Directed by Kelly Reichardt Watching someone get caught shoplifting gives me so much anxiety. I don't mean in real life but in movies. There's always some mix of justice with ego and self-righteousness. We understand why, for example, Wendy (Michelle Williams) tries to steal an apple and a can of dog food, but the person … Continue reading Wendy and Lucy (2008)
Month: July 2019
Shallow Grave (1994)
Directed by Danny Boyle Danny Boyle's debut film is full of a restless, almost manic kind of energy with the camera moving quickly, and the characters speaking even faster. Though drugs don't factor into the story (as they do in his next film), it's as if these characters are constantly snorting and injecting something just … Continue reading Shallow Grave (1994)
Peppermint Candy (2000)
Directed by Lee Chang-dong Peppermint Candy feels like you're holding a clear plastic bag with a piranha in it. The whole thing is neatly presented in a series of flashbacks, leading to a man's suicide, yet within such a clean, simplistic structure is a character raging against the camera frame. Yongho's story is divided into … Continue reading Peppermint Candy (2000)
Meek’s Cutoff (2010)
Directed by Kelly Reichardt In Meek's Cutoff a small group consisting of three families and a hired guide get lost on their way to the Willamette Valley. They are already lost when we meet them, and they remain lost when we leave them. In the middle there is some deliberation, drama and finally the breakdown of … Continue reading Meek’s Cutoff (2010)
Stoker (2013)
Directed by Park Chan-wook In Stoker a troubled young girl is pent up in a large mansion with her bereaved mother after the death of the girl's father. An uncle she never knew about then shows up with a sinister charm, and it's clear immediately that something is afoot. India (Mia Wasikowski) doesn't exactly mourn her … Continue reading Stoker (2013)
Like Father, Like Son (2013)
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda I have so far seen three Hirokazu Kore-eda films, and they all orbit the relationship between a father and son, none as directly as Like Father, Like Son. In After the Storm we follow a troubled, gambling-addicted private investigator who struggles to maintain a healthy relationship with his son as he continues to … Continue reading Like Father, Like Son (2013)
Certain Women (2016)
Directed by Kelly Reichardt Certain Women tells the story of three women in a small Montana town. Their lives intersect but not to any noteworthy degree, instead just passing by like the characters in Richard Linklater's Slacker. This overlapping quality has little to no dramatic momentum and instead just further fleshes out the world, to take … Continue reading Certain Women (2016)
X-Men: First Class (2011)
Directed by Matthew Vaughn I quite enjoyed X-Men: First Class back when it first came out simply because it's fun. It walks the line between dramatic and funny, combining the Cuban Missile Crisis and the always fun threat of nuclear war with "team up" montages and the same sense of fun as you would find … Continue reading X-Men: First Class (2011)
Night Moves (2013)
Directed by Kelly Reichardt In Night Moves three ecoterrorists hatch a plan to blow up a dam. The first half of the film is seen through their eyes, and the second half, after the successful demolition, looks at them from the outside. It is thus a film that neither glorifies nor demonizes their pursuit but instead … Continue reading Night Moves (2013)
River of Grass (1994)
Directed by Kelly Reichardt In River of Grass an existentially bored housewife searches for an identity. The story concerns her, a similarly lonely loose cannon and a lost gun. She is Cozy, he is Lee (Larry Fessenden), and the gun belongs to her detective father. That they are all so neatly connected perhaps stretches plausibility, but … Continue reading River of Grass (1994)
