The Rhythm Sction (2020)

The Rhythm Section turns out to be a fairly simple yet elegant action film. Perhaps simple isn't the right word. It isn't dumb and doesn't talk down to you. It just isn't complicated with superfluous stuff. It starts out with the premise laid out clearly and powerfully, takes us through its story until the end with efficiency and style, and then gives us the catharsis we need. Simple elegance.

Director Morano uses her skills as a cinematographer to ensure her film is lovely and electric. There is a discomfort to the whole thing that puts us in our protagonist's shoes, yet it all looks so wonderful and lush. But she does more than that. She gets honest performances out of her cast and tells her story in a way that grounds it while also making it exciting.

The violence is The Rhythm Section is visceral. You feel it. It's not all glossed and stylized. It feel raw. Lively's character isn't a superhero. She messes up more than she succeeds. But that's a big part of what makes The Rhythm Section work, part of what makes it enjoyable. I often wondered if it was going to work out.

While this is likely a one and done, The Rhythm Section shows a lot of promise and makes me wish this was just the beginning of Stephanie's story. I'm certainly interested in seeing what Morano might do next.

The Rhythm Section
Starring: Blake Lively, Jude Law, Sterling K. Brown, Max Casella, Raza Jaffrey
Director: Reed Morano
Writer: Mark Burnell

Richard III (1995) REVISIT

Richard III is one of the most iconic of Shakespeare plays. It is the culmination of the War of the Roses, it is the climax of 8 plays written by the Bard. It is filled with famous phrases. It has as it's center a deliciously evil villain that is a joy to watch and to watch meet his end. Sure it may not be accurate history but that's not the point and no one expects it to be. It is just really good theatre.

And it turns out it is also quite cinematic. Director Loncraine and star McKellen visioned their ultimate villain as history's ultimate villain. They take the story of the late 15th century King and set it in World War II as a fascist dystopia. They fill their film with all the glorious art deco art direction, swing jazz scoring, flapper costuming/hair, to make it gorgeous to see as well as overwhelming. When the nazi-esque red banners and symbols begin appearing the film strikes fear deep into our hearts. It turns the tale of the evil ruler killing to gain power into a context that makes sense to a modern audience. And that sense is chilling.

At the heart of the film is McKellen and his singular performance. He wasn't as recognizable at the time the film came out and I remember just being shook by him to my core. He is a combination stage and film actor being both larger than life and subtly rich in his performance. And as Richard, as the unabashedly corrupt and evil ruler, he is disturbing to say the least. Now that we've seen him in many other high profile roles we've come to be familiar with him as a star. But it is here as Richard that he first grabbed my attention.

But he's not alone. The always perfect Annette Benning is in her element here playing a powerful and emotional Queen Elizabeth with all the layers the character deserves. The entire cast is strong and despite the prominence of McKellen's character he plays well with the whole team. It's a powerful ensemble that fully dedicates itself to both the text and the setting they've chosen.

For me this film does a great job of grounding this play into something accessible yet palpable. It is viscerally enjoyable. It breaks down the different lineages and plot points in a way that makes its bloody quest for power plot not only understandable and easy for an uninitiated audience but also thoroughly enjoyable both for them and for devotees of the Bard. From the imagery to the 30s music to the performances to the story itself this Richard III is a damn fun film with just enough cultural warnings to give it the gravitas it needs.

Richard III
Starring: Ian McKellen, Annette Benning, Jim Broadbent, Robert Downey Jr., Nigel Hawthorne, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Dominic West
Director: Richard Loncraine
Writers: Ian McKellen, Richard Loncraine, William Shakespeare

Klaus (2019)

Spanish animator Sergio Pablos cut his teeth in the Disney stable and then hit it big on the Despicable Me franchise. He wrote the first film and the success of that series has lead to him starting his own animation studio, and his debut is Klaus, a highly stylized, slapstick inspired Christmas tale which has swept the award season after it's debut. This "origin story" of Santa, which throws out all our preconceptions of Santa's background and comes up with a fairly original idea, has that Christmas special feel, which I mean in no pejorative way at all, but as the sort of spirit it embodies.

