criterion challenge 2021
film #22 
(7. wes anderson’s 10)
spine #432

i found this film rather fascinating and for the most part, very engaging. i am a huge fan of the atypical structure, and how cinematography and production design is used to facilitate that. it is a gorgeous film visually and sonically, and i can only imagine it getting better the longer i sit on it. it has aged well too; just watched tampopo, out of japan during this same…

this takes the cake of the worst movie i have seen of the year (and i’ve seen artemis fowl). it is such a god-awful screenplay in all aspects - dialogue, pacing, characters and its communication of its themes and message. clooney clumsily hops between three tedious narrative threads that barely tie together, climaxing in a rubbish third act that attempts to justify the 90 minute bore that preceded it. the pacing is really off-kilter, the main two story arcs comprise…

a white white day is a fascinating study of grief and masculinity, set in a remote region of iceland where an unspoken conflict between tangible harshness and stark beauty mirrors the turmoil of the narrative. the great emptiness in space and whiteness that surrounds the protagonist, ingimundur, ironically seems to suffocate him as he grapples with loss when compounded with a suspected betrayal by his late wife. the style of the film is contemplative and restrained, but also suitably conveys…