the beginning of Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us. The song’s lyrics are significant because it’s one of the few times we hear how a person of color sees themselves rather than the way white society sees them. And Michael K. Williams is great in the scene. Odie Henderson

There’s a lot of great ones, but nothing floored me quite like “L’Amour Toujours (I’ll Fly With You)” by Gigi D’Agostino at the end of Uncut Gems. One can never truly escape one’s raver days. Also, “The Circle Game” in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, “Malagueña” in Knife + Heart, and the way that all that’s needed of Grace Jones’ “La Vie en Rose” is the beatbox and flamenco guitar intro to create waves of euphoric gay-memory energy in Pain and Glory. Jason Shawhan

It has to be the ending of Christian Petzold’s Transit, when Talking Heads’ “Road to Nowhere” starts playing right as the closing credits begin. I’ve watched the movie three times, and it surprises me every single time. Richie Millennium

The single-take dance routine to Cerrone’s “Supernature” in the opening scene of Climax. Tiffany Minton

What’s your favorite location in a film this year, and why?

The Park family home in Parasite, an intricately constructed aestheticization of the film’s themes. An actual blueprint would make it seem impossible — à la the Overlook Hotel — but the result is a structure where ascent and descent are a constant prerequisite to motion. It’s quite brilliant. Siddhant Adlakha

Without a doubt, it’s the mountain village of Kailli photographed in the 59-minute take in Long Day’s Journey Into Night. I have a thing for self-contained environments and how films play with the spatial connections. (Think Nakatomi Tower in Die Hard or the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation.) Director Bi Gan uses town locations such as a cave, a chairlift and a pool hall to an astounding, dreamlike effect. If we didn’t see the characters moving in real time from space to space, I’m convinced that this effect would be lost. Tony Youngblood

The Lighthouse island — in fact, I’m not sure once we’ve been there we’ve ever actually left. James Adomian

The West Virginia of Dark Waters was gorgeous, sinister and Trumpian, how it appeared idyllic but in fact demanded conformity and had poison lurking everywhere. Michael Sicinski

Dentley & Soper’s trusted department store of In Fabric, where my paradigms of consumerism are validated in the gracious spheres of retail. Jason Adams

Oooooh, it’s a weird one, but I quite liked the pornography studio in Knife+Heart. Something about the hyper-stylized sets were both very seductive and overstimulating. It was damp, and dingy, and dreamy, and completely enigmatic. As if to say, “Dreams are born here, and also die.” Sheronica Hayes

What’s the performance that made the biggest impression on you in a 2019 film?

Jennifer Lopez’s character in Hustlers, who has somehow transported here from Batman: The Animated Series. I would absolutely be gay and do crimes for her. John Leavitt

Mooch in Mooch Goes to Hollywood. Graham Skipper

Ana de Armas in Knives Out. William Mahaffey

I keep thinking about Awkwafina in The Farewell; how she slouches, how her crackled voice sounds world-weary, how she moves in a space that seems ill-defined, an astute mirror of how she feels in the world. Kyle Turner

Tom Mercier in Synonyms. Florence Pugh in everything. Billie Lourd in Booksmart. Fatma Mohamed in In Fabric. Jason Shawhan

All I’ll say is I bought a yellow Hawaiian shirt and would wear it with a white tee. I almost purchased a Wrangler jean jacket. Matt Prigge

Florence Pugh in both Midsommar and Little Women. Joe Pesci and Al Pacino in The Irishman. Everyone in Parasite, particularly Park So-dam. But if I had to choose one that made the greatest impression on me, it’d be the Sandman in Uncut Gems. Adam Sandler’s absolutely manic portrayal of Howie Ratner is a study in compulsion — thoroughly outlandish, fully intense, but riddled with the kind of subtleties and quirks only Sandler would even think to bring to the role. D. Patrick Rodgers

What films made you cry this year?

Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Sorry We Missed You, It: Chapter 2. Scout Tafoya

I cry easily and often, but my most ferocious tears in 2019 came from the scene we all knew was coming in Little Women — as soon as I realized that Greta Gerwig’s timeline shuffling gambit was built around first giving us Beth’s temporary survival only to immediately yank it away, I was a soppy disaster. I was also crushed to a pulpy mush by the devastating last act of Sorry Angel, which subverted the machinations of the rom-com to emotionally entangle us in the trauma of the AIDS crisis, with too many lives and love stories buried prematurely. Jason Adams

Toy Story was the first movie I loved, I graduated from high school the year before Toy Story 3 came out, and I watched Toy Story 4 the year I got engaged. How do you think I held up? Cory Woodroof

As lukewarm as I was on it overall, I did cry at the end of Rise of Skywalker. For all its problems, it does a lot of stuff right, and it knew how to hit me in my feels. Graham Skipper

Pain and Glory, Little Women, The Farewell, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Blinded by the Light and, much to my surprise, Dolemite Is My Name. Odie Henderson

I had a habit of crying to a handful of films toward the end of 2015, for reasons I still don’t grok. That mostly passed. But I definitely choked up every time I saw (SORRY TO BE A BROKEN RECORD) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, specifically when Margot Robbie’s Sharon Tate was watching the real Sharon Tate in Phil Karlson’s The Wrecking Crew — an actress who would only become a household name in her gruesome death, who was the third lead most people remembered fromValley of the Dolls despite having the most lurid fall, getting to invisibly witness people enjoy, even applaud, her work in a film few would remember after the ’60s. Matt Prigge

There is a birth scene in For Sama that I think I may never forget — I cried out at the startling ending of that scene. And I did weep briefly during the beginning of The Bread and Alley by Abbas Kiarostami. It was my first glimpse of the Kiarostami series at the Belcourt, a series I had longed for without even really believing it could happen. Before Oct. 13 I had only ever seen a very poor transfer of this short film online, so seeing this beautiful restoration of “the mother of all my films” (according to Kiarostami himself) on the big screen at the Belcourt was just so overwhelming. Richie Millennium

I admit, I’m an easy cry at the movies, but Portrait of a Lady on Fire had me outright ugly-sobbing. For a long time. A too-long time. Maybe still, even. Stacie Ponder

Cats?

Two hours of broken-video-game animation, no story, and cocaine-fueled choices; in other words, it’s virtually indistinguishable from (the more thoughtless, and more offensive) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Anthony Hudson

It’s terrible because it’s not bad ENOUGH. Disastrously memorable movie musicals like Xanadu and Can’t Stop the Music have a gay sensibility that Cats sorely needed; only Ian McKellan brought those goodies. Shame on me, but I thought Mr. Mistoffelees was kinda hot until I saw his jacked-up feet. So, yeah, Cats is trash. Odie Henderson

Cats is riddled with flaws from the first purr to the last, but damn was it a blast to watch with a group of friends in a practically deserted theater. I hope whoever was responsible for Jennifer Hudson’s makeup pays for their crimes. I was pleasantly surprised by Taylor Swift’s performance. She channeled a feline fierceness that I didn’t anticipate from her. Sheronica Hayes

If you’re OK with treating your hard-earned money as literally disposable income, then by all means, go see it in the theater. But if you cringe at the thought of spending $15-$20 on a movie that barely passes as a work of art, wait for it on Redbox. I cringed myself into the fetal position, was annoyed enough to talk back to the screen, but most of all howled with laughter throughout. Yes, you can go your whole life and never see this, and that is perfectly fine. Or you could see it and relish this bizarre, delightful mess like a horny food fetishist writhing in a kiddie pool of baked beans. Either way, see it. Or, don’t. Tiffany Minton

They don’t much like it when you clip their nails, but you have to do it. Otherwise they get hung up on the carpet. Michael Sicinski

Dogs. Zack Hall

I haven’t seen it yet but will eventually. Because I am always fascinated by movies that people hate. I really don’t know what people expected from it? But if you wanna get my ass in a seat with a film adaptation of an ’80s musical? One word: Chess. Thashana McQuiston

I wanna see it, the reviews make it sound like it could be fun. William Mahaffey

No. Sam Smith 

Haven’t worked up the nerve to see it in theaters, not sure if I ever will. It broke a friend of mine, and he compared the experience to The End of Evangelion. Jacob Davison

Sometimes I really miss drugs. Sean Burns

The first trailer is this year’s best viral video not made by Peloton. Steve Erickson

What are you most looking forward to in 2020?

