2020 Movie Log: February

1st: Her Smell – Alex Ross Perry (2018)
Watched at home with Gioia. It’s a movie that’s been on my list for a while. It’s a genre and type of film I’m actually really fascinated by. I’m always intrigued by how a fictional music movie will incorporate the music into itself. It’s really tricky. I think most of them don’t work because they fail to feel authentic, even if the rest of the movie is good. I wouldn’t say Her Smell underwhelmed me but it certainly didn’t meet my expectations. The movie is punishing. The first 2/3rds of the movie are almost relentlessly so. They’re shot in a really jittery, claustrophobic way. Elisabeth Moss’s performance is jarring. She is playing a character in full-on substance abuse, mental health, and ego-trip crisis. I think the performance is remarkable. I kind of wonder why she can’t be nominated for something like this. Even if the movie wouldn’t work for the Oscars (and it certainly wouldn’t), I think the performance is undeniable. Anyway, what I think is difficult to reconcile in the movie (and may be intentional) is that Perry doesn’t give us anything to hang on to. There’s not really a reason for the audience to justify Moss’s character. Or at least to even find it destructively charismatic. She’s really just the worst. At the very end of the movie, we do get Moss’s character as a sober person. The scene in which she performs “Heaven” steals the movie. It’s supposed to redeem her character. To be the moment where we realize why this person is special, why all of these people have put up with her. Instead, it almost doesn’t work because the scene is so good. My takeaway was that the performance really kind of outshines the movie. However, it does make the ending sequence much more compelling. We have a reason to care now. We desperately don’t want her to relapse. I think it’s hard to justify the whole movie based on the last 30 minutes. Still, I think it’s really well made. Perry is trying to pull off some tricky things. I think it works to varying degrees. For me, it’s way too cynical.
Grade: B-
Her Smell – Alex Ross Perry (2018)

2nd: Blaze – Ethan Hawke (2018)
Watched at home with Gioia. It’s another film that had been on my list for a while. This was less about the mystery behind it. I think musician biopics tend to be pretty interesting (and often good). Plus all I had heard were good things about this movie. The performances are outstanding. Which makes sense given it’s an actor directing. But Ben Dickey as Blaze and Alia are really incredible. Dickey’s performance has the thing that Her Smell (I think intentionally) avoided. Blaze is so charismatic. His stories and little songs are so charming, warm, and funny. You really feel for him in spite of most of his behavior. Another advantage is that since the songs are real, they really pull you toward him. You can see and hear his talent pretty plainly. Dickey’s performance as Blaze is as good as anything I’ve seen this year. I probably could have done without some of the non-linear timeline things. I think for the most part they work. I love that so much of the movie is framed through Blaze’s last night and performance. A central thesis of the movie is the inevitability of things. That we know how Blaze will die from the beginning is important. The same with the fact that his marriage won’t work. I think it makes it all the more tragic as we watch these scenes knowing that it will go south. Still, there was something that felt a little too removed. Between his marriage, the Townes Van Zandt interview, the stage, and the house, we were sometimes cutting between four timelines. I’d be interested if the full force of the movie could have hit harder if one of those were removed.
Grade: B
Blaze – Ethan Hawke (2018)

3rd: Hail, Caesar! – The Coen Brothers (2016)
Watched at home with Gioia. I believe this is the third time I’ve seen this movie. One of the funny things about the Coen Brothers is that their best movies tend to improve upon subsequent viewings. I would argue that most of their best work is actually a little hard to gauge upon first viewing. That’s been my experience at least with Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski, and Burn After Reading. And in fact, I was pretty neutral the first time I saw this film. Watching it now, I can’t really explain why. It’s a classic Coen Brother’s comedy. I think you can make the case that the interaction between Ralph Fiennes and Alden Ehrenreich is the funniest scene they’ve ever made. Some of the “Hollywood” sequences are just stunning too. Particularly the synchronized swimming and Channing Tatum’s dance sequence. I love the reveal that the writers are all communist agents. And the performances in the film are out of control. This may be my favorite Josh Brolin performance. Now here’s the tricky thing about the Coen Brothers: It’s still probably not even in the top half of their films. Off the top of my head, Blood Simple, Miller’s Crossing, Fargo, Barton Fink, Big Lebowski, A Serious Man, No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading, and Inside Llewyn Davis are all better. Still, Hail Caesar is probably a better film than the best work from most directors. It’s certainly more fun.
Grade: B / B+
Hail, Caesar – The Coen Brothers (2016)

