Trailer for the new Khalik Allah! Which is apparently 3 hours long! Black Mother brilliant, he's definitely one of the most exciting artists around right now.
The new Guadagnino short (it's 37 minutes) The Staggering Girl is up on Mubi for 30 days starting today. The Staggering Girl
recently watched: Corpus Christi Bait Sorry We Missed You Rojo Honey Boy First Love Long Day’s Journey Into Night all were good to great
It’s been on the list for a while but I’m definitely bumping it up the queue on the strength of LDJ, that last shot was stunning Feel like Rojo is underrated, haven’t seen much talk about it but it’s stuck with me Bait was somehow both more experimental and easier to follow than I expected, pretty fascinating Corpus Christi is fantastic, felt like it tackled similar ground that First Reformed did but in a very different way. Less fatalistic but in the end even more brutal I haven’t seen much of Miike outside of Visitor Q but First Love was a delight, hyperviolent and heartwarming - total midnight gem Sorry We Missed You was probably my favorite of the bunch but that was pretty much already written in the stars, total gut-punch. Found myself thinking of Two Days, One Night while watching, not in tone but in their shared exploration of working class empathy
I still need to get around to Bait. Sorry We Missed You and First Love are both really great though. I think Sorry We Missed You is one of Loach's stronger works and I'm so glad he came back from "retirement" after going out with the pretty dreadful Jimmy's Hall. There's definitely strong parallels between the work Loach has been doing and what the Dardenne bros are doing. While I probably prefer the work of the latter, Loach is probably the more sensitive director in this regard - it genuinely feels like he is making films for The People.
Berlinale awards coming out in the next couple hours. Hearing the odds have tipped towards the Hittman film for the Golden Bear which is exciting since that’s actually coming out really soon. Who knows. Curious to see how things play out, lots of filmmakers I’d love to see get recognized playing in competition this year.
Not in comp though! They added a new section (Encounters) this year, which is where it’s playing. I think maybe it’s an equivalent to Un Certain Regard, where they can put smaller and/or more challenging works. Seems like a lock for the Bear in that section though, I’ve heard nothing other than masterpiece from most critics I trust.
Encounters prizes: Best Film: The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin) [C.W. Winter and Anders Erdstrom] Special Jury Prize: The Trouble With Being (Sandra Woller) Best Director: Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu) Special Mention: Isabella (Matias Pinero)
Golden Bear: There is No Evil (Mohammad Rasoulaf) Grand Jury Prize: Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman) Best Director: The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo) Best Actor: Elio Germano in Hidden Away (Giorgio Diritti) Best Actress: Paula Beer in Undine (Christian Petzold) Best Screenplay: Bad Tales (D'Innocenzo brothers) Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: Jurgen Jurges for Cinematography in DAU. Natasha (Ilya Khrzhanovsky and Jekaterina Oertel) Silver Bear 70th Berlinale: Delete History (Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern)
I have, I love it. It's pretty amazing in terms of the aesthetic and vibes, there's some fantastic imagery throughout. Very unique film. Highly recommend it!
Literally been on my watchlist since like 2014 lol. The stuff I’ve seen from Żuławski is great though. Possession is an obvious classic but his last film Cosmos is a fascinating work as well.
I didn't realize Netflix acquired System Crasher and released it a few weeks ago. Highly recommend it to anyone into that social realism, it's a bit like Loach or the Dardenne bros but the energy is a lot more chaotic and volatile.
Sky Hopinka’s work is so beautiful and important, highly recommend if anyone is looking for something to fill the hours
Missed this but I’ve been looking forward to it and it’s been sitting on my computer for a couple weeks, bumping to the top of my list for quarantine watches