Unseen: The Inspection, The Eternal Daughter (likely to land near the top), Close, The Whale
I, too, love Denis, but her last three films haven't really worked for me. Do not understand the love for Marcel, perhaps because I wasn't familiar with the shorts. Not yet on board the Kogonada hype train. Too... twee?
This list reminds me that it's time to finally watch After Yang. (I could also stand to go on a Colin Farrell jag, having seen Banshees just yesterday.)
I thought Aftersun was utterly incredible. Mescal's performance is phenomenal and it feels like a memory you don't remember forgetting. One of the best films I've seen in years.
Disagree with the placement of Funny Pages, which I found delightful.
I’ve managed to see all but three of these so far (Aftersun, Funny Pages*, and God’s Creatures are the ones I still need to catch up with) and the ones I was least impressed with were Bodies and After Yang. I’m also one of the few people who seems to prefer X to Pearl, but they’re both excellent, showing Ti West didn’t get rusty during the six-year gap since In a Valley of Violence.
*That Princeton Record Exchange T-shirt is making me nostalgic for my undergrad years at Trenton State College.
Aftersun is such a weird film for me because I'm convinced it can't be rewatched without having personal opinions strengthened and it caters to a lot of different interpretations. The rack focus shot from the television to show explicitly what books the father brought on vacation made me very hesitant about how to interpret things like his "drunken walk" into the ocean from the nice hotel property. If anything it's fascinating for a film that absolutely should not be reconsidered after a first viewing by a writer/director that may have been trying to play on specific shots without intending them to be specific to their own vision.
Aftersun is major. I need to see it again but that first viewing accumulated like a wave. Paul Mescal stunned me, I refuse to believe he's the same age as me.
Thank you so much for pointing out Aftersun -- just saw it last night. I'm still trying to figure out just why the film was so damn moving...I'm not sure if I'll ever know. (This movie is the very definition of "the sum is greater than the parts" dictum.) The young daughter Sophie is played by yet another one of those miraculous children who seem to channel Meryl Streep-esque level of acting...how? I read in IMDB that Wells went through 800 kids to find Frankie Corio. In the credits it said that Frank Corio played the other father we see every so often; I'm guessing that's her dad. Here's a bit more about her: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-63649774
This sounds right, but can we all agree that "Everything Everywhere All at Once" is the movie people will still be watching 100 years from now?
My rankings:
1. Aftersun
2. Everything Everywhere All at Once
3. Funny Pages
4. Pearl
5. God's Creatures
6. X
7. After Yang
8. Stars at Noon
9. Causeway (A24-adjacent?)
10. Bodies Bodies Bodies
11. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
12. Men
Unseen: The Inspection, The Eternal Daughter (likely to land near the top), Close, The Whale
I, too, love Denis, but her last three films haven't really worked for me. Do not understand the love for Marcel, perhaps because I wasn't familiar with the shorts. Not yet on board the Kogonada hype train. Too... twee?
Really glad to see the love for Pearl, which was one of my standouts of 2022. Also...it's going to be a trilogy?! Hell yeah.
This list reminds me that it's time to finally watch After Yang. (I could also stand to go on a Colin Farrell jag, having seen Banshees just yesterday.)
I thought Aftersun was utterly incredible. Mescal's performance is phenomenal and it feels like a memory you don't remember forgetting. One of the best films I've seen in years.
Disagree with the placement of Funny Pages, which I found delightful.
I’ve managed to see all but three of these so far (Aftersun, Funny Pages*, and God’s Creatures are the ones I still need to catch up with) and the ones I was least impressed with were Bodies and After Yang. I’m also one of the few people who seems to prefer X to Pearl, but they’re both excellent, showing Ti West didn’t get rusty during the six-year gap since In a Valley of Violence.
*That Princeton Record Exchange T-shirt is making me nostalgic for my undergrad years at Trenton State College.
Aftersun is such a weird film for me because I'm convinced it can't be rewatched without having personal opinions strengthened and it caters to a lot of different interpretations. The rack focus shot from the television to show explicitly what books the father brought on vacation made me very hesitant about how to interpret things like his "drunken walk" into the ocean from the nice hotel property. If anything it's fascinating for a film that absolutely should not be reconsidered after a first viewing by a writer/director that may have been trying to play on specific shots without intending them to be specific to their own vision.
Is my worst take that I would swap Men (I was chilled and riveted) with EEAAO (I was exhausted)?
Aftersun is major. I need to see it again but that first viewing accumulated like a wave. Paul Mescal stunned me, I refuse to believe he's the same age as me.
Thank you so much for pointing out Aftersun -- just saw it last night. I'm still trying to figure out just why the film was so damn moving...I'm not sure if I'll ever know. (This movie is the very definition of "the sum is greater than the parts" dictum.) The young daughter Sophie is played by yet another one of those miraculous children who seem to channel Meryl Streep-esque level of acting...how? I read in IMDB that Wells went through 800 kids to find Frankie Corio. In the credits it said that Frank Corio played the other father we see every so often; I'm guessing that's her dad. Here's a bit more about her: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-63649774
This movie is so artistic and yet also so very real. Wells does an amazing job of balancing between the two. I don't know if you've seen A Quiet Girl, but between that and this, we've been gifted some excellent young acting this year. That one stars Catherine Clinch (https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/i-am-12-i-don-t-know-what-my-career-will-be-catherine-clinch-star-of-an-cailin-ciuin-1.4806229), and I'm still thinking about the final scene of that gem.