4th: M.A.S.H. – Robert Altman (1970)
Watched at home with Gioia. It was my second time watching. I believe MASH was actually the first Altman film I ever saw. My feelings this time were complicated. It is pretty plainly racist and extremely misogynistic. From my reading, I found that a lot of that is arguably intentional. According to Wills, Altman’s philosophy as a filmmaker is along the lines of “that’s how the world is and as a filmmaker, I reflect the world.” Which I think is in line with this argument. There are some other bits I found in research that help explain it too. The film is obviously subversive and especially so toward dominant American political and sociological thought. MASH may, in fact, be the first film that openly mocked religion and Christianity. One explanation for the cruel shower prank, for instance, is that the MPAA had just changed its guidelines so this was one of the first times that nudity could be shown in a film. If you believe that, then the film is more of a commentary and satire on society as opposed to an investigation of its own world. I think that mostly works too. If there is a central ethos inside the film it’s that war, life, and death don’t make much sense so why bother rationalizing anything at all. With all of that being said, I don’t 100% buy this argument. Some scenes and jokes are too cruel or thoughtless to factor into this. Altman can both be subversive and also a product of his time. I generally don’t spend a whole lot of time sussing out whether or not a film “holds up” ethically. Art is too complicated for that. I think that you can like Bob Dylan or Patti Smith and think it’s regretable they appropriated the n-word in their songs. This morning I read that once, in a protest turned prank, Virginia Woolf helped to commandeer a military ship by wearing blackface and pretending to be Ethiopian. This is all complicated stuff. Luckily, Altman went on to make many more films that are more plainly enjoyable. And for what it’s worth, I like most of MASH. I think it’s incredibly well shot, often funny, brilliantly performed, and yes, a little problematic. In a way, having all those things in one film feels perfectly Altman-esque.
Grade: B

6th: Purple Rain – Albert Magnoli (1984)
Watched at home. I had never seen it before. I’ve shamefully never even really done the Prince deep dive. It’s one of the best music movies I’ve ever seen. I think there are some documentaries that are probably slightly better but I can’t think of a narrative music film that even comes close to it. Like I said in writing about “Her Smell,” the challenge with so many of these movies is that the music has to feel authentic. You have to believe that these songs are really winning people over. That’s obviously not a problem here. The performances are far and away the best part of the movie. And it leans into that. The whole third act of the film is a concert. I was actually pretty shocked by some of the narrative content in the film. I kind of still can’t believe that Prince hits Apollonia. I actually can’t believe how difficult and unlikable the film makes Prince. It does work. The performance of “Purple Rain” feels totally redemptive. I’m not sure the power of it is totally there if Prince isn’t doing it to repent. Still, I think it was a pretty unusual and kind of brave for him to portray himself like this. I can’t think of any other celebrities that have taken that on. I think some of the narrative choices are pretty stock. It’s a pretty basic template. But the plot doesn’t really need to be anything more complicated or subversive. The film knows it has Prince’s music to lean on.
Grade: B+
Purple Rain – Albert Magnoli (1984)

7th: Girlhood – Céline Sciamma (2014)
Watched at home. Like Sciamma’s previous films, Girlhood is beautifully composed. I really want to figure out how she gets the look that her films have. The electronic score was really fantastic in this one too. And some of the sequences were stunning. Particularly the “Shine Like a Diamond” sing along. This movie certainly worked the least for me of her films. Narratively, it’s by far the most ambitious. There is so much happening in this film. I really appreciate how little Sciamma explains it too. Still, I wonder if she tried to bite off one too many themes. I think by the time we discover Marieme’s sexuality it feels like more of a twist than a reveal. I’m not confident that’s the case, but in the moment it’s how it felt to me. Still, Sciamma is clearly one of the best filmmakers working and this isn’t a blemish on that record by any means.
Grade: B
Girlhood – Céline Sciamma (2014)

7th: The Royal Tenenbaums – Wes Anderson (2001)
Watched at home with Gioia. I believe this is only the second time I had seen it. This is definitely the Anderson film that, compared with its reception, works the least for me. I still like it better than say Life Aqautic…or Darjeeling, but of his “great films” this one never fully clicks. To me, the characters feel a little too muted and composed. I think the performances are great, but they’re each deliberately set to one note. None of them really have a chance to change, even though they all have by the end. I suppose this is the story that probably connects the least to me as well. It’s neater than Bottle Rocket or Rushmore, but those stories hit something in me that Tenenbaums never quite does. I suppose that could be from the fortune of not being a child of divorce. Okay, that’s a lot of negativity for a movie I quite like. The cast and performances are brilliant. I think Anderson deals with the sorrow and heaviness of the story really well. I forgot how sad this movie is. Richie’s suicide attempt is particularly brutal. The soundtrack, as always, is perfectly set. I love that Eli’s music queues are all The Clash. And, compared with the first two, the composition and visual design of this film is a major step up. It feels closer to the brilliance of his later films than of the first two.
Grade: B / B+
The Royal Tenenbaums – Wes Anderson (2001)

