Horse Money (2015)

Horse Money / Pedro Costa / 2015 / fourstar

Active Ingredients: Sympathetic evocation of memory; Haunting imagery
Side Effects: Stillness and repetition

HorseMoney

[Horse Money opens in limited release, including at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, on July 24th.]

A 19-year-old young man, green and optimistic from hope in hard work, is admitted to the hospital. He’s been wounded in a skirmish, briefly caught up in the leftist revolution of Portugal in the 1970s. Only the year is 2013, and the man isn’t 19 but in his seventies. He isn’t brash and viral, but old and infirm, his hands restlessly shaking from a nervous disease as he responds to the questions he was grilled with decades earlier.

Pedro Costa’s haunting documentary/fiction hybrid Horse Money is full of extraordinary temporal discontinuities like this one. Time becomes collapsed, splayed out before us in the darkened halls of an otherworldly interior space, a kind of purgatory inhabited by living ghosts, representing memory and disillusionment. Read more…

2010s, 4 Stars

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July 18, 2015

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The Killer (1989)

The Killer / John Woo / 1989 / fivestar Available on Netflix Instant at time of posting

Active Ingredients: Balletic action; Intuitive editing; Genre themes
Side Effects: Melodramatic imagery; Sidelining of female character

The Killer is a remarkable film, not only because of the influence of John Woo’s style on future action films, but because of its exploration of a specific brand of stubborn masculine morals—familiar in genre films of all kinds—an ideal that leads to violence, but a violence that purifies and upholds above all else integrity. Call it “The Code.” Read more…

1980s, 5 Stars

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July 8, 2015

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Two Shots Fired (2015)

Two Shots Fired / Martín Rejtman / 2015 / twostar

Active Ingredients: Discursive narrative; Intersecting web of characters
Side Effects: Flat, unaffected performances; Imprecision of style

Argentinian director Martín Rejtman’s new film Two Shots Fired is an offbeat, serio-comic riff featuring a collection of entangled stories. Rejtman is an important voice in modern Argentinian cinema, and Two Shots Fired premiers as part of a retrospective of his work at New York’s Film Society of Lincoln Center. “Sounds Like Music: The Films of Martín Rejtman” will run from May 13 to May 19. Read more…

2 Stars, 2010s

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May 10, 2015

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Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck / Brett Morgen / 2015 / fourstar

Active Ingredients: Intimacy; Editing of raw material; Focus on creativity
Side Effects: Simplification of psychology; Ending

[Montage of Heck is available via HBO, HBO Go and HBO Now.]

What is genius? Does it reside inside an artist, or is it bestowed upon him from the outside? How does it ignite, how is it expressed? Brett Morgen’s haunting and intimate portrait of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain doesn’t ask these questions directly, but this elusive quality of “genius” hangs over the film. Labels such as these repulsed Cobain, but his genius defined the pain and alienation he processed, the fleeting moments of joy he felt in creating and his unsuccessful attempts to disentangle himself from unwanted fame. Read more…

2010s, 4 Stars

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May 8, 2015

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A Tale of Two Biopics: “The Imitation Game” & “The Theory of Everything”

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Normally, I hate biopics. For every I’m Not There (a fascinating, prismatic exploration of the cultural persona of Bob Dylan, rather than the biographical details of his life) there are scores more films like Ray or Walk the Line. These “prestige” biopics that seem to dominate whatever sections of Hollywood remain un-franchised are imprecise, hagiographic, dramatically inert and stylistically dull. But do they have to be?

