Taking On 2021 - Top Films

Quite the year, this past one, 2021, what with the release dates of things causing enough overlap that I ended up skipping my normal half year recap because I simply had not seen enough. Thankfully, I did manage to see a respectable number by the year's end, which I've still been keeping a running list of on Letterboxd. And now they've been narrowed down in a truly grueling process to filter out only the best of the best, a top ten that is truly one for the ages. It did turn out to actually be a pretty damn good year, even with titles still getting shifted around and some getting pushed back indefinitely. So fuck all that, might as well get to it. 

 10. The Green Knight One of the films that seemed to kind of get placed in to a release purgatory was the latest from David Lowery, an adaptation of the Sir Gawain Arthurian story. Having been nearly a decade since I've last read it, going in the details I recalled were more of the broad strokes, but even without a familiarity with the text I think the visuals here would be enough to carry it fairly far; however, the touches in the adaptation that make it play better in a modern context elevate it beyond just a beautifully shot film. The way the story is distilled down to the core themes and then expanded upon along Gawain's journey makes this a tremendous adaptation of a true classic. 

 9. West Side Story Continuing along with the idea of strong adaptations, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner's remake of the classic musical is probably one of my favorite straight adaptations of 2021. I've had, to put it generously, a rocky road with Spielberg's filmography, but even looking beyond the choreography there's plenty to fall in love with when it comes to the visuals. The set design creates this world between film and theater, a transfixing tension that completely drew me in. Also of note is the way it blends English and Spanish fluidly in the non-musical sections, forgoing subtitles and just letting us as the audience exist as we would in the real world. Going in I was pretty hesitant, but at every turn this film surprised me, right up to my narrowing down process when it made its way on to this list. 

 8. Benedetta The latest from Paul Verhoeven isn't quite as controversial as some of the pictures of 'protests' leading up to its wider release led me to believe, but that's not a requirement for it to succeed as an examination of religious institutions. Despite taking place in the seventeenth century, it doesn't have the traditional feel of a period piece; instead, the final product prods at the ideas of truth and lies in religion, the manipulation of power structures especially in a society where upward mobility was limited, and the line between self delusion and conviction in one's self. Oh, and, Jesus totally fucks shit up with a sword. 

 7. Licorice Pizza Not nearly as many swords in this one, unfortunately. But more waterbeds, which isn't the worst tradeoff. Paul Thomas Anderson guides the film with his typical mastery, and the central performances by Haim and Hoffman create an emotional anchor that grounds the feature even as it focuses on a time and place distant from my own experience. What also struck me was how much happens on the periphery, especially for a film that is so resitant to a complex, traditional plot. There's not just the implications about the central characters's lives, but between the fuel crisis, political campaign, and the look at classic Hollywood there's plenty to look at without ever really losing sight of that emotional core. And having these ideas mostly exist on the fringes, it wraps the viewer up in the power of this connection, even if it's not forever, even if there are flaws, for just a few hours it can feel permanent. 

 6. The Power Of The Dog Despite the title there are not all that many dogs in this one, actually thinking back I'm not sure if there even was a single one in any prominent scene, but thankfully it's somehow able to overcome that massive ovesight. A lot of that has to do with Jane Campion's work with the camera, of course, and how it works to frame the bubbling conflict at the center of the film. It's just how thematically sound everything is that elevates it for me though, seeing how each charcter confronts expectations and grapples with their inability to meet them. It's in that performativity that you discover the rage, tragedy, and conflict that, even when it get a little too direct or on the nose, one of the year's most rewarding watches.  

5. Drive My Car Another of the year's more dense dramas, the latest (or co-latest, though I think this one technically released stateside after Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy) from Ryusuke Hamaguichi is a nice blend of an emotional core with meta-textual layering. Having there be a play taking place in the film, and using that as a centerpiece to explore and flesh out character dynamics is a narrative choice that opens up the film thematically as well. It would be easy to focus on the length, which is daunting, but throughout the nearly three hour runtime it never actually felt close to that long, with the story paced incredibly well. And it does get a ton of mileage out of the differet types of fiction. Even if we aren't ever completely watching a play within the film, just the notion of story and fiction functions completely drew me in. Hamaguichi balances theme and narrative so well here, all without ever sacrificing the emotional weight of the different characters.

