The Best Films of 2024

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Year End, Year End Lists1 Comment

While most people have already given up on their 2025 New Years resolutions, I’ve been stuck in 2024 for the last few weeks as I waited for films to expand to more cities so I could finally see them and get this list out. This last year was a relatively light film going experience for me, as the six months I spent in Minnesota, I was largely unable to get to the theaters. That said I still saw over 90 new releases including most of the things on my list (I’m mostly just sad that no distributors were willing to release No Other Land). As always, I’m interested in evaluating how much of my film watching and enjoying comes from female (and this year for the first time a non-binary) directors. This year, 9 of the films in my top 2 were made by non-male directors which is a pretty sizable number given that men still make up the vast majority of directors (though the numbers are slowly but surely getting better). Now, onto the list.

25. Flow (Dir. Gints Zilbalodis)

While 2024 was a relatively great year for animated films, only one film will be making my year end list and then even just in the 25th slot. That said Flow is more than deserving of its place on this list. The Latvian film tells a story of biblical proportions as a great flood devastates the land which humans have already left. In their absence, the film is populated with various species of animals, none of which talk in a language humans can understand. Having characters who don’t speak is always a risk in any film, especially in one devoid of human facial experiences, but Zilbalodis delivers despite this hindrance as the animals which inhabit the world are vibrant, alive, and each have their own personalities. The black cat at the center of the film was so convincing that I found watching the film in the theater to be almost torturous as I missed my own black cat who was less than three miles away at home so much. Stunningly beautiful, Flow is the best animated film of the year, and a great way to kick off my list.

24. Anora (Dir. Sean Baker)

Sean Baker has made a career out of humanizing sex workers, and Anora is another entry into that lineage of film. A transcendental Mikey Madison plays Ani (or the titular Anora) who evolves from sex worker just doing her job to girlfriend for hire and eventually wife of Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn) the unbelievably rich son of a Russian oligarch. When his parents’ goons come to Ivan and Ani’s home to confront him, Ivan flees leading to a screwball comedy as the goons along with Ani search the city for Ivan. It may be lower on my list than most people’s as the search for Ivan dragged on a little long in my book, there is no denying that Sean Baker is a masterful filmmaker and the way he elevates his protagonists is commendable. The Palme d’Or winning film may be a little messy at times, but there is no denying Madison has immaculate acting chops and is deserving of all of the recognition.

23. The Fire Inside (Dir. Rachel Morrison)

While most people were aware of three of the films that opened on Christmas this year (Babygirl, Nosferatu, and A Complete Unknown all of which missed the list) it is the fourth film that opened on the holiday that I believe was the best. What is at it’s heart a sports film, The Fire Inside spends just as much time after its protagonist wins the gold medal to tell the story of the disrespect female athletes receive especially when they are in sports that are seen as less feminine. With a strong lead performance by the young Ryan Destiny as Claressa Shields and a stand out performance from the Oscar nominated Brian Tyree Henry as her coach Jason, the film takes what should be a rags to riches story but brings it back to reality. Even after proving herself the best in the world, Claressa a Flint Michigan native still has to fight tooth and nail for respect in a world antagonistic against strong Black women, and director Rachel Morrison is able to capture that struggle and agony from a young woman who did everything right but still has to fight to survive.

22. A Real Pain (Dir. Jesse Eisenberg)

In A Real Pain, Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin play cousins who take a Holocaust tour of Poland in the wake of their grandmother’s passing. While previously close, the two have drifted over the years as Eisenberg’s David has settled down with a wife and child while Culkin’s Benji remains as aloof and free spirited as ever. These contrasting personalities inevitably lead to clashes between the two as their emotions are already high given the circumstances of their reunion. Set primarily in David’s viewpoint, Benji can be seen as infuriating, yet Eisenberg paints the film with a deft hand to show how each cousin is mourning in their own way and acting out accordingly. Excellently acted by both, Culkin’s vast oscillations in mood in an understandable and believable way steel the show.

21. We Live in Time (Dir. John Crowley)

Yes, the crazy horse poster movie made my year end list. This is a film that seemed to disappear from the conversation even before it came out, but I think the chemistry between and acting prowess exhibited by Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield carry this film excellently. While this film is certainly a melodrama, that moniker is often unfairly maligned and when done well can still result in an excellent piece of filmmaking. Pugh in particular is remarkable as Almut, a chef/ restaurateur. Jumping between years the relationship between the two leads is always believable and captivating. Crowley’s decision to tell the story non-linearly is welcome as it allows lighter moments to be intercut with the darker, more melodramatic happenings that result in a film that feels much more even than had it played out chronologically.

20. Bird (Dir. Andrea Arnold)

After the huge success of casting at the time non-actor Sasha Lane in her previous narrative feature American Honey, director Andrea Arnold once again finds gold in casting Nykiya Adams in her first feature film as Bailey, a 13-year-old girl squatting in an apartment building outside of London with her father Bug (Barry Keoghan), his girlfriend and her daughter. Arnold once again captures the teenage angst of her young female protagonist as Bailey wants nothing to do with her father and wants to live as if she’s older than she is. Accompanied by a mysterious young man named Bird (Franz Rogowski) Bailey takes on tasks too adult for her to deal with though she feels pressured to do so. Culminating with a bit of magical realism, Bird captures the fine line between childhood and adulthood and how girls living in less than ideal circumstances are forced to cross that line sooner than they should. Arnold as always has a great deal of respect for her protagonist and captures her experiences without judging like others might.

