Woman at War – 5

A morally ambivalent story that could be about many things: industrial pollution, corporate greed, citizen action, family, the media, the futility of resistance, the Big Brother state, love. Perhaps it was an Icelandic fable, as the heroine had supernatural powers in an otherwise realistic film, and two musical trios kept showing up, possibly projected from the heroine’s mind. Unfortunately, the heroine wasn’t terribly sympathetic, and when she finally embarked on a truly heroic action, the movie cut off in ambiguity. In all, I’d prefer New Zealand.

Transit – 8

A teaser of a mystery thriller, in which each plot point you anticipate turns in another direction. Franz Rogowski, for starters, didn’t seem like the leading man, until he was. And all the pieces you expected to fall into place at the end, fell apart. German storm troopers invading Paris made you think this was 1940, but the clothes and cars were modern. Nothing was as it seemed, which became a metaphor for Rogowski’s character. How we would behave under stress, political and personal, is a subject of Christian Petzold’s other remarkable films, Barbara and Phoenix, and he draws you in by making his people and their world so real, even when it isn’t. (Special shout-out to Paula Beer, who is the enchanting love interest in both Transit and Never Look Away.)

Birds of Passage – 8

The story of how an indigenous Colombian culture goes to pot, literally and figuratively. Cristina Gallego does a remarkable job of locating us inside the world of the Wayuu people (think Dances With Wolves) then setting in motion a tragic scenario in which everything and everyone is destroyed (think Hamlet or Lear). This was also the country and era of Narcos, which conditioned us to accept that this was going on in the countryside while Pablo Escobar was rising to fame in the city. Tragedies are never fun to watch, but they can lead us to reflect upon human nature and find the universal in a world as remote as this one.

Never Look Away – 9*

This may be the best film about an artist I’ve ever seen, plus it’s a searing look at Nazi-era Germany and a charming love story. It also features six captivating (and attractive) actors who fill the screen and absorb our attention, none more than Tom Schilling, who radiates intelligence with his every look. Sebastian Koch, familiar from The Lives of Others, is almost as compelling in the more challenging role of the alpha villain. I didn’t watch this as a biography of Gerhard Richter, although of course I recognized Richter’s art in the paintings Barnert (Schilling) made and scenes he saw; so I am not judging the movie on that basis. It was simply a great movie on its own terms, with substance and style. When it ended I was sorry, and amazed that more than three hours had passed since its beginning.

*A note on the rating: I don’t believe I have given out a 9 since, maybe, Nashville, and it is time to adjust. I can save 9.5 and 10 for the perfect movie, if one ever comes. By bringing 9 into play I have more room to differentiate, without resorting to lots of fractions. I was finding that too many movies were falling between 7 and 8 to make my scale meaningful. Henceforth, 5 is a movie that leaves me cold but isn’t bad; 6 and 7 are movies that I’m glad I saw but have minor or major reservations about; 8 is a movie I can heartily recommend; and 9 is a landmark that holds up both while watching and afterward, a sure Top-Tenner for the year. The numbers below 5 reflect how much I disliked the experience.

Isn’t It Romantic – 6.5

Cleverly takes the piss of the rom-com genre in genial, lighthearted fashion. Doesn’t do much more, but if you enjoy Rebel Wilson (whom I wouldn’t have known from Melissa McCarthy) in a fantasy with Liam Hemsworth and some New York locations, it’s a pleasant way to kill time.