Tenet, Dune, Wonder Woman 1984, Last Night in Soho, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Benedetta, Prisoners of the Ghostland, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon. James Spence

I say this as a lifelong fan of both: no longer having to care about Marvel and Star Wars. Siddhant Adlakha

I just want to see Eric Andre and Tiffany Haddish both act a damn fool in Bad Trip. Craig D. Lindsey

The Tilda Swinton/Apichatpong Weerasethakul movie, Memoria. Matt Prigge

Da 5 Bloods (Spike goes Western), Macbeth, Nightmare Alley, No Time to Die (Craig’s swan song as James Bond), The Personal History of David Copperfield (a diverse version of the Dickens classic), Soul, Top Gun: Maverick, Clemency, West Side Story. I still love going to the movies. Even as I lament the domination and ongoing distortion of the art form by corporate mega studios, I celebrate the fact that there remain those who want to tell unusual, provocative and informative stories. Not everything should be high-fantasy cinematic video game aimed at 20- and 30-year-olds. While I certainly have guilty pleasures (Bond films in particular and vintage Westerns/detective/film noir flicks), at this stage if I’m going to pay higher prices for content, let me either learn something or be inspired (preferably both). Sports and classic TV provide ample escapist fare. Ron Wynn

Seeing Portrait of a Lady on Fire again, in a theater this time (and the forthcoming Criterion release!). And, uh, seeing Kyle Richards and her bangs on the big screen, reprising her role as Lindsay Wallace in Halloween Kills. Stacie Ponder

As always, the films I’m most looking forward to in the new year are festival standouts I somehow missed during my usual September/October cinematic binge: Bait, Endless Night, Heimat Is a Space in Time, Liberte, No Data Plan, Oh Mercy!, State Funeral, To the Ends of the Earth, Traitor, Young Ahmed, etc. A list deep and (potentially) strong enough to ward off fears of November end times. Scott Manzler

No Time to Die! I’m a die-hard James Bond fan, and I’m excited for the new one, however it turns out. I am especially excited for the new one because I have had time to get excited. Ana de Armas? Rami Malek in Noh masks? Bond going rogue yet again? The weird behind-the-scenes stuff with Cary Fukanaga? Daniel Craig’s open disdain? I am in. Kyle Turner

My fellow film poll submitters, as a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball. But this year I say we must move forward not backward. Upward, not forward. And always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom — and Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods. John Lichman

Gretel and Hansel, Antlers, Last Night in Soho. William Mahaffey

I am most looking forward to the possibility of someone screening the five-and-a-half-hour version of Abel Gance’s Napoleon (1927), which I understand is now available. One can only dream! Charles Cosner

If it sounds too basic to say Tenet is first, then I won’t say it. But Christopher Nolan returning to the high-wire world of high-concept action/sci-fi should be high on everyone’s lists. Judd Apatow’s return to directing, a vehicle in which Pete Davidson may finally get a controlled format to show off his immense talent and grace, is also mightily enticing. Also, the return of Benh Zeitlin, two original Pixar films, In the Heights, the Bob’s Burgers movie, Aaron Sorkin’s Trial of the Chicago 7, new Tom McCarthy and Paul Greengrass, Spielberg’s West Side Story and whatever Villeneuve’s Dune is going to be. Cory Woodroof

Voting for Bernie Sanders, closely followed by Paul W.S. Anderson’s Monster Hunter and the return of Justin Lin to the helm of the Fast & Furious franchise. Nathan Smith

