What movies did you see last week? (1/15-1/21)

One of note:

Death By Hanging (1968) - 1st Time watch

Absurdist, pitch black anti-capital punishment "comedy" that's very Kafkaesque and insightful...repeats itself because of the way it's done but really, really good throughout

a nice batch of more 2023 entries 

El Conde - gorgeously-filmed but felt hollow by the ending. It struck me how similarly the 2nd act felt to The Club in how Carmen comes and interviews all the family members separately as they deflect wrongdoing and rationalize & justify their father's actions -- even the shot framing was identical -- but El Conde cuts the confessionals with welcome sardonic playfulness not present in El Club. Less welcome was the twist at the end involving a certain British PM. 7/10

Rotting in the Sun - caustically funny movie from Sebastián Silva. A cynical comic thriller involving social media stardom, nude beaches, accidental deaths, and the hilarious limitations of translation apps. Gets the 2023 award for most penises in a feature length movie and also has one of the best supporting female perfs of the year from Catalina Saavedra as the protagonist's harried maid who finds herself in a tough spot. 8.5/10

The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan - another Musketeers adaptation, this one featuring Vincent Cassel, Eva Green and Vicky Krieps. I can never turn down an epic costume drama but this was pretty uninvolving. 6/10

Eileen - Loved the first two acts, didn't care for the third. It's a sexy psychological noir that makes no mystery of its title character's simmering instability but the movie's bloody final act turn makes little sense. Hathaway is excellent but McKenzie's attempts as a convincing Mass accent distract from the rest of her performance. 6.5/10

Green Border - the movie that probably ruined Agnieszka Holland's career in Poland. Honing in on the Belarus-Poland border crisis where dictator Lukashenko cynically weaponizes migrants as cold war pawns and funnels them to the Polish border (like DeSantis & Abbott ayo) where Polish border agents who are taught to see them not as people but as Belarus's "live bullets" mistreat and prevent them from crossing (it's a shame the title "Green Inferno" was already taken). Holland's depiction of brutal police state abuse from Polish authorities courted condemnations of the film as unpatriotic and Lukashenko propaganda, but it's telling that none of these accusations from the Polish rightwing and administrative state mention that the film is wrong because migrants on the border are actually being treated with respect and dignity. This is because Holland's film exists in a nationalistic echo chamber that's already deemed black and brown migrants as not people, and her film serves as a furious antithesis to that status quo and more generally as an indignant denouncement of the anti-immigrant Euro-fascism that's been sweeping across Europe like a virus. 8/10

How to Have Sex - powerful coming of age debut from Molly Manning Walker featuring a knockout performance from McKenna-Bruce as a virgin on a holiday with her friends. Says a lot with its silences especially through its lead performance, as Tara's affect evolves over the course of the story and becomes more distant from her friend group. Powerful ending. 8/10

When Evil Lurks - white-knuckle demonic horrorshow out of Argentina directed by Demián Rugna. Makes use of some interesting lore and worldbuilding that opens up the story in the third act and makes it more interesting but the horror hinges on meanspirited visceral terror more than anything else, and it features some truly grisly images. With the evil spreading so quickly through this community the horror combines desperate claustrophobia with the inevitability of epidemic horror because no where is safe and there is no hope. 8/10

Society of the Snow - powerful retelling of the infamous 1972 Andes plane crash. Dispels with the cannibalism sensationalism and affords dignity to the people in this unfathomable situation. The voiceover narration provided by Enzo Vogrincic is effectively moving and frames this story in all its unbelievable tragedy and triumph from the perspectives of those who endured it. Cinematically it's familiar ground but Bayona directs the hell out of it and the ending is an absolute tearjerker. One of the best of the year. 8.5/10

Wonka - gosh this music sucks. Autotune confectionary with repetitive and boring lyrics. The worldbuilding is fine. Some cool set designed by Nathan Crowley drawing from Northwestern European architecture and some fun costumes from Lindy Hemming, but the rags-to-riches origin story is bland and so are the performances and jokes. I remember people ragged on Hugh Grant's Oompa-Loompa when the first trailer came out but he's the best thing about it. The Sally Hawkins scenes were sweet too. 6.5/10

annnnd another 2023 doc: Lakota Nation vs. United States. Lyrical and powerful overview of the Lakota's ongoing (since 1876) struggle to reclaim their sacred Black Hills in South Dakota and Wyoming, but tells a bigger story of how the US has exploited and stolen from indigenous people throughout its existence (especially upon the discovery of natural resources). Worth seeing alongside Killers of the Flower Moon, and IMO a lot more important to see.

Not much this week.

Yentl - 7.5 / 10

Under the Tuscan Sun - 7 / 10