Since I re-ordered my list of films to watch, to prioritize critical opinion, I’ve been watching a lot of extremely long films. I think these types of films are critically celebrated for at least two reasons: There’s a self-selecting group who watch these types of movies: only certain types of people will sit through a …
Tag: Drama
Zalava (2021, Arsalan Amiri)
This is a psychological horror drama set in an absolutely gorgeous part of Iranian Kurdistan pre Iranian Revolution. There’s a bit of a Wicker Man vibe to it, though it is a little more grounded in reality (and a hell of a lot prettier). SPOILERS
Arthur Rambo (2021, Laurent Cantet)
This is the story of a rising French literary star (and YouTube personality) whose career is derailed right at the moment of his big triumph by his Twitter history. it’s something that happens seemingly every day in our world and yet I don’t think I’ve seen yet seen a movie that explicitly deals with this, …
True Things (2021, Harry Wootliff)
This movie follows a predictable arc, if you’re familiar with its type: the main character is struggling with their life, a mysterious stranger comes in and entrances said character (or “insert other plot device here”) , and then life lessons. (Sorry for the mild spoiler.) I point this out so early in the review because, …
Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash (2021, Edwin)
This film is many things all at once. It is, kind of incredibly, based on a novel, which made my confusion over what happens all the deeper, as the thing that I can’t resolve feels like its the kind of issue that wouldn’t exist in a book. So I’m wondering if something was lost in …
I, Claudius [I·CLAVDIVS] (1976)
I don’t know when the first TV adaptation of a novel or series of novels was, but I suspect this has a claim to be one of the earlier ones. Even if we spread out to movies, there were very few thorough and complete adaptations of novels, as movies were just too short. So, whatever …
Magic Mike (2012, Steven Soderbergh)
This is an entertaining and engaging comedy drama about male strippers during the financial crisis. It’s sort of an oblique comment on the consequences of the financial crisis and it’s fascinating that Channing Tatum wanting to star in a movie about his life as a stripper before he got famous turned into this film.
The Human Condition (1959, 1961, Masaki Kobayashi)
This is an epic film, released as a series, that adapts an epic novel. Taken as a whole film, it is one of the longest narrative films ever – by my count the 8th or 9th longest ever, and probably the longest ever made at the time of its release. But it was released as …
Pather Panchali (1955, Satyajit Ray)
Don’t ask me why I saw Aparajito first but I did. (It’s an A movie and I must not have known it was a sequel years ago when I saw it.) But it was long enough ago that I don’t really remember it (and long enough ago that I lost my review when Zip.ca died). …
Woman in the Dunes [砂の女 or Suna no onna] (1964)
This is a really distinct and kind of crazy film that pairs a plot that could be in a horror film with a bit of a retelling of the story of Sisyphus. It is also, perhaps, the most incredible use of sand in a movie in film history. Very mild spoilers
Sansho dayu [Sansho the Bailiff] (1954), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
There’s a high standard to meet “The Greatest Film of All Time.” Though it’s sometimes not #1 on lists, Sansho the Bailiff has been called “The Greatest Film of All Time,” “Perfect” and many other things and when it’s not considered the single greatest, it’s often on a very short list. It’s even harder for …
The Singing Detective (1986)
Had I encountered this remarkable TV miniseries in my 20s, when I had my highest tolerance for meta commentaries on storytelling, I might have lost my mind over it. However, that tolerance has waned over the years and I struggled with it instead.
Zana (2019, Antoneta Kastrati)
This is, I believe, the first Kosovar film I’ve ever seen. However, it’s far from the first “woman loses a child and goes batshit crazy” film I’ve seen. In fact, I’ve seen so many of those movies, that the torp feels like a sexist cliche to me. This film was directed and cowritten by a …
The Leftovers (2014)
This is a well-made show with at least one fatal flaw. (And possibly two. I didn’t get that far.) Recommended as ideal for watching during the pandemic we found quite the opposite: that the pandemic actually made the whole thing seem far less believable than it might have seemed when it first aired.
