Top Films by Year
Top Films of 2020
Top Films of 2017
Top Films of 2015
Zift – 5
In marked contrast to Vacation – who would think the first two films I see at the Santa Barbara Film Festival would both take place inside prisons! – the Bulgarian esthetic is apparently raucous and messy. Or, you could say, loud and lewd. The story involves a petty criminal who wades through unbearable shit in […]
Vacation 7
An engrossing, oh-so-Japanese indirect reflection on the death penalty, told through the story of prison guard Toru Hirai, who volunteers to assist at the execution-by-hanging of prisoner Kaneda the day before his wedding. I was confused by the intercutting of his two worlds: the prison drama unfolded in orderly fashion, but the world outside proceeded […]
The Reader 7
Here are some of my questions: If Hannah was not intellectually curious, why did she take so readily to Homer, Chekov and Mark Twain? If she was intellectually curious, why had she not taught herself to read, or asked someone to teach her, before she was 60? If she was a shy recluse, why did […]
The Wrestler 4.5
Yes, it was a virtuoso acting performance by Mickey Rourke, onscreen the whole movie, but it was like he was acting in a vacuum, or a paper bag. Evan Rachel Wood and the marvelous Marisa Tomei notwithstanding, there was no interaction with another person that engaged or convinced. No man approaching 50, who had abused […]
Rape of Europa 5
The point, the argument, and the cases were muddled in this recap of Nazi art looting. What the Nazis did was despicable, of course, but the case of a distant heir against a good-faith purchaser (or beneficiary) is not a case of good v. evil, and the film never recognized this. Whether Klimt’s portrait of […]