8th: 8 1/2: Federico Fellini (1963)
Watched at home. It feels almost impossible to really comprehend upon first viewing. I feel a little foolish trying to really say much of anything about it. It felt to me like something like Stalker in which you need a couple of viewings to really start to grasp the mechanics of what’s happening. With that being said, 8 1/2 is incredibly fun to watch, even on just one viewing. Certainly more so than something like Stalker. It is a comedy which certainly helps in that regard. And in fact, it’s often wickedly funny. They are vastly different films but I was reminded often of Tampopo. Both have loose plots but are more grounded in these wild, surrealist sequences. The look of the movie is incredible. I really love the idea of all these elaborate designs and sequences for a film that is mocking the whole process. For instance, characters constantly make fun of the giant alien spaceship that’s been built. It’s so wasteful and ridiculous. It really only exists in the film to be made fun of. And obviously, Fellini had it built, even as just a joke. This doubly pays off too at the end of the movie. While there isn’t a big alien landing, climax scene like in Guido’s film, there is this brilliant, surrealist, chaotic spectacle. It’s almost like an anti-climax. Marcello Mastroianni is brilliant in the lead role. He’s handsome, sinister, aloof, and perfectly lousy all at once. It’s really something to watch him try to maneuver through these insane situations. I already love this movie more than I did when I was watching it. I think it’s hard to figure out where it’s going until you realize. It kind of depends on the spectacle at the end. I’m really excited to watch more Fellini and will definitely rewatch sometime.
8 ½ – Federico Fellini (1963)

8th: A League of Their Own – Penny Marshall (1992)
Watched at home with Gioia. I had never seen it before. I loved it. It’s easily in the top tier of baseball movies (which of course is a favorite sub-genre of mine). I do think that the movie should or could be 20 minutes shorter. The start of it is slow. I know they probably have to go through the beats of Dottie initially refusing to play and the tryouts and everything, but it feels so standard and formulaic. It’s unfortunate because the rest of the movie is so fun and endearing. It’s really incredibly well done. The sequence of them playing and winning games is fantastic. It’s what the best sports movies are made of. The team is perfectly cast down the line too. Hanks and Geena Davis are obviously exceptional. But Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, and Lori Petty really put the movie over the top. I actually thought the end of the movie works quite nicely. It’s a nice inversion of the usual tropes of a sports film. Dottie and Kit are split up and our rooting allegiances are split too. It’s cool to have Kit and Racine win. It feels right even though we expect for Rockford to win during the whole movie. The hall of fame thing at the end wasn’t my favorite, but I understand that it’s important.
Grade: B+
A League of Their Own – Penny Marshall (1992)

10th: Honey Boy – Alma Har’el (2019)
Watched at home with Gioia. I really liked it. It probably would have cracked my top ten of 2019. There’s so much, just in the surface details, that really works for me. The film is as short as it possibly can be. I’m really curious if scenes were cut or if the film was re-shaped in any major way. Either way, I think they found the best way to tell this story. It does a really smart thing at the beginning, where it compresses all of the details of “Otis’s” life into a short montage. We obviously already know the details of Shia Labeouf’s life so the film doesn’t need to go through them. And even if you don’t know, the montage conveys everything you’d need to know. I also loved the ambiguity in the ending. The movie is asking complicated questions. It’d feel wrong for it to really answer any of them. I think we get a glimmer that Otis could be all right, but we don’t know that he will be. Speaking of Otis, Noah Jupe is so good in this movie. It’s one of the best performances I’ve seen this year. There’s a part in the film in which Otis is acting in a movie and he has to cry during a scene. While I was watching, I was having the thought that it’s kind of crazy that children can act like that. Obviously not even realizing that Noah Jupe has been doing that this entire movie, and is doing it with an added layer in the very scene. Shia Labeouf is really outstanding as well. It’s a film written by him, in which he plays a version of his own father, and yet it never feels like a gimmick. He completely inhabits this character in the performance. And again, aside from the performance, I’m really just impressed by the script he wrote. It’s so clear and concise. There are layers throughout the film. It’s really smart. These factors obviously all make for a successful movie, but what really elevated it for me was the direction. I didn’t know it at the time, but Alma Har’el’s previous experience is in music videos. I think it makes a lot of sense. The look and feel of this movie is so clean and dynamic. You feel like you’re with these characters without it being distracting. I noticed that in the conversations, she uses almost all hand-held shots. It’s something that’s not distracting, but just noticeable. It creates an uneasy sensation when you’re at this motel. This is going to sound unfair (it probably is) but if there’s anything I held against the movie it was maybe an inch of this restraint or tightness that I like so much. The movie is exceptionally sad, but I noticed that the most emotional I became was thinking about it after. I wonder if there had been just five more minutes to let this sadness fester, would there have been more of an emotional climax in the movie.
Grade: A-
Honey Boy – Alma Har’el (2019)