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007, Cristian Mungiu)
This is an extraordinarily bleak film. You probably know it as the “Romanian abortion movie”. It’s a pretty extraordinary film despite its bleakness and is very close to being a masterpiece, in my opinion. If you haven’t seen it yet – it took me nearly 14 years for some reason – I would recommend it …
Private Fears in Public Places aka Coeurs (2006, Alain Renais)
This is an incredibly stagey French adaptation of a British play. I’m not familiar with the playwright but I can’t imagine getting excited about seeing one of his plays, if this is faithful.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)
When I was younger and had recently fallen in love with serialized TV dramas, I had this idea that I was going to write a book about the antecedents of the Golden Age of Television. (At first this was going to be about the Golden Age of Television, but that book already exists.) This book …
State of Play (2009, Kevin Macdonald)
This is a mostly well done American remake of the British miniseries. It’s considerably condensed but it also sort of fixes – or at least addresses – my biggest problem with the British version.
Iklimler aka Climates (2006, Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
This is an extremely creatively made film about a couple’s failing relationship which contains a scene that I found extremely maddening that really under cut the entire rest of the film for me.
Clemency (2019, Chinonye Chukwu)
This is a no frills drama about a prison warden slowly changing her attitude towards the death penalty. For an American film it’s extremely refreshing in its realism and its lack of typical Hollywood cliches in this type of material.
Entre les murs aka The Class (2008, Laurent Cantet)
This is a French version of the “How can I reach these kids?!?!” genre, a genre I really, really dislike. But, I must say, this is a pretty excellent variation in part because it avoids most of the pitfalls of the American style.
La caméra de Claire (2017, Sang-soo Hong)
This is an extraordinarily slight film rendered sophisticated in the eyes of some by its unconventional narrative structure and the presence of Isabelle Huppert. Ever watch a critically acclaimed film where you wonder if the critics and you watched the same film? Well, it’s one of those.
2020 Toronto International Film Festival
For what may be the third year in a row, I only saw 5 movies at TIFF. Every year I resolve to see more the next year but it never seems to happen. Now, this year is different, obviously. This year I watched TIFF films on my couch. And this year I only watched 5 …
Nuevo orden aka New Order (2020, Michel Franco)
This is a very promising film about class conflict in Mexico that gets really confused and, for me, goes off the rails to the point where I am kind of astounded it won a Grand Jury Prize at a film festival. SPOILERS later in the review.
Dhobi Ghat (2010, Kiran Rao)
This is a pretty good slice of life drama about four people from four different backgrounds in Mumbai. Though it’s a debut, the film feels like the work of someone who’s been in film a while and there is a lot of thought both in the telling and the way it is shot. (Though there …
Le Genou de Claire (1970, Eric Rohmer)
Ah, the good old days, when European men could prey on little girls and everyone thought it was just great.
Cinema Paradiso (1988, Giuseppe Tornatore)
There is a genre of film that is basically someone remembering their life growing up in a small town. (As opposed to the genre of going home to a small town.) For reasons beyond me, most of the movies I’ve seen in this genre have been Italian -maybe they are better reviewed? – so it’s …
Die Fälschung aka Circle of Deceit (1981, Volker Schlöndorff)
This is an extraordinary movie, a little like a more cynical Killing Fields, or a less plot-driven Quiet American. A German journalist with marital problems is sent to cover the war in Lebanon. The film was shot primarily in Beirut, during the civil war, and the location shooting does a ton of the work.
Arrival (2016, Denis Villeneuve)
This is a fascinating and compelling science fiction drama/mystery that is occasionally undercut by Hollywood military cliches. It’s probably pretty hard to talk about this movie without SPOILERS but I will try. But, seriously, SPOILERS
Moneyball (2011, Bennett Miller)
This is an enjoyable dramatization of the Oakland As’ 2002 season, from the perspective of their General Manager, who was trying to win games with the lowest budget in baseball. I say dramatization because there is a lot of poetic license here, and because the most important players on that team are barely even acknowledged.