Quentin Tarantino's favourite film of 2019 is a surprising choice

Quentin Tarantino has revealed his favourite film of 2019 and, perhaps surprisingly, it’s Alexandre Aja’s alligator attack horror Crawl.

Tarantino revealed his choice to Deadline journalist Pete Hammond at the Academy’s Governors Awards, at which David Lynch was among those given an honorary Oscar.

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The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood director said he was impressed by the “pure filmmaking” of Aja’s film, in which Kaya Scodelario braved gator-infested flood water in an attempt to save her injured father from the crawl space under his Florida home.

“Tarantino told me that, as incredible as he says it might sound, he thinks his favorite film so far this year just might be — wait for it — Crawl,” Hammond wrote.

He added: “That’s right, the alligators-in-a-hurricane movie directed by Alexandre Aja that Paramount released a couple of weeks before QT’s movie came out in July.

“Tarantino says it impressed him in every way, in terms of pure filmmaking.”

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As well as impressing Tarantino, Crawl was a hit with film critics earlier this year, scoring an 82% approval score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The site’s critical consensus describes the film as an “action-packed creature feature that's fast, terrifying, and benefits greatly from a completely game Kaya Scodelario”.

Aja’s movie also landed with an impressive splash at the box office, scoring a solid $91m (£71m) worldwide from a budget of just $13.5m (£10.5m).

Tarantino is currently on the campaign trail for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which is being positioned for a major Oscar push in the new year.

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The director himself will be hoping for recognition, with his leading men Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt also expected to be in the frame for nominations in Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively.