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Perhaps it is fitting that this film was unfinished, as it is about unresolved trauma.  As is, it is a fascinating watch that would always have been a challenging narrative about reconciling the horrors of the past and the shifting power dynamics of the present.  With the posthumously inserted meta element, a question about our relationship to art and culture emerges.  It really is something special.

While watching this film, I kept wondering if something had been lost in the translation or if I just lacked a certain cultural context, as that would explain why it wasn’t connecting with me in the way it had for so many others.  But after leaving the theater, I thought about the specific issues that I had with it and realized that neither of those issues were relevant.  Although there were interesting qualities to the film (namely in the way that it plays with sound), they are ultimately overshadowed by the unfocused narrative and thinly developed ideas.  I left feeling empty.

Definitely a minor work from David Cronenberg, but I really dug it.  It had interesting things to say about our relationship to mortality and technology.  Vincent Cassell is also really good in this and I like how he looked like Cronenberg- something which is not a coincidence and adds a melancholy subtext that was much appreciated.

Watched on Friday April 25, 2025.

Watched on Friday April 25, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday April 23, 2025.

An overview of a great artist that probably plays better to those unfamiliar with her work.  As someone who is familiar, it seemed kinda surface level and shallow to me.  But again, I am not really the audience these filmmakers were targeting.

Watched on Tuesday April 22, 2025.

Jude Dry seems like an intelligent and progressive person.  But this lacks focus and was ultimately opaque.  I feel bad writing this.

Watched on Tuesday April 22, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday April 22, 2025.

This is a document of its time and preserves a forward thinking mind.  For that I am grateful.

Was this Hong Sang-soo’s inspiration for Right Now, Wrong Then?

Watched on Tuesday April 22, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday April 22, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday April 22, 2025.

This is a very re-watchable and thoroughly enjoyable film that provides a certain degree of comfort that most other films lack.   And like all works by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, it is proof that libertarian/conservative humor can actually be funny and well done.  It’s a good time first and foremost and that’s all that matters really.

As I watched this film, I felt as though I was watching a fight between Bob Fosse the classical showman and Bob Fosse the seedy pimp - and that fight ultimately ended in a draw.  It’s a very messy film, which is not without its problems (its depiction of queerness hasn’t exactly aged well), but ultimately an interesting one - especially when looked at as part of the larger oeuvre.  There are times when Fosse hinted at his later, more interesting films Lenny and Star 80 (the latter of which I believe is his crowning achievement), and knowing what he would go onto do makes me wonder if this would have played better had I seen it first… I now wonder how Cabaret plays on stage.  Maybe it’s better, maybe it’s worse - regardless, this film is at least interesting.

It’s a standard talking heads documentary with some really important information told with clarity.  In a sense, this latter point cancels out its flaws and makes it worth watching.

This review may contain spoilers.

Michelle Williams (as always) gives a great performance and elevates this show into something better than it otherwise would have been.  I also appreciate that it does a better job at portraying BDSM than most other Hollywood productions, as it uses community accurate terminology like “top drop” and the traffic light system and acknowledges that responsible practitioners will bottom before they top.  That said, I still think the show is very flawed in its depiction of consent and with regards to the overall filmmaking.  I wish it wasn’t so heavily reliant on voice over for inner monologues, as they quickly became annoying and pointless, and used the visual lexicon in a more meaningful way.  And I think the handling of child rape felt glossed over and completely unnecessary and out of place.  Whether the people behind this realized it, they were adding to the most tired BDSM stereotype (which is especially offensive considering how much discrimination is levied against its ).  Also, despite getting more about the community right than other Hollywood productions, it still gets a lot wrong and left me feeling like an opportunity to do it justice was missed.  By no means an awful show, but not one I’m leaving enthusiastically about - it was just fine - nothing more, nothing less.

Watched on Tuesday April 15, 2025.