Klaus ends up being rather charming if it does fall a little too far on the silly and predictable side for me. Despite lusher, more textured visuals, you'll notice the absurdity bent familiar from the Despicable movies.  But despite the film coming up with a very different version of Santa than we're used to seeing, it ends up being a rather formulaic. But is a weird mix because along with being fairly predictable it also is a little nonsensical. the story hinges on some motivations which  aren't necessarily logical. Without giving us a good reason, the villains of the story are hell bent on maintaining a feud and so a rather constructed feeling conflict and climax. All of which adds to the silliness of the story and takes away from its potential as a holiday classic.

So for me Klaus was a mixed bag (no pun intended). I enjoyed the visuals and character design, I thought the story was a bit light but just enjoyable enough, but the whole thing was a little too foolish for my preferences, the humour rarely catching for me. The advantage of a holiday themed story is that we tend to be drawn back to them each season. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't likely rewatch this film. But perhaps I'll give it another shot next year as the yule tide approaches.

Klaus
Starring: Jason Schwartzman, J.K. Simmons, Rashida Jones, Will Sasso, Sergio Pablos, Norm Macdonald, Joan Cusack
Director: Sergio Pablos
Writers: Jim Mahoney, Zach Lewis, Sergio Pablos

American Factory (2019)

When I began watching American Factory I had no idea what I was going to be watching. This documentary, following the take over of a shuttered GM plant in Ohio which was taken over by a Chinese glass making corporation, felt at first like it was going to be about an inspiring American story of reinvention in the face of economic adversity. But as it played out the story ended up not being inspiring at all, instead it touched on something far more discouraging. As I watched it became clear it was a first hand account of worker exploitation at the hands of corporate interests.

We are introduced to a group of American workers returning to work in a factory which had provided jobs for their community but had through the rigors of capitalism closed down leaving the community suffering. There is a sense of returning optimism as the factory comes back to life run by a Chinese corporation making glass. There are awkward cultural encounters and I felt like we were being lead down a familiar cross-cultural story of coming together despite our differences. But as the film moved on it takes a different turn. We are shown how the corporate culture, from its union busting inclinations and expectations of worker sacrifice, is creating a new crisis for all those working there, the locals and the immigrants.

American Factory is a localized look at globalization and its effects on a very personal nature. By focusing on the individual stories of those working in this company the film is able to personalize the story. It's powerful seeing how lives are changed (not for the better) and affected by the effects of globalization.

American Factory
Directors: Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert, Yiqian Zhang, Mijie Li

The Last Full Measure (2020)

The Last Full Measure feels like it is having an identity crisis. It seems to want to do one thing but really it wants to do something else and the two don't necessarily jive. This is based on a true story about the campaign to posthumously award a medal of honor to a fallen solider from the Vietnam war. The story involves a plot piece that he was not awarded the medal due to some embarrassment on behalf of people higher up the food chain who wanted the incident swept under the rug, something harder to do if he had won the medal. But the film glosses over that in its attempt to be something else.

Instead of pursuing that drama, the film presents us with a parade of his compatriots, all of whom are suffering (but alive) in the wake of their service. It is PTSD after PTSD. Also the soldier's still living parents, who are as saintly as humanly possible, are showcased. Once again the film had a chance to explore the way the actions of those sending these men into war have scarred them but once again the film chooses a different path.

As the film reaches its climax it is clear the only point to this film is to achieve the medal ceremony for the fallen man for his great sacrifice (the meaning of the title) and those men who served along side him so that there can be a standing ovation and tearful celebration of all who serve. This is a lovely moment for sure but it ignores the essential part of the story. Why they were there in the first place and how the ultimate cost was not proportionate to the goal. The film turns it back on it's subject by romanticizing the death without looking in to the why.  Like so many of these narratives, "serving our country" is just assumed without any evidence to show that the country was actually served. Because if we went there the loss of these lives would be too much to bear.

But it is this story, this cliched, sentimental story which highlights this betrayal. Because there is an element of injustice and that element has been overlooked. The film doesn't do its subject anymore justice than his country did. And that's a shame.

Sometimes performances in a film are way better than the film itself and this is a perfect example. Plummer as the soldier's father is as remarkable as he always is. Samuel L. Jackson is one of the greatest working actors alive which he demonstrates when he's not going his stereotypical Jackson routine. This film is an opportunity for him to truly shine and he does. But he's not alone. Hurt, Fonda and others are all strong. I kept feeling the tragedy of all these great actors doing a great job in such a poorly executed film.