19. His Three Daughters (Dir. Azazl Jacobs)

Unceremoniously dumped on Netflix, His Three Daughters could have received some significant Oscar pushes had it had the chance to find its audience on the big screen. Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyoone, and Elizabeth Olsen play sisters Katie, Rachel, and Christina reunited in the last days of their father’s life sharing a single roof for the first time since they were kids. Between the already stressful circumstances of their reunion and their conflicting personalities, tensions abound between the three women as one thing compounds upon the next. These tensions escalate throughout the film leading to numerous misunderstandings and fights letting each of the three women stretch their acting muscles in what proves to be an excellent showcase for all three.

18. Gasoline Rainbow (Dir. Turner Ross and Bill Ross)

Following five high school graduates as they take one last road trip to the coast before leaving for college Gasoline Rainbow is a tone poem capturing a moment in one’s life where the future appears endless before you, much like the Pacific Ocean that the teens strive to see. Embarking in an old van that appears to be on its last legs, the film captures the listlessness of small town life and the urge to see what exists beyond the seemingly endless stretch of highways surrounding all the five friends have ever known. Light on plot, the Ross brothers capture what its like to be a certain age in a certain place knowing that life will change forever in a couple of months in ways both wanted and unwanted. An ethereal road trip movie that is timeless.

17. The Last Showgirl (dir. Gia Coppola)

Sometimes a film acts as a reclamation project for a disrespected actor and makes one question what they may have been missing for years or decades, and The Last Showgirl is that project for Pamela Anderson. Directed by Gia Coppola, the film centers Anderson as Shelly a Las Vegas showgirl at a storied show in the last weeks of the show’s life. Anderson’s performance is mesmerizing as the former star of the show coming to terms with her aging and losing direction with the closing of the show that she kept her job at largely as a legacy piece. The film comments on society’s lack of want or respect for women performs once they age out of their traditional beauty standards as well as the sacrifice that women have to endure to provide for their loved ones. Refusing to be just a story of loss, the film also shows the power of female solidarity and its power to unite even despite momentary fights. Ending on an ambiguous reality questioning moment, Anderson’s performance is career defining and deserving of all the accolades.

16. Tuesday (Dir. Daina Oniunas-Pusic)

Of all the Seinfeld alumnus Julia Louis-Dreyfus proves time and time again that she has the most skill and range. Tuesday sees Louis-Dreyfus flexing her dramatic muscles as the mother, Zora, of a sick daughter, Tuesday (Lola Petticrew), who is forced to confront death who arrives at their home in the form of a talking bird (Arinzé Kene). Even before the appearance of death, Zora largely hides from her daughter unable to stomach the inevitability of losing her, and attempts to destroy the manifestation of death when he makes himself known to save her from the pain. Wonderfully layered in storytelling and acted emotion, Tuesday is an underseen gem that plays stronger than one would expect largely because of Louis-Dreyfus’s performance.

15. The Beast (Dir. Bertrand Bonello)

Maybe it’s my person love of French cinema, but in my opinion, Léa Seydoux is one of the most underappreciated actresses working today. The Beast is the most recent film in which she excels. Set in the near future where artificial intelligence is in control, Seydoux’s Gabrielle undergoes a process of cleaning her mind of traumas from past lives so that she can rid herself of emotions and take a higher position in the new world. From this premise, the film takes a light Cloud Atlas approach to filmmaking where Seydoux plays her predicesors at various points in time, with George MacKay playing a man attached to her in one way or another in each moment. While I personally would have welcomed more time periods, and an even longer run time, the film is still a miraculous experiment and earns it’s spot high up on my list.

14. Challengers (Dir. Luca Guadagnino)

Guadagnino released two films this year, and while he seemed to think Queer was the one worth pushing for awards, Challengers was in my mind the undeniable better film. Boasting a year’s best score by the duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, every moment of the film is propulsed forward by a litany of great cinematic decisions. Between the unique “ball cam” camera movements, oozing sexual tension between all three leads, time jumping, and the afore mentioned booming score, every second of Challengers is a welcome affront to the senses. The love triangle between Art, Patrick, and Tashi (Mike Faist, Josh O’Connor, and Zendaya) is a delight to view, and the constant phallic imagery (special shout out to the churro) prove that every leg of the triangle has just as much sexual passion as the other.

13. Conclave (Dir. Edward Berger)

2022’s surprise Oscar breakout All Quite on the Western Front introduced the world to German director Edward Berger, but while his skill was undeniable, few would have guessed that he would make a relatively high grossing English language film for his next outing. Conclave tapped into the underserved adult audience at the box office as the mystery/ drama surrounding the election of a new Pope under the supervision of Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) was a true crowd pleaser. With a stacked supporting cast including Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Oscar hopeful Isabella Rossellini all putting in great performances, it’s the deft direction by Berger that highlight the film and prove he is more than a one hit wonder.

12. Red Rooms (Dir. Pascal Plante)

Taking place during the trial of fictional serial murderer Ludovic Chevalier, Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy) has an odd obsession with the case. Presumed to be fan girl of the charged, Kelly-Anne’s true motivations remain mysterious throughout the runtime of the psychological thriller. Appearing at times sociopathic, Kelly-Anne’s obsession takes her well passed the line of acceptability and legality in a way that keeps one guessing throughout. The film wouldn’t have succeeded without Gariépy’s miraculous portrayal of the cold Kelly-Anne. Like all good thrillers, Red Rooms kept me glued to my seat watching what would happen next with apprehension and anticipation.

11. Love Lies Bleeding (Dir. Rose Glass)

Maybe putting the Kristen Stewart lesbian film on my list is a little cliché, but the heart wants what the heart wants. All jokes aside, Glass follows up her moody horror film Saint Maud with a bombastic, ‘roided out fever dream of love story. Jackie (Katy O’Brian) enters Stewart’s Lou’s life as a hurricane, breaking her out of her uneventful life living in the shadow of her father (an unhinged Ed Harris). The pair fall for each other fast and have undeniable chemistry as the film indulges in the sexiness of their relationship. Mix in some murder complete with unsettling gore, and the film is a singular experience in 2024 film.

