Looking back…looking forward

Greetings dearies!  Did you miss me?  Well, I certainly missed YOU.  But fear not, although Trixie’s pen has been languishing, she’s still been watching LOTS of films, and can’t wait to share them with you!  With 2019 at a close (good riddance to THAT bitch), and a shiny new decade upon us (the TWENTIES, no less!), here are my top picks, almost-rans, misses, and you-couldn’t-pay-mes for 2019, and as a bonus, films to look forward to in 2020!  Without further ado:

TRIXIE’S TOP TEN FILMS OF 2019

New releases only, mostly seen in theaters, but also at home, because Netflix:

1. COLD WAR – The first film I wrote about on this blog and the one that I’ve thought about the most since. An exquisitely-filmed black and white epic poem to love, loss, and the tragedy of Communism.
2. FACES/PLACES (tied with) VARDA BY AGNES – We lost my beloved Agnes this year, but if you aren’t familiar with her work, the deeply human FACES/PLACES is a good starting point.  VARDA BY AGNES is a sweeping overview of her life’s work, which she directs and narrates with her customary intelligence, humor, and compassion. She is the master.
3. MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN – Panned by the critics, Edward Norton’s dark tale of big-city corruption and the racist policies that informed (and continue to inform) city planning couldn’t be more timely. Great cast, including a decidedly creepy Alex Baldwin as a Robert Moses type.
4. DOLEMITE IS MY NAME – Eddie’s back! This sweet and hilarious homage to Blaxploitation is a total treat. And it’s based on history! Wesley Snipes steals the show. I watched it twice!
5. NEVER LOOK AWAY – The second film I wrote about this year, and still one of the most original films I’ve seen about the creative process. Not to mention also being a (mostly) true story.
6. PARASITE – Look for more on this one at a blog post coming soon. An almost indescribable film:  funny, sad, horrific, violent, tender, thought-provoking, and politically timely. Masterfully directed by Bong Joon Ho.
7. ATLANTICS – A dreamy mix of near-documentary scenes of life in Dakar, Senegal, the supernatural, AND worker’s movement politics. Oh, and it’s a love story.  Highly original.
8. PAIN AND GLORY – Return to form from Almodovar, after a couple of misses. Antonio Banderas showing his age, but still hot. A thoughtful meditation on age, work, and drug use.
9. THE SILENCE OF OTHERS – Full disclosure: I wrote the blurb for this when it screened at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and just watching on my laptop had me in tears. So much I didn’t know about Franco and the shadow he casts over Spain to this day. “The past is never dead.  It’s not even past.” – Faulkner
10. THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO – A beautifuly-filmed poem to place that no longer exists.  “You can’t hate San Francisco unless you’ve loved San Francisco.”  Truth.

HONORABLE MENTIONS 

These films contained elements I admired, but weren’t quite up to the top ten list:

1. ARCTIC – I’ll watch Matts Mickelsson in just about anything. Great survival film.
2. EVERYBODY KNOWS – Solid thriller/mystery. Penelope Cruz fabulous as always.
3. MIDSOMMAR – Too long (as was director Ari Aster’s feature debut Hereditary), but marks for sheer audacity and making horror look like an Instagram feed.
4. TRANSIT – Wrote about in on my blog. Waiting for Godot in the South of France.
5. JOKER – Flawed, but Joaquin Phoenix’s performance was mesmerizing.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS

Films I really wanted to like, but came up short for one reason or another.

1. US – I loved the humor and the scariness of Get Out, but this one just didn’t do it for me.  Too much gore, not enough plot.
2. THE IRISHMAN – Three hours of my life I’ll never get back. Nice turn from Joe Pesci, but it wasn’t enough. Horrible CG.
3. WINE COUNTRY – I can’t even. What a waste of great comic actors.
4. JOJO RABBIT – I adore everything Taika Waititi does, but even he can’t make Nazis funny.  
5. AFTER THE WEDDING – The Danish original floored me (Matts!), but this one was a dud. 
6. QUEEN AND SLIM – Daniel Kaluuya and the rest of the cast were great, and the story was compelling, but a bit too long and slow for me. 