This is a real missed opportunity. It ends up being just a typical gloss over an important story.

The Last Full Measure
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Christopher Plummer, Diane Ladd, William Hurt, Ed Harris, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda, Bradley Witford, Jeremy Irvine
Writer/Director: Todd Robinson

The Gentlemen (2020)

After being a director for hire for a few years Guy Richie returns to his bread and butter with The Gentlemen, as typical a Richie film as there can be. It's smarmy clever dialogue, riddled with racism/sexism/homophobia, slickly filmed violence, and twisty gangster plot, is punctuated with a lot of heavy accents. If you dig Richie's style this will do it for you. If he's not your thing this isn't likely to win you over.

If you let yourself, watching the scenery chewing performances of this cast, especially Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant, and Mathew McConaughey, can be a lot of fun, even if a lot of their dialogue is cringey in its oh so cool UK thug banter. If Richie did any real analysis of the depravity of these sorts of characters and didn't fetishize them for entertainment value perhaps it could make for something fascinating. But that's not his thing. This, like his breakout Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, plays so that we are to buy into the coolness of this hyper-masculinity.

I did like the way Richie framed his story as a "story within a story," the whole thing presented as being told by Grant's to Hunnam's character. The story is fun enough if you can get through the eye-rolly parts. It isn't too long and there is enough story to fill the time. So while die hard fans might eat it up, the rest of us might find it a mildly entertaining distraction if we can overlook a lot of the grating parts.

The Gentlemen
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Hugh Grant, Colin Farrell, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Jason Wong
Writer/Director: Guy Richie

Twelfth Night or What You Will (1996) REVISIT

Shakespeare played with the idea of gender quite a bit in his work but as far as I am aware never quite as directly as in Twelfth Night. Shakespeare often gave his characters plot reasons for cross-dressing but that doesn't really exist here in a tangible way. Night works specifically on a meta level when one thinks about the idea of young men playing women playing men and all of the gender fallout that produces. Modern versions, which cast female actors in the roles loose some of this exploration. Yet there remain elements of sexual experimentation as the "manly" character Orsino finds himself falling in love with a "man" Cesario while the overtly feminine Olivia finds herself wooing another woman, sort of. All of this lends itself to some fascinating gender and sexual high-jinks. And how this is played with over time says much about who we are in each moment.

The 1996 film from director Trevor Nunn (a director who seems to direct one film a decade) chooses to only scratch the surface of this element of the play and instead focus on the farce aspect of Night as if it was The Important of Being Earnest. His strong cast, equally talented with comedy and tragedy, play up the Three's Company style pranks and misunderstandings to great entertainment and that makes his film quite watchable and generally delightful. But for me the fascination of this play doesn't reside mostly in the absurd humour. For me what makes Night truly interesting is what it does with gender and sexuality.

There are moments when Nunn's film begins to explore some of the more taboo ends of the story. A moving scene between Ceasrio and Orsino where the two almost kiss is powerful (but might have been more powerful if both actors were men). Much of the gravity of the film is summoned by the weighty performance of Ben Kingsley whose fool is played quite seriously. But Nunn keeps veering away from those more challenging paths and taking us back into the safe territory of farce.

I assume most of this comes from the time in which it was made when issues of sexuality were still just arising in popular culture and gender expression was still ignored by most of society. Today I think productions of Twelfth Night could truly explore some of the rich commentary the play is lousy with. And that again comes back to the idea of how who we are in our moment, informs how we approach these plays and how they might speak to us. Today when we have a more complex understanding of gender, Shakespeare's gender plays, especially this one, could resonate in new ways. Perhaps one day. But for now we have this, rather delightful but generally light, film which is funny and charming.

Twelfth Night or What You Will
Starring: Imogen Stubbs, Helena Bonham Carter, Toby Stevens, Ben Kingsley, Richard E. Grant, Imelda Staunton, Steven Mackintosh
Director: Trevor Nunn
Writers: Trevor Nunn, William Shakespeare

The Edge of Democracy (2019)

Brazil suffers from some of the same political developments that are happening on a global level. Perhaps that is why film maker Petra Costa's cogent and gripping breakdown of how Brazil went from electing reformists into installing quite popularly a fascist president is so gripping, because it reflects what so many other parts of the world are going through. Her analysis of the specifics of the Brazilian situation is riveting and terrifying. And it speaks to so much more.

