2020: Not that bad, from a new movie standpoint! 

Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee, 2020): 3.5/5

Tonally, all over the map and full of unmotivated direct address and googly-eyed politicizing but that’s his style if not invention. Like, when he plays Ride of the Valkyries when they are first starting on their mission, is the reference parodic or straight? I’m pretty sure Lee doesn’t know. Still it’s my favorite movie of his since 2002’s 25^th Hour.

 

Bacurau (Keiber Mendonça Filho, 2020): 2/5

Not even the best retelling of The Most Dangerous Game released in 2020. That would be Craig Zobel’s The Hunt. Didn’t work for me as a slice of Brazilian life or as a thriller or as (extremely blunt) politicking.

 

Palm Springs (Max Barbako, 2020): 4/5

Inconsequential but entertaining. I love Adam Sandberg, and Cristin Milioti was (as they say) a revelation.

 

Arkansas (Clark Duke, 2020): 2.5/5

Overwritten, broad and familiar (if you’ve seen Ozark or any Tarantino movie), but as in Dragged Across Concrete, Vince Vaughn was strong (red trucker hat and all). Liam Hemsworth (Chris’ brother) is a complete stiff.

 

Saint Francis (Alex Thompson, 2020): 3/5

Full of emotion.

 

Young Ahmed (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 2020): 4/5

Like in many Dardenne movies, we are locked in with unpleasant characters facing ultimate moral questions. The final minute is thrilling.

 

She Dies Tomorrow (Amy Seimetz, 2020): 4/5

All the existential terror of death, none of the actual on-screen monsters, killers or other threats. Nice, simple use of colored lights to communicate psychological states.

 

Possessor (Brandon Cronenberg, 2020): 4/5

Not surprisingly, this reminded me of early Cronenberg (Brandon is David’s son) and William Gibson. Brace yourself, it’s a bit of a tough, nasty watch.

 

Boys State (Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss, 2020): 4/5

Much of what’s bad and good about the current state of politics shows up in miniaturized form here. The intensity and monomania of gun rights and anti-abortion beliefs in these very young people is scary, but, you know … Texas. The movie demonstrates all too well that making fun of people and arguing personality instead of policy always wins. And that movies that are built around a competition almost always work. “Is the word penis acceptable for our discourse?”

 

Two docs that are the perfect length. Both real antidotes to the idea that you have to bloat your documentary up to 85 minutes. Don’t do it!

Speed Cubers (Sue Kim, 2020): 4/5

40 minutes of stifled sobs from me. Two great guys, and you really want them to succeed, to fit in, to feel normal and be loved.

John was Trying to Contact Aliens (Matthew Killip, 2020): 5/5

16 minutes, and it has three acts. Only watch it if you like music and weirdos. If it's too short, watch it twice—that's what I did.

 

 

European Cinema, 1953-1977:

Running the gamut from downbeat to despairing

 

Sawdust and Tinsel (Ingmar Bergman, 1953): 3/5

Love and misery at the traveling circus. Some powerful sequences, naturally.

 

Il Bidone (Federico Fellini, 1955): 2.5/5

A group of swindlers con money out of the very, very poor. But who is really being swindled? Just kidding. It’s the poor people.

 

Any Number Can Win (Henri Verneuil, 1963): 3.5/5

Rififi meets The Treasure of Sierra Madre. Alain Delon looks cool as hell, expertly playing a bit of dim bulb.

 

The Executioner (Luis Garcia Berlanga, 1963): 3.5/5

This one is bleak but at least it was pretty funny too. A man is very, very slowly—and with great protest and denial—pushed into having to execute a man for the state.

 

Memories from Underdevelopment (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, 1968): 2/5

An aimless man wanders around Havana after the revolution. Spoiler: it ends with the rope tightening.

(NOTE: I realize that Cuba is not Europe, but I wrote the review already, and it certainly fits in with this group of films).

 

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Elio Petri, 1970): 3.5/5

Kafka in reverse. A guy who is guilty of a crime descends into madness because he’s stuck in a system that just won’t find him guilty. Spoiler: it ends with the rope just refusing to tighten.

 

The Virgin and the Whore (Jean Eustache, 1973): 2.5/5

An aimless young man wanders around post-68 Paris. These extremely blabby characters have some amusing ideas, but at three hours and forty minutes, to say that they wear out their welcome is a stunning understatement. I must be a boob, though, because Richard Brody found it “emotionally shattering.” Did you know that the woman “the Mother” was modeled after in real life killed herself after the movie’s first screening. Talk about bad reviews!!

 

Mr. Klein (Joseph Losey, 1976): 3.5/5

An aimless man wanders around Vichy Paris. There’s another Mr. Klein (an elusive doppelganger, but Jewish) or is there? Alain Delon looks like hell. Spoiler: it ends with the rope tightening, in absolutely stunning fashion.

 

A Special Day (Ettore Scola, 1977): 4.5/5

Two outsiders share a fleeting connection on the day Hitler visits Rome in 1938. An emotional look at how the personal and political can’t be separated. Spoiler: it ends with the rope tightening.