Tilda Swinton in Thai master Apichatpong Werrasethakul’s English-language debut Memoria, Vicky Krieps and Mia Wasikowska in Bergman Island, Frances McDormand in Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland, Meryl Streep and Dianne Wiest in Steven Soderbergh’s Let Them All Talk, Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir Part II, Bill & Ted Face the Music, plus new films from Charlie Kaufman, Josephine Decker, Yorgos Lanthimos, Kirsten Johnson, Léos Carax and Kogonada. Sam Smith

Annette, Antebellum, Benedetta, Bill & Ted Face The Music, Dune, Fantasy Island, Gretel and Hansel, Last Night in Soho, Memoria, (for the third year running) The New Mutants, The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run, The True Story of the Kelly Gang. Jason Shawhan

The Lodge, Wonder Woman 1984, Birds of Prey, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Gretel and Hansel, Antebellum, Candyman and Kyle Richards in Halloween Kills. Anthony Hudson

Miranda July’s Kajillionaire and Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch. Richie Millennium

The Personal History of David Copperfield, Eternals, In the Heights, Bill & Ted Face the Music. Tony Youngblood

A 46th president of the United States. Michael Sicinski

VFW. Stephen Lang, William Sadler, David Patrick Kelly, George Wendt, Martin Kove and Fred The Hammer Williamson fighting a gang of druggies and mutant criminals. Sign me up now. Dr. Gangrene

There’s been a lot of talk about Anna Paquin in The Irishman and Margot Robbie in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood pertaining to the agency of women characters relating to their spoken dialogue. What are your thoughts?

I think the “How many lines does she have?” question is similar to the Bechdel Test — a good baseline for judgment, but context also matters. How does the character fit into the film as a whole, how is she represented, what purpose does she serve, is her lack of dialogue a deliberate choice, etc. That said, if a film features a single woman and she speaks maybe two lines, I’m not exactly hot to watch the film. While it might be a masterpiece, it’s bumped to the end of my viewing queue, you know? There are a lot of stories out there, and while the idea of “universal themes” is certainly viable, I’m much more interested in watching stories that center women. And most of the time that involves them speaking quite a bit of dialogue. Stacie Ponder

It’s possible for silence to be active and judgmental. I think Paquin’s character’s refusal to speak in The Irishman is a choice that turns her into the film’s conscience. But while the scene where Sharon Tate watches herself on screen is a delight, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood would need four or five more like it to treat her like its male protagonists’ equal. That film suffers from a madonna/whore complex, with Tarantino self-servingly putting criticism of violent media in the mouth of the Manson family. Steve Erickson

One huge reason why women continue to be marginalized is because there is a lack of intention to include them equally. So, yes, those in power (particularly men) have a responsibility to center their experiences, to consult with them about what that means and to listen when they are criticized about how they’re represented and incorporate that feedback mindfully. Tiffany Minton

I haven’t seen The Irishman, and too many female characters are just extensions of terrible male filmmakers’ imaginations, but I do think the perceived misogyny of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is chronically misread. Sharon Tate’s lack of dialogue feels to me more like an earnest, ethical attempt to not put words in the mouth of a once-living person. We see her as a force — she’s always dancing — and a smart, inquisitive actor in her time off. And from Squeaky Fromme and Janet Miller and Billie Booth to Francesca Cappucci and Trudi Fraser (I swear, if Julia Butters doesn’t get nominated for this) and even Brandy the dog, nearly every female in the movie constantly puts the crybaby men of the movie in their place. Anthony Hudson

I understand the concern with regard to visibility and opportunity, but acting — and the impact a character or performer can have — is not just about the number of lines. I did not care for either film, but Anna Paquin was my favorite thing about The Irishman; she expresses a complex world of emotions and ideas through her body and facial movements, her gaze alone. I do think there should be more opportunity for women and marginalized groups in film, in front of the camera and behind the scenes, to explore the intricacy of humanity. But to say that’s predicated on dialogue I think is prescriptive. Kyle Turner