 4.  Red Rocket

3. Vortex

2. The Worst Person In The World

1. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn

Draft I published because didn’t want to lose it

Taking On 2024 - Top Films

Another long pause between posts, and one I had intended to do earlier but was derailed by having to wait for I'm Still Here (2024) to play locally before I could realistically finalize a list. Such is life, the fragility of permanence. But a list thankfully was finalized, and this year I broke with a Top Ten to include a bonus film, or perhaps it's the New Normal(tm) since it's the second year running where the list has expanded. Kind of in line with the year though, as it had a number of notable strong titles, some of the best would have contended for last year's list had they played the local festival in October. One can only speculate on the battles that were never fought.

This battle, however, is one that will be conquered. We have, as usual, a list of every film I considered eligible for the year, if you want to see what missed the cut in no real order. Nothing else really to plug, and perhaps one day I will return more regularly to blogging. There's always something fun about getting back to sit with and think through the year that was in film. But, as they say, fuck all that, let's get to it.

Taking On 2023: Top Films

Back for my annual tradition of writing about the films that most resonated with me from the previous year as we either turn the page to the new year and/or lead up to the Oscars. In this case it's more the latter, though given the way some releases have gone part of the reason this list is being posted so late has more to do with the way distributors have opted to trickle out some heavy hitters. It would, of course, be a fool's errand to try and make a definitive list, and, despite seeing a good number of films in 2023 (easily tracked on my Letterboxd list for those who like to play along), 2023 proved unique in a number of ways.

While I certainly lament my inability to see/Mubi's holding hostage of Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World, a film I am sure would at least reasonably have had the ability to compete for a top spot given the pedigree, I was fortunate enough to see a number of releases that are still considered in some strange limbo state. In the past I have also been resistant to including television on this list, and will continue to not this year, though those limits were pushed with Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, a marvelous work of adaptation that illuminates and repurposes the source material in such a surprising and rich way that it feels like it could stand alongside the best features, and was one of the few TV shows I logged on my Letterboxd. But there will be a slight change this year, as I write about a Top 12 for the first time, though for those who do care or are more sticklers than I am at present I have ordered things so you can opt to still have a definitive Top 10 without having to disqualify certain films that almost certainly should be thought of as 2024 releases based on when they'll actually be more accessible theatrically.

All that to say that things have changed, but not drastically. And it's time to count down.

Taking on 2022 - Top Films

Longer than I would have liked since my last entry, but, despite falling off schedule last year, I have returned to once again pound at the keyboard and hammer out a top ten of this past film year. The year cinemas died and/or thrived depending on which narrative you want to push and/or follow. And ultimately one that had me at the theatre often, often seeing at least a decent film. There were even some great ones, films that I occasionally was able to see on a big screen, and some that I simply could not. But the process has been run, the numbers plugged in to the opinion machine, and out came a list. So now it is time to write a little on that list. If you are interested in seeing which films were in consideration, I've got them all tracked on my Letterboxd. If not, well, take a gander below for the ten (or eleven, who knows) best ones from the previous year in the world of cinema. 

Taking On 2020 - Top Films

Back once again, mother fucker yeah, it's me. Got to this later than I anticipated, but, as with the Academy Awards, now seemed like the best time to put a bow on the previous year in cinema. Also because some things didn't push out to the public at large until even later than normal and seemed like things that I needed to include in my final count. Of course, I am currently accepting all 2021 screeners. Oh yeah, some 2020 things for the Academy are 2021 for my list because of how and when they played or released. For further reference on that, I do have a public list of all releases I'm counting as 2020 eligible. Things have changed since I did my Best Of The First Half, almost a year ago now, so might as well just go get in to the list proper.

Taking On 2020 - Top Films So Far

Hard to believe that we have reached the halfway point of the year, though I guess anything is believable these days, am I right? Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. Please, try the beef. And while you're at it, let me tell you about some of the best films I watched this year. While my Raw Numbers are not where I would like them to be, I was surprised when making this list that there were a number of tougher cuts to get down to ten. As usual, I track all the eligible entries (ones I did not see at a festival last year) on a running Letterboxd list if you want to see all the things in consideration or get an idea of what I've missed. The Virtual Theater experience has been super helpful in catching up with things that got pushed theatrically, and streaming services have also pumped out a lot of quality features this year. Of course, the biggest miss thus far is First Cow, which was set to open locally the week everything shut down. Anyway, how about the list?

Taking On 2019: Top Films

Hey! We're here, the Oscars are about to happen and we can finally put a bow on the year that was, and as such that means I'm ready to write down this list with pictures and words that list, definitively, the best films of last year. At the halfway mark I'd already seen some pretty good films, but there are so many heavy hitters to come that things really did change. But you know what they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same. That is to say that you can check out all the things I watched on Letterboxd, but how about we get down to the Top Ten?