If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (Mary Bronstein, 2025): 4/5
Despite its unpleasantness (and certainly because I can relate to our protagonist’s feelings of guilt, shame and being overwhelmed) the drama captured and held me. Repulsion and Eraserhead are comps.
Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2025): 4/5
A wild ride. I liked the fact that Plemons’ character is both a stupid on-line fuckhead and also completely correct. Stone’s character is both a monster and a victim. (Her line about ‘Everyone is able leave at 5:30, uh, unless they have work to do or a quota to reach’ is perfect corporate speak). It’s pretty true that everyone (speaking in general) is half-right. The various tableaux during the last two minutes are funny and ghastly at the same time.
* Predator: Badlands (Dan Trachtenberg, 2025): 4/5
Surprisingly fun. Jack and I have seen quite a few of the big action movies this year, and this is my favorite (setting One Battle After Another and anime aside). Action packed and filled with cool CGI creatures and deadly landscapes.
The Chair Company (Tim Robinson, Zach Kanin, 2025): 3.5/5
All over the place in terms of plot and meaning, but consistently funny on a scene-by-scene basis. “Please don't tell them my wheelbarrow is outside!” “I just think that HR should know you saw up my skirt. On my birthday.”
* Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc (Tatsuya Yoshihara, 2025): 3.5/5
I’m liking these in-theater anime releases that Jack keeps taking me to. Here, our protagonist is torn between his love for two different girls, but luckily one turns out to be very powerful devil, the villains of this universe. Oh, also our protagonist’s arms and face can turn into chainsaws. The last hour is a long fight sequence, but this description belies how original the storytelling is. Even during the romance sequences, what the audience is shown is unusual, and the fights are downright abstract and pointillist. You just have to watch what you are shown without judgement and try to piece everything together as you go and afterwards. If the success of these films influences mainstream cinema, this crazy and kinetic artiness might be a tremendous breakthrough.
Caught by the Tides (Jia Zhangke, 2025): 3/5
Blithely wanders through eras, locations, styles and tones—but the most impactful and emotional special effect is Zhao Tao aging before our eyes. The leaps in time strip away personal narrative and demonstrate that people’s behavior is dictated by their place and time. Each community sings their songs, dances their dances, behaves in the prescribed manner. Lots of it feels like a documentary, but then there are fantasy sequences and scenes that are written and acted. I love this observation from Will Sloan “What does Jia think of the COVID protocols? The Beijing Olympic bid? Tour boats on the Yangtze? Robot waiters? Like a good therapist, he just finds them all interesting.” (And tangentially I highly recommend Sloan’s wide-ranging film podcast, The Important Cinema Club.)
Invader, 68m (Mickey Keating, 2025): 2/5
A low-budget horror film with a spooky Joe Swanberg hanging out in people’s homes when they’re away. I admire its ambition, but a lot of it doesn’t work.
Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2025); 2/5
A group of disgruntled customers gang up with murderous intent on the equivalent of ticket scalper. If that sounds dumb, it is.
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, 14m (Nebojša Slijepčević, 2024): 3.5/5
An unusual drama and one that directly addresses the precariousness of today’s reality. Unchecked authority and power permits everything.
Mars Express (Jérémie Périn, 2023): 3.5/5
Overflows with invention and world-building. The narrative is always a couple steps ahead of the audience, but what seems incoherent is just a result of the audience not yet knowing all the rules and technologies of the world. Exciting action sequences, and fun play with what robots will be like in the future.
Lips of Blood (Jean Rollin, 1975): 3.5/5
Like Vertigo (or Rollin’s own Fascination, four years later), this follows a character who considers himself quite in control yet who can’t resist pursuing the path that will lead to his own downfall. The characters seem mesmerized, as is the audience.
Being John Smith, 27m (John Smith, 2024): 3.5/5
A droll portrait of what it means to have such a common name and yet strive to be unique. Indeed, we all wish to stand out—yet are in fact leading lives that follow a common and well-worn trajectory, among many.
Sunshine for Scoundrels, 58m (Alain Guiraudie, 2001): 2/5
Talk talk talk. It’s all very droll but quite purposefully nonsensical—or rather comically serious about silly things. Watching this I’m reminded that Guiraudie makes not only sex-soaked semi-thrillers like Stranger by the Lakeand this year’s Misericordia (which I like) but also absurdist comedies like Staying Upright (which I don’t). I haven’t seen it, but his Nobody’s Hero is also supposed to be in this vein. I’ll never find out!
Signs of Life (Werner Herzog, 1968): 3/5
Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. Herzog’s first feature is rambling and searching, on the hunt for mystery, beauty, and quirky little puzzles of human emotion—much like the career to come.
The Criminal Code (Howard Hawks, 1930): 3/5
Moves from crime scene to court room to prison, exploring the gaps between law and justice. Sometimes justice is on the side of the guards and other times on the side of the prisoners. Walter Huston plays not so much our protagonist as the tough and godly arbiter. Like many Hawks films, it doesn’t have much of a plot, but rather presents a group of characters in a milieu with its own ethical system.
