The Best Non 2024 Films I Saw in 2024

12. First Love (1978), directed by Dino Risi - I've seen a few Dino Risi films this year (mostly for the captivatingly beautiful Ornella Muti) and all I can say is that Italian sex fare has no business looking this good. Through a succession of accomplished cinematographers, including Tonino Delli Colli on this film), Risi's films take queasy romantics about the possession of a young Muti (usually) to new heights, matching the actress's uncompromising gaze with set design and exterior shots that gleam with fluidity and clarity. The film, a tale of a retiree (Ugo Tognazzi) falling in love with an 18-year-old server (Ornella Muti), could have gone wrong in so many ways. But it holds together beautifully. Sexy without being overly titillating or puerile (it's far from the usual Italian sex comedy), slyly funny without exaggeration (a line reading about someone not being a communist anymore because a molotov cocktail exploded in their house), and ultimately humane in the way the characters gently slide back into themselves after a short time of having fun together.... the film says so much about the trappings of lust with minor brushstrokes. And as already noted, the film looks incredible. Colli often frames Tognazzi and the ethereal beauty of Muti colliding in perfect stature with the Italian landscape behind them or settling within a hushed winter snowfall that feels like a purification of the rolling temperatures of Tognazzi as he strives to keep the young Muti entertained. Risi's output is varied, but "First Love" is a hidden gem.

11. Blood of My Blood (2015), directed by Marco Bellocchio

Marco Bellocchio's "Blood of My Blood" probably reveals more on repeat viewings. Maybe not. Either way, his film takes a mélange of Catholic themes (ones he's put to a more serious test in films like "Kidnapped" from this year) and tosses them into a complex two-hander comment on temptation. The first half, taking place in medieval Italy where cinema's most famous naughty nun, Benedetta, meets her tribunal fate for causing the suicide of a priest is good, but the second half abruptly shifts into modern times where the same convent is the home of an elderly vampire (literally) who finds himself tempted by the nubile charms of youth.... but not to devour (again literally) but to embrace and hold dear. It's a time shift that would make the likes of Bertrand Bonello salivate, and the eighty-year-old plus Bellocchio crafts a beguiling film where either half probably doesn't mean very much (and often starring the same actors in different roles), but feels masterful and heavy nonetheless. And that shot of an old man sitting in the back of a car as darkness and light bounces of his eyes is just brilliant. "Blood of My Blood" wants to link the past and present in bewitching ways, and Bellocchio understands that sometimes cinema is an ethereal thing that grows in beauty the less it makes sense.

10. Conquest (1983), directed by Lucio Fulci - Lucio Fulci's detour into the sword and sandal (or bow and cloth covered num-chuk) fantasy is an endlessly entertaining jaunt through a foggy wasteland of two warriors (Andrea Occhipinti and Jorge Rivero) that maintains many of the filmmaker's most beloved gore tropes. Infused with a comic book madness of treachery, this is the type of fantasy where hands pull people into the bowels of hell, gold masked witches conjure ancient warriors to do their bidding, and rock creatures blend into their surroundings until it's time to pounce. And despite those curious imaginations, there's also an adult sense of nightmare about "Conquest" that rings true for Fulci's fans, including vibrating pores of puss, snakes, ants, and a wonderfully jarring unmasking towards the end that recalls any number of the walking undead in his long oeuvre. Obviously bankrolled off the tremendous popularity for the Conan franchise in an era where international filmmaking was informed mostly by rinse-and-repeat cinematic 'bandwagonning', Fulci's "Conquest" is one of the better exploits in the genre that at least reveals the filmmaker obviously cared enough to put his own perverse spin on the capitalist attempt.

9. Between Friends (1973), directed by Donald Shebib - "Between Friends" is a low-key Canadian heist film that deals with the unsettling emotional contours of three people (2 men and a woman) waiting to commit the crime. It's refreshing to uncover a small gem like this.... a film where the action is internal and the character's act like criminals on a budget. This crime-film narrative departure is evident in the opening scenes when Toby (Michael Parks) meets up with the crew he's driven for after a robbery to split the shares. When he states his role was a one-time effort, the film doesn't devolve into false machismo or theatrics. Instead, the group's leader simply says, "okay, man. buh bye". From there, the California setting is traded for the blustery, snow-covered Toronto where Toby re-connects with old surfer friend Chino (Chuck Shamata) and his girlfriend Ellie (Bonnie Bedelia). Unbeknownst to him, Toby has already been sequestered to be the driver for a plan hatched by Chino and Ellie's father (Henry Beckman) arriving fresh from a prison stint. The mechanics of a hard-boiled thriller are firmly in place, but "Between Friends" is much more interested in the complex dynamics that emerge when Toby and Ellie fall in love. The chemistry between the two is impressive and, for most of the film, filmmaker Shebib and writer Claude Harz are content to craft a film of hang-out lethargy whose biggest mystery is will-they-or-won't-they reveal their secret affair. But the crime must go on, and when it does, the eruptions of jealousy and turmoil become a foreboding shadow. Shebib is considered a fixture in the Canadian film industry, and this film proves his merit while bemoaning the fact he didn't get to make more like it.

8. The Velvet Vampire (1971), directed by Stephanie Rothman 

Filmmaker Stephanie Rothman knows exactly what she's doing here. Like other directors given some leverage within Roger Corman's independent New World Pictures, Rothman takes a well-tread genre piece and crumbles it into a sardonic, progressive tale of female authority and softcore ribbing. A vampire tale whose setting is a desert! A lead couple who exhibits nothing but carnal beauty and lopsided dialogue. Dune buggies. Death by pitchfork. And Celeste Yarnall as the titular vampire whose nonchalance and 70's shag carpet feels like the template for all the recent postmodern attempts to capture the vibe of said era. Add some dream sequences with a fixation on wonderfully timed dissolves and an ending that sees people chasing one another in a crowded bus station with the onlookers unsure of what's happening around them, "The Velvet Vampire" is the closest thing American film has to the gauzy triumphs of Jean Rollin films.

7. Gun Crazy (1951), directed by Joseph H. Lewis - Come for the perverse allusions of gunfire equaling sex, but be bowled over by the way Joseph H. Lewis handles the carnality between John Dall and Peggy Cummings. There's a scene towards the end of "Gun Crazy" where Cummings buries her face so close to that of Dall's as they lay together in a dirty marsh that's just transfixing. Yes, Joseph H. Lewis' film is a pretty simple noir of a cross-country robbing couple (handled in some pretty impressive back seat long takes), but at its core, the film is also a lurid ode to the fantasies and steel fetishes that bring a man and woman together (penned by blacklisted Dalton Trumbo). It's been done before by masters like Nicholas Ray ("They Live by Night") and Fritz Lang ("You Only Live Once"), and "Gun Crazy" is just as good if not better than those. And coming at the tail end of the 40's noir bonanza, Lewis' film reveals that not all of the fatalism had been spent just yet. He wouldn't make another film quite like this and I'm just sorry it's taken me this long to catch up with such a stone cold great work of film noir. See it the next time it airs on Turner Classic Movies.

