The year of Ryusuke Hamaguchi also included triumphs by favorites like Ashgar Farhadi and Paul Thomas Anderson. Plus: Best performance, reasons for hope/despair and the dreaded "age gap" discourse.
Welp, I've only seen three of the films on your main list and five of the honorable mentions, so my New Year's movie viewing resolution list just got longer. (And this after I started the attack on my list yesterday with "Down by Law.") I just wish I felt better about going to a movie theater at this moment, since that's the only way to see "Drive My Car" right now.
Thank you for calling out how incredibly annoying the "age gap" discourse has gotten. Are movies no longer allowed to explore complex relationship types that actually do exist in our society? I can understand more being concerned about the pattern in older films where middle-aged men were constantly in relationships with women in their 20s and it wasn't even mentioned in the film, because that was a trope that actually caused some damage by making people think that older men should always date younger women. But this concern about movies like Red Rocket and Licorice Pizza seems ridiculous. First of all, Red Rocket clearly shows it as an exploitative situation, and Licorice Pizza directly confronts how conflicted Alana is about the connection she feels to Gary and what to do about it. Also, other than showing him her boobs one time and kissing him one time, which both seem pretty innocent to me, there's no hint of an actual sexual relationship. But even if there was, who cares? I hazard to guess that plenty of 25-year-old women slept with 16-year-old guys in the 1970s, and even today I'm sure it happens more than people realize. Whatever you might think about that, it does happen and it's okay for films to explore all kinds of situations. That's what film is for. Again, Licorice Pizza doesn't shy away from it. Alana is disgusted at times at her attraction to Gary, and what it says about her level of maturity and where she's at in her life, yet she can't deny it. It strikes me that it's not like we see any discourse about Titane being "problematic" for exploring the situation of pretending to be someone's dead son to fill that role in his life, despite being a pregnant woman. I think people get that the film is just trying to explore the implications of a strange relationship situation, even if it's kind of messed up. But for whatever reason (I guess because it hits home for more people), many folks seem to think Licorice Pizza and Red Rocket are "problematic" for exploring a far more common situation.
Totally agree on the truck scene being the scene of the year. She already was an unbelievable presence but the look on her face during that whole sequence is just so incredible. Alana Haim easily has to give one of the greatest first-time performances ever in Licorice Pizza
I'm really surprised that The Last Duel isn't getting more love in these end of year lists. Thanks for at least including it in honorable mentions- most exclude it completely. For my money, it's in the top 3 of the year- thoughtful, beautifully acted, and surprisingly funny. And it's the #1 film of 2021 in the category of unconvincing blond hair on an actor!
Also finally caught The Power of the Dog. WOW. It's one of those films where you can tell how good it's going to be after 10 minutes. And our Roku restarted during the Benedict Cumberbatch bathing scene, which I interpret as some kind of southern-belle-getting-the-vapors fainting spell.
Great list! Other than my somewhat strange immunity to any of LICORICE PIZZA's charms, almost everything on this list is something I loved or really want to see. Particularly kicking myself that I missed WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY when it played (very briefly!) in New York. Hadn't seen any Hamaguchi until DRIVE MY CAR which blew me away much like everybody else.
Also, I am pretty sure I sought out THE VIEWING BOOTH based on a recommendation from you from some pod episode ages ago -- possibly a festival recap? That was something else: almost impossible to sit through and yet jaw-droppingly effective. I saw that 6-8 months ago and still think about it all the time.
The "Age Gap Discourse" feels like it is part of an unfortunate development in film discussion that has really arrived for film in the last 12 months, but has been brewing elsewhere (particularly YA fiction) for some time now. The requirement for "ethical" entertainment to follow a very narrow code of clearly condemning anything "unethical" that is depicted on screen. Commonly I've seen this framed as holding the characters "accountable" for their actions.
While I can understand the impulse to a degree, I've found that when people talk about wanting cinema to be “ethical” they are talking about the most childish black and white morality being front and center. No quarter is given that the audience may be able to discern for themselves what is right and wrong, or that there might be any value in understanding characters who do bad things.
Listened to the Next Picture pod for part one of your top tens and noticed your list was one slot different. Guessing A Hero was added between the recording of that and the posting of this list?
(Also got a bit of whiplash from surprised/overjoyed by Tasha claiming LP as her number one to egg on my face realizing she strongly disliked it.)
Hey Scott, I finally saw "Drive My Car". I was surprised not see any critics point out the obvious parallels with Kieslowski's "Bleu" - the tragic death of an unfaithful spouse, the silent creative partner widow/widower, and the attempts to work out their grief through the spouse's lover. It's maybe a bit more emotionally reserved, but from what I've read subsequently from Hamaguchi, is actually an almost unseemly display of emotion for Japan. Maybe these are just superficial similarities, but it was the one film I couldn't help but think of while watching it.
