December 2022 Viewing Diary

The Whale (2022; d. Darren Aronofsky)
I thought it was appalling, and not for the obvious reasons. His body is viewed as literally a movie monster, with all these horror-movie shots of his gigantic ankles, etc.) It felt tired and pointless. I hated it.

Donbass (2022; d. Sergei Loznitsa)
Donbass was made a couple years ago and arrived last year, perhaps making even more of an impression due to the worldwide response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (One of many.) Donbass was filmed in the thick of all of it, with clearly real people, in real situations, but there are “vignettes” set up – a grotesque wedding, a makeshift community living in a shelter, confrontations between Russian soldiers and journalists, an “official” visiting a maternity ward and lecturing the staff (absurd). Loznitsa is an important filmmaker. Donbass is haunting.

Bandit (2022; d. Allan Ungar)
Allison saw a trailer for this and it looked good to her, so we watched it. It IS good. I love a good heist movie, but it’s especially fun because of Josh Duhamel’s performance. I wish this had gotten more chatter. It’s really good.

The Fabelmans (2022; d. Steven Spielberg)
Have seen it twice so far, once in the theatre with Allison. I love it. I love its sprawl and collage-like “mess”, I love how it includes everything. Nothing is irrelevant. It’s not a single-minded story with a single-minded focus.

The Murdochs: Empire of Influence (2022; d. No director listed in IMDB. WTF.)
Allison and I watched this. I hate these people.

Retrograde (2022; d. Matthew Heineman)
A quietly upsetting and mournful National Geographic documentary about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. I reviewed for Ebert.

Jackass Forever (2022; d. Jeff Tremaine)
It was in my Top 10. The Jackass trilogy legit helped me get through those first months of quarantine in 2020, where everything stopped, everything got quiet, and things got a bit spooky, shall we say. And now, two years later, is Jackass Forever, with some new blood, but also the old gang. I find these movies so pure, in such an intriguing way. I posted my brother’s great essay on the movies. It’s one of my favorite pieces of writing about Jackass.

Deep Water (2022; d. Adrian Lyne)
This was excellent! Based on a Patricia Highsmith book I have not read! It’s a good old-fashioned erotic thriller, the kind that’s not made anymore, and who better for the job than Adrian Lyne?

Corsage (2022; d. Marie Kreutzer)
Also in my Top 10. It’s out now. Do not miss it.

Kimi (2022; d. Steven Soderbergh)
A strong contender for my Top 10 … but, you know, you have to make tough choices. Still. This is a fantastic film, it plays like a bat out of hell, it’s so RELEVANT – without wearing its relevance on its sleeve – and it’s also emotional and touching. Plus character development. Plus very very tense and thrilling. It’s great.

Reboot – first 3 episodes (2022; d. Steven Levitan, Carrie Brownstein, Jaffar Mahmood)
Allison made me watch this series. I always watch what she recommends. We watched together and it was hilarious fun.

Nanny (2022; d. Nikyatu Jusu)
Also in my Movies I Loved This Year list. I don’t say this often but there really isn’t anything else quite like Nanny. Very impressive.

Babylon (2022; d. Damien Chazelle)
In general, I guess I don’t like Chazelle. I like all the actors, but … it felt like this was a story about decadence directed by a man who’s never indulged in decadence in his life. lol

Benediction (2022; d. Terrence Davies)
In my Top 10. The story of poet Siegfried Sassoon, and his experiences during WWI and after: his relationship with Wilfred Owen, Stephen Tennant … and then the long long aftermath, told with Davies’ resonance, sensitivity, and control. So much control, so much uncontrollable feeling. Gorgeous. It makes me angry about the generations and generations of people who were forced to live in the closet, thereby consigning themselves to lives of misery (and not just themselves, but their spouses, too).

RRR (2022; d. S.S. Rajamouli)
A spectacle. A phenomenon. A word-of-mouth phenomenon. We at the NYFCC voted Rajamouli Best Director – well-deserved but also, it can’t be denied, symbolic. The Indian film industry is one of the most powerful in the world, with blockbuster hits, massive fanbases, huge numbers … and they normally do not make a splash over here, definitely not to the degree RRR has. Along with maybe Top Gun and Elvis … RRR HAD to be seen in a theatre. People were actually flocking to movie theatres to see this thing. For whatever reason, RRR broke through into a mainstream world, and it’s been thrilling to watch. If you haven’t seen it … you really must. I am sure it will come back to theatres, particularly if it gets any Oscar nods. RRR has it all. And more.

Moonage Daydream (2022; d. Brett Morgen)
In my Top 10.

Daisies (1976; d. Věra Chytilová)
This groundbreaking experimental film from Czechoslovakia was streaming on the Criterion Channel. It might still be. Very controversial in its time for its portrayal of two hedonistic girls, determined to live lives of freedom, playfulness, appetite, silliness, where rules are meant to be broken. Chytilová uses a mashup of styles – black-and-white, color, sped-up film, long sequences unfolding like a silent film, jump-cuts … pouring every “trick” into the same cauldron, creating a collage of impressionistic mashed-together images (there’s not an uninteresting shot in the whole movie). Daisies still feels new.