6. Escape From East Berlin (1962), directed by Robert Siodmak - The second film from him on this list, I've enjoyed exploring the films of Robert Siodmak.... a filmmaker who deserves more credit for navigating the shift from early European success to Hollywood compromise due to World War II like fellow compatriots Fritz Lang and Ernst Lubitsch. And politics (or the desire to flee its oppressive atmosphere) never seems far from his touch, as "Escape From East Berlin" deftly reveals. Released in 1962 (just a year after the construction of the Berlin Wall), Siodmak's film is a brilliant, taut examination of the obsessive desire to escape a country that brutally divided itself seemingly in the middle of the night. Starring Don Murphy as Karl and the luminously beautiful Christine Kaufmann as Erika, they're the young couple thrust together after Erika's brother is killed trying to literally bust through the Wall in the film's opening moments. Luckily situated in a house on the very threshold of the wall, Karl and Erika embark on a tunnel-building exercise that has to avoid all manner of East German sentries and neighborly suspicion. The atmosphere is tense, the black and white cinematography is transcendent (just watch how Erika's face is lit as she lies back on a couch in a darkened room), and "Escape From East Berlin" is especially touching for the way it handles then current events not as the prototypical espionage film that would later envelope the European escape film genre, but instead focuses on the personal stakes of a family who just want their deserved freedom.

5. Not a Pretty Picture (1976), directed by Martha Coolidge

The layers in Martha Coolidge's hybrid documentary "Not a Pretty Picture" are potent. The film deals with rape, and not only that of the filmmaker herself in 1962, but the actress portraying her (a wonderful Michele Manenti) at the same age years later..... creating a mirror of trauma abuse. We watch as the film intercuts between Coolidge's fictionalized re-telling of the event as well as the deconstruction of the emotions swirling around the actors as they rehearse. Add to the fact that this film was made and released in the mid 1970's and one soon recognizes the vibrant and raw intention of a female filmmaker examining the culture of sexual abuse as a necessary addition to the New School of American filmmaking and one that belongs in the conversation alongside so many of her male counterparts whose visions of male corrosion are widely regarded as the best of the decade. "Not a Pretty Picture" is a masterful example that expulsion of the old guard was not exclusive to Coppola, Scorsese and Cimino. While I settled for an AVI version of the film, it's wonderful to hear of its New York presentations in a remastered edition this fall.

 4. Goodbye Paradise (1983), directed by Carl Schultz - If I were sculpting a Mount Rushmore of neo-noir sleuths, the first would be Elliot Gould's Marlowe in "The Long Goodbye". The second would be Jeff Lebowski. Obviously, I love my "detectives" to be reluctantly oblivious, slightly impaired, and wholly suited for solving the case by allowing the devious world to open up its secrets in time without doing much except sulking around. Now add Michael Stacey (Ray Barrett) and "Goodbye Paradise" to the mountain. My first exposure to this niche of film noir called 'Gold Coast noir' (and I welcome more suggestions!), "Goodbye Paradise" is a lazy beast of a film. As the alcoholic, tie-askew ex-policeman asked to find the missing daughter (Janet Scrivener) of a politician, "Goodbye Paradise" devolves into a shaggy-dog tale of new age religious cults, assassins, bully cops, and old military friends with terrifying new ideals about the social economics of New South Wales. And through it all, Barrett inhabits Stacey as a man who'd much rather be bouncing amongst karaoke bars and drinking himself silly with the prospects of being a hardboiled writer. And if his inner monologue is anything like his scrapped novel, we've all missed out on Queensland's answer to Raymond Chandler. But solve the mystery he eventually does, bedding beautiful women and being the desire of young ones along the way, while witnessing the country come apart at the seams. More than a film noir (although its allusion to other great Goodbye films and pulp novels), "Goodbye Paradise" feels like the template for so many Coen Brothers movies, that I searched long and hard for any mention of this film out of the Brothers' mouths. Alas, there are none. But despite that, filmmaker Carl Schultz (whose biggest title is the Demi Moore psychological horror film "The Seventh Sign" several years later) has crafted a film so full of dazzling energy and subtle humor, that when things do go crazy in the finale, we believe the shenanigans because Stacey the cop has fumbled through the mystery right alongside us.... and seems to be the only one keeping his sanity. Marlowe and Jeff Lebowski would be proud. The world changed, he didn't, which seems like an integral part of the sleuth in way over his head. 

3. Lux Aeterna (2019), directed by Gaspar Noe - The run of films Noe has been on during this two year period is quite astounding. As a companion piece to both "Vortex" (in its visual duality) and "Climax", "Lux Aeterna" is a brilliant chamber piece freak-out. Made with financing as a short film by the fashion house of Saint Laurent (interesting), "Lux Aeterna" runs a compact 50 minutes, but it's energy and mania feels like something akin to an epic horror movie. Starring Beatrice Dalle as a filmmaker on the set of her film about witches burned at the stake (starring Charlotte Gainsbourg), the film alternates between long takes and a nifty split-screen compression of action as the shoot rapidly dissolves into in-fighting, confusion, and ultimately a strobe light cacophony of terror and confusion. Always one to push the boundaries of narrative storytelling since flashing an intertitle that warns the viewer they have 30 seconds to leave the theater before continuing on in his late 90's masterwork "I Stand Alone", Noe doesn't give us that luxury in "Lux Aeterna" before a punishing sequence to wrap up the film. Some dismiss his work as petulant. Others are indifferent. I love what he routinely does and "Lux Aeterna" is more proof of his distinct power to disturb.

2. The Spiral Staircase (1942), directed by Robert Siodmak - Coming midway through Siodmak's extremely proficient 1940's output that saw him draft some of the most influential noirs and thrillers of its period, "The Spiral Staircase" continues to reveal his mastery of camera angle, lighting, and inherent joy of withholding. Siodmak is a filmmaker obviously indebted to the off-screen menace, whether it's the hands of a killer in "Phantom Lady" (1944) or the gaze of a killer who only sees the infallibility of a person in their staircase mirror reflection in this film. For the mid-40's this is heady terror, matched only by the atmospheric, metaphoric underpinnings of someone like Jacques Tourneur. And when we do find out who the killer is, "The Spiral Staircase" swings at some metaphoric allusions of its own.... putting to bed notions of generational toxicity and giving voices back to those who seem to deserve it most. A gothic murder mystery. An old house whodunit. But best of all, the film is a masterwork of frame composition and atmosphere, full of red herrings and a shifting stable of wonderful acting that leaves the mystery wide open until the very end. I look forward to continuing my journey through the films of Robert Siodmak.

1. Handgun (aka Deep in the Heart), directed by Tony Garnett - British filmmaker Tony Garnett aspires (and succeeds) for far greater results than the usual revenge/exploitation genre most people think this film falls into. Yes, there are elements, but the film is also a highly evolved experiment about the tenuous lines of savage demarcation that, unfortunately, Texas still finds itself mired in today. From the "secede" t-shirts that some characters sport.... to the very disturbing preamble given by one knife wielding salesman in a diner (credited to a Bob Rankin- who was this creepy guy with skeletal white hands???)... and especially the large run time given to conversations about the nature of guns and colonialism involved in the founding of the South, "Handgun" is essentially a western overlayed on the bare framework of a 1981 revenge thriller.  And it's marvelous. Karen Young (later of "Sopranos" fame) is terrific as a young teacher whose personality is split after being sexually assaulted. I doubt there's a more allegorical scene of someone's inner transition from innocent to scarred than the unbroken scene of a pair of scissors methodically clumping off a head of hair. And while the film simmers towards its violent conclusion, it's most angry about the inactivity of anyone in power (the police or even the church) to help her. I gasped several times as the patience of "Handgun" creates such an enveloping atmosphere around Young's angry descent, never forgetting she's a real person and not an exploitation film caricature. Simply one of the best films of the 1980's.