Welp, I've only seen three of the films on your main list and five of the honorable mentions, so my New Year's movie viewing resolution list just got longer. (And this after I started the attack on my list yesterday with "Down by Law.") I just wish I felt better about going to a movie theater at this moment, since that's the only way to see "Drive My Car" right now.
MEMORIA SPOILER ALERT (DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT)
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What was your interpretation of the source of the sound?
Thank you for calling out how incredibly annoying the "age gap" discourse has gotten. Are movies no longer allowed to explore complex relationship types that actually do exist in our society? I can understand more being concerned about the pattern in older films where middle-aged men were constantly in relationships with women in their 20s and it wasn't even mentioned in the film, because that was a trope that actually caused some damage by making people think that older men should always date younger women. But this concern about movies like Red Rocket and Licorice Pizza seems ridiculous. First of all, Red Rocket clearly shows it as an exploitative situation, and Licorice Pizza directly confronts how conflicted Alana is about the connection she feels to Gary and what to do about it. Also, other than showing him her boobs one time and kissing him one time, which both seem pretty innocent to me, there's no hint of an actual sexual relationship. But even if there was, who cares? I hazard to guess that plenty of 25-year-old women slept with 16-year-old guys in the 1970s, and even today I'm sure it happens more than people realize. Whatever you might think about that, it does happen and it's okay for films to explore all kinds of situations. That's what film is for. Again, Licorice Pizza doesn't shy away from it. Alana is disgusted at times at her attraction to Gary, and what it says about her level of maturity and where she's at in her life, yet she can't deny it. It strikes me that it's not like we see any discourse about Titane being "problematic" for exploring the situation of pretending to be someone's dead son to fill that role in his life, despite being a pregnant woman. I think people get that the film is just trying to explore the implications of a strange relationship situation, even if it's kind of messed up. But for whatever reason (I guess because it hits home for more people), many folks seem to think Licorice Pizza and Red Rocket are "problematic" for exploring a far more common situation.
Totally agree on the truck scene being the scene of the year. She already was an unbelievable presence but the look on her face during that whole sequence is just so incredible. Alana Haim easily has to give one of the greatest first-time performances ever in Licorice Pizza
I'm really surprised that The Last Duel isn't getting more love in these end of year lists. Thanks for at least including it in honorable mentions- most exclude it completely. For my money, it's in the top 3 of the year- thoughtful, beautifully acted, and surprisingly funny. And it's the #1 film of 2021 in the category of unconvincing blond hair on an actor!
Also finally caught The Power of the Dog. WOW. It's one of those films where you can tell how good it's going to be after 10 minutes. And our Roku restarted during the Benedict Cumberbatch bathing scene, which I interpret as some kind of southern-belle-getting-the-vapors fainting spell.
Great list! Other than my somewhat strange immunity to any of LICORICE PIZZA's charms, almost everything on this list is something I loved or really want to see. Particularly kicking myself that I missed WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY when it played (very briefly!) in New York. Hadn't seen any Hamaguchi until DRIVE MY CAR which blew me away much like everybody else.
Also, I am pretty sure I sought out THE VIEWING BOOTH based on a recommendation from you from some pod episode ages ago -- possibly a festival recap? That was something else: almost impossible to sit through and yet jaw-droppingly effective. I saw that 6-8 months ago and still think about it all the time.
The "Age Gap Discourse" feels like it is part of an unfortunate development in film discussion that has really arrived for film in the last 12 months, but has been brewing elsewhere (particularly YA fiction) for some time now. The requirement for "ethical" entertainment to follow a very narrow code of clearly condemning anything "unethical" that is depicted on screen. Commonly I've seen this framed as holding the characters "accountable" for their actions.
While I can understand the impulse to a degree, I've found that when people talk about wanting cinema to be “ethical” they are talking about the most childish black and white morality being front and center. No quarter is given that the audience may be able to discern for themselves what is right and wrong, or that there might be any value in understanding characters who do bad things.
Listened to the Next Picture pod for part one of your top tens and noticed your list was one slot different. Guessing A Hero was added between the recording of that and the posting of this list?
(Also got a bit of whiplash from surprised/overjoyed by Tasha claiming LP as her number one to egg on my face realizing she strongly disliked it.)
Hey Scott, I finally saw "Drive My Car". I was surprised not see any critics point out the obvious parallels with Kieslowski's "Bleu" - the tragic death of an unfaithful spouse, the silent creative partner widow/widower, and the attempts to work out their grief through the spouse's lover. It's maybe a bit more emotionally reserved, but from what I've read subsequently from Hamaguchi, is actually an almost unseemly display of emotion for Japan. Maybe these are just superficial similarities, but it was the one film I couldn't help but think of while watching it.