10. Evil Does Not Exist (Dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)

A few years removed from his Oscar surprise Drive My Car, Hamaguchi returns with another quite contemplative Japanese feature. Takumi (Hitoshi Omika) lives in a remote wooded village with his young daughter Hana(Ryô Nishikawa) doing odd jobs for the other village residents. When a corporation plans on building a glamping facility in the area, the village becomes concerned with the pollution it will bring to their water supply. Despite this threatening presence, Hamaguchi still takes his time and uses silence to force the audience to identify with the serenity of the village and question the upheaval that the proposed building would have on the community.

9. The People’s Joker (Dir. Vera Drew)

For the first time in the over a decade since I’ve been putting out these lists, a comic book movie has made the list… sort of. For those who don’t know, The People’s Joker is Vera Drew’s parody of the DC villain. It debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022, but it was quickly shut down with a cease and desist from the comic corporation. Two years later the film finally received a release as it was deemed protected by parody law. The first of two trans allegories on my list Drew plays Joke the Harlequin, a trans comedian working in an underground anti-comedy club in Gotham. The film touches on identity and finding oneself all through the guise of famous comic characters. If like me, you’re not a fan of the stranglehold the comic industry has had on the media landscape the past decade and a half, don’t let this one pass you by assuming it’s more of the same.

8. How to Have Sex (Dir. Molly Manning Walker)

Taking place during the British summer holiday, How to Have Sex centers around three female friends as they take place in teenage debauchery and attempt to get laid. Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce) is especially anxious to have sex, as she never has before. Director Molly Manning Walker plays on the presumed importance of losing one’s virginity and explores how sex as a symbol can be damaging when not emotionally prepared for it. McKenna-Bruce embraces her character’s mental state after losing her virginity in a way much different than she expected. Her dissociated wandering after the incident and eventual breakdown to her friend were some of the best acting moments of the year.

7. Sing Sing (Dir. Greg Kwedar)

For all the accolades I will sing for the distribution studio A24, Sing Sing was one of the largest failures in their tenure. Not because the movie is bad, obviously as it has made my top 10 of the year, but because they completely botched the distribution of the film. It never even came close to opening wide which likely cost it quite a few Oscar nominations. That said, even a baffeling distribution model shouldn’t be enough to deny Colman Domingo his second consecutive Oscar nomination as the enigmatic prisoner John Divine Whitfield. The film headlined by Domingo imparts the importance of art programs in correctional facilities to the wider public and is an essential film in humanizing the incarcerated population.

6. The Breaking Ice (Dir. Anthony Chen)

One of the least seen films on this list, The Breaking Ice touched me in a way that I was ill-prepared for. Li Haofeng (Haoran Liu) is a twenty something man lost in the world. He is constantly receiving calls from his therapist’s office concerned that he hasn’t shown up to his session and seems unsure of what his life is for. While out of town for the wedding of a college friend, he ends up in the company of a tour guide Nana (Dongyu Zhou) and her friend Han Xiao (Chuxiao Qu). The three of them create an immediate friendship that hovers in the liminal space between platonic and romantic and brought my depressed self a lot of hope in the cold winter.

5. Nickel Boys (Dir. RaMell Ross)

Shot almost entirely in first person, RaMell Ross’s devastating examination of the criminalization of Black boys, is a masterwork. Chronicling the friendship of two Black boys, Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson), who meet in Nickel Academy, a reform school for criminal youth with a sordid secret Nickel Boys pushes the boundaries of the medium to induce sympathy for its two subjects. By putting oneself directly in the eyes of the dual protagonists, one is able to empathize with the unjust lot in life they received. Early on the film plays loose with narrative structure playing only short clips over long periods in time, but once Elwood enters Nickel and meets Turner, the film takes a somewhat more narratively structured approach and is stronger for it.  

4. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of The World (Dir. Radu Jude)

At nearly three hours long, this Romanian film will most assuredly not be for everyone, especially as Angela’s (Ilinca Manolache) alter-ego Bobita is tailor made to be a turn off, but the brashness of the film and its lead are essential to the feel of the film. Jude’s film can be seen as a hit piece against capitalistic tendencies and the corporations that have complete control over a working-class person’s ability to survive in the world. Overworked and underpaid, Angela is put face to face with the people whose lives her bosses directly negatively impacted, but in need of her paycheck she escapes into short videos under her assumed male chauvinist identity as a reprieve from the world crumbling around her.

3. All We Imagine as Light (Dir. Payal Kapadia)

Something needs to be done about the best international film category at the Oscars because countries refuse to put forward their best films (especially India between this and RRR in 2022) leaving them unable to be nominated thus denying them of the recognition that they deserve. All We Imagine as Light is a wonderful picture following three women living on their own in Mumbai. Directed by a woman, Payal Kapadia, the film captures the intimacy between female friendship and its universality even if not more so existent in a country where women’s rights to independence, especially in making their romantic decisions, is less common.

2. The Brutalist (Dir. Brady Corbet)

Sometimes upon first viewing of a film, I don’t think anything special of it, yet even without a subsequent viewing it lodges itself in my mind and refuses to budge greatly increasing in my opinion throughout the years. This is what happened with director Brady Corbet’s previous film, Vox Lux. That film still haunts me six plus years after its release. The Brutalist I feel will have a likewise long lifespan in my mind, though this one hit with me immediately. This three-and-a-half-hour epic, complete with overture and intermission, explores the impact trauma has on oneself and the processing of said trauma through art. Beautifully shot and scored, The Brutalist feels akin to a dream, with fictional architect László Tóth’s building being impossible to comprehend in its scope and layout.