11th: The Master – Paul Thomas Anderson (2012)
Watched at home with Gioia. I’ve used this description before (though rarely). The Master is the type of film that makes me want to go back and retroactively lower the grades I give most other films. It is so exceptionally good. It very well may be the best film of this century. It is certainly my favorite PTA film. The composition of it is incredible. The Master has more unforgettable shots than most directors create in their entire career. The way Anderson films Phoenix on the boat, on the motorcycle, even in the department store is striking. Not to mention some of the extended moving shots. The coat girl moving around the department store, or Phoenix sneaking aboard the ship. They’re such long, dynamic shots. The performances are out of control too. Especially Jaoquin Phoenix and Phillip Seymour-Hoffman. The dynamic between them is really as good as movies get. Not to mention Amy Adams who, I think, plays her role in a way that no other famous actor could. She blends right into her part. And as good as some of Jonny Greenwood’s PTA collabs are, I think this might be the best. It’s beautiful and classical and yet so unsettling at times. It’s lively and even funny. There are so many music decisions that every other director would have filmed a different way. When Phoenix runs across the field, we don’t have exciting chase music. Instead, we have this drony, unsettling, orchestral piece. Putting aside all of that praise, what I think works best in The Master are its themes. It tells a satisfying, concrete story. There’s really not a whole lot of ambiguity in it. I wouldn’t call it experimental or non-narrative by any means. Yet as much as the plot and the story work, it’s the themes that really set this movie apart. It feels like a work of literature in that way. The most important parts of the movie don’t even occur onscreen. They’re what we can conjecture through watching. I don’t have a really smooth way of addressing or tying together all of these themes. It’s probably one of the reasons this movie appeals so much to me. Still, here are a few of my untethered thoughts:

• Control + Exploitation:
  • We know the movement is full of shit. It’s Scientology. Dodd uses scientific methods to exhaust and compel people into his beliefs. The basis of his plan lies in a belief that human nature can be controlled. Though what he is actually saying is that human beings belong to a higher class and have sunk below their species’ dignity. He depends on someone like Freddie, a man who continually indulges his most base instincts, because any improvement looks like proof of the effectiveness of his methods. At the same time, and upon any close examination, Freddie inadvertently disproves Dodd’s theory. The way Dodd attempts to prove that Freddie is not an animal is by treating him and relying on him to act like one.

• Dependence:
  • At the end of the film, Dodd tells Freddie that if he can live without a master, he’ll be the only one in human history. So much of this film is about dependence. Freddie is addicted to alcohol. He has (at the least) an unhealthy preoccupation with sex. The film hints that the movement could be a solution for Freddie, even if it’s all bullshit. I was thinking about something like AA’s reliance on god (to be clear, I think AA is legit and good). Still, I think there’s evidence that what Dodd is pushing for would be beneficial to Freddie, even if it’s completely exploitative. I guess this can be applied to all religions in general. Aside from wars or conflicts started in their name, they generally elicit better behavior from people. And even aside from his addictions, Freddie is mentally ill. At least what the cause offers is some treatment and attention for him. There’s the scene in which Dodd has Freddie pacing back and forth through the house, literally like a caged dog. It’s pretty brutal to watch. It’s about as stark as Freddie’s exploitation is shown. And yet, this is probably the healthiest manifestation of Freddie’s manic energy that we see. It’s not channeled into something positive, but it’s exhausted. For a moment, it can’t be used toward his own destruction.

