Kelly Reichardt’s latest addition to the slow cinema genre starts off well in a small Massachusetts city, circa 1970, with the totally pleasant Josh O’Connor’s museum heist, but then he and the film have nowhere to go and Reichardt goes there.
Aided by a comb-over, Ethan Hawke transforms to a lost-soul, lost-cause Lorenz Hart lounging in Sardi’s bar on the night that Oklahoma! opens (without him). Bobby Cannavale, Patrick Kennedy, Margaret Qualley and the uniquitous Andrew Scott are excellent foils for essentially a monologue by Hawke/Hart that never goes away. At first it is a bit annoying; eventually you are in awe of director Richard Linklater’s audacity and accomplishment.
A propulsive story of domestic revolution that is eerily prescient in Trump’s America. Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti (as the young Willa) are beyond superb and the action scenes and cast of thousands are directed seamlessly. The hole in the middle, though, is Leonardo DiCaprio, never my favorite actor. We don’t care for his goofball character and ultimately wonder why all the fuss is being made over him. The plot, with its strong echoes of realism, goes off the rails near the end, but by that time we have enjoyed quite a ride.
Like looking at a favorite old scrapbook. No problems were introduced without quickly apparent solutions that enabled one and all to live happily ever after (at least until further collapse of the British Empire).
A clunky movie. Denzel Washington was neither believable nor interesting as a record company executive (think Berry Gordy), and we had to watch him the entire movie. A rare misfire by Spike Lee, based on a Kurosawa film that wasn’t that great to begin with.
A faithful re-creation for the screen of Richard Osman’s charming novel, unfortunately without its charm. Too much plot, too little air for the characters to breathe, and too recognizable actors in the roles, with Pierce Brosnan especially out of place.
Year after year I say it wasn’t a great year for movies, and the fact that I can’t find ten titles for this list reinforce that view for 2024. On the other hand, the industry’s policy of withholding prestige films until December makes it hard to catch up with everything, and there are two possible nominees, The Brutalist and The Seed and the Sacred Fig, that are still on our to-watch list.
1. Green Border. This documentary-like story of refugees trying to reach Europe made you feel and made you think like no other movie this year. The characters were vivid and compelling, their plight all too realistic, the plot unceasingly gripping.
2. A Complete Unknown. Great music, Timothee Chalamet’s Dylan, supporting work by Monica Barbara and Elle Fanning all combined to make this the most enjoyable film of the year.
3. The Apprentice. Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong’s Oscar-worthy performances unfortunately captured the Donald Trump we now know too well and a New York of ’70s we still remember.
4. Emilia Perez. An inventively audacious film that is gentle, sweet, violent and thought-provoking, all at once, with top performances by four leading ladies. And music.
5. The Bikeriders. A portrait of a time and place and subset of people, redneck South, with the great Jodi Comer setting the tone.
6. Sing Sing. A feel-good play within a play by Colman Domingo and actual prisoners.
7. Evil Does Not Exist. A moody, ambiguous, elegiac look at Japanese culture and man’s relationship with nature by the auteur Hamaguchi.
8. A Real Pain. Jesse Eisenberg, not Kieran Culkin, is the standout in this very personal story.
9. Anora. The first half hour aside, Sean Baker’s film was funny, sad and original, amazingly acted and deftly directed. Why not in the top five? That first half hour.
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 good, especially Monica Barbaro, who looks great and hits the high, silver notes that made Joan Baez. A “complete unknown,” Bob Dylan can be played many ways, as Todd Haynes has shown, and Timothee Chalamet’s version is as good as any. We don’t learn much of anything about Dylan–he writes compulsively, he’s insensitive/rude to others, he lives in a bubble–but we feel his music. When Bob and Joan duetted on “It Ain’t Me Babe,” I broke down. And then there is “Like A Rolling Stone.” The movie wasn’t perfect: it was histrionic too often, notably in the Allen Lomax character. But he didn’t sing. That was Bob. And Joan and Johnny and Pete. And they were great.
As with her (much better) plays, Annie Baker’s film debut consists of people talking, and figuring themselves out. Unfortunately, all they talk about is their relationships, none of which are that interesting. This is sort of an Inside Out 2 but with sort of grownups.
Our 7-year-old granddaughter said she enjoyed it, although the jokes were coming faster than we could easily catch. I think I liked the first film better, but that may be because the early teenage years just aren’t fun for anyone.
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