MISSED IN THE THEATER BUT HOPE TO CATCH ON THE SMALL SCREEN

1. THE SOUVENIR
2. THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM
3. THE LIGHTHOUSE
4. A HIDDEN LIFE

YOU COULDN’T PAY ME

Films I refuse to see. Go ahead, try and talk me into it, I dare you.:

1. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYOOD – After The Hateful Eight, I swore I’d never see another Quentin Tarantino film. I don’t care how good you thought it was. Fuck that guy.
2. MARRIAGE STORY – About as appealing as having bamboo shoots driven under my fingernails. Another film about rich straight white people and their sad lives? Nein Danke!
3. TOY STORY 4 – I think this franchise needs to be buried with a stake through it’s heart.
4. CATS – No comment.

COMING UP IN 2020

Looking forward to seeing these new releases in the coming year:

1. LES MISERABLES – Not another Hugo re-make. Directed by Faces/Places’ JR collaborator Ladj Ly.
2. THE GENTLEMEN – Guy Ritchie returns to Snatch form.
3. AND THEN WE DANCED – I’m a sucker for dance films.  This one is from Georgia!
4. THE LODGE – Follow up from the directors of Goodnight Mommy, one of the most truly disturbing films I have EVER SEEN (and I’ve seen a few.)
5. PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE – Love, art, rugged French coastline – looks great.
6. WENDY – Peter Pan re-make from Beasts of the Southern Wild director Benh Zeitlin. Could be awesome.
7. A QUIET PLACE 2 – Loved the first one. One of the more original horror films. And Emily Blunt, so.
8. THE TRUTH – French language film from Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda.  Catherine Deneuve, Juliet Binoche. Nuff said.
9. MULAN – Never thought I’d say this about a Disney film, but I’m actually looking forward to seeing this!  Jet Li!  Directed by Niki Caro of Whale Rider fame (one of my fave films ever.)

And there you have it dearies!  My wrap-up of 2019 – not counting of course, all the FABULOUS films I streamed this year from the comfort of my living room, especially on The Criterion Channel, a veritable gold mine of obscure, international, and historically important films.  If you consider yourself a film fan, you should subscribe NOW.  End of plug.  Look for a round-up of Trixie’s best streaming moments in the next blog.

Until then, happy watching! And HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Love, Trixie

Strangers in Strange Lands

Greetings luvvies!

Apologies for the long absence! Your correspondent has been gadding about the country with barely enough time to catch her breath, much less write film reviews. Some of you have let me know that you watched a film I’ve written about, so thank you for that!  It’s nice to know, in these troubled times, that there is still beauty to be found, if only cinematic. I hope this blog can help shine a little light in the corners where people still care about such things…Onwards!

One of the things I love to do when in a strange city is (surprise) go to the movies!  There’s something about sitting in an unfamiliar setting, with exotic snacks and strangers on either side that adds an extra frisson of excitement to one’s viewing experience. This week’s column is dedicated to Watching While Travelling.

First stop:  New York City!  The Big Apple, one of my favorite places on earth, and one that I was sorely missing of late.  I made a flying visit over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend, to immerse myself in friends, family, and art, and of course, found time to take in a picture. On Saturday night I wended my way through the cobbled streets of the West Village, avoiding crowds of merry-making locals, to enter the dark hall of the IFC Center (formerly the Waverly Theater) on 6^th Avenue. I was greeted warmly by the gentleman who tore my ticket, and made to feel welcome at once. The theater is meant to be an offshoot of AMC’s IFC Channel, and accordingly shows primarily art house and independent films. That night’s selection was Transit, directed by  Christian Petzold, based on Anna Segher’s 1942 novel about Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism during WWII. A well-trodden road, to be sure, but here’s the twist:  The novel has been transposed to present day France, giving it a timeless, Kafka-esque feel. The characters are stuck in Marseilles, waiting for papers that may or may not come, living in fear of being taken away by an enemy we never see. It’s a bit like Waiting for Godot, but with better scenery. I enjoyed the film, although the main character’s resemblance to Joaquin Phoenix was so strong as to be somewhat distracting (as was his slight speech impediment), but I can’t say I loved it. Maybe it was the jet-lag, but the film all-too-convincingly conveyed the anxious, clammy quality of being trapped in a maze, doomed to making the same mistakes over and over…kind of like modern-day air travel! (Never Look Away‘s lovely Paula Beer also appears as the enigmatic love interest.) However, I thoroughly enjoyed the theater and its friendly staff, and scored a fetching Agnès Varda shoulder bag  to boot (little did I know my beloved Agnès would be leaving us so soon – look for a post dedicated to her work at some point in future.) If you find yourself in the Village with nothing to do, I highly recommend the IFC Center.