The Current Cinema 24.5

 The Remarkable Life of Ibelin

I never played World of Warcraft, but as someone who grew up alongside the burgeoning Internet, the idea of a faceless community turning into a curated online family is something I certainly experienced. Hours of my teenage life were spent making friends through various chat rooms and online message boards where the words (and subtle meanings expressed behind them) generated pathos and appreciation for people I never, and would never, actually meet. But the sense of fraternity was always present. Benjamin Ree's "The Remarkable Life of Ibelin" is the best film to ever document what it felt like to be a part of a very small corner of that dot-and-blip universe. Following the short life of a young disabled man and his immersion into the computer gaming world before his death, the documentary then takes an affirmative turn when his parents send an innocent message out across the web. What comes back to them is recreated in animated form as the film shows just exactly how valuable and powerful even the smallest actions can be..... whether it's in the real or virtual world.

The Order

Based on the real-life case of an FBI agent's cat-and-mouse investigation into the crimes of a white supremacist organization who've split from a larger community, Justin Kurzel's "The Order" is lean, grizzled, and bolstered by strong performances. Kurzel has always been fascinated with true crime stories (see his "Snowtown" and "Nitram"), but "The Order" is his most accomplished and clear-eyed exploration yet, complete with robbery shoot-outs and a barn-burning finale that understands the tension of logistics. Granted, Jude Law (as the agent obsessed with the policeman bringing along fresh eyed Tye Sheridan) isn't a largely complex character, but "The Order" succeeds becasue it feels like something ripped out of the no-nonsense 1970's where back story is just a marginal reason for guilt and the real complexity lies in the compulsive need to maintain law in an orderless wild west. I doubt this film will be in theaters long, so seek it out when you can.

The Current Cinema 24.4

Anora 

For all its anxiety inducing set pieces, the most masterful thing about Sean Baker's electric "Anora" is that all the controlled chaos only makes the quiet, reflective moments that much more powerful. As the title character, Mikey Madison gives a ferociously alive portrayal of a woman caught up in a spiral of very messed-up hide and seek when her newlywed Russian husband goes missing, and his very powerful family's goons push her along in their sweaty, nocturnal search. Perched between desperate vulnerability and hilarious, Three Stooges-like humor, "Anora" throttles along with the speed and emotional ingenuity that's been brewing in Baker's oeuvre for a long time now. Whether it's the wind-swept beauty of bodies hustling alongside Coney Island or the half-observed face of Madison as she slinks down in the front seat of an SUV and cries, "Anora" is Baker's masterpiece that captures the ragged beauty of both the interior and exterior.

Blitz

Steve McQueen's World War II drama "Blitz" comes at one in unexpected ways. A double story about survival and the fire borne horrors of Germany's incessant bombing of London during 1940, mother (Sairose Ronan, again brilliant) and son (newcomer Elliot Hefferman) are separated early on in the film when parents are encouraged to evacuate their children for safety. From there, the emotional weight is posited on how each one survives the blitzkrieg- mother joining the ranks of those trying to help those sheltering in the underground stations, and son hopping off the train and trying to make his way back to London. If "Blitz" doesn't completely succeed, it's in the Dickinsian tale of George that strikes a few notes of imbalance, namely his short time with a gang of corpse robbers led by the menacing Stephen Graham. At times, McQueen loses ahold of the tone, but it often recovers and becomes an excitingly lensed and movingly scored film about the things that keep people moving forward during times of crisis.

The Current Cinema 24.3

The Breaking Ice

Nana (Zhou Dongyu) is a tour guide whose dropped off the face of the earth from her family, constantly dreaming about her previous life as a figure skater before an accident injured her body. Hao Feng (Liu Haoran) is a tourist in town for a wedding who seems to be enamored with dangling his body on the edges of tall places and almost daring himself to jump. Han Xiao (Qu Chuxiao) is a friend of Nana, barely living as a delivery boy for his family's restaurant that serves most of the tourists. With beguiling ease, this trio become friends (and partly lovers) over the course of a few days, dancing in strobe-lit techno clubs and flirting with the cold exterior of their Yangi province. Directed by Anthony Chen with masterful attention to the tender vagaries of these people all suffering with some unspoken trauma, "The Breaking Ice" thankfully eschews the menage-a-trois popularity of recent dramas and mines its own path of quiet sadness and connection. There are touching moments here that would feel cheapened by the lurid appeal of simply switching partners, and Chen's narrative makes clear that each character needs to find their own way out of the (literal) wilderness and piece back together something. Like the title, these are twenty-somethings just trying to manage not to fall into the abyss. A sweeping soundtrack, snatches of images that are brilliantly composed (just watch the skating park scene as Nana watches on), and a bittersweet finale all create one of the year's best films.

Cuckoo

I love the choices Hunter Schaefer has made post-Euphoria. From answering a letter from Yorgos Lanthimos to "come out and play" in "Kinds of Kindness" to this latest role as a seventeen-year-old trapped in the clutches of a madman at an Alps resort, Schaefer shows adventurous promise. And Tilman Singer also continues to show promise. Mixing together Euro-horror vibes with a fluorescent-lit, single location shootout finale, Singer carries forward some of the doom-laden theatrics that made his previous film, "Luz" partially effective. Even if cohesive narrative storytelling it's his bag, "Cuckoo" manages to stir together some wonderfully eerie imagery in a post-modern tale of Doctor Moreau DNA scrambling.

The Eye is Watching: On Robert Siodmak's "The Spiral Staircase"

My exploration of the films of Robert Siodmak continues, and, dare I say, his best films have been the ones that aren't readily available for mass market consumption. Yes, "The Killers" (1946) and "Criss Cross" (1949) are film noir staples, but films such as his late career effort "Escape From East Berlin" (1962) and the mid 40's "Phantom Lady" (1944) have been revelatory viewings for me. And now comes "The Spiral Staircase"..... a film so boldly envisioned in its proto-giallo terrors and so confident in its visual scheme that I want to shout to the rooftops about a Siodmak retrospective that deserves to be seen by.... anyone.

In "The Spiral Staircase", someone is murdering invalid women in Northeastern town and the police are stumped. In its opening moments, we're privy to one of these murders as a woman is attacked in her upstairs room, being hunted by someone hiding in her dresser. In the perfect encapsulation of voyeurism and maniacal impulse, the killer is glimpsed by his eye (that soon encompasses the entire screen) right before her murder. It's no surprise the 'close-up eyeball' is that of Siodmak himself.... a cameo that probably made Hitchcock effusively jealous.

But after this introductory moment of terror, "The Spiral Staircase" narrows its focus on a sprawling mansion on the outskirts of town where the family who lives there- plus its servants- are stuck as a ferocious thunderstorm blows outside. The ailing matriarch (Ethel Barrymore), her sons (George Brent and Gordon Oliver) and, most innocently, the nurse's assistant Helen played wonderfully by Dorothy McGuire. The stakes are raised further as Helen is a mute woman, traumatized by experiences earlier in her life, which makes her a prime target for the killer who, as we've seen previously, stalked her towards the large mansion in a scene of masterful light and shadow staging that feels like required mise-en-scene for any horror filmmaker wanting to startle with the introduction of a monstrous serial killer.

From this humble set-up, "The Spiral Staircase" proceeds to raise red herrings, observe as a killer stalks those in the house, and becomes the obvious blueprint for decades of giallo and haunted house whodunits. The fact that Helen is mute also establishes the film as an early purveyor of the trauma-induced heroine whose screams are left to the audience.

