Top Films by Year
Top Films of 2020
Top Films of 2017
Top Films of 2015
Evil Does Not Exist – 7.9
A quiet look at Japanese culture on the surface, and below that at man’s relationship to nature. Elegiac in its simplicity, the film bespeaks director Hamaguchi’s mastery and confidence – as in, who needs a plot when an image says so much. A review kindly called the ending “ambiguous,” whereas I’d say “inscrutable.” Or another […]
The Last Showgirl – 6.5
A poignant, sympathetic look at a fading art form and its star practitioner. The direction was unusually realistic for an American film, although I found the jittery hand-held camerawork distracting. Pamela Anderson played ditzy well, but Jamie Lee Curtis’s supporting performance was to me more interesting. Sweet and sad.
A Complete Unknown – 8
The music alone makes this one of the most enjoyable films of this or any year. Hardly five minutes go by without another song, and it’s usually a great song we know and love, and it’s integral to the story. The actors do the vocals themselves, which makes it all more real, and they are […]
His Three Daughters – 6
A wonderfully acted character study of three screwed-up sisters who await their father’s death just as we await a plot. Instead of a resolution, or even some character development, however unlikely, we are given a final scene that is either Magical Realism, a projection of someone’s inner thoughts or the director’s cop-out. With only one […]