Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2021): 4.5/5

Still sussing out THAT SCENE. Honestly, not sure if it was necessary. That scene arguably raises more questions than it answers, but Joe does such an impeccable job of prescribing The Boom (as I am so deeming it) an ominous, apprehensive register hitherto that assigning it any physical form, however nebulous, seems comparatively underwhelming next to total ambiguity. Upon the first occurrence of The Boom, I nearly shit myself; from quite literally the opening scene onward, I was braced with nerve-racking anxiety whenever things got quiet (which, in a Weerasethakul film, is ALL THE FUCKING TIME), nervously awaiting The Boom’s next emergence. Joe doesn’t overplay that hand, either; I didn’t count how many times we hear The Boom, but I guarantee it’s fewer than I’d guess after the fact, its concrete permanence attributed—somewhat paradoxically—to not its frequency but its infrequency.

A classic reading of the film, one made before the reveal is made, is that Jessica is experiencing early-onset dementia. The film is conspicuously titled Memoria [self-evidently Spanish for "Memory"], the thing with which dementia abducts. Is The Boom the creeping doldrums, an augur, for her dementia—like the ringing of one's ears indicating the damaging of ear cells, the repetitive boom indicating the slow decay of memory? She does seem to wander about carelessly, absentmindedly. Is Colombian elevation to blame as one doctor suggests, her insomnia, the working of the nearby Amazon, its leafy heart of darkness, unknown mysteries, working its cloistered magic upon her?

It was a rare cinematic experience (and not just because I saw it with the Scupine Brothers) that almost certainly wouldn't have been remotely as powerful at home, without the eerily hushed presence of others.

Vortex (Gaspar Noe, 2022): 3.5/5

Immensely sad and moving. It's a tentative gentle hug from a man I'd have expected in previous years to cave my head in first.

Petite Maman (Celine Sciamma, 2022): 4.5/5

Christopher Nolan shaking and crying cuz he could never come up with this.

All jokes aside, there is a sadness traded off between children and parents that’s rooted in wanting to see the other happy. It’s like that line from 20th Century Women, “you get to see him out in the world as a person. I never will”. Just as our parents never get to see us as human beings separate from them, we never get to see them that way either. And so a sadness exists that creates both distance and binds you. Petite Maman feels like closing that gap - it erases the mystery or fear in the back of one’s mind that the cause of your parent's sadness stems from you.

We're All Going to the World's Fair (Jane Schoenbrun, 2021): 3.5/5

A challenging, complicated film - as we used to say back in grad school. I'm looking forward to revisiting it. For now, all I can say is it is a rare and honest and great piece of art. Might be uncomfortable to watch if you're the father of teenage girls.

Paris, 13th District (Jacques Audiard, 2021): 3/5

Slight, but solid atmosphere; including a stirring nightlife score and lovely black-and-white photography. Jacques Audiard follows three characters avoiding love (Makita Samba, Lucie Zhang, and Noemie Merlant). It's an extreme rarity to see Asian characters as the centerpiece of any European production, and Paris, 13th District is applaudable for presenting to the world Lucie Zhang, the still rather unknown Chinese-born actress who executed the bold, demanding role of a call center girl caught up in her own family drama as well as her complicated sex life. However, it's actually the perfect duo of Noémie Merlant and Jehnny Beth that offered the most memorable sketch and emotional moments of this interweaved Parisian saga, thanks to their off-the-charts chemistry, and, very likely, Celine Sciamma's magical input into the script.

The Northman (Rob Eggers, 2022): 3/5

Could've used more Dafoe and Bjork in my opinion. And this is significantly more Gladiator-adjacent than I'd ever have imagined, even as it's also clearly positioning itself as a vicious, poetry-free ur-Hamlet. Extra half star for the gnarly fun. But nothing to write home about overall.

Zero Fucks Given (Emmanuel Marre, Julie Loucoustre, 2021): 4/5

The hypnotic first half is among the great twenty-first-century visions of corporate, post-industrial labor (“You work as a team, but you each work on your own as well, okay?”), and the language of “growth” and “opportunity” just becomes deployed as a way of occupying another position in an exploitative system.

This is what ‘The Worst Person in the World’ should be like (if it was good). Also, Pandemic Cinema - the removal of a mask, exposing ourselves, is it literal or metaphorical? Seriously, Adele Exarchopoulos is one of the best on the planet.

Belfast (Kenneth Branaugh, 2021): 1.5/5
A good movie if you’ve only seen 4 or 5 movies

Encanto (Byron Howard, Jared Bush, 2021): 2.5/5

a grandparent apologizing for generational trauma is the most unrealistic thing in all of Disney

All the Old Knives (Janus Metz, 2022): 1/5

Me: Make more movies for adults.

[watches All the Old Knives]

Me: Make them better than this.

The House (Paloma Baeze, 2022): 3/5

Tim Burton by way of Wes Anderson's stop-motion cinema. Enjoyable little flick. The opening segment is far and away the best one, introducing a family living in a modest country cottage in what looks like the 19th century. The terror comes from the atmosphere more than specific incidents and builds to an unnerving effect.

Umma (Iris K. Shim, 2022): 1/5

More like ummmmmm uhhhhhh

The Dropout (Elizabeth Meriwether, 2022): 3/5

Elizabeth Holmes...such a copious amount of cringe in one person it's unbelievable.

Nitram (Justin Kurzel, 2021): 1.5/5

Yet another "let's explore the world of this real-life mass murderer." Unnecessary, shallow, and dull.

The Usual Suspects (Byran Singer, 1995): 1.5/5

All this fuss for a bland-on-arrival crime thriller that gets needlessly complicated as it goes along, and then pulls the rug out from under you to reveal that everything in the movie sans the last two minutes was a total fabrication? Amateur hour. I think Roger Ebert put it best: "To the degree that I do understand, I don't care."

The Color of Pomegranates (Sergei Parajanov, 1969): 2/5

Impenetrable symbolism. Impossible narrative to follow. Yes, the aesthetic experience and accomplishment was downright irrefutable, transcendent, etc etc, but the truth is that I never found it anything other than ponderous. In any case, don't let my lack of enthusiasm dissuade you from watching one of the most singular films ever made. This is akin to a sheepish shrug at La traviata because opera just ain't for me. #philistine

Kiki's Delivery Service (Miyazaki, 189): 2.5/5
I realize the cuteness and not just lack but outright eschewal of anything resembling conflict is a huge selling point on Miyazaki, and a reason so many others love and admire his filmography unconditionally. Not me though -  being the miserable kvetch and thief of joy that I am.  But if I completely ignore the existence of this film’s fictional narrative and pretend it’s a master animator’s sketchbook of loosely-related abstractions, I do indeed dig it.

Belladonna of Sadness (Eiichi Yamamoto, 1973): 2/5
I think maybe this picturesque slideshow style just isn’t to my taste, regardless of context - and no, the mature themes here add very little in the way of interest. Was expecting this to jerk the wheel into full-on avant-garde territory at one point during the long psychedelic montage, but it was only a minor distraction—one of many that add up to a frustratingly middling ordeal.

rewatched The Prestige (Christopher Nolan, 2006): 4/5 
inside you there are two magicians. ok, three magicians. alright, three living magicians and hundreds of dead ones.

Police Story 3: Super Cop (Stanley Tong, 1992): 3/5

Stanley Tong makes some interesting choices, namely adding a few more cuts here and there and shooting the fights from a slightly higher angle. It's a bit Westernized. And I'm not a big fan of Jackie getting into a huge gunfight. But then the train/helicopter/motorbike finale happens and all that stuff just doesn't matter anymore.