Next up – the City of Angels (and some devils…)

Stuck in a hotel room on my first night in town, I was itching to get out but fancied a walk (a rare activity in LA, to be sure), so imagine my delight in finding that there was a super-luxe movie theater just a block away, with a film I actually wanted to see! Full disclosure – the IPIC Westwood is not somewhere I would normally frequent. For one thing, it’s hideously expensive. If I hadn’t been travelling for work, I never would have gone there.  But I just couldn’t resist the lure of a theater with reclining leather seats, pillow, blanket, and free popcorn, and all this BEFORE you press the little glowing button on your table and order dinner and a cocktail from a cute eager waitperson. Only in LA, my friends…we’re talking serious decadence here. I ordered shrimp tacos and a ginger beer-based cocktail, and both were surprisingly good. Alas, I didn’t have room for the “Childhood in a Jar” chocolate pudding cake dessert…one has limits, afterall!

I wish I could say I enjoyed the film as much as the food:  I really wanted to like Us, since Get Out was one of my favorite films last year – creepy, funny, thought-provoking and disturbing all at once (and I’ll watch anything Catherine Keener does, since seeing her debut in 1991’s Johnny Suede.) But alas, Jordan Peele’s sophomore effort felt just that:  a bit sophomoric. Although based on an interesting idea (something about the haves and have-nots of America, and how one influences and controls the other…or something,) the concept was too muddled to capture my imagination, and wrapped up too neatly to satisfy my need for ambiguity. It was all just very bloody and very confusing. Peele’s stated goal was to create a classic horror film, starring a black family in danger, and he did just that, but despite the great cast, who all acted their hearts out, I need more than buckets of blood and gore to sustain my interest. I look forward to his next film.

Thoughts?  Opposing views?  Did I miss something?  I welcome your comments.

Until next time,

Trixie

From Poland With Love

Greetings Gentle Readers, and (not so) Happy Valentine’s Day!

Although I find our culture’s insistence on the heteronormative couple (and the marketing that goes with it) irksome in the extreme, I hearby decree that this blogspace be devoted to love in all its myriad forms, today and every day! In that spirit, I offer up three films that at first glance hardly exemplify typical love stories…but really, is there such a thing? You be the judge…

If you haven’t heard the name Pawel Pawlikowski, you soon will very soon. His sleeper hit, Ida (2013), a black and white 80-minute film about a young nun in post-war Poland, won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film in 2015, and his newest offering, Cold War, is likely to do the same (unless Roma scoops it up – go see it on the big screen while you can!)

Ida was remarkable for its spare, nearly dialogue-free storytelling, and its low-light, monochromatic cinematography. Framed in a square aspect ratio that gives you the feeling of  watching a foreign film from the early 60’s – Bergman and Bresson have been invoked in other reviews – the film seems to have been unearthed from another era, indeed, from the period when the film itself takes place.

