Directed by Angela Robinson, the film was a sexy, funny, and emotionally rich film about an unconventional poly relationship between three people, and the inspiration that led to the creation of Wonder Woman. I was very touched by this film, and believe it was one of the underrated gems of the decade.
Just a stunningly beautifully animated film, I loved the sharp angles and dynamic colors. I loved how much heart was put into the film’s art and performances and story, and it felt very rich.
An intimate drama about grief and complicated love relationships among the tight-knit Orthodox Jewish community of London, with standout performances by Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, and Alessandro Nivola.
I put these together because they are by the same director (Robert Eggers), and are both period films about isolation and insanity. They are both incredibly immersive and weird to watch, and I felt more wrapped up in the horror of The Witch because of the family’s isolation from society and their religious fervor destroying them, as well as rooting for the teen girl to get out and find freedom. In The Lighthouse, I just liked how it was gross and funny and bizarre, and how time didn’t seem to exist in their world, as it could be a few weeks or a year for all the audience would know.Both films are just fantastic in their isolated horror, and I totally see them as a double feature.
It is a gorgeous-looking movie with a lot of slow, creeping dread, and centers women in the STEM field as the core characters of the film. I did like how trippy the last third got, plus the heavy synth score that was reminiscent of the director Alex Garland’s previous film Ex Machina.Natalie Portman was fantastic in this. She is very much into feminism and advocacy for films about complex women, so I could see how she fit well for this cerebral film that felt like a mix of hard sci-fi with horror.
A quiet little British drama, directed by Isabel Coixet (My Life Without Me) about a 1950s widow (Emily Mortimer), who opens a bookshop in a seaside village, and faces a lot of unnecessary pushback by residents who are resistant to change. I adored this little film, and especially loved her pen-pal friendship with the town recluse (Bill Nighy), a solitary old man who adores Ray Bradbury novels and specifically requests them from the bookshop.
A stark indie film, directed by Lynne Ramsay (Movern Callar) in which the hero (Joaquin Phoenix) carries out solo rescue missions as a mercenary through brute violence while struggling with PTSD. A fantastic film that says so much more through dialogue-free scenes thanks to its blunt editing style.
A darkly satirical look at race relations, assimilation, big business, labor unions, and corporations in a sci-fi world of heightened reality a la Michel Gondry, but directed by Boots Riley.
(Reprint of my film review from 2015)
Life Partners is a romantic comedy directed by Susanna Fogel and written by Fogel and Joni Lefkowitz. It stars Gillian Jacobs, Leighton Meester, Adam Brody, and Abby Elliott. It is a very good and likable comedy about two best friends dealing with crossroads in their friendship and their personal romantic relationships.The film has a bright and sunshine-y look to it, partially because it is set in a hip area of Los Angeles, and because many of the characters wear bright colors and have animated and talkative personalities.
Paige (Jacobs) and Sasha (Meester) have been best friends for years, and have great chemistry together despite their personality differences. Paige is a lawyer who has a type-A personality and has a controlling attitude when she wants her way, which includes trying to control Sasha’s life. Sasha is a slacker musician who has abandoned her passion to work dead-end receptionist jobs, and doesn’t know what to do with her life, feeling anxious about being nearly 30 and having a lack of direction in her life. Despite this, the two are very witty and relaxed with each other, often teasing one another. There is a fun running joke where they heckle each other while driving in their cars, pretending to be angry motorists and cursing at each other, calling each other “bitch” and “slut” with love. They complement one another, and each need the other in their life because Sasha needs structure in her life, and Paige needs relaxation in her life.
Their relationship is tested when each of them get involved in romantic relationships. Paige, who is straight, begins to date Tim (Brody), an affable young doctor and cinephile who is much more laid-back than Paige. Sasha, who is a lesbian, dates women who are younger and more immature and flighty, a reflection of Sasha not being ready to grow up. Sasha dates Vanessa (Elliott), who is a wannabe writer that is pretentious and selfish. Both of these romantic relationships threaten the core dynamic of Paige and Sasha’s friendship,because their romantic partners inadvertently take them away from each other.Paige become engaged to Tim, and spends much more time with him than with Sasha, leaving Sasha feeling like she has been ditched and not seen as “adult”as they are. While Paige doesn’t like Vanessa because she is a bad influence on Sasha, and keeping Sasha from maturing more as an adult. The best friends struggle with each other over accepting their differences and learning to work together as friends instead of trying to change the other to what they want.
