2022 Movie Log: December

4th: Time Regained – Raúl Ruiz (1999)
Unintentionally, my viewing theme of the past month or so has become book adaptations. On TV, I had “The Rings of Power” and “House of the Dragon”. In film, I had “Meet Me in the Bathroom” plus two other Proust Adaptations (Volker Schlöndorff’s “Swann in Love” and Chantal Akerman’s “La Captive.”) And later this week, I’ll be seeing the ‘unadaptable’ “White Noise.” Overall, it’s been a fascinating period and one that’s made me interrogate what, exactly, a book adaptation is meant to accomplish. That thought has only been compounded by the fact that, aside from “Rings of Power” and “House of the Dragon,” these films have attempted to cover material that doesn’t exactly jump out as being easily translated to the screen. It seems to me, and here I’m really just spitballing, that most film adaptations probably intend to do one or more of the following:

1. Replicate the source material primarily as a conduit for fans of the book to engage with said material in another medium (War and Peace, My Brilliant Friend, etc.).

2. Translate the source material primarily as a means of introducing a book to a larger audience (Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, etc.).

3. Reinterpret the source material primarily as a jumping-off point for a new or independent artistic statement (Station Eleven, Stalker, etc.).

Interestingly enough, I think each of the three Proust adaptations I’ve seen has fallen into a different camp. “Swann in Love” felt like an attempt at introducing the novel to a larger audience. It was the most straightforward of the three films and as such, focused primarily on plot. “La Captive,” meanwhile, functioned as more of a springboard for Akerman to interrogate themes and ideas from the book, without being tied to the constraints of the work. And lastly, this film, “Time Regained,” at least on its surface, seems intended only for book readers. This, however, brings me to a crossroads because “Time Regained” is also unbelievably fascinating as a film in its own right. And again, I have to reiterate that this movie must be primarily intended for book readers because, otherwise, its plot is unintelligible. Because I have some self-awareness, I didn’t subject Gioia (or anyone else) to viewing this with me, but if I did, I would have had to pause the movie at the beginning of every scene to explain each of the characters and their relationships. With that being said, this was also easily the most ambitious and best adaptation I watched. First, judging from this film, Ruiz is a hell of a director. The scale, costumes, set pieces, and cinematography in the movie are all outstanding. Again, while Ruiz forgoes exposition or summary that would help with plot, he does a remarkable job at capturing and translating the themes of the novel into his film. Before this film, I was under the impression that for an adaptation to be successful it must function as both a representative of the original source material and as a stand-alone piece. This film has made me totally rethink that! Obviously, no studio is going to finance a film that is only legible to book readers, but I wonder if for many works, that would actually be the best approach? At least in this case, it allows for Ruiz to engage with the source material in a deeper and ultimately more impactful way than if he had to constantly transcribe this for everyone to understand.
Grade: B+

4th: The Squid and the Whale – Noah Baumbach (2005)
Ten years ago, I found this (while brilliant) almost unbearable to watch. Now, I find it to be one of the most darkly funny movies I’ve ever seen. Starting to wonder what’s happened to me in that intervening time.
Grade: A

6th: Crimes of the Future – David Cronenberg (2022)
Have a lot left to see, but this is far and away my favorite movie of 2022 thus far. Maybe it’s because I haven’t explored the rest of Cronenberg’s filmography (which I will obviously be doing starting now), but I just don’t know what else you could want from a movie. The obvious appeal going in was the body-horror, which is exquisite. But there’s so much else going on in this movie. This film does tone, story, plot, and world-building as well as anything I’ve seen in quite a while. The performances are all magnificent! In a stretch where movies are increasingly feeling smaller and smaller, I think I just needed something like this.
Grade: A-

7th: Bullet Train – David Leitch (2022)
This was better and more fun than I was expecting. My greatest takeaway, however, will be how far Brian Tyree Henry can carry even a pretty mediocre movie. This is why we used to have movie stars, folks!
Grade: C+

