“The Taste of Things,” March 9, 2024, Lexington Venue Theater. Eugenie (Juliette Benoche) and Dodin Bouffont (Benoit Magimel) share a mansion, a garden, sometimes a bed, and always a love for the most amazing food. Set in late 19th century France or perhaps early 20th century (pre-electric lighting), she is his cook, he is France’s…
Perfect Days
“Perfect Days,” February 23, 2024, Lexington Venue Theater. “Next time is next time. Now is now.” Wim Wenders excellent slice-of-life film is wonderfully acted, beautifully shot, and deeply moving. Hirayama (the amazing Koji Yakusho) cleans public toilets. His days follow a precise pattern of rising, grooming, driving to work, listening to 1960s/70s cassettes (an amazing…
“American Fiction”
“American Fiction,” February 10, 2024, Lexington Venue theater. I went into this knowing what I’d heard in a couple of reviews. I came out of it working hard to piece this excellent film written and directed by Cord Jefferson together. Not that I couldn’t understand what was going on. Rather, I was working to get…
Minari
“Minari,” January 4, 2024 (2020), Blue Ray. We both liked and recommend this excellent Korean-American film from writer-director Lee Issac Cheung about his family’s struggle to start life over again on their own farm in rural Arkansas in the 1980s. But this is no tale of racism or discrimination. Rather it’s a story that places…
The Holdovers
“The Holdovers,” December 31, 2023, theater. We were hoping to go down to Long Island to spend New Years Eve with friends and then visit with others. Instead, I got a cold and our friends, with apt caution, suggested we should not come down and infect others. They were right, of course. Half the guests…
Aftersun
“Aftersun,” November 30, 2023 (2022), DVD. This well-written and directed film, the first feature from Charlotte Welles. Rightly earned many nominations and awards. It takes some work on your part as a viewer. It’s not always clear what or when things are happening. But it’s really worth the effort. I found the special feature/comments that…
Rustin
“Rustin,” November 21, 2023, Netflix. Whenever I taught classes on movements, marches, the 60s, etc., I asked students what they knew about the great 1963 March on Washington. All know MLK and his speech. Unless they’re deep into the subject, almost none know it was a march for jobs and justice, called by A. Philip…
“The Duke” and “Phantom of the Open”
“The Duke,” and “Phantom of the Open,” November 14/29, 2023 (2020/2021), DVD. The wonderful Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirrin star in this cheeky little English comic ‘based-on-a-true-story’ tale of theft and kindness. I can use much more of the latter, given what’s going on these days. Broadbent plays Kempton Bunton, a 60-yo cabbie crusader against…
“It Ain’t Over”
“It Ain’t Over,” November 7, 2023 (2022), documentary, Netflix. There are plenty of reasons why “It Ain’t Over” has been rated as highly as it has on IMDB. The film is by turns informative, emotional, inspiring, and very funny. Not bad for a movie about a ballplayer who didn’t look like a ballplayer. Yogi Berra…
The Quiet Girl
“The Quiet Girl,” October 19, 2023 (2022), airplane, in Gaelic with subtitles. Watched a second time on November 24, 2023. I rarely watch films a second time shortly after a first viewing. This one was very much worth it. The emotional development hit home. The slow pacing felt so very right. It’s very beautiful. I…
You Hurt My Feelings
“You Hurt My Feelings,” October 15, 2023, DVD. It’s been a while since I’ve reported on films viewed, in part due to continuing medical issues. That’s left me to try to catch up here. I liked but was not overwhelmed by this family dramedy about honesty in important relationships, especially family, from Nicole Holofcener. She…
Avatar: The Way of Water
“Avatar: The Way of Water,” September 18, 2023 (2022), DVD. Sadly, we’re back on Pandora to plunder everything of value at the expense of the indigenous occupants. Sully (Sam Worthington), of course, went full on Na’vi, and he, his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) must flee their forest home to escape the evil, reconstituted Col. Quaritch…
John Wick: Chapter 4
“John Wick: Chapter 4,” September 16, 2023 (2022), DVD. Keanu Reeves stars and Chad Steleshki directs this Wick slaughterfest. Lance Reddicks last film. Ian McShane and Laurence Fishburne return to support Wick’s efforts. Great action fighting, minimal script and plot as Wick again tries to free himself from the control of The Table. Donnie Yee…