She sets out the story step by step, making The Edge of Democracy an easily accessible and quite engaging tale. She has crafted something smart and digestible. It is an impressive achievement.

But it is in how effectively it chronicles the precarious nature of democracy in a large nation that is what makes it so compelling and frightening. We should all be worried.

The Edge of Democracy
Writer/Director: Petra Costa

Bad Boys for Life (2020)

Bad Boys came out mid-90s, in the height of the Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer phenomenon, a phenomenon completely lost on me. Their style and substance just never clicked for me so Bad Boys, with its smart ass sensibilities and slow mo over the top action was never my jam. Michael Bay was back for chapter 2 in 2003 and felt like a holdover from a trend that had already run its course. So now we're back for a third time around and the main question is why?

From the first moments Bad Boys for Life admits it is past its best before date. It acknowledges the age of parties and plays off those old tropes. One character even says "nothing sadder than old men revisiting the past." But the the film embraces this and explores the idea of finding a purpose past a certain age. In fact there was something refreshing about the approach the film took. Instead of just being all stylish explosions Bad Boys for Life tries to be about something. It's still a lot of stylish violence but there is just enough story there to sustain the length of the movie. 

Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are far more interesting film makers than Michael Bay and they both pay tribute to the style of the franchise but add in enough interesting elements to elevate it a bit. Bad Boys for Life turns out to be a much better movie than the series has produced up to this point. Don't get me wrong, it's still a Bad Boys movie with all that entails, well maybe not all... the gender politics are far more 2010s than 1990s... but it is still a testosterone filled ride and it still isn't Shakespeare. But it may just be the marriage between what fans of the series want and non-fans can stand.

Bad Boys for Life
Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Joe Pantoliano, Paola Nunez, Venssa Hudgens, Charles Melton, Alexander Ludwig, Kate del Castillo
Directors: Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah
Writers: Chris Bremner, Peter Craig, Joe Carnahan

The Song of Names (2020)

Often "literature" has a staged feel. The mystery here, one man seeking the "brother" who disappeared decades before follows coincidence and minor lead until he tracks him down in a completely unbelievable series of events. However little of that matters because that's not the important part of The Song of Names. That might be the hook on which this story is sold, but the real magic here is something else.

When Clive Owen's character steps on to the stage at the end to play the title song the film has brought us on a remarkable journey. Not the search for the missing man, but the search for connection that each character has sought, the search for meaning and identity, the search for the lost souls. The song is one of sheer beauty, Howard Shore has done some wonderful work here, but it is more than that. It is the story that got us there that adds to the power of the song.

Girard has returned to the heights of some of his other musical films. He shoots each frame of The Song of Names with a loving, lush tone. The film is about how we love, especially what we've lost, and Girard has found a truly lovely way to capture that. Even if his story is a bit loaded on the corny side. But he, along with his cast, especially Roth who plays his character with restraint and power, overcome the shortcomings to make their story just lovely.

The Song of Names
Starring: Tim Roth, Clive Owen, Catherine McCormack, Saul Rubinek, Eddie Izzard
Director: Francois Girard
Writer: Jeffrey Caine

Richard Jewell (2019)

Clint Eastwood is good film maker. He knows how to film a story and make it impactful. He cast his film with a string of top talent who all bring their A game. He's working with a script from competent screen writer Billy Ray. And together with all of this they make the crap that turned out to be Richard Jewell the film.

Clearly this film is about making a point not making a compelling story. From the first scene we are introduced to Richard and the film hammers us with why he's a "good man" and everyone, especially the "elites" who see themselves as better than him, keep putting him down. But all he wants to do is shoot his guns and protect people. Everyone else is either another victim of the system or an elite asshole who has a clear agenda to put good people down.

Eastwood might as well have shot his film in black and white for all the nuance he imbues in his film. Put aside all the inaccuracies he purports to make his film drive it's point home, the even if the film had stuck to the facts it would have remained a simplistic boring tale. But it does beyond that. It's the hypocrisy. The film is all about a real person's character is ruined by others lying about them. Yet to do this the film lies about real people and their lives. I guess the film's point only applies to white men. This is a story designed to make us make us hate the press and the government and it doesn't matter how it plays fast and loose with the facts to make us hate.

This film is a good example of just how you can have all the right pieces together and still make a bad movie.

