We’ll leave THE BRUTALIST, MARIA, Timothée Chalamet, Angelina Jolie descending the staircase of the Metropolitan Opera House in a St. Laurent cape for possibly the first time in her life having played the goddess Callas in an inert biopic. Leave all that to others. Can we merely say “no thank you” to the horrifying THE SUBSTANCE? As for ANORA, a wild movie ride, but the feminist in me must note yet another male filmmaker’s undying fixation with the whore with the golden heart. The trials of a lap dancer. EMILIA PEREZ was all over the map, but we liked the dance sequences. And, shoot me, I liked THELMA, and included it below. So much fun.
Here’s where you get the lowdown, the skinny, the minimal ‘must see’s. These are the sparse motion pictures we unabashedly loved in the year, even though two of them are not going into wide distribution till 2025!
| HARD TRUTHS, writer/director Mike Leigh Speaking of THE BRUTALIST, it took a full week to recover from the tough love on view in British maestro Mike Leigh’s domestic drama, a journey into the perils of intimacy — and mental illness. I loved it. But hard-hitting. A tour de force performance by an actress with the chops to pull it off, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, depicting a mother afflicted with depression and the rough ride that gives those around her. |
| ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT, writer/director Payal Kapadia Boy it’s so good, it’s so good, it’s still so good, and then, meh, in its final moments it isn’t anymore. Someone glommed a twenty-minute “resolution/denouement” onto this stunning walk through the lives of three ladies in Mumbai: a steady nurse whose personal life has left her in shock; a sexy young lady whose hormones are in overdrive; and a cook in a hospital whom society has rendered invisible. Ah, the elegance of camera work capturing the pounding urban landscape of India. A mesmerizing film that leaves its story with a neat bow it really does not need. |
| NICKEL BOYS, writer/director RaMell Ross Using a fluid camera in a subjective capture of the the best life Florida has to offer a Black youngster in the early ’60s (and that’s a pretty low bar), RaMell Ross provides a shattering, immersive cinematic experience that no objective rendering could equal. I loved the movie and wrote remarks here. |
| PERFECT DAYS, co-writers Wim Wenders, Takuma Takasaki, director Wim Wenders More daily life in Asia, this time in Tokyo, where a simple man, by choice, cleans toilets and looks at trees. And so it flows. A masterwork reviewed on artsmeme here. |
| THELMA, writer/director Josh Margolin She’s no little old lady from Pasadena. No, she’s a Jewish grandma in Encino played by June Squibb. Adorable set-ups, clever script, many laughs, and Richard Rountree in his final movie role. Further artsmeme remarks here. |
| STAY WITH US, writer/director Gad Elmaleh After three years living and working in America, French-Jewish actor and comedian Gad Elmaleh decides to move back to Paris — as a Catholic. I so enjoyed this super-dry, witty, challenging, charming and so-Jewish movie, a cinema verite in which the filmmaker’s parents play themselves. |
And three arts documentaries we liked and recommend.
| OBSESSED WITH LIGHT: LOIE FULLER The history, impact, and influence of Loie Fuller, a self-made genius dance artist experimenting in the effects of color and velocity on the dancer essentially hidden draped in fabric. The film features talking heads in ancillary fields, architecture, fashion design, puppetry, and of course dance, describing Fuller’s influence. It features the champion of Loie Fuller in the contemporary dance community, Jody Sperling. |
| THAT’S THE WAY GOD PLANNED IT: BILLY PRESTON A child of South Los Angeles reared in traditions of the gospel church who grew up pounding piano and organ keyboards he could barely reach, Billy Preston went on to give soulful underpinnings to, significantly, the Beatles, Rolling Stones and many more sixties bands. His very credible run at a solo career crumbled despite several very strong hit records. He was brought down in great part by a nasty drug habit. Further remarks here. |
| ONCE UPON A TIME: MICHEL LE GRAND Well, you’re talking about a genius. Le Grand’s scope, sparkling musicality, and his vast contribution to film scoring particularly in collaboration with his dear associate, filmmaker Jacques Demy, with whom he made two masterpieces, makes for delightful and insightful viewing in David Dessite’s documentary, a labor of love. |
We are holding out for THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO seeing very soon.
Picks by artsmeme editor Debra Levine