1. I Saw the TV Glow (Dir. Jane Schoenbrun)

In their newest release, Jane Schoenbrun takes the power of nostalgia and uses it as a jumping off point to make one of the most poignant allegories for the trans experience ever committed to celluloid (yes I double checked, it was shot on film). Owen (played by Ian Foreman while young and Justice Smith after) and Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) are both outsiders who bond over a teenage TV show called the Pink Opaque. Their experiences with the show take on a surreal quality and end up existing as a hazy memory but are essential to their being. While Owen’s journey takes a dark turn due to personal inaction, the film’s enduring image is the message “there is still time” written in sidewalk chalk on the street in suburbia. This sentiment leaves the viewer with the hope that it’s never too late to live one’s truth.

New Release Mondays – All We Imagine as Light

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie Reviews, New Release Reviews, New Releases, New ReleasesLeave a comment

Grand Prix winner (second prize) at Cannes this year was the Indian film All We Imagine as Light, and it was easily the best of the big three award winners (Emilia Pérez was the Jury Prize winner and Anora won the Palme). While being produced in India, don’t expect any fantastical action or musical numbers as is common with Bollywood fare. Payal Kapadia’s film instead has more in common with a US independent film than the studio system in her country.

The film centers on roommates and nurses at the same hospital in Mumbai, Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and Anu (Divya Prabha) and their relationships. Prabha as the senior of the two women, has been married for years, but her husband has been working and living in Germany for quite a while and his calls have become less and less frequent. At the beginning of the film, it has been over a year since they’ve talked, but out of the blue he sends her a high-end rice cooker in the mail without so much as a letter. This brings her relationship or lack thereof to the forefront of Prabha’s mind.

Anu’s love life differs greatly from that of Prabha’s, but is no less complicated. She is in a relationship with a Muslim man Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon).  The cultural difference between the two means they must keep their relationship a secret, though their success at that is questionable as their relationship is the subject of gossip between the nurses at the hospital. Compounding on this is that her parents are constantly sending her pictures of Hindi men that they are trying to marry her off to.

The final plot line in the film follows Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) a cook working at the same hospital as Prabha and Anu. She is being evicted from her home of 22 years by a predatory building company since she has no papers after the loss of her husband. Eventually she succumbs to the pressure from the builders and returns to her small village far from Mumbai with the help from Prabha and Anu where the second half of the film takes place.

The beauty of the film is in the intimacy of both the relationships and the camera work. Cinematographer Ranabir Das holds tight on faces and hands to tell the story of how each character feels about the other. These close ups rely heavily on the actors to have perfect control over their facial expressions, and they live up to the expectations.

This intimacy is also expressed in the screenplay. Written by the director, Kapadia touches on both the day-to-day livings of her female protagonists as well as the major, or major to the characters, relationships with men. This blending of events makes the characters feel real and their experiences true to life. The lives of the characters feel lived in and personal, inducing empathy from the audience.

Intimate stories of women’s lives often get the short shrift in the film industry, especially in areas of the world where women have fewer rights, but Kapadia works against the system to create something special. Cannes missed out on having unprecedented back-to-back female filmmakers win the Palme as All We Imagine as Light is a perfect film.

New Release Mondays – Flow

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie Reviews, New Release Reviews, New Releases, New ReleasesLeave a comment

Set in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity is gone, but their past is still present, Flow utilizes this setting to create a beautiful world for its protagonist, a gorgeous black cat, to explore. The Latvian film directed by Gints Zilbalodis subjects the wonderfully rendered cat to a flood of biblical proportions forcing it to explore the world and cooperate with other animals against its natural instincts.

Cat traverses the flooded landscape on a boat it happens upon populated by a capybara which it is understandably tentative of. The makeshift crew of the boat expands to include a ring-tailed lemur, a labrador whom Cat had encountered before the flood, and a secretarybird. While in nature the animals would be at the best ambivalent to each other if not outright hostile, the boat brings with it an unspoken truce between the animals as they look to exist in the strange new world.

Zilbalodis shows real restraint in his characterization of the animals that inhabit the film. While most films would lean on humanizing the wild animals, each one feels genuine to its species when interacting in the world. This is captured both in small moments inserted into the film to remind the viewers they are watching animals (a moment of Cat chasing a sun sport as reflected in Lemur’s mirror stands out) as well as behaviors exhibited throughout. For example, Cat frequently retreats to the top of the mast for a solitary moment amongst the chaos of the animals. Likewise, Capybara is aloof and flops down on the deck of the boat to rest at random times. Most importantly, the animals never speak a language outside of their own noises, yet the feelings and motivations of each animal can clearly always be ascertained.

By keeping the animals so honest to their animalistic selves, the peril they experience as well as the joy hit the viewer more emotionally than a personified version would. Cat’s meows hit a nerve that any owner of felines understands intimately and caused this black cat owner to long to be reunited with her furball.

The only real exception to this naturalist portrayal of the animals is that they all seem to inherently know how to use the rutter to steer the boat, a job which Secretarybird takes point on once it joins the boat, but which each animal takes its turn at. This singular task is required for the animals to be able to successfully explore the newly aquatic world, but quickly falls into the realm of suspended disbelief as the rest of the animals’ behaviors feel so genuine to their species.

Another undeniable strength of the film is its visuals. The art is stylized in a way the eschews photorealism for a look that allows the animals to be more expressive, with giant eyes which speak wonders. Everything in the film is brilliantly colored in a fantastical way which while unrealistic compliments the magical essence of the situation. The remains of human civilization that the animals navigate feel both futuristic and ancient, which adds to the mystery of the world in which the animals live.