Coming midway through Siodmak's extremely proficient 1940's output that saw him draft some of the most influential noirs and thrillers of its period, "The Spiral Staircase" continues to reveal his mastery of camera angle, lighting, and inherent joy of withholding. Siodmak is a filmmaker obviously indebted to the off-screen menace, whether it's the hands of a killer in "Phantom Lady" (1944) or the gaze of a killer who only sees the infallibility of a person in their staircase mirror reflection in this film. For the mid-40's this is heady terror, matched only by the atmospheric, metaphoric underpinnings of someone like Jacques Tourneur. And when we do find out who the killer is, "The Spiral Staircase" swings at some metaphoric allusions of its own.... putting to bed notions of generational toxicity and giving voices back to those who seem to deserve it most. 

The Current Cinema 24.2

 The Sweet East

From its opening few minutes when teenager Lillian (a vibrant Talia Ryder) sings a song into a streaky restroom mirror and then erupts on an Alice In Wonderland-like vaunt across a funky, ideologically dangerous swath of the Northeast, Sean Price Williams' "The Sweet End" had me hooked. From that jumping off point, the film follows Lillian through about seven different genres as she leaves her old life behind and becomes the ethereal memento for a wide variety of denizens of an ever-shifting environment- from activist punks to shady White Nationalist incels to a fast-talking filmmaking duo who solicit her for their movie, "The Sweet East" is erratic, jagged, and at times exhausting. But it's also extravagantly beautiful and bursting with nervous life and a central performance by Ryder that stands as one of the most beguiling of the year. She not only holds the center of an effort that has her in the clutches of so many divergent characters, she remains wholly believable. And separating itself from the pitfalls of mumblecore presentations and low-budget naval gazing (like the recent Ross Brothers film "Gasoline Rainbow"), "The Sweet East" actually has something to say about the pungent state of America today. The fact that Ryder and filmmaker Williams end on a slight barrier-breaking smile and glance at the camera, "The Sweet East" also comments that perhaps the kids might be okay.

Horizon: An American Saga

Well, as I write this, the news comes out that Chapter 2 of Kevin Costner's ambitious western epic has been pushed from its August release date due to the financial shortfalls of this first one. Regardless of audience turnout, I thoroughly enjoyed Costner's languorous, multi-storied weave of three tales about the expansion of the West. I especially enjoyed the ten-minute saunter up a hill while Costner and a short-tempered outlaw (Jamie Bower) make conversation and draw out the tension that both are headed to the exact same spot. I don't think I've ever seen that before. And while this unique first bit of narrative gamesmanship isn't replicated in the rest of the film's somewhat cliched storylines, I admire how Costner's vision of repealing the television mini-series in favor of adult entertainment in a theater plays out. And, I have to say, the thundering final few moments..... giving us glimpses and scenes that (hopefully) will be unspooled in Chapter 2..... is a sneaky way to self-market and whet the appetite for those few of us who still believe in the archetypal glories of the big screen western.

Longlegs

Oz Perkins' new film "Longlegs" succeeds wildly despite its flaws. First of all, it's muddled and somewhat miserable in its attempts to be a police procedural. Just how does FBI agent Harker (Maika Monroe) decode those letters and why is everything so heightened? Perkins also snatches pretty much every exaggerated tendency of the deranged serial killer over the years and congeals a maddening cocktail for his titular enemy. However, all of this is made clear as the film progresses, and "Longlegs" wants to comment on something more than the nuts and bolts of police vs. criminal mind. There's a reason Monroe's performance is glassy-eyed and twitchy (a role that Monroe makes look very simple behind a complex internalization), and as the first half propels into the second, the atmosphere and angular sense of dread and hazy recollection becomes all too clear... and even poignant. And while some of Perkins' discomforting ideas fall a bit flat (the emphasis on glam-rock especially), the idea that evil hides among us in clear daylight is something horror/psychological terror films have been grappling with for years, and "Longlegs" goes right for the jugular with it. Would make an awesome double feature with "It Follows" as well.

The Last Few Films I've Watched, Spring edition

1. Furiosa (2024) - I liked "Fury Road" (2015). "Furiosa" is a masterpiece. It's a film that deepens, strengthens, and expands on filmmaker George Miller's imaginatively conceived brutal wasteland of post apocalypse Australia. Stretching back to the early 80's, Miller's violent brushstrokes have always generated cathartic thrills, but with "Furiosa", the focus on certain people within the barren landscape have added a real gravitas to the barbaric modes of survival, and with Anya Taylor Joy (and to a large degree the young performance of Alyla Browne who gives an equally wordless, soulful performance), Miller's franchise has found a worthy beating heart of revenge that was built up in "Fury Road", and now is given vengeful dimension here. Pretty much breathtaking from its opening scene, "Furiosa" is also a masterclass in how to film action sequences. Crisp, fluid, and edited to a propulsive sense of rhythm that is lost in most big budget action spectacles, "Furiosa" also wins in its maximalism.

2. Hidden Agenda (1991) - Recently read Rory Carroll's excellent "There Will Be Fire" and I'm revisiting some films whose backdrop is built around The Troubles. Excellent Ken Loach film that I saw twenty years ago, and while it's narrative focuses more on a diabolical political conspiracy than the fighting troubles, it's basis in history is compelling and the way Cox and McDormand slowly involve themselves with the ordinary, weary people of the struggle is interesting. And its ending reminded me of "The French Connection"..... a character still blindly running into the abyss to find the shadows that are haunting them.

3. Marie Octobre (1959) - Part of my wanting to see as many Lino Ventura films as possible. Julien Duvivier's drama about the gathering of Resistance fighters a decade later, trying to figure out who betrayed them years ago. The Resistance eats itself.

4. Handgun (1983) - A landmark revelation for me, and one of the best films of the 1980's. Karen Young (later of "Sopranos" fame) stars as a young teacher who moves to Dallas and is sexually assaulted. Far from the rigors of a standard exploitation film, British filmmaker Tony Garnett aims (and succeeds) for far greater comments about violence and our country's insane fascination with guns. Recently released on Fun City edition blu-ray. See this film!

5. Poolman (2024) - Ugh. Chris Pine's zany noir namechecks "Chinatown" several times, and that's the most interesting than about his directorial debut. And how unconscionable that a film so enamored with saving Los Angeles history that it barely ventures off its garish soundstage sets.

6. The Beast (2023) - I typically adore Bertrand Bonello and had high expectations for "The Beast". Dare I say it's one of the more pretentious film in years.

7. I Saw the TV Glow (2023) - Trippy, adventurous film about memory and identity. Film review here at Dallas Film Now.  

8. Unfrosted (2024) - Ok, I laughed quite a few times. Probably being unfairly maligned due to Seinfeld's recent poo-poo of a comment. But, his humor is imprinted all over this minor comedy ("Vietnam. Well THAT sounds like a good idea") and there are less unmitigated disasters on the streaming services.

9. Just a Gigolo (1978) - Directed by actor David Hemmings and starring David Bowie? Sign me up. Alas, this film about the allure of fascism in post World War I Germany suffers from monotone acting and a story that never really takes off. At times, it oddly reminded me of Fassbinder's "Berlin Alexanderplatz" which would come out two years later. Strange.

10. Fireflies in the North (1984) - One of the few Hideo Gosha I hadn't seen. As usual, it looks beautiful in the service of a story that's been told a thousand times, enhanced by Gosha's expert framing of quick violence. Taking place in a frigid prison town and the conflicting tempers of several people. 

On "Evil Does Not Exist"

One of the best films of the year, Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "Evil Does Not Exist"is a tantalizing, challenging wonder. Part eco-thriller, but mostly a deliberate drama about the entrenching scale of urban growth into peaceful forestry, Hamaguchi employs his distinctive observational style to subtly shift gears between both. Imagine if Frederick Wiseman film were present in this peaceful natural village to film a board meeting about the possibilities of tourism advancement versus the quiet disdain of its townsfolk. For about twenty minutes, this is what we get, and (like Wiseman's films) it's an utterly mesmerizing act of ebb and flow emotion as the villagers raise their concerns, and the two Japanese mouthpieces deflect their concerns.