• Service
  • After a processing/confrontation session with Dodd’s son-in-law, Freddie claims that he was on a battleship that won the war. It ties into the idea of serving a higher power. In both cases (the war and this movement) the worst impulses in man are being exploited. In the war, Freddie has to kill. Yet, it’s something that in society we accept and even laud. There’s a voiceover by General MacArthur toward the beginning in which he declares victory and an end to the war in the name of the world that God intended. When Freddie undergoes his first processing, he (after one denial) admits that he killed “Japs…during the war.” This is not questioned further by Dodd. What does concern him more is Freddie’s admission that he has had sex with his Aunt. This is a thin line to walk, but I’m going to try. The prospect of Freddie having sex with his Aunt would be considered abhorrent, disgusting behavior by almost any society. But it’s hard to argue that it’s worse than killing a man, or multiple men. Yet, one was done out of Freddie’s sex addiction and likely mental illness. The other was done in the name of country and, as MacArthur puts it, God. Over the course of the movie, you can see this same philosophy with the cause. Dodd depends on Freddie’s worst impulses to validate his movement. He’s trying to achieve godliness and perfection by controlling Freddie’s mental illness and worst predilections. The film ends with an interesting comment on where these services leave Freddie. As is explained by a Navy doctor at the beginning, Freddie’s mental illness is completely normal based on what he went through in the war. It’s very likely that Freddie had issues before the military, but his service certainly seems to have exacerbated it. The last shots of the movie are Freddie repeating the processing questions while he has sex. What the lasting impact of the cause will be upon him is uncertain, but at the very least it seems to have left a mark.

Grade: A
The Master – Paul Thomas Anderson (2012)

12th: Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Céline Sciamma (2019)
Watched at a sold-out Music Box Theatre with Gioia and Céline Sciamma! I enjoyed the movie throughout, but I have to admit that halfway through I couldn’t figure out what was so incredible about this one. Especially compared with Sciamma’s previous work. Needless to say, after that the film all comes together. Sciamma makes so many smart storytelling choices and it feels as though they all pay off in the last 15 minutes. For instance, you have Héloïse reading the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. It’s obviously a perfect choice for this movie. But I wondered why did she state it so explicitly? It seems like something that would normally exist in the background. Something Sciamma would suggest as a theme or interpretation of the story. It quickly becomes apparent why it’s explicitly acknowledged. The physical book Héloïse reads comes to play a huge role. It becomes the visual symbol of her and Marianne’s love. Additionally, we see Marianne paint an adaptation of this story. It comments both on the unusual way she chose to portray the lovers. She shows the moment they look at one another. Perhaps a nod to the defiance that she and Héloïse have shown in their love and their work. As is explained in the film, as a woman, Marianne is really only allowed by society to paint portraits. Here, she’s painting something else. What’s more, is that interspersed within the film, are these visions Marianne has of Héloïse wearing a white gown. Is she a ghost? Is it the attire she wears in death? No, it’s the wedding dress she wears at the end of the second act. This film is told through memory. It is where Mariane and Héloïse’s, and Orpheus and Eurydice’s, love exists. It is why the last image of the film is Héloïse watching a symphony. We are literally watching her remember her relationship through this music. Portrait… is Sciamma’s best and most ambitious work. It is made with such confidence and force. It feels like an affirmation that she has ascended to be in the top tier of filmmakers. I can’t wait to watch it again.
Grade: A
Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Céline Sciamma (2019)

13th: The 400 Blows – François Truffaut (1959)
Watched at home. I was inspired after reading so much about the film in my Wes Anderson book. It is clear why Anderson was so infatuated with the movie. It’s his style. First, there are a couple of shots and sequences that Anderson takes directly. The pinball shot is used in Bottle Rocket, as is a lot of the jail sequence. The classroom sequences are drawn from pretty extensively in Rushmore. More than that, this film really lays down the emotional language that I think Anderson’s early work goes for. It’s playful and fun, but full of sorrow. We have this really endearing, dynamic character who is struggling with what the world is throwing at him. I think the parts where this style is most evident are really wide city shots. We watch as Doinel walks and runs through Paris. A small boy amidst a huge city. It’s such a sharp contrast within the film too. Paris (at least to an Americano like me) is shot so romantically. The opening montage is this beautiful look at the city. It’s not a coincidence that Doinel is walking and running through these landmarks. Yet Doinel is having such a hard time in the city. His home life is a mess. His family’s poor. School is brutal and sometimes abusive. He’s supposed to be in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a pinnacle of culture, and couldn’t be having a more miserable time. It really captures the sadness of youth and adolescence. We’re watching as Doinel is contending with the fact that his childhood is over. Which I think is what makes the ending sequence so powerful. What’s more youthful, joyful, and cathartic than running?
The 400 Blows – François Truffaut (1959)

