French Exit (Azazel Jacobs, 2021): 4/5

I’ve often wondered what a Wes Anderson movie would feel like without all those cartoony costumes and needle drops. Turns out, pretty good! A funny, cynical, elliptical, witty and odd script—and excellent acting. 

No Sudden Move (Steven Soderbergh, 2021): 2/5 

A script that is twice as complicated as it should have been, while believing itself clever. Slavered with unmotivated fish-eye lens shots and gifted actors giving forgettable performances. Plus some sub-sub-Chinatown speechifying about collusion in the auto industry suppressing the catalytic converter, leading to pollution. Just pretty flat. 

Lisey’s Story (Pablo Larrain, 2021): 2.5/5

Larrain has many positive qualities, some of which are on display in this memory piece about grief (being generous), but pacing isn’t one of them. This is about three times as long as it should have been, but that’s TV, right? Hopefully he got paid. Shot by Darius Khondji, the DP who shot Uncut Gems, Okja, Lost City of Z, Amour, Midnight in Paris, My Blueberry Nights, The Beach, The Ninth Gate, Alien: Resurrection, Seven, etc.

The Tomorrow War (Chris McKay, 2021): 3/5

Fun, time-travelling monster movie with really good creatures on full display and some of the worst acting I’ve ever seen. 

Summer of Soul (Questlove, 2021): 3.5/5

Loved the music, especially Stevie Wonder jamming the fuck out. Unfortunately, some guy starts talking over the performace, like those asshole types at a concert, to tell me that Wonder was really political at this time. Hey dude, shut the fuck up. I’m trying to enjoy the music.

The Disciple (Chaitanya Tamhane, 2021): 3.5/5

Thanks Michelle. You were right. I did really enjoy this movie, especially the music itself. Fun leaps/elisions deepen all the feelings one has for the characters and their relationships.

Werewolves Within (Josh Ruben, 2021): 3.5/5

Broad but funny movie about people in a snowy community, one of whom is a werewolf. Lots of satire and irony, most of it fun. I really like Sam Richardson, from Tim Robinson’s sitcom from a few years ago, Detroiters, as well as I Think You Should Leave and (the best character in) The Tomorrow War. He’s killing it this year. 

McCartney 3,2,1 (Zachary Heinzerling, 2021): 2.5/5

Paul McCartney comments on Penny Lane and Band on the Run, but the catch is that this time, he’s chewing gum. I forgive him that he doesn’t have any new insights. 

Slow Machine (Joe Denardo/Paul Felten, 2021): 1.5/5

I couldn’t make head or tails of this, narratively or emotionally. Reviews compare it to Rivette, which makes sense since I can’t make much of his films either 

Empty Man (David Prior, 2020): 2/5

Despite recommendations from two trusted sources, I found this amateurish, derivative and worst of all not scary.  A compelling cold open gives way to troubled ex-cop with unresolved past trauma drama. 

North Hollywood (Mikey Alfred, 2021): 3.5/5

Watched with my millennial daughter who, at 22, is already taking issue with Gen Z attitudes (expressed largely through TikTok.) Directed by a pro skater about an ugly loser who is trying and mostly failing to become a high-profile skater. Some documentary footage establishes that the (good) lead actor is actually a skater first, with (I would say) 6,000 hours under his belt.  

Censor (Prano Bailey-Bond, 2021): 3.5/5

Quite a nasty little number about the effect of an unsolved disappearance on those left behind as well as the pernicious effects of ultra-violent images. Contains many ultra-violent images.

C

A Quiet Place Part II (John Krasinski, 2021): 3.5/5

Talented middlebrow.  I loved the first 12 minutes and spent much of the rest of the (economical, hour-and-33-minute) movie parsing the “(liberal) America dreams of itself” commentary on gender (in an all-white universe), etc. Ultimately it makes the Halloween 2 mistake of simply reproducing the first movie. At the end of the first one, they found a new weapon (the feedback thing) that should have been the beginning of a new phase. But damned if we didn’t have to rediscover the same fucking thing at the climax of this one and not even on a next-level level. 

Black Widow (Cate Shortland, 2021): 2.5/5

Starring a couple good-to-great actresses and directed by a woman but still full of the same boring sub-Mission Impossible macho chases, fights and falls. The antagonist is a Weinstein-ish spotter of talent who has brainwashed all his hot minions to do his bidding. 

An Amusement Park (George Romero, 1975): 1.5/5

A grotesque curiosity for Romero completists. It’s meant to be pro elders, but they are all disgusting and horrific. 

