Top Films by Year
Top Films of 2020
Top Films of 2017
Top Films of 2015
American Fiction – 7
An engaging cast of caricatures tickles some serious subjects in the first (or at least best) Black-Lives-Matters-Culture-Page-backlash film of the year. I’m generally uneasy watching someone pretending to be someone he isn’t and experienced that discomfort here, but it all worked out in the clever end, which added an additional meta layer on Cord Jefferson’s […]
Monster – 5
“Bizarre,” was my constant thought as I watched this story unfold three times, a la Norman Conquests or, more fittingly I suppose, Rashomon. What was it about, and why should I care? A boyhood crush? An obsessed mother? A poorly run elementary school? The difficulties of being a school teacher in modern society? Director Kore-eda purposely withheld […]
Ferrari – 3.5
This is Napoleon for the racing-car world. Adam Driver gives a joyless impersonation of Enzo Ferrari that is the lugubrious equal of Joaquin Phoenix’s leaden Corsican. Penelope Cruz provides the only glimmer of life, as did Vanessa Kirby, playing the feisty but disgruntled and left-behind wife. The car-racing scenes recall the violence and senseless deaths […]
Wonka – 5
I think this Timothee Chalamet is going to be a star! The plot is beyond absurd, but the production values are excellent and the six-year-old with me was enthralled. (Then again it was only her second movie.) Calah Lane (Noodle) was a charmer, and the three minutes with Sally Hawkins gave me more pleasure than […]
Fallen Leaves – 8.5
Spare. Simple. Sweet. Director Aki Kaurismaki’s visual vocabulary sets the mood: images are planar, geometric, frill-less, close-up, held still. There is no recession into space until the final shot. The world is bleak: colors are drab, jobs are mundane, the outside world, via radio, is death in Ukraine. The supporting cast are notably unattractive–overweight, dour, […]