Outside of that, "Evil Does Not Exist" primarily focuses on the quiet day-to-day activities of Takumi (Hitoshi Omika) and his daughter Hana (Ryo Nishikawa). They live off the land.... he chops wood.... helps a local food establishment owner collect water for their udon noodle shop.... and Hana wanders the woods experiencing all of its natural glories. That's the lulling rhythm the film settles into, until the aforementioned Japanese company decides to build a "glamping" site nearby for upscale outdoor tourism. Dividing the film down the middle as before and after the existential ecological disaster comes upon Takumi and his fellow villagers, "Evil Does Not Exist" then dovetails into unexpected narrative sidelines as it shifts focus from the serene ways of Takumi to the corporate shells caught in the middle (Ryuki Kosaka and Ayaka Shibutani). It's in the second half that Hamaguchi lays clear the title of the film. Everyone is doing what they think is right and the only casualty is the perception of those involved. It's a master stroke of storytelling, reverting expectation and providing a broad, gentle ethos to everyone involved.

And then there's that ending. Initially shocking.... outwardly confusing, but upon introspection (which is needed for all of Hamguchi's films), it makes perfect sense. All along, the film has been establishing the worrisome encroachment of civilization on an environment that is completely natural and subsistent to simple people. The main point of contention- a septic tank for the glamping site that will surely contaminate all the water downstream- is just the least of Takumi's fears. For most of the film, daughter Hana is a virtually wordless, wide-eyed young girl wandering by herself through the woods. Without completely spoiling the shattering finale, Hamaguchi seems to be saying that no outside force should dare touch the innocence of Hana. If father Takumi can't, ultimately, stop the impending ecological disaster of big business, he can stop the metaphorical poisoning of anyone coming close to Hana. Alongside Eiko Ishibashi's mournful score, "Evil Does Not Exist" is a masterpiece of shifting storytelling, intelligent underpinnings, and shimmering cinematography that ranks as one of the best films in Hamaguchi's now renowned career.

Camera Obscura: "Goodbye Paradise"

If I were sculpting a Mount Rushmore of neo-noir sleuths, the first would be Elliot Gould's Marlowe in "The Long Goodbye". The second would be Jeff Lebowski. Obviously, I love my "detectives" to be reluctantly oblivious, slightly impaired, and wholly suited for solving the case by allowing the devious world to open up its secrets in time without doing much except sulking around. Now add Michael Stacey (Ray Barrett) and "Goodbye Paradise" to the mountain. My first exposure to this niche of film noir called 'Gold Coast noir' (and I welcome more suggestions!), "Goodbye Paradise" is a lazy beast of a film. As the alcoholic, tie-askew ex-policeman asked to find the missing daughter (Janet Scrivener) of a politician, "Goodbye Paradise" devolves into a shaggy-dog tale of new age religious cults, assassins, bully cops, and old military friends with terrifying new ideals about the social economics of New South Wales. And through it all, Barrett inhabits Stacey as a man who'd much rather be bouncing amongst karaoke bars and drinking himself silly with the prospects of being a hardboiled writer. And if his inner monologue is anything like his scrapped novel, we've all missed out on Queensland's answer to Raymond Chandler. But solve the mystery he eventually does, bedding beautiful women and being the desire of young ones along the way, while witnessing the country come apart at the seams. More than a film noir (although its allusion to other great Goodbye films and pulp novels), "Goodbye Paradise" feels like the template for so many Coen Brothers movies, that I searched long and hard for any mention of this film out of the Brothers' mouths. Alas, there are none. But despite that, filmmaker Carll Schultz (whose biggest title is the Demi Moore psychological horror film "The Seventh Sign" several years later) has crafted a film so full of dazzling energy and subtle humor, that when things do go crazy in the finale, we believe the shenanigans because Stacey the cop has fumbled through the mystery right alongside us.... and seems to be the only one keeping his sanity. Marlowe and Jeff Lebowski would be proud. The world changed, he didn't, which seems like an integral part of the sleuth in way over his head.

The Current Cinema 24.1

 Origin

In "Origin", Ava DuVernay takes a sweeping nonfiction book and not only manages to weave a heartfelt portrait of the author herself, but illuminate the thesis of the narrative with a magnificent, globe trotting  vision. From Nazi-era Germany, to the Jim Crow infested American South, to the inhumane treatment of a certain sect of people in India, "Origin" almost becomes an overwhelming viewing experience for the way it plots Isabel Wilkinson's ideas about the caste system around the world while maintaining the emotional pull of a woman (Anjanue Ellis-Taylor) whose own personal life is spiraling towards grief. Sound, score, acting.... all the components merge here in what is probably DuVernay's finest work to date. Certain moments in "Origin" hit me so hard. It's a film whose sobering outlook on the subconscious manipulation of the world by certain power groups, at times, pales in comparison to the indominable spirit of those awake enough to fight back. One of the year's best.

Perfect Days

Wash. Rinse. Repeat. That's the rhythm Wim Wenders establishes in this peaceful, warm look at a janitor (Koji Yakusho) and his day-to-day routines. Those routines soon reveal tiny fissures (a manic co-worker and a visit from a family member), but "Perfect Days" fits solidly into Wenders' body of work. There are plenty of driving scenes timed to American rock 'n' roll and, even though the film takes place entirely in the city of Tokyo (which Wenders milks for all its florid beauty and concrete magic), the whole things still feels like a road movie. A few flourishes miss the mark (such as the appearance of a male figure towards the end of the film that seems shoehorned in to emit some schmaltzy magic realism), but overall "Perfect Days" is Wenders best film in some time.

Drive Away Dolls

If there's one thing the recent split of Joel and Ethan Coen has taught us, it's that each one certainly has a distinctive worldview that meshes their films into the audacious and compelling potpourri they've been delivering for more than 30 years now. Whereas Joel seems to be the more ponderous of the duo (i.e. probably where "A Serious Man", "Barton Fink" and "Inside Llewyn Davis" comes from) Ethan bends towards the cartoonish. And based on the humor and bawdy outlook given off by his "Drive Away Dolls", I'm tempted to say "Raising Arizona" is certainly all his. Alas, I still wasn't completely taken by "Drive Away Dolls" even though the laughs are dialed up to eleven and the tone swings wildly from scene to scene. Part of the problem are the two leads, played for all the gusto by the Texwas-twanged Margaret Qualley and the prim, buttoned Geraldine Viswanathan. As the latest in a string of Coen-esque protagonists on the lam and falling into various predicaments that ranges from the horny to the horrific, they feel like paper-thin representations of comedy. Add to it a tone that never quite finds its footing and "Drive Away Dolls" may be my most least liked Coen endeavor in quite some time. I do give it props for totally upending my expectations of just what exactly is in the briefcase, though.

70's Bonanza: Martha Coolidge's "Not a Pretty Picture"

The layers in Martha Coolidge's hybrid documentary "Not a Pretty Picture" are potent. The film deals with rape- not only that of the filmmaker herself in 1962, but the actress portraying her (a wonderful Michele Manenti) at that age is also a survivor of the same trauma. We watch as the film intercuts between Coolidge's fictionalized re-telling of the event as well as the deconstruction of the emotions swirling around the actors as they rehearse. Add to the fact that this film was made and released in the mid 1970's and one soon recognizes the vibrant and raw intention of a female filmmaker examining the culture of sexual abuse as a necessary addition to the New School of American filmmaking and one that belongs in the conversation alongside so many of her male counterparts whose visions of male corrosion are widely regarded as the best of the decade. "Not a Pretty Picture" is a masterful example that expulsion of the old guard was not exclusive to Coppola, Scorsese and Cimino.