I didn’t believe that Paquin was scaring her father by looking like the poster for Exorcist II: The Heretic. This was a man who blew people’s heads off for a living. Staring at him with silent disdain would have done squat. And if you didn’t know who Sharon Tate was, Margot Robbie’s aimless meandering around Los Angeles made her seem like some anonymous, wandering pretty blonde with dirty feet who needed to be saved by middle-aged white men with flamethrowers. So hell no, I ain’t buying what folks are selling about either of these performances. Odie Henderson

I feel like these were excellent moments in junketeering to throw someone off their base and get that sweet SEO content. Otherwise I don’t have a dog in this fight, because it’ll get even worse when I say, “As a cis-het white male with a beard let ME address this.” John Lichman

This is my second attempt at answering this question. I’m learning the topic as I fuss with it, which I know ultimately doesn’t provide a great answer or anything good. I’m having a bit of school déjà vu. It’s valid to wonder why both didn’t have more screen time (especially given the prominent place Margot Robbie figures in the poster and other promotional materials). Without Peggy, Frank Sheeran’s musings aren’t as devastating: She’s the final nail in his coffin. Her being silent is a choice, creating power over their relationship. In the case of Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, being a historical figure with expected circumstances and endpoints makes it potentially trickier, where the question of agency would topple over Tarantino’s structure. Obviously he had in mind to pull the audience along on expectation, until he was ready to pull the rug. Showing his hand early on would create a different film. There was room for more Margot Robbie, but the problem comes with her being more a thematic plot device than what’s given to DiCaprio and Pitt. I’m showing my ignorance. I look forward to seeing the other responses. James Spence

My thoughts on issues of language and gender, like those of race, are extremely complicated, and there are no easy answers or pat solutions. I also think the answers can be better resolved by having more women in positions of power as writers, directors and producers, because they are best suited to recognize difficulties and speak to them. Ron Wynn

Dialogue, and especially lack thereof, does not equal lack of agency or quality of character. Matt Prigge

The Paquin role barely registered — seemed more emblematic of late-career Scorsese’s disinterest in women’s parts. But Robbie’s blissed-out Sharon Tate proved a necessary corrective, a featherweight delight that lifted the film above its more off-note moments (e.g., the Children of the Corn Spahn Ranch sequence, and Tarantino’s by-now-ubiquitous bloodbath finale). Scott Manzler

I’m so gotdamn tired of this. People were so up-in-arms about their lack of dialogue that they didn’t even realize they were basically saying actresses can’t do anything but talk in movies. Both performances were expressive and revealing in other ways. Paquin played a character whose silent fear toward her father morphed into full-blown disgust. And the scene in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood where Robbie as Tate proudly takes in her (Tate’s) performance in The Wrecking Crew was one of the most poignant moments I saw in a film last year. Craig D. Lindsey

If you view cinema as mythology, as I do, there’s more to the power and meaning of a character than quantifiable data such as dialogue (some of my favorite films don’t even have any!). With one line, Anna Paquin’s character had a greater impact on the story and meaning of The Irishman than anyone else. That said, nothing could possibly be less interesting to me than the perpetual obsession of filmmakers like Scorsese and Tarantino with male-driven macho narratives, when there are so many 2019 fantastic films representing the female experience, from Little Women and Booksmart to Atlantics and Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Sam Smith

I felt this was a flaw in both of these films and an unconscious bias on Scorsese and Tarantino’s parts. Look how they doubled down when asked about these critiques. More telling is the indie-film-bro response, captured beautifully by @peyjuly’s tweet: “Men think women are sensitive but have you ever said ‘Quentin Tarantino sucks’ in front of a man?” Tony Youngblood