Flow is a perfect antidote to the American animation scene where even the best of films are filed with one liners and a constant state of irony left over from the 90s. The genuineness of the Latvian feature allows the viewer to connect more closely with the characters even though they don’t speak a word. Beautiful both in image and plot, Flow is the peak of what the animated medium can accomplish when allowing the creators to think outside of the snarky box in which most US animated studios reside.

Varda Replies 1971 – 1980

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Agnès Varda, Auteur Deep DiveLeave a comment

Sorry about the long delay between segments, anhedonia is a terrible thing and has prevented me from engaging the way I wish I could. But I’m hoping that some brute force can get me back in the swing of things.

The 1970s were a less prolific period of time for Varda, but in the pieces she did put out, she strongly developed her cinematic voice, filling the films with motifs that may have been in their infancy in the periods before, but starting these years sprout and will continue to flower through the years to come.

Nausicaa

Another unfinished project, but while in previous unfinished projects we only received clips and voiceover, Nausicaa was mostly complete, it was just missing its post-production. What exists of the film is a semiautobiographical picture of a women who falls in love with a Greek refugee after a right-wing coup took over the country. Nausicaa plays into many of Varda’s themes, left winged politics, mixing narrative with documentary, fourth wall breaks where characters talk directly to Agnes. While it may lack some polish, the film encapsulates many of Varda’s motifs and is a great summary of her work.

Daguerrotypes

One of Varda’s naval gazing films, Daguerrotypes is an innocent exploration of the shops 50 feet from Varda’s front door. This film encapsulates one of Varda’s tendencies to find magic in the mundane. She makes this extremely evident by juxtaposing people doing their job with a literally magic show. Varda finds something worth filming wherever she goes, and this theme will continue into later films.

Women Reply

A short film all about women’s empowerment. While viewed under 2024 lenses it comes off as rather transphobic as much of the film was about possessing a woman’s body and giving birth, the line that stood out, that I’d like to think was Varda’s intention was “Being a woman means having a woman’s head too”.

One Sings the Other Doesn’t

The clear highlight of the decade, One Sings the Other Doesn’t is Agnès Varda’s pro-abortion film, a message which sadly hits just as hard today. Staring two lovely women as leads Apple (Valérie Mairesse) and Suzanne (Thérèse Liotard) two friends who come into and out of each other’s lives frequently involving abortions or childbirth. The film embodies a womanly warmth as groups of women give what little they have in order to make the other’s lives easier. Even the most melodramatic of plot points feel slight and manageable because of the power of womanly friendship.

The Pleasure of Love in Iran

What is essentially a deleted scene from One Sings the Other Doesn’t, The Pleasure of Love in Iran briefly expands upon the budding relationship between Apple and her Iranian partner Darius (Ali Rafie). The love between the two young romantics is mirrored in the country as they explore it’s beauty.

While the first two films this week were largely about Varda herself (a topic she will return to again and again in the later part of her career), The last three films create the overarching theme for this decade. Varda was extremely interested in the passion that Women have for others, and in particular other women. One Sings the Other Doesn’t is the clear standout of the 70s and exemplifies this theme the best. The relationship between Apple and Suzanne is representative of the bond between women, especially when they’ve experienced something unpleasant together, and the power that women can behold when working together.

New Release Mondays – Inside Out 2

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie Reviews, New Release Reviews, New Releases, New ReleasesLeave a comment

Pixar returns to the sequel machine for its 2024 endeavor, but this time instead of making a sequel of a less critically received film (ala cars), they turn the machine to one of the most beloved films in their catalogue, Inside Out. Does the beloved 2015 film survive the sequlization? Well yes and no. Inside Out 2 is definitely the lesser of the two films, but it does stand on its own at least decently well.

In the first Inside Out, a young girl, Riley is transplanted from her home in Minnesota to San Fransico, a change that she was not ready for and did not acclimate well to. During the film, the personified emotions that run her evolved from distinct feelings (i.e. Riley either felt nothing but Joy, or Sadness etc…) un-mixing in their control, to something more complex. The concept of bittersweet (a combination of Joy and Sadness) was especially prominent in the film as Joy, the head emotion, was forced to accept that she would have to share her responsibilities with the other emotions, especially Sadness.

In the sequel, Riley is on the precipice of high school and finally content in her new life in California, The emotions in her head have running her down to a well oiled machine, that is until the night before she starts hockey camp when a puberty alarm starts to go off, and suddenly Joy and the gang are confronted with a group of new emotions headed by Anxiety. From there the original bunch are removed from the brain so that anxiety can take over and run Riley from this point on.

In theory setting a second Inside Out around puberty makes sense. It feels like it could be a story people actually wanted to tell and not just some sinical cash grab, and I believe it does cross that hump. The introduction of anxiety who “protects her [Riley] from the things she can’t see” as opposed to fear who “protects her [Riley] from the things she can see” is a great piece of character development and sets the film out well. Anxiety’s control of Riley leads her to take more nuanced decisions in life rather than just following the easy path to immediate joy. Anxiety is more worried about future joy for the young girl. But when Anxiety works too hard without the other emotions, it leads to tossing and turning in the night, and worst of all a really affecting portrayal of a panic attack.

Unfortunately, the film has the same resolution as the first film, that all the emotions need to work together and that one alone cannot run Riley’s life. The shared resolution is a common theme that plagues sequels, and while I would have hoped that with a novel enough setup Inside Out 2 could have beat this pattern, it succumbed like many others.

Technically the film looks extremely polished, as all Pixar films are, though I am tired of the Disney and Pixar look that encompasses much of animation landscape. Voice actors were well chosen with Amy Poehler reprising her role as Joy and bringing as much excitement to it as ever. Maya Hawke gave the deepest performance capturing her love for Riley as she was actively making her life worse.