Martin (George A. Romero, 1977): 3.5/5

Martin is a sensitive and lonely young man who is also a murderer and rapist (slash vampire?). He briefly settles in a decrepit, rusty Detroit.

L’Amour Existe, 21 min.  (Maurice Pialat, 1961): 3/5

An adolescent Pialat, in his turn, rails against the suburbs: “Concentration camp living in easy installments.” He has not yet conceived of the image of a young boy dropping a cat down the stairwell to express all of this. 

Phantom of Paradise (Brian DePalma, 1974): 1.5/5

A garish and theatrical mess. Is this worse than Rocky Horror and Tommy? I couldn’t tell you, since I’ve never seen nor had interest in any of these campy musicals. 

24 Frames (Abbas Kiarostami, 2017): 2/5

Why? Twenty-four semi-static 4-minute scenes, mostly of nature, like looking out a window. Lots of so-so video effects. 100s of animators and technicians.

Road Games (Richard Franklin, 1981): 2/5

Recommended by Tarantino and Edgar Wright, but I found it dull—more of a character piece than a thriller. 

Cremator (Juraj Herz, 1969): 3/5

Infused with the chaotic, rebellious and naughty energy that permeates the Czech New Wave. What it lacks in plot, it makes up for in creepiness. Eventually a portrait of the perfect self-negating Nazi, but it takes its time, lingering on neurotic peccadillos. Eccentric editing intimates madness and dislocation. 

The Incident (Larry Peerce, 1967): 3.5/5

The Iceman Cometh one Sunday night in an elevated train car in New York City. Ten dramas converge and Martin Sheen and his equally sadistic buddy confront all of them, forcing resolution through their vile behavior. Worth watching, although I had never heard of it before. 

Paprika (Satoshi Kon, 2006): 2/5

Dreams are boring. They change all the time and have no rules. No rules, no game.

Western (Valeska Grisebach, 2017): 3.5/5

German film shot in Bulgaria. A tall, strong, silent type finds and lovingly returns a stray horse, meeting the town gangsters. I wish there was more resolution, but what’s there is quiet and compelling.  

Shoplifters (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2018): 4/5

Comparisons to Ozu are, remarkably, earned. Not much plot really, just a lot of tender family moments stacked up like a tower of rocks. A cobbled together and fragile family. Very emotional. 

Still Walking (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2008): 4.5/5

A family reunion. As with Shoplifters, three generations with their secrets and grievances and little family pain points. Again, mostly revolving around the family home, again dealing with death. Contemplative and forgiving. 

Mike Leigh Mega-Fest 

Leigh curates perhaps the most gifted acting troupe in movie history. (Who else is in the conversation? Bergman? Ford? What a pleasure it is when Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall, Alison Steadman, David Thewlis, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen, Katrin Cartlidge, Phil Davis, Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan or Brenda Blethyn shows up again in the opening credits. Not to mention one-offs Tim Roth, Oldman and Stephen Rea. One might have the impression that Leigh is creating kitchen sink, slice-of-life realism, but instead all the actors have spun up eccentric and colorful characters that are obviously theatrical, often richly so. With a monomania about families and a compassionate point of view, Leigh earns comparisons to Ozu. 

Nuts in May (Mike Leigh, 1976): 3/5

A condescending, jealous, judgmental know-it-all goes camping with his mostly subservient wife. Light but painful comedy ensues. 

Abigail’s Party (Mike Leigh, 1977): 3/5

Perhaps the most Bergmanesque of Leigh’s work. A party where slowly all the fault lines between the characters are probed and confronted. One of the most play-like and one of the most brutal to its characters 

Grown Ups (Mike Leigh, 1980): 3/5

A young couple with few resources, intellectual or financial, has a protracted and traumatic screaming row with the woman’s older sister (who is an annoying as she is high-strung) that humiliates all and involves even the neighbors. Thereafter the couple decide to have a child. “It’s only natural, innit?” Lovely to see Manville here play a very young and unformed prole.

