Counting down my favorite movies I watched this year.
10) Weapons - I purposefully stayed in the dark for this movie as much as I could. I saw the initial concept, a classroom of kids disappear in the middle of the night and it was written and directed by Zach Cregger who did the very surprising and fun Barbarian. It's all I needed to know, I was in. I got a group of friends to go with Samantha and I, and went to a showing that was over half full and the movie was a blast. The audience was deep into the film along with me. We all got quiet as the tension built, people would scream out when startled, the super gross bits got visceral reactions from everyone, it was exactly what I want when I go out to see a movie like this. Everyone was fully invested and it hugely enhanced the experience.
The movie itself was also very great. It took turns I wasn't expecting, it took chances that can be picked apart, and goodness has a lot of the internet tried to do so. But I feel the movie set itself up as a dark fairy tale with all the looseness that goes with it. Nothing feels out of place from the rest of the world of the film. Even the giant finale, which is the hardest I have laughed in a theater all year. I am very glad I got to share this with Samantha and two of my closest friends.
9) Some Like it Hot - I had kind of written this movie off, a movie from 1959 that features two of the leads dressing up in drag and pretending to be women? And like I was pretty damn wrong about this. It was really damn funny and even ends with one of the guys, played by Jack Lemmon, seemingly very into the guy who has been hitting on them for half of the film. Daphne/Jerry gives a love struck recollection of the night she spends with Osgood that is so sincere I couldn't help but ship them super hard.
The movie is about two male musicians who can't find steady work, and after witnessing a mob murder, dress up as women to go to work in Florida. On the way there they meet fellow musician Sugar, played by Marilyn Monroe. Lots of romcom hijinks ensue. Lots of people look super sexy, there's lots of really funny jokes and wordplay that is had, and it takes swerves where I didn't expect.
This is the second year in a row where I watched a Billy Wilder film for the first time and rated it at my #9 favorite, so tune in next year after I finally watch Sunset Boulevard!
8 ) All About Eve - another classic film I just never had gotten to before. Bette Davis plays stage star Margot who meets an eager young fan, Eve, played by Anne Baxter. Eve inserts herself into Margot's life and tries to fully usurp her from it. Drama is had!
7) Demon Pond - this film goes some places. It is a gorgeously shot movie that vibes wonderfully. It starts with a teacher traveling the countryside on vacation. He runs across a town acting super weird in the middle of a drought. The teacher is kicked out of town, and meets up with an old friend who disappeared a couple of years prior. The friend has married to supposedly a sorceress and also has inherited the responsibility of ensuring that the dragon god living in the demon pond doesn't get out. I told you it goes places.
The film feels like a fairy tale or a dream. Thinking about it more, I realize it reminds me a lot of a Midsummer Night's Dream. Demon Pond also started as a play. It introduces us to a main character that it loses interest of midway through to instead focus on some magical creatures. And it has a bunch of stupid town people.
Demon Pond does feature more Dragon Gods though. Midway through the film, we leave the drama of the reunited friends and follow a bunch of local spirits. The spirits are fully decked out in wild prosthetics that feel at home in any 70s Godzilla film. When they first appeared I cheered.
I had never heard of this movie or director before earlier this year when Samantha bought it for me because the description of the film sounded interesting. Since watching Demon Pond I have watched 9 other films from the director, Masahiro Shinoda, and he has a pretty insane filmography. Premises for some of his other films include a musical featuring assassins, a story of a samurai who keeps decapitating people for his wife, and also a really introspective film about a woman dealing with her whole family trying to decide who she marries. He had a lot of depth in what he did, and I haven't even gotten to his "experimental" films.
6) Chungking Express - This took me by surprise as the first chunk of the movie I was mostly yelling at the protagonist and wondering why anyone loved this movie. By about the halfway point I had fully given in to the feel of the film and it got better. When the movie ended I had fully given in to it. I couldn't stop thinking about the imagery. I couldn't get the song California Dreamin out of my head, nor the Cantonese cover of the song Dreams by the Cranberries. A couple days later I rewatched the movie again, this time getting Samantha to watch it.
The movie is two short films that overlap with a couple of characters and a restaurant as part of the setting. The first part is about a cop who doesn't fully realize his ex is done with him and the super bad ass smuggler he encounters. The second part is about a cop who does fully realize his ex is done with him and the super bad ass restaurant employee who he encounters.
Both stories are of broken hearts and connection. The camera work is up close and realistic. It's done on handhelds. Sometimes the scene will blur with movement. Giving up structure for colors and kinetic energy. The film was made for practically no money and as a way for the director to clear his mind while in the middle of editing a large scale film that was making him miss the art of the movies. It was made in about two months, the script wasn't even finished when they started shooting. There was supposed to be a third part of the film, but instead it became its own film, Fallen Angels, which I still need to watch.
The movie rules, even though it will get California Dreamin stuck in your head for at least several months. I still sing it to myself every few days and I watched it back in July.
5) Harvey - This movie was just a giant warm hug. Not that there weren't parts where I was very worried what would happen, but I also felt safe in it really quickly. It's a movie I had nostalgia for while actively watching it for the first time. It also is a film I had to watch a second time a few days later.
