Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  Emitaï 1971

  Watched 18 Nov 2023

  A remarkably structured film. From the outset, it clearly establishes not just the issue of the rice tax, but also the stark power differential involved on either side of the conflict (made clear in the first and only physical confrontation), as well as the different significances that capitulation would mean for each (the sacredness of the rice to the Diola, on the one hand, the requisitioning of it for the French war effort, on the other). Sembene thus presents the…

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  Something to Remind Me 2001

  Watched 17 Nov 2023

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  The go-to comparison seems to be Vertigo, which makes sense in the context of Petzold's career, but particularly in the final stretch, this plays more like a version of Audition that doesn't actually follow through. The main issue is the sentimental characterization of the Blum character, who seems to exist solely to connect the two halves of the film, but ends up introducing an oddly redemptive element—though I'll concede that the ending, with Hoss' character in a stretcher as the lawyer holds her hand in the ambulance, is not exactly rosy, and suggests the development of a Marnie-like power dynamic.

Popular reviews

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  Primer 2004

  ★★★★½ Rewatched 11 Sep 2014 3

  Man, do you wanna watch Primer? I haven't seen it since later this afternoon.

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  Portrait of a Lady on Fire 2019

  ★★½ Added 15

  For a film that’s predicated on gradual seduction and about looking/painting as a conduit for or expression of love, this opts for some rather unproductive presentations of time. The sense of daily ritual is poorly evoked: scenes are given just enough narrative information so we get a sense of the plot, but there’s no feel for duration, or a sense of deepening interplay between the characters beyond what is required to signal such developments. The fireside scene should be a…