The film shines because of the great chemistry between Jacobs and Meester. They bring a realness to their portrayals that makes them seem like real best friends, with warmth, in-jokes, light teasing, vulnerable confessional moments,and a deep love and care for one another. Particularly, Meester shines in this movie, as she is a rising young actress who hasn’t been given enough of the credit that she deserves for being a charming, talented, and likable actor and personality. Sasha is very relatable because she is a young woman hitting 30 who doesn’t know what she wants in life, and is tired of working soulless jobs, yet has given up her musical passion out of boredom or depression. Her slow realization that she needs to change her life herself and to break her pattern of working boring jobs and dating immature women is very true to many women’s decisions to grow up more past their youthful post-adolescent years. Meester brings vulnerability and understanding to this role that made a true standout in this film.
The script by Fogel and Lefkowitz is based on their own friendship, and feels honest in what a friendship between young women is like. The film passes the Bechdel Test for the most part, excepting scenes where Paige and Sasha are talking about Tim. The friends often talk about their jobs, Sasha’s relationships, their friendship, junk T.V., and their life aspirations. It’s a wonderful movie about female friendship, and was an enjoyable independent film.
I really enjoyed Raw a lot. It is a Belgian horror comedy and was delightfully macabre with a great use of color a la Italian giallo films. The story is about a young and nervous veterinary student who is forced to eat raw meat during a hazing ritual, and she changes from a reserved vegetarian to craving the bloodiest forms of flesh. I loved how the lead actress, Garance Marillier, had this remarkable ability to convey both an average, everyday appearance with a disturbingly beautiful quality as she becomes more ravenous with hunger for flesh. It was a film I was meaning to watch for a long time, and I am happy I saw it.
This is a comedy I’ve watched a couple of times that I’ve just always liked, mostly due to how bright and likable Paul Rudd is as a naive and sweet guy who keeps telling the truth, much to the frustrations of his family. He plays a laid-back organic farmer named Ned who does a stint in prison for selling weed to a uniformed cop (he’s incredibly trusting to his own fault), and after he gets back and his girlfriend has a new guy and kicks him out, he moves around crashing at his sisters’ homes while they deal with their own domestic and personal issues.What’s funny about the movie is that while Ned is the titular idiot, he’s actually the wisest and nicest character, as his sisters are often small-minded, self-centered, or just unpleasant. The most sympathetic is Emily Mortimer’s character, a caring mom whose filmmaker husband is cheating on her, and who is sweet but naïve. This is in contrast to Elizabeth Banks’ journalist character, who is trying to dig dirt on a celebrity to make for a big paydirt profile, as well as being condescending to her friend who is her obvious romantic interest, or Zooey Deschanel’s artsy character, who is in a relationship with her girlfriend but has confused commitment issues.The best relationship in this movie is with Ned and his golden retriever Willie Nelson, who he adores and is trying to get back since his ex-girlfriend insists on keeping him out of spite. Rudd’s happy face and higher voice whenever he’s with his dog is so sweet and endearing to watch, and there is a cute payoff at the end as to why his dog was named Willie Nelson.This movie just came and went, and isn’t as remembered as Rudd’s other comedies, but it’s one of my favorites by him, and I thought I’d include it as a little bonus among the more critically acclaimed films on my list.
A bittersweet Japanese family drama about a family of thieves and con artists supporting one another while living under deceptions and running various schemes. It’s a warm and touching character drama about likable and complicated people, and a thoroughly engaging story.
This is a stunning film, an epic Western with supernatural elements, and I practically exhaled deeply when it was over. It’s powerful and has a lot of emotional heaviness between the characters of Logan, Laura, and Professor Xavier, and I really felt the weight of the film. I definitely need to watch this again.