Jimmy Stuart plays Elwood, a very sweet, lovable man who is always hanging out around town with his best friend Harvey. Harvey is of course, an invisible, 6 ft 3 and 1/2 inch tall, white rabbit. The entire town pretty much accepts Elwood as an eccentric and play along with the giant rabbit they all can't see because Elwood is just sweet and charming.
Sadly his family doesn't feel the same way about Harvey and how it reflects on their family. The movie is the family and a few other people dealing with the concept of Harvey and Elwood. The story is also about happiness and living life to the fullest. Accepting magic into your life. Accepting the people you love as they are and wanting them to be happy.
Harvey is just super charming. It is a movie I know I will be watching many more times over the years.
4) Sorry, Baby - Nothing bad happens to the cat. I have had to cover that a lot while recommending this film. This movie is legitimately hilarious and sweet. There's a great friendship at the center of. It also packs a punch that hits so fucking hard and probably requires trigger warnings even though it handles everything perfectly and doesn't show the act itself. Again, nothing bad happens to the cat.
The movie follows Agnes over a few years of her life. Something bad happens to her during that time. But she has the best friend in the world. And sometimes people can be very nice. This is writer and director, Eva Victor's, first film. And they did an amazing job. This is a masterful film that perfectly encapsulates life, which sounds cheesy as fuck. Thinking about this movie and the range of feelings it gives...makes me say things that are cheesy as fuck.
Anyways this movie is great, I am going to watch any and every film Eva Victor works on. I am so excited for the rest of their career.
3) Evil Does Not Exist - This movie is gorgeous. It is filled with long shots of natural beauty, and it has haunted me since I watched it.
There are shots from this movie that I can picture perfectly when I close my eyes. I can almost feel the cold. Almost live inside the scene. The movie was conceived as a dialogue less short film. The director wanted to work with composer Eiko Ishibashi who scores the film. Over time it grew into this feature length film and they did include some dialogue.
There isn't much in plot. We meet people who live in a small village. We see how they live day to day, how they work together, and how they interact with the wilderness around them.
The only conflict is a company wanting to build a glamping site nearby and how that site could impact the village. But even that is not as tenuous as one would expect. But the second half of this movie has such a magic to it that is difficult to explain as it provokes so many senses and feelings. This is the film I read the most about after watching it. Listened to the most podcasts to find what others think about it. They usually had a lot of problems properly expressing themselves too. So I'm not alone.
2) The People's Joker - The day after this movie first premiered at a film festival, a giant conglomeration sent an angry letter and the movie was pulled from all future screenings. It took two years for the movie to get any real kind of release. Thanks to this kerfuffle I heard about the movie in the first place. It took another year for me to find a way to watch the film. It was so worth the wait.
This movie is the most DIY film I have seen in ages. The budget is low but it pulls everything it is going for off beautifully and inventively. While Joker the Harlequin, the Penguin, and Mr J are all played by actors, most of the rest of the cast is portrayed by various styles of animation. Some are done with CGI, others are 2D, each one is unique and feels right in context with the film. A lot of passionate artists worked on this and it shows.
After I watched it for the first time I ordered a physical copy. When I rewatched it, I found out there's a 20 minute screensaver for the main credits. Vera Drew as both Joker and herself riff for a while after introducing the menu options. The menu screen shouldn't be this hilarious and honest. The whole film is hilarious and honest. No other movie this year made me laugh so hard, and no other comedy made me feel such a swell of emotions.
My favorite movie of the year
Sinners - The first time I watched Sinners was a month after my surgery. My first real expedition out into the world. Due to a tornado the movie got paused for 30 minutes right at the climax. I missed about 2 minutes of plot. The second time went much smoother.
I presume you have seen this movie, so no premise giving, this is all about loving this film. I love that the first half of the movie is so enthralling. The entire recruitment drive the Smokestack Twins partake in at the start of the film creates such a deep world filled with characters who have had entire lives before we ever see them. It is easy to picture what happened before. Not only with the twins and their lost love interests. But with everyone. I would have been so happy if the vampires never arrived and we dealt solely with the sins of the past catching up to the twins.
While I would love to see the version where they never show up. When the vampires arrive is as deeply engaging and fleshed out as the first half. I would love to know more about the Choctaw vampire hunters, and the vampires of this world. The vampires have a pretty unique set up and become a great metaphor for the theft of freedom and culture. Everything works so well together.
The sounds in this film are so impactful. Like in when Delta Slim is telling a story inside the car early in the movie. Below his words music start playing, which later becomes the yells of a crowd. It get louder as the scene goes on, painting the flashback we aren't seeing with sound. I remember first realizing it was happening. How excited I got, how fully pulled into the film.
And then we get to Preacher Boy's musical performance. Probably the scene that has the most written about it. The sheer imagination and guts to create that and put it into the film. It's a period piece already and including music from all those eras and having it all work in harmony together is just pure art. I have watched that scene dozens of times and I can't get enough of it. I feel like I am seeing and hearing new things every time.
