May December is a favorite type of film for me. One that expands the more you think about it because the film itself is a conversation starter, it has no answers, and it takes a big swing. The swing here is a heightened tone that I could only pithily describe as if Almodóvar made Persona. There is an actress, Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman), and a woman (Julianne Moore) whose sexual past with a minor has made her a community pariah. …
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Morvern Callar 2002
Morvern Callar has one of the bleakest cold opens of any film. We see the titular woman (played by Samantha Morton), as she wakes up with her boyfriend dead from suicide on the floor and a computer screen that says "READ ME." The note instructs her to "be brave" and to send his novel to various publishers he's listed. That's the plot portion of the opening, before we even get there we lay with Morvern on the floor, her fingers…
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King Kong 2005
Perhaps the most expensive Valentine ever made. Not just in homage to the original Hollywood monster movie but even more to Naomi Watts. It girl personified. She tames the id and ego of man (both a movie producer who is trying to save his own skin and the brilliant playwright for the common people who is above working in films until he sees Ann) and the eight wonder of the world himself, King Kong. She is a plaything for all…
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Surviving Desire 1992
90s academic ennui is so sexy to me; verbs are action, teaching is asking questions, and to ask is a verb. Desire is both a noun and a verb. It is a confusing in between state that could either be sitting or leaping. Looking backward or forward or being still without action, just washing over. To survive active desire is perhaps the most strenuous activity of all.
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Anatomy of a Fall 2023
The best aspect of this courtroom drama is how patiently it reveals its intention to show how a microscopic lens on a relationship can be uglier and more hurtful than existing in the relationship itself. That level of scrutiny over an argument or the cloud of doubt over an unknowable intent. Sandra Hüller is great but I was immensely impressed by the arc and performance of her young son, Milo Machado Graner, who is having to navigate an adult methodology…
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TÁR 2022
To give a hint at what's special about TÁR you needn't look further than the opening credits. The opening credits start backwards with members of the crew that generally are at the very end of the end credits, like catering and production units and assistant editors. This is a movie about how an ego can grow too big and turn to manipulation when one role gets too much credit in a collaborative field. An orchestra is like a film set,…