Swaying back and forth between fiction and documentary, "Not s Pretty Picture" is quite harrowing in either form. As a fictional film, the specter of dangerous seduction hovers at the edge of the frame. Young Martha (Manenti) is drawn into a double date with another girl where the two (alongside three men, including the eventual perpetrator played by James Carrington) end up in a dilapidated New York loft whose central feature is a hole in the wall that leads into another room where young Martha will eventually be victimized. If watching the act itself played out in long form isn't crushing enough, Coolidge shrewdly intercuts the various conversations, rationalizations, and conflicted attempts of the actors to contextualize their actions around her acted film. It's this debate that sets "Not a Pretty Picture" apart from other personal essay films. Coolidge doesn't shy away from the varying degrees of guilt and acceptance. Even if actor Cunningham gives some feeble attempts at his character's actions, Coolidge allows the space for everyone. It's awkward at times. Strikingly painful at others. And while not a necessarily healing experience (as the final few moments of emotion on Coolidge's face exemplify), the film definitely feels like a quiet scream of simple pronunciation about the act that Coolidge needed to explore. That alone is worth this film being seen by as many as possible.

My Favorite Films of 2023

The full list can be found here: My Favorite Films of 2023 | Dallas Film Now., which has basically transported the more professional writing I'm currently doing. I don't want to forget this humble home, however.

The Best Non 2023 Films I Saw in 2023

11. The Mind Benders (1963) - Generally regarded as one of the first true paranoid thrillers, John Frankenheimer's "The Manchurian Candidate" dealt with the brainwashing of a Korean War POW (Laurence Harvey whose steely eyed presence seemed like the perfect tonic for an empty vessel) and his subsequent mission as a presidential assassin. It holds up even better today. Released just a year later in 1963, Basil Dearden's "The Mind Benders" certainly hasn't gotten the same acclaim as Frankenheimer's effort, but it's no less terrifying. I'd even argue it's a much more insidious example of the ability of one human to crack open and infect the brain of another human. In Dearden's stratosphere, the purpose isn't world domination, but simply the nature of suggestion in wielding power over another.... which plays havoc and begins the dissolution of a happy marriage. As he did a few years prior in Dearden's taboo breaking "Victim" (1961), Dirk Bogarde is the man placed in a precarious situation fighting for his very soul. Portraying Dr. Longman, Bogarde is a scientist involved in an experiment whose opening title card suggests the entire story is ripped from the annuls of American research documents involving isolation tanks and perception reduction. And if this doesn't sound so far out today where such tactics dot the fringe landscape of psychology, things don't start so well for one doctor involved in the experiment who rightly tosses himself off a moving train in the film's opening minutes. This abrupt shift from tangential science fiction elements feels odd at first, but once "The Mind Benders" settles on Longman and his wife's shifting power dynamic, the film's kitchen sink realism (a style dominating much of British cinema during this time) feels all the more powerful in showing how disruptive progressive science can be. He's not slated to kill a presidential candidate, but the final riverside boat party seems just as violent for the way he openly courts another woman (Wendy Craig) and flagrantly challenges the tenets of marriage. Longman's brainwashing may not be the equal of murder, but "The Mind Benders" makes a strong case that its something far more damaging. 

10. Bitter Innocence (1999) - Dominik Graf's "Bitter Innocence" twists about halfway through from a corporate thriller to a sweet love story borne out of the casual indifference and sexual violence men perpetrate on women. That the love forms between a twenty-something woman (Laura Tonke) and the young teen daughter (Mareike Lindenmeyer) trying to unravel the mystery her parents have immersed themselves in should come as no shock to those who've watched just a few of Graf's films. They are mostly love stories buried within a larger framework of genre. Last year's masterwork called "Fabian: Going to the Dogs" is one of the lushest romance film in years, buttressed against the backdrop of an encroaching Nazi evil. Situated firmly in the times it was made (1999), "Bitter Innocence" follows the same pattern as love is widdled out of the complicated yuppie mindset that those in the corporate world can get away with anything if their check book is large enough. But before we get to the central relationship of Vanessa and Eva, Graf's film wanders through the thriller realm when aggressive boss Larssen (Michael Mendle) threatens to destabilize the vague pharmaceutical company Andreas (Elmar Weppar) has been conducting research within for the past few years. Andreas' fears about the wolf Larssen are confirmed when he discovers him raping Vanessa behind closed doors. Working as a waitress for a catering company providing services at a company party, Andreas doesn't report (or even lift a finger to help) the vulnerable Vanessa, instead using the act to steal a file that may secure his employment..... which is a prickly move since Vanessa sees him dodge out without coming to any sort of chivalry rescue. With the visual style of a glistening television movie (Graf has careened through an array of features, both for the big and small screens) and a sense of rhythm like that of a soap opera, the film's themes of ravishing passions and high intrigue feel right at home with that lowbrow entertainment. But Graf's swirling ambition about the youth of the world being the most morally grounded figures in a world set on financial gain and personal advancement (and I didn't even mention the affairs!) fits right at home in the subversive tactics of a filmmaker who continually buries so much in his works. I look forward to carrying through with his expansive body of work.

9. Get Back (2021) - There's a moment when we finally get the Beatles performing their modified rooftop concert as the local bobbies ascend on the band for noise complaints and Paul lets out a little "whoo" as they emerge in the doorway behind him. It's a candid moment in a 7-hour documentary stitched, polished, and restored from endless streams of audio and visual clips more than fifty years old, but it feels as vital as when it was compiled at the crescendo of Beatle Mania in 1969 and 1970. Again taking a lost relic from the past and revamping it for modern consumption, director Peter Jackson is making quite the name for himself as one of the most important film preservationists of our day. But, as he did with "They Shall Not Grow Old", "Get Back" is more than revivalism. It actually unearths sound and image from the dust heap of the past and makes it relevant. It's hard to say anything by the Beatles could be considered irrelevant (or especially the heartbreaking images of World War I), but that's the onward march of time with social media and the modern ways the younger generation consumes media and information. There's something to be said for the scratchy 16mm image, and with a documentary like "Get Back", hopefully the sound and appeal of the Beatles (and so many other relics) will never be relegated to the unkown medium abyss again. 

8. Another Man, Another Chance (1977) - Claude Lelouch's "Another Man, Another Chance" tells the parallel stories of westward expansion and immigration. Either one would be evocative on their own, but here, they wind together slowly.... beautifully... gently. Jeanne (Genevieve Bujold) and her photographer husband Francis (Francis Huster) flee 1870's France for the west. Already ensconced here as a veterinarian, but struggling to put together the pieces of a broken life, is David (James Caan). For a good portion of the film, Lelouch keeps the two stories close but separate. They exist in the same territory, but only mingle in the latter half of the film. And when they do, "Another Man, Another Chance" becomes less of a western and more of an amber hued love story borne out against the dusty terrain. It's always interesting to see how a European envisions the American West. Often more attuned to the sensibilities of survival and generational struggle than the law-and-disorder of our own representations (perhaps because the violence in European history goes back eons further than our own), Lelouch works in carefully timed, long handheld set ups and awesomely imagined natural lighting. Reminiscent of the intimate epics of Jan Troell, "Another Man, Another Chance" weaves a melodic tale of the west that feels much truer than any other attempt to reconcile the territories hard scrabbled existence.