Richard Jewell
Starring: Paul Walter Hauser, Kathy Bates, Sam Rockwell, John Hamm, Olivia Wilde
Director: Clint Eastwood
Writer: Billy Ray

Underwater (2020)

To call this film Alien underwater isn't derivative, it is actually quite succinct. Underwater is a tense, efficient, effective thriller about being trapped with monsters which is simple but fun with a strong cast and a film maker who pulls it off. While it might not be the landmark that Alien was, it is also not a cheap rip off. It is competent and compelling and completely successful in what it is trying to do.

And that appears to be telling a thrilling story in the old morality tale style. It is Icarus or Frankenstein. Human beings push to hard too fast and unleash something they never intended. Then it is a "haunted house" style escape story. Can our little group of stranded misfits make it out in time. One way of looking at this is that the story is cliche, another is that it is classic. For me the test is does is grip me and get me lost in its story? And yes Underwater did.

Underwater is very efficient story telling. The film doesn't waste time setting up its premise and building characters in advance of the action happening. Instead it starts with one brief yet delightfully cryptic scene, one which implies we might not being seeing reality clearly, and then delves right into the adventure. There is a failure, a collapse at an underwater station at the bottom of the ocean. It appears only a handful of the crew has survived but to continue to survive they must achieve A, B, and C and soon we discover there "is something out there." Yes we've all seen this before in different variations. My argument is Underwater knocks this idea out of the park.

Anchored by the increasingly remarkable Kristen Stewart and a supporting case (see below) of character actors I mostly enjoy (even T.J. Miller remains rather restrained) Underwater wins by keeping it simple stupid (but never stupidly simple), never getting off track, walking a good line between the fantastic (it is sci fi after all) and the implausible, and just telling a frickin good adventure story.

By the end I began to see Underwater wouldn't explore any of the are-we-seeing-what-we-think-we're-seeing plays with reality I thought might be in store based on the opening scene, that the characters woudln't be more than stock expendable crew only a couple of which make it to the end. While it would advance a simple corporations-make-evil-choices moral to the story it woudn't get into anything deeper than that. But that was all fine. It entertained me for 95 minutes and didn't insult my intelligence.

I'm good with that.

Underwater
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, T.J. Miller, Jessica Henwick, John Gallagher Jr., Mamoudou Athie
Director: William Eubank
Writers: Brian Duffield, Adam Cozad

Just Mercy (2019)

Director Destin Daniel Cretton's account of the real life story of wrongfully convicted death row inmate Walter McMillan and his lawyer, anti-capital punishment crusader Bryan Stevenson, is rather straight forward and formulaic but manages despite this to still find power in its message about how race and injustice intersect in the American judicial system through the lens of these admirable men. The film is a mix between being often far too on the nose yet finding some small moments which help dig under the surface a bit more than the film generally seems interested in.

Subtly isn't Just Mercy's strong suit. Characters are mostly caricatures, two dimensional. The just are either motivated saviors whose only flaws are wanting to help too much (Michael B Jordan, Brie Larson) or ignorant but innocent victims (Jamie Foxx), and the bad guys go out of their way to be nasty folks who throw around the N word and threaten good people. Perhaps this has to do with the actual events surrounding McMillan's case, a text book example of systemic racism in the Southern US justice system. Perhaps it is the blatant nature of the corruption in this case which makes the story feel rah rah rah yet somewhat less complex. There is no nuance here so the movie almost feels like a superhero blockbuster with the caped crusader taking down the mustache twirling villain instead of a hard hitting exploration of the ways systemic racism affects the lives of real people.

While the film may make us rightfully mad will it motivate us to do anything about that anger? When you simplify these issues into "good guys" and "bad guys" it's easy to wash our hands of the responsibility to really reflect on how we participate in a racist system. We won't look at the little things we can do to challenge racism because we can just say "look it's the fault of those awful racists." Still, the film does highlight well just how corrupt the system is and since the film is set only in the very recent past we do have to accept this is the way the system is not was.

Destin Daniel Cretton holds our hand all the way through. It is a capital punishment 101 lesson. And in that it is effective. I think for folks who perhaps haven't spent much time thinking about the way the justice system is a tool of racial oppression especially through the tool of capital punishment, Just Mercy could be a truly awakening story. It would be impossible to see this film and not feel outraged. I think for the uninitiated Just Mercy is a necessary film to see but I think as a film it is on the simpler side.