Regarding Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, it did not bother me. More than anything I loved that Tarantino tried to give Sharon Tate some humanity back. For so long she has been a murder victim and a woman in crime scene photos. And even though her dialogue was minimal compared to other characters’, it never felt lacking to me. It doesn’t hurt that typically QT writes great dialogue for his female characters, especially compared to his contemporaries. For The Irishman, one of my favorite parts of that movie was the relationship between Anna Paquin and Robert De Niro. But I never thought, “Man, I would love to hear her say more words.” Only that I would have liked to see more of their relationship. All that being said, it is absolutely a problem, one I have felt personally when working on movies. But it isn’t exclusive to film. It is everywhere. And the only thing worse than not having enough dialogue for women is when it is stereotypical and/or completely off-base. If you want to make an impact, the solution isn’t tearing into movies like these. It is seeing more movies that are written by women or with well-written parts for women. And educating people around you. And if you are a male filmmaker or writer and specifically writing female characters, do the damn work. Talk to women and really think about them beyond just servicing the men in the story. And if you are casting movies, be open to casting any gender in any part when reasonable. Thashana McQuiston

The University of Southern California Annenberg studied the top 100 highest-grossing films of 2018, and they found that only 33.1 percent of all speaking or named characters were women. Only 9 percent of films in 2018 had gender-balanced casts. Only 11 films featured a woman or girl of color in a leading or co-leading role. Why? More than three-quarters of content-creator roles (e.g., directors, writers, producers) were filled by men. It’s natural for artists to create characters in their own image. But the gender disparity behind the camera is not natural. Sexism is intentional, systemic, poisonous. I am no longer interested in seeing movies where women don’t talk. It ruined The Irishman for me, and I don’t plan to see Once Upon a Time at all. I do want to see men voting for women in film with their wallets — and I want to see more male critics using their privilege to demand that Hollywood do better. Erica Ciccarone

In these two instances the movies are what they are, and these characters as written perform incredibly specific functions. Give them more dialogue and you change the movie, so you should probably just watch other movies. There’s a zillion of them. Portrait of a Lady on Fire and The Souvenir. Both just as good, if not maybe a little better. What a year this was — counting lines feels counterproductive and kind of lame! Scout Tafoya

It’s possible to recognize that so much of film language and discourse has been determined by men — often at the expense of women’s voices, both in front of and behind the camera — while also recognizing that, despite this trend, there are specific artistic decisions that may not translate to women being robbed of agency, interiority or perspective just because they don’t have much spoken dialogue. Words have power, but in a visual medium, they’re not the only thing that has power. Siddhant Adlakha

We’re still talking about them because they were both standout performances in standout films. Joe Nolan

I don’t think the agency of a character can be weighed entirely by the amount of dialogue they have. Jacob Davison

The amount of dialogue does not correlate to a quality performance or an important role. I don’t see how anyone who really watched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood or The Irishman could come away from them not seeing that Margot Robbie and Anna Paquin are the very heart of both those films. Their moments in those films justify the very existence of those projects. If you were to remove them, both films would be pointless. Matthew Essary

Robbie’s role is a bit more difficult to assess than Paquin’s. Sharon Tate is depicted as less of a person than an idea, a promise of hope for a trajectory that reality did not take. Whereas in The Irishman, Peggy functions throughout the film as an internal witness and judge to what her father and the others are doing, an outside perspective that Scorsese wouldn’t have even considered back when he made Goodfellas. So the character of Peggy has roots in filmmakers like Pasolini and Angelopoulos, directors who frequently created on-screen stand-ins for an incredulous or disapproving spectator. Michael Sicinski

I think both had great performances in both films. Anna Paquin’s expression when she looks at De Niro is more powerful than any words that could have been written for her to say. And watching Margot Robbie go through her day was wonderful. We got to watch someone whose life was tragically cut short enjoy herself, and I think it would have been silly to add lines for her to say while she was out and about. We don’t go about our days talking aloud about the things we’re doing. Brian Lonano

I left both those movies primarily thinking about Peggy and Sharon — those actresses made those very different silences speak volumes. Jason Adams

It completely depends upon the script for each particular film. Anna Paquin spoke volumes with her silence in The Irishman. Some people are just looking for things to become outraged about, and honestly, you tend to find what you look for. Dr. Gangrene