Movies I absolutely loved. Love, of course, is a subjective term. For me, loving a film means being wholly drawn into it or being intrigued into watching the film again. If I left a movie with my mouth agape or nodding my head contently, chances are “Love It.” is my short-form review.
The biopic is a tiresome genre. It is predicated on formula and stuffy grandiose representations. When a film like Jackie comes around, then, it acts as a feat of restorative faith in the biopic.
Jackie is shot with opaque symmetry. There are many angular, straight on shots that mirror the subject’s mournful resolve. It is an elegant Continue reading Jackie (2016) Movie Review
Elle opens on the immediate aftermath of a rape. More specifically, Paul Verhoeven’s film opens on protagonist Elle (Isabelle Huppert) cleaning up afterwards as a means of hiding the crime’s existence. Her nonchalance over the issue becomes an anomaly. “I guess I was raped” is how she breaks the news to her closest friends. The police are never involved.
Yet she prepares herself for another attack. She sleeps with a hammer by her pillow. She purchases pepper spray and a hatchet.
Elle is a slow-burn thriller about the nature of power. Elle’s character is introduced as a bifurcated one, trapped between Continue reading Elle (2016) Movie Review
Zsofi (Gasparfalvi Dorka) is a new student at school, and her experience is less than comfortable. The hall monitors hover over class authoritatively. The teacher barely stops to introduce Zsofi. And the teacher of Zsofi’s favorite subject, choir class, pulls her aside and tells her to mime the words instead of sing them.
Mindenki is a film about the simple cruelty of childhood, coming mainly in the form of a choir teacher. Rarely does cinema capture Continue reading Mindenki (Sing) (2016) Short Film Review
The opening number of La La Land, the new musical from Whiplash director Damien Chazelle, is the appropriate first impression of Los Angeles: a gridlocked freeway of cars sitting idle. Only, instead of the frustration and cynicism that would arise from this situation, people burst into hopeful song and dance among the stalled cars. In a rush of agile choreography, a rainbow color scheme, and immense depth staging, a flurry of people dance on hoods and sing of the wonder of Hollywood sunshine.
At the culmination of this tune, we are introduced to Mia (Emma Stone), another hopeful going over audition sides in her car as she waits, and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), who honks aggressively at her when she refuses to move once the congestion breaks up.
With the first few scenes, La La Land presents itself as a
Susan (Amy Adams), an art gallery owner, receives a novel manuscript from her ex-husband Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal). The twisted work, a thriller involving characters not dissimilar to Susan and Edward, proves to be an added hindrance to Susan’s already strained life, a life of lavish emptiness and a philandering new husband (Armie Hammer). As she progresses through the novel, she begins an introspection into her own life that could prove to change her.
Director Tom Ford, a fashion designer by trade, brings his talents to this film, and his touch becomes clear on the Continue reading Nocturnal Animals (2016) Movie Review
Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) lives a mundane existence as a building handyman. Cold and blunt, he works all day and drinks all night, isolating himself into a bubble. When his brother (Kyle Chandler) dies, Lee is asked to take custody of the man’s son (Lucas Hedges).
Affleck plays Lee bristly, but not icy. In an extended conversation sequence in a hospital following his brother’s death, Lee reacts with Continue reading Manchester by the Sea (2016) Movie Review
Jeff Nichols, the writer-director responsible for great films such as Take Shelter and Mud, presents us his next film about an interracial couple whose marriage is prosecuted as illegal by the state of Virginia in the 1950s. Loving stars Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton as the titular couple, and the film is by and large a platform for their performances.
The film begins with shots of their faces awash in soft shadow, a quiet discussion of an impending pregnancy an intriguing locale to start off the film.
This quietness is the defining characteristic of Continue reading Loving (2016) Movie Review
Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) is a Polynesian islander and daughter of the chief of Motu Nui. Moana is raised on tall tales of legendary heroes and dastardly monsters, the story of demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) stealing away the heart of the Mother Island rousing in her the spirit of adventure.
Caught between this adventurous spirit and a call to lead her tribe, a divide between land and sea, Moana ventures out beyond the reef to Continue reading Moana (2016) Movie Review
Moonlight begins with a beautiful steadicam shot that literally revolves around a denied drug deal. One of the dealers involved, Juan (Mahershala Ali), gets cut off by a child being chased by bullies. Chiron, or “Little” (Alex Hibbert), finds comfort in Juan as a father figure that he does not have elsewhere in his life.
Little, quiet though he is, shows a conflicted desire to fit into the Continue reading Moonlight (2016) Movie Review
There is something to the aesthetic of Where the Woods End, the thriller short subject from director Felix Ahrens. It is sleek and gritty all at once. A glorious crane shot of the titular woods opens the short, panning across the lush, unassuming setting.
Where the Woods End is a taut psychological thriller that follows the growing internal torment of police officer Elke (Henrike von Kuick) after she Continue reading Where the Woods End (Am Ende Der Wald) (2016) Short Film Review
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