Another Countdown

Surprise! I can make another post.

Last year’s “Best Films I Watched” list went over pretty well, I think. I mean, “That I Watched” is a pretty big qualifier, especially when I, either by accident or deliberately, missed out on some pretty big-name affairs. Big names from the summer like Avengers: Endgame or even the December darlings like Uncut Gems or Greta Gerwig’s new adaptation of Little Women are getting left by the wayside here, though I have no doubt I’m going to try to seek those movies out once I find the time.

Disclaimers out of the way, let’s get it started!


5) Monos
(trailer)

Monos is one of those movies where the moment all the characters are introduced, you can more or less figure out the character arcs of its principal cast. This is not a bad thing, however. First and foremost, there are enough twists and turns to keep up engagement in anyone who would find such a thing immersion-breaking, and secondly, well, just look at the movie! The first hour at least is set on a huge expanse and is filled with breathtaking views, and even when the characters leave and the jungle and the associated losses of sanity keep the movie ticking along right up until its finale.

4) Marriage Story
(trailer)

Calling this one a comedy or even a dramedy is (as I found out) very much a mistake, but that doesn’t keep Noah Baumbach’s latest effort from being anything less than amazing. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson are both already demonstrated themselves to be terrific actors when given decent material and when you combine that with one of Baumbach’s always witty “mumblecore” (yes that’s the actual term) scripts, you’re bound to get something very good out of it.

3) The Last Back Man in San Francisco
(trailer)

I feel like this movie got lost in the shuffle? Like it came out, people liked it, and then it just got forgotten amongst all the other summer releases. And that’s a damn shame, I think, because even leaving aside the gorgeous San Francisco scenery, there’s a lot of heart in it. And sure, it might not stick the landing overall, but its emotional arc about home, family, and a changing city is one that many movies strive for and many fall short. Not this film.

2) The Proposal
(trailer)

This one’s interesting because potential anger in regards to the creator’s actions while making this film also seem to be part of its artistic message. I’ve described artist Jill Magid’s art project -- her titular proposal, which I will not go into detail about here (you’re supposed to watch the movie!) -- to several people and each one of them has had about the same sort of “that’s kind of weird” reaction. It’s a good kind of weird, to me, and I’m going to keep trying to get people to watch this movie, if only to have this sort of discussion with more people.

1) The Lighthouse
(trailer)
When I saw Robert Eggers’ first film, The VVitch (which I’ve written about before here), I loved it. I loved its muted color palette, I loved how it used its limited cast and set to great effect, and I loved how its folk tale-ness meant it could moralize while still keeping its plot trucking along. The actual witch parts, I could do without, though, and some people found the dialog inscrutable thanks to some archaic seventeenth-century language.

What The Lighthouse did, much to my satisfaction, was basically tighten up every single aspect in a way that improved the movie. The setting has become even more claustrophobic, there are only two, maybe three characters, and the color scheme is a literal black and white. On the other end, the dialog is still quote-unquote authentic for its time period, but it is much more understandable now, and the supernatural elements have been kept much more ambiguous. It’s the best way to follow up on an already stellar movie and I can’t wait to see what Eggers does next.

-F