14th: Minding the Gap – Bing Liu (2018)
Watched with Gioia. It’s the second time I’ve watched it in the past few months so I don’t have too much else to add. I will say that this time I really noticed how beautifully the film is shot. I think Liu could absolutely make narrative, feature films if he wants to. He really has an eye for film. He also, obviously, has a real gift for storytelling. This remains one of my favorite films from the decade.
Grade: A

14th: Man Up – Ben Palmer (2015)
Watched at home with Gioia. I have to admit, I was pretty out of it when we started the movie. It’s about as sick and feverish as I felt all weekend. I thought this movie was surprisingly funny. It wasn’t wildly radical or anything like that. It was a pretty straightforward rom-com. In fact, I would say that its set up and structure was that of a straightforward, pretty mediocre, rom-com. There are a couple of things that elevate it. One is that Lake Bell and Simon Pegg are very, very funny. They are really charming in these roles. I think there are more than a few lines and moments that could have been just okay that they make quite funny. The second thing is that there are just enough clever moments in the script to elevate the whole thing. That the whole film takes place in one night is a nice device, for instance. And the visual queue/call-back of Silence of the Lambs is really, really smart. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that done in a movie before. That’s about all I have to say. I probably won’t watch this again. But I liked it.
Grade: B
Man Up – Ben Palmer (2015)

15th: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – Wes Anderson (2004)
Watched at home with Gioia. The first time I went through Wes Anderson’s filmography, this was my least favorite film of his. Watching it now,  I was almost certainly unfairly influenced by the negative critical response of the film. It still may be my least favorite Anderson film, but it’s not bad by any means. In fact, I think a lot of the things I probably didn’t respond to are intentional features of the film. The stop motion animation or the melancholic, anti-climatic ending, for instance. One of the strange balances in Wes Anderson’s films is the contrast between artifice and humanity. I think critics would point to a film like this as an example of how removed and overly-polished everything is. They might suggest that there’s a lack of humanity. I don’t think that’s the intention. In fact, I tend to think of Anderson as a pretty emotive filmmaker. But I can certainly see that critique in something like this. I actually think that what may be happening specifically in this film, is that the end is so depressing and melancholy, people are uncomfortable with these feelings and instead point to the artifice. Or maybe that’s what I did? I guess what I’m trying to say is that this is probably my least favorite film by one of my favorite filmmakers. Take of that, what you will.
Grade: B- / B
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou – Wes Anderson (2004)

15th: The Darjeeling Limited – Wes Anderson (2007)
Did I just say that Life Aquatic…is my least favorite Wes Anderson film? I actually do like Darjeeling Limited more than The Life Aquatic. Again, I think I respond more to these “human” stories. This one is about as straightforward of a movie as Anderson has really made. There’s not even a ton of his signature visual touches. And I love that it’s a story about these three brothers. I think my issue with the movie is more or less the optics of it. It’s not intentional, and it may not even be fair, but the plot of this movie kind of is three privileged Americans going to India, watching a boy die, and then realizing their lives aren’t so bad. I think that analysis is overly simplistic and cynical. I don’t think all tourism is exploitative. I don’t even think that it’s amoral to make a movie about privilege. But I also don’t know if this has enough redeeming qualities for me to totally forget these questions either.
Grade: B- / B
The Darjeeling Limited – Wes Anderson (2007)

15th: Persona – Ingar Bergman (1966)
Watched at home with Gioia. I had seen this once before. I felt as though I should revisit it because all I remembered was that it was very weird, and was about two women at the beach. My recollection was accurate. I honestly don’t know if I can really parse out what this movie means beyond that. Is it about the nature of voyeurism? What it means to be an audience? I don’t know. I’d love to read more. All I know for certain is that the long, tracking shot on the beach is unforgettable.
Persona – Ingmar Bergman (1966)

16th: Jason and the Argonauts – Don Chaffey (1963)
Watched at home. I was prompted by The Wes Anderson collection in which he discusses the influence of the stop motion animation. It was funny watching something like this. It reminded me of the type of production they are making in Hail, Caesar!. I loved how they ended the movie at the Golden Fleece being like, he’s had enough trials for now. They really didn’t want to show Medea chopping up her brother and throwing him in the ocean I guess. Oh well.
Jason and the Argonauts – Don Chaffey (1963)