Characters narrate their feelings and the injustices around them. It's the kind of script that tells us instead of shows us. As I mentioned people are either good or bad here. It makes it easy for the audience to pick a side. I get it. The film wants us to sympathize. But by making things so black and white it absolves the audience of our participation in the problem. We get to side with the good guys instead of thinking about how we might be contributing to a system which results in the incarceration and state murder of men like McMillan. For me the film in its starkness fails to be something more profound and powerful.

But the film does find little ways every now and then of breaking through that. There is a running joke about the Mockingbird museum which is clever and quite insightful. And despite most performances in the film being rather one note Jordan himself has some strong scenes, including one where he is pulled over by a cop which gets the heart racing mostly because of his performance. Also the film does a great job in its one execution scene of showing just how brutal and horrific a thing it is. So the film, while often on the simpler side, does find moments that transcend that.

So for me Just Mercy is a bit disappointing, a bit of a missed opportunity. It's not bad, I guess I just wanted it to get into the more complicated aspects of the story as I think it would both make the movie more interesting and the point it is trying to make more convincing. It is one thing to say innocent men persecuted for their race should not be executed for crimes they did not commit. But then we are left with the conclusion that guilty bad men should be killed. Perhaps there is even more we could learn from the legacy of Mr. McMillan and Mr. Stevenson if we weren't just looking to lionize them. Not that they don't deserve to be celebrated. They have earned that. But perhaps Just Mercy could have given us something more.

Just Mercy
Starring: Michael B Jordon, Jamie Foxx, Brie Larson, Rob Morgan, Tim Blake Nelson, Rafe Spall, O'Shea Jackson Jr.
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Writers: Andrew Lanham, Destin Daniel Cretton

Favourite films of the Decade 2010 - 2019

Whenever I start a “top ten” list, I like to preface it by saying it is a personal list for me, an emotional one. I’m not interested in arguing about what is “best” a concept I just don’t believe in. Instead I’m interested in sharing the films which have meant the most to me, which I enjoy, and which move me. I thought it would be fun to reflect back on the years from 2010 – 2019 and which films in that period meant the most to me and remain my favourites.

While I’m not interested in arguing about the so called “quality” of films, I’m also not interested in arguments about when the “decade” actually begins or ends. For the record a “decade” is any ten consecutive years in a row. I just chose, like many, to start counting January 1 2010, and since that time, these are the 10 films which meant the most to me.

Les Amours Imaginaires

I’ve always felt this was Xavier Dolan’s most underrated film. It sucks me in each time I watch it, turning me into a mushy ball of emotion. I laugh. I cry. I feel a melancholy that I rarely feel. This treatise on friendship and selfishness and desire and insecurity makes me look into a mirror I rarely let myself see, and gives me sympathy for what I find.

Before Midnight

My favourite movie series of all time is the Before series, a series which follows a couple through each stage of their adult lives, at just the moment I am experiencing that stage of life. And with each installment, the series gets richer. This is the first to explore the true challenge of sharing a life with someone. Films are always about falling in love, or falling out of love. But films about living into that love are rare, especially when they are so astute. Each film ends with a moment of delicious and painful unknowing and this ending I found the most intense of all.

Moonlight

If I had to pick this might win as my absolute favourite film of the decade. Rarely do I feel as much as I feel when I watch this film. Jenkins’ has crafted one of the most beautiful films ever, both in terms of how it looks but also in how it feels. The meeting of the two men at the end of the film is one of the rawest, most powerful love scenes I’ve ever seen, and it is also one of the most restrained. Simply perfection.

 

The Raid 2

Action movies leave me cold most of the time so when one can wrap me up in its story and have me on the edge of my seat I pay attention. The Raid 2 sits squarely within its genre but exceeds all the expectations of that genre. It is filled with the sort of delicious characters and world building which invests you in its story, building off the strong foundation set up in the first film, but The Raid 2 explodes out of that into something even greater. The art direction, cinematography, and choreography make it a gorgeous film to watch. I never tire of falling down the rabbit hole that is one of the rare sequels to be a better movie than its predecessor.

