Time to clear out my tracker for 2024 (7/10 films I'm seeing at Sundance are directed by women!)
2022 here (12/50). 2021 here (20/36; although it should have been 21/37 because I forgot to include Yael Farber's Maccers (because the INEXORABLY STUPID MODS AT TMDB removed it [Ed: it's back as of now! My 3,000th film!] and I missed out Shepherd's Song, which was a lovely short, but one tied to my day job so I didn't review it). 2020 here (23/4), 2019 here (15/25), 2018 here (22/20).
27/18. Hey! A personal best. And several favorites from the last two years (and at least a couple for 2023.)
I also re-watched Alice Guy-Blaché's Cabbage Patch Fairy at the Musee D'Orsay, Shannon Murphy's Babyteeth (Mendo! Essie Davis! Eliza Scanlen!), Véréna Paravel & Lucien Castaing-Taylor's brilliant Leviathan, Autumn de Wilde's delightful Emma,
Features
Eight Mountains (2022, Charlotte Vandermeersch & Felix van Groeningen) 4.5 stars, but probably should have been 5. My second favorite of 2022, but I keep second guessing that and swapping back and forth with TÁR. Just unbelievably epic while telling an intimate story. Staggering, beautiful, I just can't get over how they were able to show the scope and sweep of those lives so well.
Aftersun (2022, Charlotte Wells) 4.5 (5th favorite of 2022) This was one where it was SO hyped that I thought it was going to be like Minari or CMBYN where I liked it fine when I finally saw it but didn't LOVE love it, and then I saw it and I loved it.
Past Lives (2023, Celine Song). 4.5 stars. My favorite so far (albeit with a lot to catch up on before the Oscars.) Felt it in my bones. Didn't know John Magaro was in it, and he comes into what is ostensibly a two-hander and just spins the film on its axis.
Palm Trees and Power Lines (2022, Jamie Dack). 4.5 stars. (7th favorite of 2022). After winning the US directing prize at Sundance, I was surprised when this basically didn't get released until a tiny release about a year later. I can only assume due to the subject matter. But I think it was handled so sensitively and the actors worked so well and that ending. Fuck.
I'm Your Man (2021, Maria Schrader) 4.5 stars (10th favorite of 2021). Alex has smart things to say about this one!
Alias Grace (2017, Mary Harron) 4.5 stars. This had been on my to-see list since it came out, and I wanted to see a couple of Mary Harron things on my watchlist before seeing her in person (although this was all I ended up managing). But that's okay because this is brilliant. Loved it through and through.
The Souvenir Part II (2021, Joanna Hogg). 4 stars (5th favorite of 2021). I didn't love it quite as much as the Souvenir, but it's immediately more engaging and wrestles with the thorny meta-ness of the story in incredibly thrilling ways.
Bergman Island (2021; Mia Hansen-Løve). 4 stars (6th favorite of 2021). This was a slow burn for me (I wonder if I would have liked the start more if I knew Bergman more.) But the ensemble is fabulous, and I really loved the ending and everything Mia Wasikowska did in this. I feel like it's been a minute since she had a project worthy of her talents and this one reminded me why she's one of my absolute favorite actresses.
Fancy Dance (2023, Erica Termblay). 4 stars. I really liked this! And what with Lily Gladstone having a banner year it is BONKERS to me that this hasn't been released! What is the story there??
The Starling Girl (2023, Laurel Parmet). 4 stars. Look - do you know exactly where this is going? Yes. Is Eliza Scanlen one of my favorite actresses and I'd watch her in just about anything? Yes. Did I spend a not insignificant amount of time going, 'wow. Lewis Pullman looks so much like Bill Pullm... wait a minute."
Bottoms (2023, Emma Seligman) 4 stars. Look - it made me laugh a lot and it's weird.
Snow and the Bear (2022, Selcen Ergun). One of three films I got to see at SFIFF last year (! see below), and the type that really illustrates what (used to) be great about that fest. This was a small Turkish film, I'm sure I would never have otherwise heard of or had a chance to see it, and I've thought about it often this year. Really great lead and supporting actor.
Slow (2023, Marija Kavtaradzė). 3.5 stars. Really beautiful film about a relationship between a dancer and sign language interpreter, intimacy, and asexuality. Really great physical performances and chemistry.
Theater Camp (2023, Molly Gordon & Nick Lieberman). 3.5 stars. Look - if you went to an arts camp as a child, you've already seen this. Everyone else: this is not for you.
Polite Society (2023, Nida Manzoor). 3.5 stars. Brunch! Brunch! Brunch! Brunch!
Scrapper (2023, Charlotte Regan). 3 stars. I wanted to like this more. You know where it's going, the actors are good. It just didn't fully grab me for whatever reason. It won at least one award at the brit indies.