Zappa
“Zappa,” (Documentary), September 9, 2023 (2020), Hulu. This excellent, thoughtful, non-narrative documentary looks at the life and work of Frank Zappa. Interviews with amazing musicians abound. Zappa left an remarkable archive of his life and, seemingly, everything he ever did with film, music, and politics. His son Ahmet produced the film, and it utilizes much…
Oppenheimer
“Oppenheimer,” September 3, 2023, The Venue. Yes, I know, a small theater. Well, it had left IMAX, and medical issues inhibited attending 70 mm (my choice) due to scheduling. So, you see it where and when you can. But I digress. What’s there to say about writer-director Christopher Nolan’s gigantic, 3-hour-long and visually stunning, look…
Past Lives
“Past Lives,” July 8, 2023, Venue theater (!). First journey back to the theater in 3.5 years. We very much enjoyed this thoughtful small film about separation, expectations, and anxieties from writer/director Celine Song. Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sun (Teo Song) are childhood friends and budding boy and girl friends in Seoul, South Korea,…
Living
“Living,” May 14, 2023 (2022), DVD. What a long time between movies. The Bruins and Celtics in the playoffs have consumed way too much of our consciously limited screen-time. With embarrassment, I admit I’ve been avoiding this remake of Akira Kurosawa’s brilliant 1952 film “Ikiru [To Live.]” The latter is one of the greatest films…
Ryuici Sakamoto: Coda
“Ryuici Sakamoto: Coda,” April 5, 2023 (2017), musical autobiography. We both really enjoyed Stephen Nomura Shible’s look at the remarkable composer, sometime actor, activist following his death on March 28. Bronwen’s a big fan of his. The film looks at his music, his amazing use of technology (computer and electronic as well as traditional and…
Peterloo
“Peterloo,” March 18, 2023 (2019), Amazon Prime. It’s usual in a Ken Loach film to have a real time debate about tactics and strategy, but here, director/writer Mike Leigh gives us 1 ½ hours of these verbal broadsides as he lays out the story behind the Peterloo Massacre. I suspect that your response to the…
Women Talking
“Women Talking,” March 10, 2023 (2022), Amazon Prime. Writer/director Sarah Polley received the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for this one, and rightly so. It’s 2010 and the women in a relatively isolated rural religious community have learned a terrible thing about their lives. They have been systematically drugged, raped, impregnated, infected, lied to, and…
The Fabelmans
“The Fabelmans,” March 5, 2023 (2022), DVD. Steven Spielberg directed and co-wrote – with Tony Kushner – this thoughtful, episodic semi-autobiographical look at his life-long love of cinema and his experience of familial chaos. It’s an adult look at a child’s understanding of life, love, and the cultural changes of white, middle-class, and especially, Jewish-Americans. …
Ta’r
“Tár,” February 27, 2023, DVD (2022). Cate Blanchett stars as Berlin Philharmonic conductor Lydia Tár in this painful and disturbing, award winning/nominated study by writer/director Todd Field. With its stellar acting, astounding score and gut-wrenching story line, it’s an excruciating look at the abuse of power by a brilliant woman who preys upon her younger…
On the Rocks
“On the Rocks,” February 10, 2023 (2020), DVD. Let’s start with the conclusion. I was, sadly, disappointed in this flat, poorly paced, mostly unfunny comedy about rich, young, unbelievably successful, hardworking and beautiful African-Americans in NYC. (And yes, I care just as little about their Euro-American counterparts.) Make no mistake about it, the film’s primary…
The Banshees of Inisherin
“The Banshees of Inisherin,” January 20, 2023 (2022), HBO with added feature, 9 Oscar nominations. Ireland 1922-1923 is locked in a civil war between Republican (IRA) factions who had, together, fought the British. Atrocities, house burnings, major battles, and murders by both sides plagued the land. Thousands of combatants and civilians died in the…
Argentina, 1985
“Argentina, 1985,” January 30, 2023 (2022), Amazon Prime, Dubbed. The dubbing’s good, but I wish we could have seen it subtitled, especially para mi esposa bilingue. We enjoyed director and co-writer Santiago Mitre’s ‘based-on-a-true-story’ of people making major changes in their society. Argentina’s military dictatorship (1975-83) was gone, but none of the criminals who led…