Top Films by Year
Top Films of 2020
Top Films of 2017
Top Films of 2015
Black Panther II: Wakanda Forever – 5
For an action movie directed at the short-attention-span generation, this was one slow film. Every scene between fights dragged on; as for the predictable fights, they were without visceral emotion and internal logic, as was the rest of the film. Deep looks of concern and longing mainly recalled their comic book source. The ending was […]
Saint Omer – 7
A simply shot, mesmerizing courtroom drama, semi-opaque as a drama but evocative of ideas. Of maternity, of personal responsibility, of colonialism, of man and woman, of race, more of race, of journalistic objectivity. From our viewpoint, it is also curious to observe and try to understand the French criminal justice system (with six seasons of Spiral […]
Retrograde – 7
Utterly remarkable footage of the last days of the Afghan war, embedded with American troops/advisers in Helmand Province, then with the Afghan forces after the Americans withdrew. The story wasn’t much, and there were perhaps too many scenes of soldiers looking at each other, talking on the phone, and just thinking; but the portrait it […]
Happening – 7
A one-trick pony on an unpleasant journey. I take it this was based on Annie Ernaux’s experience seeking an illegal abortion in 1963 France (similar in monotone to her 2002 memoir which I’m currently reading about her affair with a Russian diplomat). The acting was impeccable and realistic, a la Francaise, but the film wasn’t […]
Avatar: The Way of Water – 5
What a spectacle, what a production! If there was an ounce of originality in the story or characters, however, I missed it. The dialogue might as well have been cartoon bubbles; action scenes came straight from Moby Dick, Wizard of Oz and Titanic, just to name obvious sources. Any drama was dissipated by the three-hour length. And […]