Another sequel for Pixar, another film that fails to live up to the magic of the original, and while certainly not a bad film, I doubt it will make my rotation of Pixar films I go back to of which the original is solidly in. Something is just missing in the Pixar formula when revisiting a space. Maybe it’s the magic of seeing something new and unique for the first time?

Panthers Roses (… and Varda) 1966 – 1970

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In this period, Varda’s far left political leanings were at the forefront of her filmmaking. Between documentaries about leftist figures, filming the Black Panther movement, and a combined effort on North Vietnam, she left no secret as to who she believed was fighting for change. She also aligned herself with the Hippie movement in Southern California during this time.

The Creatures

A film about the creative process, Michel Piccoli plays a writer who with his mute wife (played by the marvelous Catherine Deneuve) take up residence in an old fortress on a sparsely inhabited island. While they keep mostly to themselves Piccoli does enter the village from time to time to pick up food and plenty of wine, but his real motive is to observe the locals for inspiration for his next writing project. The film uses checkered patterns as a motif throughout which come into play in the end as in Piccoli’s book he sees himself playing a game of chess with the people of the town as his pawns. The film sets out to explore the morality of this, but it does not quite stick the landing. Still another good film by Varda though.

Elsa La Rose

Part of a pair of films she made with her husband Jacques Demy, Elsa La Rose is a documentary short about Elsa Triolet as Narrated by her husband Louis Aragon. Both were prominent communist writers in the day. The film is Louis’s love letter to Elsa where he proclaims “My universe, Elsa, my life.” This does stand in slight contrast with the sentiment we get from Elsa herself where she doesn’t love Louis’s poetry about her because it puts her on a pedestal and diminishes himself in the process.

Christmas Carol

Another unfinished project of Varda’s that the Criterion Channel has saved what little exists over. In 4 minutes of fragments of scenes it’s hard to know what could have been, but it does deal with a trio of friends a theme which would be revisited in Lions Love (… and Lies).

Far from Vietnam

A piece of counter propaganda about the Vietnam War, Far from Vietnam is a collaborative piece between Jean-Luc Godard, Joris Ivens, William Klein, Claude Lelouch, Chris Marker, Alain Resnais, and Agnès Varda, the film explores the North Vietnamese prospective either directly, through the defecting southern Vietnamese, or the various protests in America. It’s unfortunately hard to tell what Varda’s part if any (she’s listed as “Credited only” on IMDB) is in the film to compare it to the rest of her oeuvre.

Uncle Yanco

The first of Varda’s California pieces, Uncle Yanco is a personal piece about Agnès meeting her Uncle Jean (Yanco) Varda. The short explores Agnès’s ancestry as narrated by Yanco, as well as Yanco’s hippie lifestyle in the “Aquatic suburbia” in which he lives. A loving tribute to the artist who proclaims “Hell is doing what you don’t like to do”.

Black Panthers

One of Varda’s most conventional film, Black Panthers is a documentary short exploring the organization of the same name as they rally for the release of one of their head members Huey Newton who was accused of shooting a cop even though no witness ever saw a weapon in his hand. The documentary fits with the far left politics that Varda has prescribed to and is powerful in its portrayal of the movement.

Lions Love (… and Lies)

Varda introduces Lions Love (… and Lies) as “the utopia of success without the effort of work” which equates to two hours of hippie bullshit, but I say that in the most affectionate way. Staring Viva of Andy Warhol fame, the film follows her and the two men in her throuple as they lackadaisically frolic through life, only to have to contend with reality when Bobby Kennedy and Andy Warhol are shot the same week their house guest Shirley (played by director Shirley Clarke) overdoses on sleeping pills. Though scripted, the film is most curious about being a fly on the wall of the hippie movement during that tumultuous time.

While 1963’s Salut les Cubains may have been the start of Varda’s fascination with far-left movements, the late 60s was when she made it her obsession. Excepting The Creatures, and possibly the unfinished Christmas Carol, every film she made in the later half of the 60s was an examination of far-left culture. A trend noticed in many of her films, is that she likes replicating shots of important moments, especially first meetings, in her film. In Elsa la Rose for example, she shoots Elsa entering the bar where she first met Louis 4 or more times to draw attention. Overall what this period in Varda’s filmography lacked in compelling narrative features it gained in meaningful documentary work.

Varda from 61 to 65

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Two of her most famous films, a silent short inside of one of those films, a historical snapshot of a country in the midst of revolution, and a lost film mark the entries into the second entry on Agnès Varda.

The Fiancés of the Bridge Mac Donald

The 1920’s era short slapstick film that can be found in the middle of Cléo from 5 to 7. The film stars acclaimed director and actress Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina. The short is a fun bit of levity that cuts the drama in Cléo. The film is slight in comparison to Varda’s greater oeuvre but is a fun novelty.

Cléo from 5 to 7

Quite possibly Varda’s masterpiece Cléo highlights 90 minutes in a woman’s life as she awaits news about a medical test. The film focuses on the insecurities of Cléo as the men around her belittle her troubles and focus instead on her beauty. Her partner even exclaims “your beauty is your health”. When Cléo is alone, or at least without men, the film focuses on the frivolities of femininity, but it never judges it. Hat shopping is just as important as her music lessons because they both bring her joy. When shefinally meets a man who respects her strife she finds a man who sees her as an equal, and through that finds comfort even when the test result is less than ideal.

Salut Les Cubains

Agnès Varda’s view into dost revolution Cuba reflects her and the French New Wave’s radical left politics. When taken as a snap shot of 1963, before Fidel proved to be nothing but a dictator, Varda captures the enthusiasm and joy of the Cubans at the time. She does this through the Afro-Cuban music of the time and by making her still shots dance on the screen to the beat of the ethnic music.