7. Phantom Lady (1944) - Even though I admire the toughness of Robert Siodmak's perennial film noirs, "The Killers" (1946) and "Criss Cross" (1948), nothing quite prepared me for the formal, stylish greatness of "Phantom Lady". Released in 1944 and starring Ella Raines as a secretary named Kansas (certainly evoking her eternal goodness) who descends into the New York netherworld of coked-up jazz musicians and psychotic killers in the hopes of saving her boss (Alan Curtis) from a murder rap, the film is relentlessly surprising in both narrative and mise-en-scene. There are two or three camera movements that rank with the visual inventiveness of Hitchcock's best (just watch as we finally discover "the hat") and a mood imported from the inky grains of German expressionism. Everything is mixed flawlessly within a somewhat cute American studio system work. Between this film and others, Siodmak has created a large (but still somewhat undervalued) body of work. And outside of his noirs, finding them is the trick. Playing with genre as if it's shuffling cards, Siodmak never loses control of the film. When it stops down for a couple of minutes to vibrate and gyrate with a coked-up drummer, it works. When it devolves into a thriller and the doorknob to escape is just out of reach, it works. And it certainly works as a film noir where the city hisses steam at all hours and the police are hard-nosed but virtuous. Even despite its seemingly happy ending, "The Phantom Lady" hints that the savior complex of Kansas may have doomed her to a place of subservience that's well beneath her true worth.

6. Batleground (1949) - Screening William Wellman's "Battleground" today can feel slightly misleading and familiar, only because so much of this 1949 film (yes, released only 4 years after the end of the war) has been sampled, stapled , and re-imagined in numerous other war films. Its influence cannot be denied. Following an ensemble of soldiers as they march into The Battle of the Bulge and become entwined in the infamous Bastogne area, for much of its running time, "Batleground" is battle-adjacent. Focusing on the soldier's personalities as they deal with a host of issues- from horniness while garrisoned in a French town to the swift brutality of death in a foxhole- "Battleground" fills in the spaces of the usual rah-rah 'Hollywoodisms' with the banality of simple survival when fog has cut one off from the rest of the world. And when the action does occur, Wellman doesn't shy away from the explicit horribleness of war. An unrelenting ambush on a group of prowling Germans..... hand to hand combat settled just out of frame..... the crushing realization that someone is dead by their galoshes strewn against the snow..... "Battleground" explores all the horrors of war with fierce simplicity. If anyone is still searching for great war films in this land of over saturation, do yourself a favor and see "Battleground".

5. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021) - Not only a scholarly minded exploration of the complex literary and visual history of a certain type of horror film, Kier-La Janisse's "Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched" is a treasure trove of film and television clips that had me mercilessly searching the internet for more backstory on its many examples. Clocking in at over 3 hours, this is an exhaustive but fascinating treatise on what exactly drives the genre now affectionately called "folk horror" in the movies. For those who've come to the subject only recently through the works of Ari Aster or only understand its touchpoint in something like "The Wicker Man" in the early 70's, this documentary swerves through so many other examples (both heralded but largely unheralded) that it becomes clear the idea of this type of horror film has been embedded in our cultures for centuries. A must see for cinema historians and extra points for now giving me the term "hauntology" in my lexicon.

4. On Tour (2010) - I'm fascinated by the hard-scrabbled hustler on-screen. Characters like Jack Lemmon in "Save the Tiger" (1973) or Jason Miller in "The Nickel Ride". (1974).... men who feel like entropy itself is their survival. Add Mathieu Almaric to that list with his role as the manager/escort to a group of American burlesque performers traversing across France in "On Tour". The direct antecedent, of course, would be "Go Go Tales" (2007) or the king of all fast-talkers with Ben Gazzara in John Cassavetes' "Killing of a Chinese Bookie" (1976). But that's enough comparison. Almaric's directorial effort stands on its own as a slice of (hectic) life, full of unexpected grace and mascaraed beauty. And even though tragedy and bankruptcy seem forever around the corner, the majesty of the film lies in its gentle warmth and oddball humor. He's a man who juggles the needs of his burlesque troop with the impending collapse of his marriage as if he's a father-of-the-year candidate on the verge of losing everything. I've been enthralled by the varied tones of Almaric's chosen projects over the last few years. I like to imagine he took the cash from his role in a James Bond film to finance and nurture this unique, wonderful film and will continue to alternate between high profile, mainstream fare and scratched independence. 

3. A Self Made Hero (1996) - Jacques Audiard's war time masquerade about a man (Matthieu Kassovitz) who lies and steals his persona into war time France aristocracy would make for a fitting double feature with Jean Pierre Melville's "Army of Shadows" (1968). Both films apply the same fatalistic sense that imbues great crime thrillers, and it's a film that paints the Resistance during French Occupation of World War II as a carousel of death slightly postponed in order for its men and women to grasp at heroics. It's sad, infuriating, calculated, and full of Melville's memorialized relics from his past and Audiard's film shows just how punctured and fractured deceit causes during the World War. But "A Self Made Hero" is also surprisingly resonant for the way in which a man will become a chameleon to hold power (think of George Santos). It's a film that's oddly never discussed much today, given virtually no repertory screenins, and seems to be destined to the dust bins of mid 90's international films like so many others. See this one. It's a sharp deconstruction of the rise to power.... a mordant commentary on truth.... and a brilliant black comedy that details the minute ways anyone can take tidbits of the truth and screw them into a wholly believable persona.

2. Undeclared War (1990) - Ringo Lam's "Undeclared War" had me from its stunningly violent open in which a baptism ambush leads into hand grenades and helicopters. From there, it staggers into pretty much every late 80's/early 90's action film aesthetic- from the gaudy lens flares that visually accentuate Hong Kong 'actioners' of the time to the cop buddy narrative that sees two opposing worldviews combine to stop a global terrorist. Add to the mixture loads of cop swagger and "Undeclared War" is a pop masterpiece from a director known more for inspiring the skeletal outline of Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" than for his own works. After seeing Lam's "Sky On Fire" at the 2018 Dallas International Film Festival and then lapping up the brutality of his Jean Claude Van Damme collaboration (one of his many) "In Hell" last year, I've had the enjoyment of discovering one engaging action film after another. As usual, going beyond pop culture lip sync to observe the original purveyors holds so much more value. But beyond the exploding squibs and expected violence, Lam's "Undeclared War" does something that I always find necessary in a good action film: understanding the logistics of bodies and space. There are so many well staged shootouts and roving camera techniques that continually maintain the sense of action and place, one clearly senses when they're in the hands of a master. Lam is one of the best.

1. One More Time With Feeling (2016)

One of the highlights of 2023 for me was seeing Nick Cave play an intimate, 1500 seat theater. Sitting first row of the balcony, I had a beautifully unobstructed view of the man as he played piano and romped through decades of favorites as well as obscure tunes (with the only other person on stage being Colin Greenwood providing the necessary bass tempo). Seeing Andrew Dominik's documentary a few months before couldn't prepare me for the emotional weight Cave brings to each and every song, underscoring the fragility and brutal honesty he often doles out in his songs. If Andrew Dominik's "One More Time With Feeling" had just been about the creative gymnastics behind producing and recording an album, it would have been magnificent. The fact that real life tragedy occurs and timbers everything with an air of magisterial melancholy turns the effort into an essential portrait of serene acceptance. Hovering around Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds as they record their 2016 album "Skeleton Tree", Dominik's first collaboration with the band (followed several years later by "This Much I Know to be True") tumbles through harsh confessional, observational practices, and magical representation.... often times in the same scene. Cave is always hard to turn away from (especially on stage) and here he gives us the same persona as tortured poet. But Dominik also captures something poignant in the way he interacts with his wife and the loss of their young son which pierces the mechanical process also being recorded. A unique documentary indeed. Fans of Nick Cave, Warren Ellis and the Bad Seeds will be enthralled. Everyone else will be moved by the cathartic use of creativity to exorcise sadness.