17th: Everyone Else – Maren Ade (2009)
Watched at home. Man, Maren Ade makes truly caustic films. I’ve never seen people portrayed so painfully. She’s like a humanist filmmaker who really just accentuates the worst qualities in people. I loved her first film, The Forest for the Trees. I think this film is probably better but I don’t know if it’s for me. It was really painful to watch at times. She is a really brilliant writer, for sure. The way the scenes and conversations mirror themselves in this film is really impressive. Especially how the two main characters have this intimate love language of being weirdos, but as soon as other people show up, it’s withheld. I would like to know why her movies look the way they do. It looks like a homemade documentary. Is that intentional?
Grade: B- / B
Everyone Else – Maren Ade (2009)

17th: Fantastic Mr. Fox – Wes Anderson (2009)
Watched at home with Gioia. What a delightful movie! It’s so charming. I was a little surprised by how simple so much of it is. It’s really short. And most of the story is actually just kind of elongated with these neat flourishes. I don’t know what else to say.
Grade: B+
Fantastic Mr Fox – Wes Anderson (2009)

18th: A Brighter Summer Day – Edward Yang (1991)
I feel like the fact that I’m writing these posts all subsequently will really do a disservice to this film. Edward Yang is a master. I feel confident saying that and I’ve only seen two of his movies. Watching A Brighter Summer Day was like discovering there was a Paul Thomas Anderson making epics in Taiwan in the 8os and 90s. I don’t know if I’ve seen a film this ambitious. I think The Irishman is really the only film I’ve seen that’s longer. And looking back, this movie doesn’t even feel that long. I don’t think I could even tell you what happens during entire hour-long durations of the film. You’re flung into this world. And you kind of float along just trying to take it all in. I read the plot summary on Wikipedia and there were so many details that I just plain missed. I had no idea that the gang divide stems from a military vs. government split. I didn’t even realize the inner workings of the love triangles between S’ir, Ming, Jade, and Ma. I didn’t realize until the end of the film that S’ir’s brother is the gambler. What I do know, is that the filmmaking in this movie is out of control. There is a shot in which it tracks a couple approaching an auditorium, pans around, passes dozens of extras, and lands on Honey as he walks up back to the auditorium. It’s stunning. The same can be said with the shot of the doorway and the basketball. The composition and staging of this film are some of the best I’ve ever seen. And I love that it’s all rooted in this family struggle. Yang is able to do something I find so fascinating. He takes these stories that, on their surface, are so melodramatic and huge, and reduce them to being so human. This film is a four hour epic about teenage gangs and a murder of a young girl, and somehow feels so tender and intimate. I really can’t even explain it. It’s just astounding.
Grade: A

18th: Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson (2013)
Watched at home with Gioia. When I first saw it, it was probably my second favorite Wes Anderson film. Now? Honestly, it’s probably in the bottom half. It’s extremely well-made. I think the story is just the least interesting. I do like the shots of them on the beach quite a bit. Especially as they dance to the record.
Grade: B
Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson (2013)

19th: The French Connection – William Friedkin (1971)
Watched at home. I was struggling through the first half of this one. Mostly because I was sick. But partially also because I think the movie takes a little while to get going. You’re following Gene Hackman, who we know is right, but nobody will listen to him. The last 40ish minutes are incredible though. It’s one of the best chase sequences I’ve ever seen.

19th: Waiting for Guffman – Christopher Guest (1996)
I have probably watched this movie 30 times. It never stops being funny for me. It is so brilliant and hilarious. An all-time favorite. I might rank my favorite 20 characters from it.
Grade: A
Waiting for Guffman – Christopher Guest (1996)

21st: Jerry Maguire – Cameron Crowe (1996)
Watched at home. I was feeling sick and tired. This movie never really held my attention. I struggled through it. I figured it was something of a classic, but to me, it felt predictable at best and really clichéd at worst. Especially some of the dynamics of the movie. There were a lot of aspects that just felt pretty outdated to me. There is a saving grace luckily which are the performances. Tom Cruise, Renée Zellweger, and Cuba Gooding Jr. are legitimate stars in this movie. Besides that, unfortunately, there wasn’t too much for me to hold on to.
Grade: C
Jerry Maguire – Cameron Crowe (1996)