The Children of Museum

Unavailable online or on physical media

Le Bonheur

An uncritical viewing of Le Bonheur would assume it is nothing but a bit of twee filmmaking from it’s pastel colors and swelling score. However, upon closer inspection it becomes clear that in Le Bonheur, Varda created her version of a horror film. The film delves deep into the replaceability of women in the eyes of men. If they look pretty, take care of the kids, and provide sex to the man, the man doesn’t care which one he has. The speed at which François replaces the even uncredited Thérèse with Émilie is terrifying.

In her features especially in this time period, Varda was interested in looking at how men saw women in the early 60s. In Cléo from 5 to 7 the men in Cléo’s life infantilize her and diminish her health concerns by stating that a woman’s beauty is her health. Even more insidiously, Le Bonheur investigates the relative replaceability of women in men’s eyes as they are less equals to men as they are servants. Even the short film The Fiancés of the Bridge Mac Donald plays on this replaceability motif. The only film that doesn’t fit these motifs is the documentary short Salut Les Cubains where Varda’s far left politics are more on her sleeve than the cagey way she presents them in the features.

Early Varda 1955 – 1960

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The first or even prototype French New Wave film, an experimental film about pregnancy, two infomercials for French tourism, a scene from an otherwise un-shot film, and a missing piece of cinema history make for an invigorating start to the photographer turned film director Agnès Varda.

La Pointe Courte

Coming out 3 years before the French New Wave officially began with Claude Chabrol’s Le Beau Serge (at least according to Wikipedia) it is hard to deny that Varda did it first. La Pointe Courte is a film in two parts: a pseudo-documentary about fishers in the Pointe Courte fishing sector of Sète, and a married couple contemplating their marriage. The documentary plays out very cinéma verité style, just observing the men who do the fishing and the women who help from on shore. This style stands in stark contrast with the highly stylized uncanny feeling of the married couple. They deliberate the merit of their marriage not like a married couple but rather like philosophers questioning what it means to be married.

L’opéra-mouffe

L’opéra-mouffe is an experimental film that Varda shot while she was pregnant and living in Paris. In the film she captured the high highs of joveul drunks to the low lows of people freezing to death on the street. She juxtaposes those images along with matching score. The film for all its disparate  parts has a theme that is capitalized by the recurring appearances of the lovers, two naked bodied actors in love.

Ô saisons ô chateaux

Varda’s first bit of commercial film making saw her creating a tourist video showing the Loire Valley castles. Juxtaposing the ancient castles with a contemporary jazz score brings life to the old buildings. Adding to that local models Varda elevates a simple commercial to something reminiscent of a classic musical.

Du côté de la côte (aka Along the Coast)

If Ô saisons ô chateaux was Varda experimenting what was acceptable in her for hire commercial work, Du côté de la côte was her seeing what all she could get away with. While apparently selling the idea of tourists coming to the French Riviera, she immediately disparages them by calling them “Imported Sleepers”. Varda does take time to focus on the beauty of the region, but juxtaposes that with images of the tourists engaging in only the most basic of attractions, all while focusing on their fashion more than the beauty around them. Dissatisfied with just commenting on the tourist class, Varda takes a vicious stab at the bourgeoisie who keep the Riviera’s greatest beauties locked behind private gates, whose dead get to experience a greater beauty of the area than the alive tourists.

La Cocotte d’azur

Lost media. While rumors are that a print still exists somewhere in France, it is not available for public viewing under any methods.

La Mélangite

Set to be Varda’s second feature, funding fell through and all that exists is a single audioless scene. The Criterion channel shares this scene with commentary from Varda herself on what the film would have been.

Even from the beginning Varda was showing her potential to be one of the greatest filmmakers to ever pick up a camera. Her first feature arguably started the French New Wave movement, and her two travel commercials showed a humorous voice and disdain for the bourgeoisie that would stay with her for the rest of her life. As a filmmaker her prior experience as a photographer really shines. She has an eye for what will look good on the camera and captures that, even when it’s not the people talking. La Pointe Courte may be a hard place to enter Varda’s filmography, especially for those unfamiliar with the French New Wave, but that difficulty shows a lot of skill. Those looking for the easier entry into Varda will have to wait for next week.

New Release Mondays – Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

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9 years after his award-winning return to the world of Mad Max with Mad Max: Fury Road auteur George Miller once again tackles the Australian wasteland, but this time with a heroine Furiosa as the title character. Charlize Theron passes the baton to Anya Taylor-Joy and the young Alyla Browne to play Furiosa in this prequel.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a pretty straight forward revenge film, but being straight forward is not a deterrence, contrary, the simplicity of the story allows for Miller’s signature style to build upon that basic skeleton into something fantastical. Furiosa is kidnapped as a child and forced to watch her mother perish at the hands of her captor Dr. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). After Furiosa escapes Dementus’s hands – into the equally bad control of Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) – she begins planning her escape and eventual revenge.

While the film is advertised as a showdown between Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, Alyla Browne deserves much more credit than she is getting. She performs as the titular Furiosa for at least half if not more of the film, and her physicality in acting at such a young age is commendable. When it is time for Anya Taylor-Joy to take over she steals the show as she does in everything she touches. Unfortunately, the acting of Chris Hemsworth is spotty at times as he struggles to capture the appropriate tone of campy but not buffoonish.

In the slog of action flicks, most of them superhero movies, that have plagued the box office for the past 15 years, it’s a marvel to see what miller can do with a similar budget. While most of the superhero films feel very sanitized and all run into one another they are so similar, Furiosa has action that one can feel, and that looks unique. He even found a way to add to the action repertoire of the last film by adding airborne militia. While long action scenes tend to leave this reviewer with her eyes glazing over, there was enough life in this film that it kept me engrossed throughout.