Shame

While many of my favourite films of this decade are fun movies I love to watch, a number of them are painful movies I love to watch. Shame is one of the hardest, yet also one of the most visually beautiful, films I’ve ever seen. Frame by frame this film is stunning and in that the sense of desperation and isolation is amplified. The performances of Mulligan and Fassbender are gorgeously sad. I’m wrecked by the film by the end, with an ending that fills me with uncertainty and dread. And then I watch it again.

 

Star Wars The Last Jedi

The more I watch this the more I feel it may be the best Star Wars movie ever. The way it questions the hero’s journey troupes exploited in the original films and the archetype of most tentpole blockbusters from the Marvel movies to the origins of the sci fi genre, is brilliant. Yet all of this set in a film which captures everything magical and wonderful about Star Wars, the films which first made me a film lover in the first place.

Tangerine

I remember the first time I watched this story of two friends spending Christmas Eve searching LA for one of their exes with my jaw on the floor, stunned at the power of the performances and the gorgeousness of the film shot entirely on iphones. To say it is “raw” feels simplistic. Perhaps "honest" is a better term. I love a film that puts us in the skin of people who are usually the source of the joke in other films and gets us to see what is truly beautiful about imperfect humanity.

Us

The best horror teaches us something about ourselves, and that learning should be terrifying. Few “scary” films actually scare me but Us is one of the exceptions. Centered around the amazing one of a kind performance of Lupita N’yongo and a blow your mind Twilight Zone story, Jordan Peel’s second film is, in my opinion, better than his more praised breakthrough.

Weekend

What makes Weekend so sexy for me is just how real the sexuality feels in this film, how honest the emotions are arising from the physicality, and by the time the film’s climax arrives, I am as hopelessly and senselessly in love as the characters. Weekend feels like it captures a uniquely queer emotional power in a way most cinema isn’t able to manage. Sometimes falling in love exists in just one moment. While there are times that moment will lead to other moments, sometimes they won’t. Weekend is beautiful in how either way this love is worth savouring and celebrating.  

Wonder Woman

I had been waiting for this film all my life. Patty Jenkins has taken a legend and made a first rate blockbuster which speaks to generations of women while showing us all what real strength and heroism can be. While its critique of war is palpable and one of the reasons I adore this film, the movie also captures the transformative intention of Wonder Woman’s creator Marston who brought her to life to change our system of values. When I watch it I am a child again, playing superheroes in the school yard. I am a teen again reading comics and seeing the problems of our world solved through those stories. And to all those who told me I couldn’t love Wonder Woman because I was a boy, I get to flip them the bird and enjoy this film again and again. 

Which is what I do with each and every one of these films, each one a source of joy for me. There were many great films, many far more acclaimed than this list, but for me, these are the most treasured films I experienced in the last 10 years.  

Favourite Films of 2019

My favourite films each year are simply the films I loved. They may not be the “best” and they certainly aren’t part of any consensus, rarely matching up with the films the critics award or the films which topped the box office, especially this year where so many of the films the pundits are falling all over themselves to love (The Irishman, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood), or the films which sold the most tickets (mostly from Marvel), are films I appreciate but had little to no emotional connection to. No, these on this list are the films I loved the most this past year,  and will enjoy the most year after year as I return to them each time growing richer for the experience. I share them with you because I want to share my love of these films, not to argue about whether they are “good” or not, a pointless exercise as there is really no such thing. If you love a movie, love it. Don't let others tell you you shouldn't. Instead I present the 10 films that for me made going to the movies such a wonderful experience in 2019.

Booksmart

I was sore from smiling and laughing the first time I saw Booksmart but it was the overwhelming joy in the film which kept me smiling as I left the cinema and as I rewatched it over and over, shared it with friends and family, and remembered its most charming moments. It is a tribute to friendship and love and iGen’s first great “coming-of-age” movie like each generation has had before it. It is an idealistic look at the high school experience, a love letter, the heart signature in your year book. Booksmart is a pure cinematic joy.

 

Glass

The Unbreakable series has never been for the masses. Its unique take on the experience of loving comic books and superheroes specifically is like nothing else, even in this age where comic books stories and superheroes dominate screens. This conclusion to the epic was everything I wanted it to be. I watch it and I am thrilled and moved and melancholic. I understand it is not a movie for most audiences, none of these 3 films were. They were for a very specific audience of which I am very happy to be a part.