15th: Amélie – Jean-Pierre Jeunet (2001)
Caress me on the ghost train 🫠
Grade: B+

18th: Minding the Gap – Bing Liu (2018)
Struggle with what to say about this one. First, my sight & sound ballot must have got lost in transit, but had I received it, this would be my pick for a new addition from the 2012 poll. In all seriousness, this film feels so personal to me on a level I don’t really understand. I have no personal connection to the details or subject matter of the film. I wasn’t even ever a skater! Yet, each time I watch this, I am moved beyond any type of logical reasoning. Which is not to say that this film isn’t incredibly well-crafted, thoughtful, or full of intellect. It’s just that, for me at least, the movie bypasses the brain and goes straight for the heart.
Grade: A

23rd: Pather Panchali – Satyajit Ray (1955)
A truly beautiful film. One where everything from the story to the characters to Ray’s compositions exist in perfect harmony. I’m sure there’s a million things to dissect about how this was made from a technical standpoint, but it really feels like a movie that’s better understood on an emotional wavelength.
Grade: B+

23rd: The Rules of the Game – Jean Renoir (1939)
If this year has taught me anything, it’s that one must always invite a partner’s lover to social gatherings. To not do so is simply unheard of.
Grade: B+

23rd: After Yang – Kogonada (2022)
Favorite type of Sci-Fi is high concept, simple execution. After Yang obviously excels in doing that. I think what makes this a lasting film is that emotionality of it. The concepts / intrigue never surpasses the ‘human’ aspect of the story.
Grade: B+

24th: Misery – Rob Reiner (1990)
I don’t mean to sound degrading because I think this movie is legitimately great, but this is like camp executed at the highest possible level, to where I’m not even sure if camp is the right word. James Caan and Kathy Bates’ performances are legitimately insane and also perfect.
Grade: B+

24th: TÁR – Todd Field (2022)
Unironic “Now, that’s a movie!” I don’t know if all of it works, but I truly loved watching a director and especially Cate Blanchett just going for it. The second (I think) scene in which Blanchett is doing the guest lecture is probably my favorite scene of the year.
Grade: B+

24th: La Jetée – Chris Marker (1962)
Definitely didn’t sort the sight and sound poll by shortest length. Nope, not me.
Grade: B

25th: Side Effects – Steven Soderbergh (2013)
This movie is so insane that I thought it must be a true story. Alas it is not. I wish I could take a film course on the middle 10-20 (in terms of quality) Soderbergh movies. The guy is a machine.
Grade: B-

26th: Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead – Sidney Lumet (2007)
This is like a late-period record from a legacy band that has all the right players, and looks and sounds cool, and is good enough to be interesting but is also like 10% away from being legitimately good in its own right.
Grade: B-

26th: The Thin Red Line – Terrence Malick (1998)
Give me the five-hour cut. Also, flashback to 2019 when I thought Vampire Weekend somehow orchestrated a transcendent musical moment only to realize it’s a sample from this movie – also known as the thin red line of my vampire weekend fandom.
Grade: B+

27th: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Rian Johnson (2022)
I loved one scene in this movie and everyone will know which one it is.
Grade: C

27th: The Game – David Fincher (1997)
My lifelong dream starting now is for a shot-for-shot remake with Tim Robinson in the Michael Douglas role: HAS THIS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU?
Grade: B-

28th: The Banshees of Inisherin – Martin McDonagh (2022)
They said there would be two deaths and I said, please don’t let it be these two characters…and it was those two characters. Feckin Hell.
Grade: B+

29th: City of God – Fernando Meirelles (2002)
Most unbelievable thing in this whole true story is that this guy got laid from interning at a newspaper
Grade: B+

29th: Close-Up – Abbas Kiarostami (1990)
One of the most unusual movies I’ve ever seen. I liked it 🙂
Grade: B+

30th: His Girl Friday – Howard Hawks (1940)
Tired: Ethan Hawke Birthday. Wired: His Girl Friday Birthday (everyone has to speak in witty repartee and also sabotage each other’s relationships).
Grade: A