“Misguided” is the word I would use to describe Sav Rodgers’s film.  It’s clear what Rodgers was trying to do - reconcile the fact that a problematic/dated movie meant so much to their development as a person - which is an irable pitch that could’ve made for an interesting film.  But the problem is, the talking heads format which they elected to use is, by its very nature, too impersonal for a story so personal.  This was highlighted every time the film shifts away from Rodgers and instead veers into being just about Chasing Amy and Kevin Smith.  During these digressions, important and interesting subject matters, which could have taken up whole films themselves (namely the unhealthy relationship Smith had with Harvey Weinstein and the fact that Smith ultimately denied Joey Lauren Adams her autonomy), are glossed over and feel strangely out of place.  This may come as a result of Smith’s active participation in the production of this film - going too far into those darker areas and associating his work with such awfulness would have been very damaging to his brand - and thus he wasn’t going to allow Rodgers to explore too deeply.  It’s why I’m ultimately left wondering whose film this truly was and if Smith has more in common with his mentor (sans the criminal behavior) than he leads on…

Watched on Monday April 14, 2025.

Watched on Sunday April 13, 2025.

Watched on Sunday April 13, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday April 1, 2025.

The serene atmosphere allows us to get lost - lost in the landscape, the mood, and in our thoughts.  It’s not about how we think, but how we feel.

Watched on Sunday March 30, 2025.

There’s something very otherworldly and painterly about the films of Scott Barley.  This dreamy short has those qualities front and center and it was fascinating to watch.

The editing in this is quite impressive and the story is serviceable.  Radley Metzger was a true artist and I wish his genre of choice remained mainstream.

Watched on Wednesday March 19, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday March 19, 2025.

The cynicism is interesting and there’s some interesting camera work throughout.

It’s a very messy, but ambitious film that at times borders on (if not outright becomes) tasteless in its use of historical iconography - especially in the prelude.  But it’s these big swings that also makes it fascinating and compelling and I appreciate Brady Corbet for attempting something so bold.

Robert Pattinson really is one of the most adventurous actors working today.  I think he really shines here and elevates the material a bit.

Who would have thought that a Li’l Quinquin spinoff which is also Bruno Dumont’s answer to Jupiter Ascending was possible?

It’s an ambitious directorial debut from Brady Corbet and I was impressed.

Fuck capitalism (literally!) and bring on the (sexual) revolution!  It’s the pornographic answer to Pasolini and it’s awesome!

It’s overlong, but weirdly excusable.  This is a document of an institution and the way it operated at a specific point in time.

It’s interesting to watch this decades after its creation.  What most 1960s era audiences probably perceive as mundane and standard, modern audiences see as frightening.  That’s kind of the beauty of the objective lens - albeit a curated one.

It’s a curated document of a time and place, glimpsing at the school and its activities from a voyeuristic perspective.  This is exactly what documentaries should be.

RIP David Lynch… this film was his first feature and also his first masterpiece.  It is not a film to make sense of on a conscious level, as it exists in the subconscious.  What matters is the atmosphere that it creates and the feelings which emerge from it.  And what Lynch created was one of the most unsettling and nightmarish landscapes in the history of cinema.  I love this film and always have.  When I saw it for the first time, it changed the way I perceived both cinema and the world.  But that’s the power of art and the beauty of David Lynch.  He really was a once in a lifetime artist whose work has only gotten better with age.  For that, I’m forever indebted to him… farewell maestro!

This seems like a clip from a much longer movie.  Such is the case with most narratives this short.

More a document of its time at this point - this was a fun and delightfully queer middle finger to Nixon!

Watched on Saturday January 11, 2025.

It’s so surreal, but so beautiful.

Watched on Saturday January 11, 2025.

One of the better mainstream representations of BDSM.  It’s not 100% realistic, but it gets enough right to be acceptable.  As a film, I thought it was just a standard romantic comedy no different than a standard Nancy Meyers t.  It’s fine, but I’m still waiting for the great mainstream narrative film which depicts BDSM accurately.

It’s a gimmick that is at odds with itself, which is a shame because the material is socially relevant.

Watched on Thursday January 2, 2025.

All the feature length films I presently own on Blu Ray

• 24 Frames

  Criterion Edition

• The 39 Steps

  Criterion Edition

• Aliens

  30th Anniversary Edition 

• Andrei Rublev

  Criterion Edition

• Anticipation of the Night

  Revoir Edition 

• Avatar

  Two copies:
  2010 Original Release
  2010 3 Disc Collector’s Edition 

• Avatar: The Way of Water

  Two copies: Ultimate Collector’s Edition and 4 Disc Collectors Box Set Edition

• The Ballad of Narayama

  Criterion Edition

• The Battle Over Citizen Kane

  Included in the 70th Anniversary of Citizen Kane

• Bergman Island

  Included in the Criterion Edition of The Seventh Seal

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.