A Hidden Life

While I generally appreciate writer/director Terrance Malick’s approach to film making, generally his movies lose me somewhere along the way. This was the first time I was gripped from beginning to end. His portrait of a real man (and woman) and their real life heroic struggle brings all his masterful, impressionistic film making techniques and paints a picture of overwhelming beauty. Gorgeous and harrowing A Hidden Life is a triumph about a real triumph.

 

J’ai perdu mon corps

In a year I felt the large animations studios let me down thank goodness for this beautiful, poignant, bizarre love story about loss. Beautiful hand drawn animation and a haunting story make for one of the most gorgeous and unique films of the year. I love a movie that makes you contemplate its ending, giving you many possibilities on how to understand what you just witnessed. Hands down the best animated film of the year (I couldn’t resist).

Joker

Sure I have other polarizing movies on my list but this is likely the most divisive. A phenomenon, it became a target for those who couldn’t embrace it. While much of its strength lie in deconstructing the dominate pop culture movie genre of its time, for me my love of this film comes from a combination of its visual style and its unreliable narrator format. I can’t get its haunting moments out of my head. It is about getting into the mind of a villain, someone terrible, which is an uncomfortable and complicated, especially if we accept that we may not be seeing a truthful representation of the series of events. It makes us ask who we sympathize with and why, and are we being played a joke on.

Little Women

Writer/director Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of the classic novel may be my favourite take on this story, her approach is both, well novel, and essentially faithful.  Grounded by a strong cast and liberated by an unconventional narrative structure, Little Women explores the hearts of the March family in new ways. It is a beautiful film in all meanings of the word. Gerwig made me fall in love with these little women all over again.

Man Running

This personal film about self-doubt just touched me in ways no other film did this year. Perhaps it was the personal connection as a runner and a Calgarian, which made a special place for this specific story, a challenging story about finding a way to live with yourself and look in the mirror again. Writer/director Gary Burns has returned after quite a hiatus to deliver one of the most satisfying films of the year.

The Nightingale

If you want to know how to find inspiration in a dark and disturbing story, watching The Nightingale is a good way to find out. But it isn’t the hard tragedy of the tale which drew me in, it was writer/director Jennifer Kent’s powerful story telling talent and her beautiful visuals which made this story of feminine strength so raw and powerful.

Queen & Slim

Don’t let the stylize slickness of this road movie fool you, there is a brave rawness and honesty in this update of a classic trope into a very of-the-moment story. From writer Lena Waithe’s poetic script, to director Melina Matsoukas’ hot creative visuals, to the cast’s rich layered performances, Queen & Slim is a treat that explores real American tragedy with a boldness and style that eschews defeat.

Each of these were films which I love but my favourite of the year is a film that I kept coming back to and couldn’t shake, a film which touched a nerve for me as no other did, a film which I believe is underrated, terrifying, and completely engrossing;

Us

I believe writer/director Jordan Peele surpassed his more critically admired film Get Out with this follow up. Horror is a genre which I find rarely reaches great heights but when it does it can be something terribly powerful. Us is one of those films, the first horror film I’ve ever had top my list of favourites of the year. It is one of the most powerful deconstructions of American racism I have ever seen and it is horrifying as it should be. It is also completely engaging as any good horror movie should be. It leaves my blood chilled and is centered by one of the most incredible performances I have ever see from an actor.  I knew when I saw it early in 2019 that it would be the film to beat this year and no film was able to do that for me.

Honorary mention:

Star Wars Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker

The final chapter in the main Star Wars saga is once again dividing fans, critics, and general audiences. While the film was not what I was expecting or what I was likely dreaming of, I have come to see on multiple viewings, that it fulfills my wishes for the series which is the most influential for me in being a movie lover. I haven’t read one critique which isn’t “It wasn’t what I wanted it to be.” I let go of that and just let it tell me the story it was going to tell and I loved it and keep loving it and I know that no matter what I will keep enjoying it for years to come.

For me 2019 won’t go down in history as one of the better years in cinema. But there were some wonderful movies this year as I mentioned and a number of other films which deserve honorary mentions as well as I truly enjoyed them and will return to them again in the future as well. If you get a chance to see any of these, take the chance:

1917, All is True, Atlantique, The Death & Life of John F. Donovan, Doctor Seep, The Farewell, Fighting With My Family, The Grizzlies, I’ll Take Your Dead, Knives Out, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Motherless Brooklyn, Parasite, Rocketman, Shazam!, Waves, Wild Rose.