Without giving away its secrets, of which there are many, Ida concerns a young novice nun who, shortly before taking the veil, is sent to meet her only living relative: her aunt Wanda, a somewhat embittered state prosecutor (known as Red Wanda for her ruthless sentencing,) who spends her time away from the bench drinking, smoking, and bedding random men. Wanda is played by the marvelous Agata Kelusza, who must surely possess one of the greatest faces in current cinema. She’s right up there with Anna Magnani or Gena Rowlands (more on her later.) What the naïve young nun discovers, and how she and Wanda react to that hard-won knowledge, is where the film derives its considerable power. Steeped in the history of Poland – the horrors of the Second World War followed by the repression of the Soviet takeover – there is tenderness, even love, in the story as well: The novice’s devotion to her faith, the growing bond between the two women, the admiration of a young Coltrane-playing musician, and ultimately, a woman’s love for her child.  Ida was one of my favorite films the year it came out, and it deserves to be seen – again.

If you fancy another film about nuns and Poland (hey, it’s a thing), you might try The Innocents (2016), now streaming on Netflix. A Polish-French production, it also concerns women facing unspeakable tragedy, but unlike the two other films reviewed here, it’s based on a true story. Directed by Anne Fontaine, it tells the story of a French Croix Rouge nurse played by Lou de Laâge, who discovers a group of nuns living in a remote convent. They too, harbor secrets: many of them were repeatedly raped by Russian soldiers at the end of WWII, and are now in the late stages of pregnancy. The Mother Superior, who holds some fiercely-guarded secrets of her own, is played by our friend Agata Kelusza, in a role that only someone with her steely gravitas could pull off and still retain our sympathies (Joanna Kulig appears as well, as one of the nuns.)  There’s a Jewish doctor who’s in love with the nurse, but she has bigger issues to deal with, since once she learns of the sisters’ plight she feels compelled to help them, jeopardizing her own career and safety. And what about love, you ask? The male figures in The Innocents are peripheral, as they were in Ida, except as figures of menace or ineffectual lovers. Rather, the film quietly celebrates the bond between the sisters, and the relationship that grows between the nuns and the nurse that cares for them. The end of the film, while not exactly happy, at least provides a degree of resolution, thank goddess.

On to the main course: Pawel Pawlikowski’s latest love letter to his former homeland (he lives in the UK,) Cold War is a sweeping ode to Polish history, to music, and to doomed romantic love. Again, the cinematography is black and white and the aspect ratio is archaic, but unlike Ida, the entire film is sharp and high-contrast: shadows are inky black, and the female lead, the incandescent Joanna Kulig as Zula, is lit as if from within – she positively glows. Zula is discovered as part of an ethnographic music-collection project headed by the ruggedly handsome pianist Wiktor (Tomasz Kot), who travels around the country with his partner Irene (again played by Agata Kelusza, who fades from the narrative far too quickly), recording folksongs and recruiting young hopefuls to be part of a state-run choral and dance group. Once assembled, however, the group is under the sway of the State’s director, who has a higher purpose in mind for the group – singing the praises of Stalin, with predictably reductive results. That the director proves to be racist, and has his eye on Zula, the epitome of an Aryan blonde, figures into the story to tragic effect.

Zula and Wiktor are the original star-crossed lovers, tossed on the stormy sea of history, whose mutual love of music draws them together and simultaneously keeps them apart. Wiktor escapes to Paris, where he plays jazz in a club and shacks up with a poet – but still refers to Zula as “the woman of my life.” Zula’s story is far less romantic, and one wonders what her motivations are. When my filmgoing companion questioned the character’s decisions, I could only answer “Humans are flawed.” Ultimately, the film is about choices and why we make them, especially when they don’t serve our best interests.

Pawlikowski shoots every scene beautifully, even when the characters’ lives are in shambles –  every scene is carefully composed, and fairly crackles with emotion. Kulig’s character holds our eye whenever she’s onscreen (she also played the chirpy blonde singer in the party scenes in Ida), and the men in her life are similarly dazzled. In a Paris club, she gets drunk and dances to “Rock Around The Clock,” flinging herself from one partner to the next, abandoning herself to the forbidden American music, her longing for freedom and release so strong she nearly dances right off the screen.  

The end of the film feels both devastating and somehow inevitable, but as with the rest of the film, it’s beautifully and discretely framed. If not your typical love story, Cold War is nonetheless a Valentine to Poland, to music, and to lost loves.