Five Minute Films (Mike Leigh, 1982): 4.5/5

Leigh intended to make 50 of these 5-minute films but only finished five. Too bad, since they are miracles of concision, story-telling and character. But don’t take my word for It: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-vTXZQpK2c

The Short and Curlies, 17 mins. (Mike Leigh, 1987): 4/5

Three fully embodied characters in 17 minutes, this is a good primer for what makes Leigh’s method privileging acting/character so fruitful. Alison Steadman’s character is especially recognizable and fully formed, but Thewlis is also great. Classic Leigh title. Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eqxOiRigvI

High Hopes (Mike Leigh, 1988): 3.5/5

The characters get more broad, while the class commentary gets more pointed—not a great combo. Three or four classes, each miserable in their own way. The young “working class” couple are given a lot of great, warm human stuff, and the rich and nouveau are annoying cartoons (bummer). 

Life is Sweet (Mike Leigh, 1990): 4/5

One of Leigh’s warmest films, and one of his most stable and happy families. Many funny and half-funny bits and expert performances—Spall, Thewlis, Broadbent and Rea hanging around, being perfect. 

A Sense of History, 25 mins. (Mike Leigh, 1992): 4/5

A very funny monologue written and performed by the great Jim Broadbent. An aristocrat shares an increasingly criminal and disturbing story of his life. Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPtaw2QwBeQ

Secrets & Lies, rw (Mike Leigh, 1996): 4.5/5

On re-watch, I didn’t love the first hour, but then there’s an 8-minute unbroken take at the center of the film that tells the whole story in miniature and features some of the greatest film acting I have ever seen. Whatever it starts as, it ends up being a contrast of classes: the mother’s low class and education (the daughter is a garbage collector) in contrast to the brother who is a comfortable middle class small-business owner and the adopted daughter who is a college-educated optometrist, a word the mother has not even heard of. The last 45 minutes is a beautiful party where everything is confronted and profound reconciliation occurs, a deeply emotional experience.  

Career Girls (Mike Leigh, 1997): 3/5

Two young ladies reunite 6 years after college, taking a coincidence-filled walk down memory lane. Surprisingly slight and random-feeling and featuring a disastrous light jazz score. I should stop saying this, but sigh: excellent acting.

Topsy Turvy (Mike Leigh, 1999): 3/5

Unfocused but colorful and entertaining. I didn’t particularly love the many excerpts from The Mikado, but the script is full of interesting “portrait of an artist” scenes, amusing rehearsals, and behind the scenes life. I just adore Allan Corduner’s performance as Sullivan; he is so bright, open and present. 

All or Nothing (Mike Leigh, 2002): 2/5

I’m afraid this one is about what people assume Leigh movies are like (but usually aren’t): a bunch of sad people, disconnected from and disappointed in one another. Joyless and dour. 

Vera Drake (Mike Leigh, 2004): 3.5/5

Leigh’s Joan d’Arc: the life of a saint, involving great suffering. Vera herself is a cheerful little poppet who just wants to make matters easy for everyone around her, a common character so rarely seen on screen and a great pleasure to watch until the second half turns her into a human teardrop. The plot holds no surprises, and the second half is well and truly grim, but the acting is (wait for it…) masterful. 

Another Year (Mike Leigh, 2010): 3/5

Depicts what is certainly the happiest marriage in Leigh’s works, a couple that serves an emotional anchor for the lonely planets that orbit them. As in Mr. Turner, the arc bends toward death. 

A Running Jump, 35 mins. (Mike Leigh, 2012): 2/5

An uncharacteristically frantic, cynical and unpleasant short, where everyone’s running to make a living or two. Not even Eddie Marsan can save us. 

Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh, 2014): 5/5

And suddenly Leigh makes one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen, in terms of color, apropos to the subject. Timothy Spall is magnificently grunty, and the movie is worthy of the Oscar for Best Yellows. Anyone who turns this off after an hour, complaining about lack of plot (as I did 3 years ago), is well and truly an ass. Dramatically, it’s a somewhat traditional portrait of an artist, but there is a drum-beat of death, almost as if to justify Turner’s massive final lines. He was born in 1775 and was 76 when he died. 

Peterloo (Mike Leigh, 2018): 2/5

Leigh follows my favorite of his films with my least favorite. Mind-bending world building, but it’s hard to see the influence of Leigh’s actor-and-character-centric approach. A massive cast delivers surprisingly impersonal and stereotypical historical speechifying. And is that CGI, fer chrissakes? Of course, it connects to Leigh’s ongoing concern with working class representation in opposition to the elite/landowner/status quo. But I’m afraid the scale, while extremely impressive, outdoes him here. There must be a 100 speaking parts (and imdb lists 190 actors by name), and I trusted this would pay off during a stirring final scene where we have a stake in the fates of so many, but alas. A radically different offering from Leigh and quite a failure.