Dinner in America (2022; d. Adam Rehmeier)
In my Top 10. I banged the drum hard for this one. I reviewed it for Ebert. Then I wrote about it again. I’ve seen it 4 times now. It’s going to be one of THOSE movies. I felt a little bit alone in my praise of it. And so I was so gratified when John Waters came out with annual Top 10 movies – and Dinner in America was on it! Yup. Well-deserved.

Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich (2022; d. Maiken Baird, Lisa Bryant)
Sorry. Can’t get enough of this fucking bitch.

Midnight (1939; d. Mitchell Leisen)
Delightful screwball starring Don Ameche, Claudette Colbert and John Barrymore. Hysterical. There’s a moment that made me laugh so hard (see gif) I had to stop the film and rewind 10 times.

Moneyball (2011; d. Bennett Miller)
I love this one. I reviewed when it first came out and I’ve since seen it maybe 9 or 10 times. I find it soothing. It’s such recent history but as a Red Sox fan I feel intimately involved, particularly with that small time-span – early 2000s baseball. It’s IN me, that history, and the film captures the everything-up-for-grabs feeling of those years. The agony, the ecstasy, etc. I also think it’s beautifully shot. The score is amazing as well.

La Cérémonie (1995; d. Claude Chabrol)
My favorite Chabrol. Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying – in such a quiet unnerving unspoken way. I wrote a little bit about it.

The Comfort of Strangers (1990; d, Paul Schrader)
I saw this in the theatre in 1990, with my boyfriend at the time. A million lives ago. We loved it. We loved the cinematography, the locations, the mood. Christopher Walken is so good and creepy. Helen Mirren is even creepier.

Punch-Drunk Love (2002; d. Paul Thomas Anderson)
I find this movie almost unbearably painful. Like Seal says, it’s the loneliness that’s the killer.

Sisters (1972; d. Brian De Palma)
What a ride. Great film.

Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste (2022; d. Liz Canner)
This is so messed up. And that leader is a con-woman grifter of the highest order. Seriously: she is GOOD. But look closely: there are pinwheels spinning in her eyes. She’s a lunatic. But … has a crime occurred? In a way, yes: some people felt coerced and controlled. But … it’s a grey area. You sign up for an open-up-your-sexuality-with-a-group-of-strangers workshop and you are taking a risk. But the WAY this group manifested is just crazy. People emerge from this group totally twisted and damaged. The real story is how this woman “snowed” the media and Silicon Valley. And also, how “female empowerment” is used as a front for all kinds of horrors. See: NXIUM. I’ll empower myself on my own, thankyouverymuch.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005; d. Shane Black)
If you know, you know. People who love this movie (like I do) love it passionately.

Catching Killers Two episodes: BTK and Happy Face Killer (2022)
When you’re stressed out and busy, it’s always relaxing to settle in with some murder investigations.

Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb (2022; d. Lizzie Gottlieb)
I reviewed for Ebert. Fascinating. Maybe especially for writers – with our various experiences with editors – in a way, Turn Every Page is a portrait of a vanished world. A 50-year relationship with an editor!

Christmas, Again (2015; d. Charles Poekel)
I reviewed for Ebert and it quickly became a beloved movie. I watch it every year at Christmastime. It feels something in me, the wound of loneliness, of melancholy, of bittersweet-ness, all of the emotional ambiguities of the “holiday season” which can come into play if you’re lonely. Wonderful film, gorgeous to look at. I wrote more about Kentucker Audley here.

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (2022; d. Stephen Donnelly)
Watched this with the kids. It’s really good! Luke Evans can sing, man.

Spotlight (2015; d. Tom McCarthy)
I reviewed for Ebert. It may seem weird that a movie about this horrible scandal would be something I’d want to re-visit, but I do. This is a relevant subject that impacted so many people over generations: and the movie cares enough to tell that story. It’s also an inspiring film about the power of the press, and the necessity of a free press.

The Lives of Others (2006; d. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
Watched this in Memphis while I was sick. I saw it in the theatre back in the day and hadn’t seen it since. It’s so intense.

The Miracle at Morgan’s Creek (1944; d. Preston Sturges)
This movie is wild. Jesus. It’s kind of amazing it “passed” the censors at all. A woman gets wasted, and wakes up married. She has no idea who she married. Meanwhile, mystery husband has shipped out to war. To complicate matters, she used a fake name when she got married. A fake name she also can’t remember. So she can’t look up the records. The marriage was secret. Her dad doesn’t know. As far as her dad knows, and the whole town knows, she’s a single young woman. Then: a month later, it’s confirmed: she’s pregnant !!! Hijinx ensue. Great film. Wild.

Little Fish (2021; d. Chad Hartigan )
Watched this in Memphis. Not sure how I missed it. Not sure when this was filmed, but it’s about a worldwide pandemic – not a flu – but a neurological disease where people’s memories are wiped clean. First short-term, then long-term. There’s no cure. A young couple – Jack O’Connell and Olivia Cooke – face this challenge. This seems low-budget (ish) but they did a lot with the money they had. The sense of a worldwide panic – helicopters, tanks, protests outside medical centers, experimental treatments … and then the private griefs of those who suffer. I loved it.