When it Melts (2023, Veerle Baetens). 3 stars. Bleak film about childhood trauma.
Sometime I Think About Dying (2023, Rachel Lambert). 3 stars. Also bleak, but very much its own vision.
Good Luck to You Leo Grande (2022, Sophie Hyde). 3 stars. I was hoping for more from this. It was fine. The actors are charming, but the script was very tropey.
Mae Martin: SAP. (2023, Abbi Jacobson). Look - probably cheating, but here we are. I like some bits of this (the cemetery of imaginary kids), but it finishes really oddly. I feel like I should see Feel Good, but I also feel like I keep trying to like Mae more than I do (sorry, S15 of TM).
Silent Night (2021, Camille Griffin). 2.5 stars. Was it exceedingly obvious where this was going from the get go? Yup. I wish it had gone further, or spun in a different way. It's a fun premise.
Catherine Called Birdy (2022, Lena Dunham). 2.5 stars. Just not for me, although there were a few things I liked (Andrew Scott.) I still need to see Sharp Stick, though.
Dalíland (2022, Mary Harron.) Oy vey. This was all over the place. Also, a note about the screening: I was so excited to see her at the SF Film Fest, and then the HVAC system wasn't working at all, so the CO2 levels in the theater for this film were over 4,000. Most times I have been on a plane they were 1600-2200. I mean, wtf. Ben Kingsley and Barbara Sukowa are good, but the focus on the assistant as the lead is so misguided (or needed a better actor) and the flashbacks with Ezra Miller (yikes) didn't work and yeah. Just a mess.
Titane (2021; Julia Ducournau) 2.5 stars. Just like with Raw, I wanted to like this! It opens with one of my all time favorite songs! I like Vincent Lindon and Agathe Rousselle was very watchable! But jesus - this seemed so confused as to any type of viewpoint. Or point.
Barbie (2023; Greta Gerwig) 2 stars. Look - I liked Lady Bird? Make more like that Greta. (I liked some of what Micarah had to say about it, especially about needing to pick a plot.)
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022, Halina Reijn) 2 stars. Nothing that wasn't in the trailer other than Lee Pace being entertainingly sleazy.
Bad Behaviour (2023, Alice Englert) 1.5 stars. Any article about nepo-babies could just be a link to this film.
Shorts
Haulout (2022, Evgenia Arbugaeva & Maxim Arbugaev). 5 stars. One of the most brilliant shorts I've ever seen. Devastated it didn't win the Oscar.
Nuisance Bear (2022, Gabriela Osia Vanden & Jack Weisman). 5 stars. A perfect companion piece to Haulout (both are New Yorker shorts). Oscar-shortlisted and VERY sad it wasn't nominated.
Le Pupille (2022, Alice Rohrwacher). 4.5 stars. Love, love, loved this. Devastated it didn't win the oscar.
My Year of Dicks (2022, Sara Gunnarsdóttir). 4 stars. Loved this. Devastated, etc.
Aftertaste (2020, Chloe Wicks). 4 stars. Jessica Brown Findlay & Joe Dempsie & she's a vampire.
The Flying Sailor (2022, Amanda Forbis & Wendy Tilby). 3.5 stars. Oscar nominee!
Ivalu (2023, Anders Walter & Pipaluk K. Jørgensen.) 3.5 stars. I understand those who didn't like it because the plot was obvious, but the little girl worked for me. And the landscapes are gorgeous.
Embraced (2018, Justine Vuylsteker). 3.5 stars. Pinscreen animation.
The Elephant Whispereres (2022, Kartiki Gonsalves). 3.5 stars. This should so be my type of thing, but you see the two brilliant films at the top and then this wins, and then I am sad at the world.
Drummies (2022, Jessie Zinn). 3 stars. Drum majorettes in South Africa.
Outside (Emily Murnane) 3 stars. I may have been the only person to see this?? It's not rated on LB. Anyways - cute short about covid, a long-distance relationship (ish) and isolation/agoraphobia. It's here.
Night of the Living Dread (2021, Ida Melum). 3 stars. Animated film about insomnia/past selves.
While We Wait (2022, Kamilla Alnes) 3 stars. Dark comedy that thinks its cleverer than it is about periods.
The Club (2020, Lisa Steen) 2.5 stars. 2 friends run into each other at a sex club.
My Double Life (2018, Marieke Blaauw, Joris Oprins, Job Roggeveen). Animated film about masculinity.
My Shepherd (Lucy McKendrick) 2.5 stars. A young religious couple seeks out a secret abortion.The Soloists (2021, 5 directors). 2.5 stars. Animated film about singing sisters.
Belieiving is Seeing (2023, Sophie Black). 2.5 stars. Short about tic disorders and TikTok.
Steakhouse (2021, Špela Čadež) 2 stars. Animated film about abuse. Oscar shortlisted and not for me.
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