The Current Cinema 23.5

 Killers of the Flower Moon

Scorsese's latest is a corrosive epic that clearly reveals its shades of morality for everyone involved within the first third, then proceeds to deliberately track the insidious nature of violence and deluded companionship over the remaining three hours. Imagine if the walls closing in around Henry Hill in "Goodfellas" were protracted out for 180 minutes. That's the startling feeling that Scorsese manages to uphold in "Killers of the Flower Moon", but this time, the criminal activity mirrors that of the American mafia played out in the dustbowl setting on 1920's Oklahoma and the violence against the Osage Indian nation for their valuable oil land head rights. With his usual cast of heavyweights (DiCaprio and DeNiro), the biggest coup of the film goes to the steely beating heart of Lily Gladstone as "Killers of the Flower Moon" was changed from its FBI-instigated criminal investigative tone to a more Native-American centric point of view. It works wonders, no less because of the stellar, granite-faced supporting cast and a rhythmic editing style that constantly makes one gasp with horror at the nonchalant violence and overhead writhes of death encompassing the entire land. Like he's done for New York, Las Vegas, and even the bashing waters off a Japanese prisoner colony, Scorsese spiritually imbues nature with a fist of violence that's hard to shake. 

Anatomy of a Fall

Justine Triet's masterful, slow examination of a death also places on trial the ebbs and flows of a marriage.... where every charged conversation is a motive for murder and perception shifts between parties wildly. Sandra Huller is the woman on trial after her husband's body is found outside the window of their three-story, snow-capped mountain chateau. Is it suicide, murder, or a simple accident? And like the best films that work in gradual shades of morality, "Anatomy of a Fall" is less concerned with what really happened than the verbal gymnastics and hidden emotions that might have led to all this. Employing a camera that's often trying to follow what's happening just as quickly as the audience (i.e. that startling whip pan when Huller's son is announced as a witness) and brilliant performances from all involved, "Anatomy of a Fall" is two-and-a-half hours of French courtroom politics trying to decode matters of the heart. It's dry, intelligent, and ultimately so haunting.

Priscilla

Sofia Coppola's best film since "Lost in Translation", "Priscilla" is a film that continues on with the filmmaker's fascination with interiority and impressionism. It's also a drastically (and wonderfully) different experience from last year's Baz Luhrman sonic fest about Elvis Presly. As Priscilla Presly, newcomer Cailee Spaeny embodies the love interest of a rock and roll icon with her own sense of permanent dislocation in one of two scenarios- either orbiting the yes-man-good-ol-boy universe of Elvis' lavishly repercussion-free dalliances, or quietly within the controlled alienation from Elvis himself. This is made clear when Priscilla first sits down to eat with the protracted Elvis family, filmed in profile by herself, dutifully nodding to others outside the frame. There's not much room for else, and Coppola deftly alternates between these two environments, peppered with heart-stopping needle drops and a keen awareness of the objects and textures that suffocatingly surround Priscilla. In fact, the best description I can provide of "Pricilla" is a film of quiet suffocation, made all the more enervating when the finale happens. It's no secret Elvis was a victim of explosive stardom, but at least someone survives this sinkhole universe of carnivorous public consumption. And a Dolly Parton needle drop is the perfect way to frame Priscilla's flight to freedom.

The Current Cinema 23.4

 Passages

It'd be misleading to read Ira Sachs' latest effort, "Passages", through the eyes of its amorous, confused, and ultimately destructive lead character Tomas (Franz Rogowski). Oscillating between the relationship with his husband, Martin (a tremendous Ben Whishaw who deserves all the year end accolades) and his start-up affair with beautiful teacher Agathe (Adele Exarchopoulos), Tomas doesn't feel that far removed from the caddish interlopers of the French New Wave. But "Passages", ultimately, concerns itself less with Tomas and more with the two people caught up in his sexual confusion. This is a film about frank sexuality- which is terrific when it's fresh and impetuous- and all three people in this love triangle experience it. However, what lingers most vividly about the situation is the way Sachs quickly dries out the sexuality and creates a devastating portrait of those rejected and damaged from Tomas' willful carnality. Whishaw is brilliant in the way he recoils and holds in his sadness during one incredible scene. Likewise, Exarchopoulos is luminous in her stringent performance and the way she maintains a sense of individuality within yet another expression of amour fou (something she's become famous for). I suppose all the character traits were there on display in the opening scene as filmmaker Tomas berates and constantly stops a scene he's filming in order to get the right presence of someone walking down a flight of stairs. "Passages" is an exploration of the starts-and-stops we experience in a relationship as well. It's just a shame it comes at the expense of two wonderful people like Martin and Agathe, who Sachs handles with empathy and intelligence.

 

The Last Voyage of the Demeter

Typically a dumping ground for left-over gambles and small independent films that finally manage to squeeze their way onto one of the 24 screen multiplexes, August is a miserable month. Add to that at least one horror film each year in a vain attempt at counter-programming, and that's where Andre Ovredal's "The Last Voyage of the Demeter" lands. Literally ripped from the pages of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" tale, "The Last Voyage of the Demeter" actually succeeds because of its swallowing atmosphere and confident bloodletting in a confined space. The space is a ship whose unlucky cargo happens to be the prince of darkness, and the cast is a who's-who of familiar character actor faces (Liam Cunningham from "Game of Thrones", Corey Hawkin, Aisling Franciosi, and David Dastmalchian) charged with battling the creature. There are no great revolutions here. It isn't saying much. The scares are generally rote. But what "The Last Voyage of the Demeter" does have is terrific production design and a suffocating sense of foggy, inevitable bloodshed. For the August dumping ground, that's enough for me to purely enjoy this film for what it is.

 

The Unknown Country 

I love, love, love this type of wispy travelogue film that says nothing, but manages to say everything. As the woman traveling, Lily Gladstone deserves her big year, and Morrisa Maltz's "The Unknown Country" understands that the most powerful expression in cinema is not the words, but the face. Harboring a restless sense of sadness and displacement, the film follows Tana (Gladstone) as she travels from Minneapolis to her cousin's wedding on the reservation in South Dakota. From there, she heads south in search of something greater than herself. Generally keeping the viewer imbalanced on just where we are in the journey with Tana across an American landscape that's alternatively beautiful and alarming for a single woman, "The Unknown Country" also takes the time to dwell on the genuine, honest faces Tana comes across in her journey. We even get to hear these people tell a quick story of their lives, and a fiction film becomes semi-documentary... as if Maltz also wants to craft an anthropological study of the goodness buried in a world teeming with angry talk radio and the division of people- something that becomes central to Tana's long car rides that not only serve as a location marker, but also the static of a world going on carelessly around her. Ultimately, "The Unknown Country" knocks all this away and chooses to emphasize the people orbiting around Tana. Best when it settles on the sweet, proud worldview of her estranged relatives on the Indian reservation (including a knock out performance by long time character actor Richard Ray Whitman), it's enervating to watch Gladstone's performance begin to soak in their grace and carry on southward for something more. The world may still be swerving around her, but "The Unknown Country" has the grace and fragility to slow everything down and celebrate those in the moment. A wonderful film.