The main question on many people’s minds is bound to be, how does Furiosa compare to Fury Road? The major difference between the two is the pacing. Fury Road was almost a single action scene stretched out for over two hours, while Furiosa takes place over time with a heavier emphasis on story. This change of focus naturally leads to the action being a bigger part of Fury Road, and while the action in Furiosa is not any worse than that of Fury Roads, Fury Road’s ability to extend that action for 2 straight hours without being bogged down is such an impressive feat that it is a hard film to live up to.

While Fury Road will likely stand up to the years better than Furiosa, that says everything about the exquisiteness of the former rather than any downfall of the latter. Furiosa is still an invigorating watch, and if you are a fan of Chris Hemsworth’s schtick, you’ll be even higher on the film than I am.

New Release Monday – I Saw the TV Glow

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie Reviews, New Release Reviews, New Releases, New ReleasesLeave a comment

A forward: I understand that this film won’t be for
everyone, some people will not be receptive to the trip that this film takes
its viewers on, and I’m sure this will have its fair share of 1-star reviews.
What I am telling you though is that if this film does resonate with you, you
cannot afford to miss it because it could very easily become a self-identifying
piece of media. I’m going to gush about this film for the next 1000 words or so
and I understand that some people may resent me if I make them see it, but I am
under the film’s spell, so this aggressively positive review is all I am
capable of. Also be warned this will go into spoilers as I feel I need to to
flush out the themes. Please go see this film and then come back after.


Three years after making the cult classic We’re All Going
to the World’s Fair (a film this reviewer will be catching up with in the
upcoming week,) Jane Schoenbrun returns to the big screen with what is destined
to go down as on of the quintessential Millennial pieces of filmmaking, I
Saw the TV Glow.

Taking place in the mid-90s, the film is about two teenagers,
two years apart, who form a bond over a young adult teen show The Pink
Opaque. Owen, Ian Foreman and Justice Smith as young and old Owen respectively,
is the younger of the two, and is unable to watch the show when it airs because
of his mother’s strict bedtime requirements for him. Alone and desperate for
someone to share her interest with, Maddy, Brigette Lundy-Paine, invites Owen over
one night to watch if with her, and then supplies him with taped copies of
episodes to watch when he is able.

One week when Owen spends the night at Maddy’s and she
convinces him to run away with her next weekend. Owen, scared to leave the
comfort of the life he knows doesn’t, show up and Maddy is left to run away on
her own. The film then jumps 8 years to when she returns and tries to explain
herself to Owen in the coolest looking and sounding queer bar caught on screen.

The live music in the bar is the peak of one of many
highlights from the film, the music both score and soundtrack. Schoenbrun had unprecedented
control over the music in her film having budget from A24 to create 12 to 15
original pieces of music. With this much control over the soundtrack,
Schoenbrun and musician Alex G were able to sculpt the exact soundscape that one
would expect the physical manifestation of a memory of a dream. It uses current
artists and techniques but It is such an ethereal sound that it makes sense to
score the 90s because that’s what a memory sounds like.

Stylistically I Saw the TV Glow relies on nostalgia. The
Pink Opaque is clearly a play on Buffy the Vampire Slayer or other
such TV shows that would be passed around on VHS. And while the picture quality
is crisp, the whole movie has a feel of being taped onto VHS. The soundtrack
relies on a lot of distorted synths, and footage of the show in particular are
rather distorted. Everything just feels like it lives in the late 90s, like the
film itself was a relic of the time only with deeper meaning being interjected
from the present.

Much of the deeper meaning that I Saw the TV Glow contains
comes from its surface level and more allegorical queerness. After the first
time skip, Owen approaches Maddy about watching The Pink Opaque together
again, and Maddy announces “You know I like girls right?” clearly announcing
herself as belonging to the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. In this way, she represents the
confident queer person who while they existed in the 90s were rather
countercultural.

Owen on the other hand represents the repressed queer
identity so uncomfortable with the concept that he was scared to admit it to
himself. When explain that he believes that he is ace, he describes it as thus:
“I can take a shovel and dig that part of me out and I know there’s nothing in
there, but I’m terrified to open it and look.”

Both of these ways of “dealing” with one’s queerness in the
90s capture one inevitability from that era, isolation and loneliness. Either
you live open and people reject you or you hide yourself and are too miserable
to have a thriving social life and the loneliness comes for you anyway.

The trans allegory is not a subtle one, Owen wears a dress
in a dreamlike state multiple times, and his father, randomly played by Fred
Durst, dismisses The Pink Opaque as a show for girls. The television
show itself and Owen’s relationship to it take supernatural form, and this
connection represents Owen’s transness. As a child watching the show is
something he keeps from his family, and it can be assumed that Maddy is the
only person he is open about it with. Many kids from that era (myself included)
would have that one friend to which they felt comfortable being open.

After Maddy disappears Owen keeps the show, his transness,
to himself. He becomes obsessed with the show as if the show has power over him.
When Maddy finally does reappear she exposes to him that The Pink Opaque was
more than a show, and that he is not who he thinks he is. She leads him to a
place where he can be reborn as his true self.

Confronted with the truth of who he is, he runs scared to
take the jump. This moment takes place in 2006, and it makes complete sense
that Owen would be scared to make the jump. It was an unknown at the time, and
risking the life he had, even if it has this loud ghost haunting him is at
least familiar. The problem with this decision is that The Pink Opaque never
leaves, in fact it grows like a tumor.

As a trans person myself, I instantly felt like this film is
an inextricable part of me. The pink TV static runs through my body, and brings
comfort to my isolated, closeted childhood self. Jane Schoenbrun created a film
that speaks directly to her, and like years of therapy has offered her a place
to call home. I Saw the TV Glow just resonates with whatever part makes one
feel isolated from the rest of the world. It is more than just a perfect film It
lives on with the viewer who is willing to accept it and becomes a part of
them.