22nd: Nashville – Robert Altman (1975)
Watched at home with Gioia. This one had been on my list for a while. Already, I think it may be my favorite Altman movie. Though that seems almost impossible to really assess after one viewing. I am in awe of how this movie works. It’s so sprawling, with so many characters. I did feel unsettled for the first hour or so. I think that’s natural. But the movie guides you through it too. While it’s sprawling and intricately made, it’s certainly not a chore to watch. In fact, it’s really the opposite. It’s so fun and alive. It’s hilarious in many parts. I do think the movie has a plot, which is not something I expected for the first 2 hours of the film. What really resonated with me were some of the central themes. Or maybe even just the way Altman approaches these themes. Throughout the film, we’re meant to reconcile two opposing ideas. One is of Nashville as this music utopia, a place that’s pure and uncompromised where the best musicians come to make their name and their legacy. It’s the idea that drives some of the characters to come to town. But what the film presents over and over again is Nashville as a deeply cynical, almost amoral city. Someone like Sueleen Gay, for instance, works as a waitress but dreams of making it as a star. And she gets a break! But it’s only to do a striptease for a presidential campaign. It’s about as cynical a look as you can get. On the other hand, we see another character who comes into town trying to escape her husband. And at the end, her song brings everybody together. So while the movie can be very cynical, it’s also deeply humanistic. It seems to me like Altman is trying to reflect every aspect of the city. You get his version of an honest look at things. The good and the bad. I think by the end you feel like you have a better understanding of humanity in the film, and maybe even in the world. It’s remarkable.
Grade: A

23rd: In the Mood for Love – Wong Kar-wai (2000)
Watched at home with Gioia. It’s a funny, double feature with Nashville. It takes an almost opposite approach with its story. We maybe meet five characters. We only get to know two. There are two characters who are mentioned frequently and drive the action of the story, and we only see one of them (and that’s for one scene). I’ve seen Chunking Express before, but it was at a time that I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t really get it. I’d love to revisit that film. For now, this is my favorite Wong Kar-wai film. The film guides you through its story. For the first act, it’s hard to decipher exactly what is happening. We just see a lot of reoccurring patterns and shots. The neighbors going out and returning. These all pay off in the second half of the film. To me, this movie is all about these patterns and shots. We develop a relationship with these characters that gets stronger by the time these scenes and shots are repeated. It’s really cool. I hope it kind of unlocks Wong Kar-wai as a filmmaker for me. The ending of this film is really one of the better endings I can think of. We hope that the two characters will get together. There’s is the only relationship we’ve seen all film. And while it appears that they didn’t, we get a hint that they might of. Their whole relationship has been established through secret-keeping. And at the end, we see that Chow now has a secret. We hope it’s that they have carried on their relationship.
Grade: A

24th: The Wonders – Alice Rohrwacher (2014)
Watched at home. Actually over the course of a few days. I think it probably affected my feelings toward the movie. I had a really hard time getting into it. It’s unique and well-shot. It looks much better than something like Everyone Else. Yet, I just found it to be a tough hang. It’s slow. The characters are in a pretty bleak situation. Working on a run-down, rural bee farm. The film does come around in the second half. In fact, that’s what I thought of Rohrwacher’s first film, Corpo Celeste, too. I think if I had stuck through this one, it would have pulled together more. The sense of humor really ramps up in the second half. The complete squalor of their situation is heartfelt, but at times played for endearing laughs. Things become so much absurd in the final act. We get the camel and the reality television show. I quite liked this part of it. I’ll be interested to watch Happy as Lazarro to see if Rohrwacher can fully pull it together for me.
Grade: B-
The Wonders – Alice Rohrwacher (2014)

28th: Argo – Ben Affleck (2012)
Watched at home with Gioia. She had never seen it before! I kept almost spoiling it. I’m glad I didn’t. I really love this movie. There are some problems. Ben Affleck portraying a person of color is not good. Feels like that’s the type of thing that could / should have held it back from Best Picture today. But to the positives! This is an actor’s movie. The writing is mostly good. There are a few silly lines. The direction is so over the top. It’s so big that I think it only works if you get MOVIE STAR performances. Otherwise, it’d be funny in a bad way.  But Affleck gets the performances. So many of them. He does a great job of putting people in a position to go all out. John Goodman and Alan Arkin are so fun in this movie. It never distracts from the tension happening either. It actually provides a lot of comic relief. It’s almost cliched and over the top at times. Affleck does have the camera literally circling Bryan Cranston as he has a “movie star tough guy” meltdown about the situation. But you know what, he pulls it off. I think what I like so much about this movie is how fun it is. It really shouldn’t be. It’s the Iran Hostage Crisis after all. This movie just feels like an old-fashioned thriller. You’re on the edge of your seat the whole time. You couldn’t be pulling for these people anymore. The whole final act of the movie is so tense and fun.
Grade: B+ / A-
Argo – Ben Affleck (2012)