Half of last year’s Best Picture nominees where biopics. Of those four films, I saw only The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything, weary as I am of these films. Both films are about genius, mid-century British scientists. Both even succumb to the simplistic psychological readings that tend to plague biopics. And yet while neither of these films comes close to the originality or artistic ambition of I’m Not There, the relative success of The Imitation Game may illuminate a few ways prestige biopics, if we must live with them, could be improved. Read more…

2010s

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April 12, 2015

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A Trio of Recent Indie Genre Films

While the winter and spring offerings at the multiplex continue to disappoint, consider looking to these smaller-budget, independent films at your local art house or on Video On Demand. In particular, it seems as though indie productions are beginning to cater more to audiences looking for smart, adult-themed genre films like thrillers, mysteries and horror films. It may be becoming harder and harder to finance films like these—that is, without a built-in audience from novel or comic book sales—but they’re beginning to grace Apple TVs and Rokus more frequently. Read more…

2010s, Quick Takes

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March 26, 2015

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The Top 100 Films of the Decade So Far

The Tree of Life

As anyone who reads this site (or follows my Letterboxd account) knows, I love making film lists. While I recognize that it’s not very useful as an act of film criticism, there’s something about the exercise that I find satisfying and fun. Instead of reducing these films to an arbitrary ranking, I find that compiling lists gives me a chance to reevaluate and revisit my initial encounters. Am I still thinking about a film after a few years? Are there open questions, mysteries or contradictions to explore? Considering questions like these as I create a list proves that films aren’t finite objects, but experiences that grow and change over time. The best films don’t ever really end, but remain vibrant and alive in my mind long after I see them.

It’s with these thoughts in mind that I endeavored to create a list of my 100 favorite films at the halfway point of this decade. Of course, my list is entirely subjective, and my rankings probably wouldn’t hold up to much scrutiny, but these are some of the films of the last five years that I’m still thinking about today. Read more…

2010s, Feature

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March 18, 2015

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The Best Performances and Scenes of 2014

I recently shared my Top 20 films of the year, but while 2015 is still young and its great films are months away, there’s still time to look back at 2014. In this post I’ll name my favorite lead and supporting performances and count down some of the most memorable scenes. Recognizing some under-appreciated actors and small moments, even in films I may have disliked overall, gives me the chance to mention other titles that landed just outside my Top 20 of the year and attempt to rectify the year’s biggest Oscar snub: Ralph Fiennes.

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2010s, Feature

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February 1, 2015

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The Top 20 Films of 2014

Boyhood

More than most years, 2014 seemed to boast a wide range of titles on critics’ Top 10 lists. With a few notable exceptions (Boyhood, of course), there weren’t many films you’d be to sure to see among any critic’s favorites. I’m not sure whether this lack of consensus speaks to the diversity and high number of quality films released, or instead indicates a lack of truly exceptional films. Looking back over my own year of film watching, I can see both arguments. Only a few movies stood out as instant classics, indelible statements that will grow richer over time. While those occupy the top of my list, there were plenty more stand-out films, maybe not masterpieces, but examples of the cinematic diversity 2014 had to offer and worthy entires on my list of the Top 20 films of the year.

Honorable Mentions: Snowpiercer, Life Itself, The LEGO Movie, Blue Ruin, Hide Your Smiling Faces
Regrets: Selma, Two Days One Night, Mr. Turner, Winter Sleep, Jauja, Force Majeure, Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Read more…

Feature

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January 26, 2015

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Goodbye to Language (2014)

Goodbye to Language / Jean-Luc Godard / 2014 / fivestar

Active Ingredients: 3D; Thrilling blend of visual and thematic modes
Side Effects: Strange comedy; Lack of conclusive ending

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[Part of VARIABLES, a series of essays on the art and politics of Jean-Luc Godard]

Somewhat surprisingly, both terms in the title of Jean-Luc Godard’s newest film are equally important. Goodbye to Language 3D is as much about “goodbyes” as it is about “language.” Though, of course, it’s a third element of the title which describes the dominant experience of seeing the film: 3D.

Like other examples of late-period Godard (For Ever Mozart, Film socialisme), his newest film is a demanding, confounding and occasionally assaultive rumination. Determining the topic of this rumination, however, can be difficult. But there’s good news for daunted viewers: surrender to the unique logic of the film—infinitely more tactile than intellectual—and Godard dazzles with a flood of remarkable imagery, an articulation of a purely visual language that cannot and should not be reduced to a single meaning. Read more…

2010s, 5 Stars, Feature

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January 15, 2015

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