Friday’s Five Films: August 21, 2026

I turned 28 this week. It feels a bit weird, but maybe that’s something I’ll slowly get used to especially when this anxiety has only grown the moment I turned 27. At least I feel some sense of relief from being out of the range of the “27 club,” but even that is something I have mixed feelings about when some of its members have left a greater impact than I had. With all the movies I watch, what kind of impact can I make? Still, I just kept going.

Without further ado, these are Friday’s Five Films. If you like what you’re seeing here, remember to subscribe for a whole lot more.

I think it took me a bit of time to get used to seeing Martin Balsam in an Italian-speaking role, because he was dubbed – as was the case with many American actors in Italian films. Though at the same time, this world that Damiano Damiani has created in Confessions of a Police Captain, given the film’s title, feels grimy from the offset. It’s the kind of world we would only expect for any movie dealing with police corruption, and maybe that might be where it would be easy to think this was a typical poliziotteschi. Then I saw the film for myself and realized just how much bleaker things would get.

I remember seeing this when it first came out. For Christopher Nolan, it was the period where I realized that he was really pushing himself as a filmmaker, especially given that he’s dealing with little words and focusing entirely on sensory experiences from start to finish. It’s something that works in Nolan’s favour here, as he’s forgoing exposition and dialogue in order to put you in the middle of the action as a resistance builds against the Nazis. I used to think this was a lesser Nolan, but now I think I feel some confidence in calling it one of his best. A perfect film to celebrate my 28th birthday to, and on 70mm no less.

I wouldn’t have guessed this film was for children just based on the blurb provided on Criterion Channel. I suppose it makes sense, especially when this is a film built around trickery and deception, but also how quickly a child can be taken in with that concept. It feels like the perfect way for them to learn about what the world may present, especially if things are not what they seem. Also, this was the movie that I hit 1000 on Letterboxd this year with. I think that deserves some form of recognition.

Supposedly this is Sofia Coppola’s worst movie according to Rotten Tomatoes. I disagree, I would argue it’s one of her very best. Given that Sofia Coppola has always been one to make movies about rich people being depressed and feeling isolated from the world around them, it feels appropriate for telling Marie Antoinette’s story, as she saw it. This is a coming-of-age movie more than anything, but taken from the celebrity’s perspective, where we see that someone like her would be thrust into such a position she’s not totally equipped to comprehend. In a way, even the most glamorous-looking setting becomes a prison of sorts. And I love every minute of it.

So this movie has entered the public domain very recently, yet here I still wait for a boutique label to put out a restored version somewhere. I think it only goes without saying that this is one of the most beautiful films ever made, a film about how love has no boundaries – so we see it to be. There’s a particular magic to Sunrise, that I think is only experienced while watching. It all seems simple enough, but Murnau’s visuals help convey this sense of yearning so beautifully, and thus gives the movie a transformative power in the end.

First time watches are denoted with bold text. Scores are on a ½ to ✯✯✯✯✯ basis.

• Pornostar (1998, Toshiaki Toyoda) - ✯✯✯✯½

• 3:10 to Yuma (1957, Delmer Daves) - ✯✯✯✯✯

• Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026, Jane Schoenbrun) - ✯✯✯✯✯, watched on 35mm

• Paper Moon (1973, Peter Bogdanovich) - ✯✯✯✯✯

• Little Odessa (1994, James Gray) - ✯✯✯✯✯

• Harlan County USA (1976, Barbara Kopple) - ✯✯✯✯✯

• Inspector Ike (2020, Graham Mason) - ✯✯✯½

• Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927, F. W. Murnau) - ✯✯✯✯✯

• Kummatty (1979, Govindan Aravindan) - ✯✯✯✯✯

• The Raid (2011, Gareth Evans) - ✯✯✯✯✯

• The Raid 2 (2014, Gareth Evans) - ✯✯✯✯½

• The Ambulance (1990, Larry Cohen) - ✯✯✯✯

• Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989, Uli Edel) - ✯✯✯✯½

• Tony (2026, Matt Johnson) - ✯✯✯½

• The Sound of the Shaking Earth (1990, Rita Azevedo Gomes) - ✯✯✯✯

• Marie Antoinette (2006, Sofia Coppola) - ✯✯✯✯✯

• Bruiser (2000, George A. Romero) - ✯✯✯½

• Testament (1983, Lynne Littman) - ✯✯✯✯½

• The Odyssey (2026, Christopher Nolan) - ✯✯✯✯✯, watched on 70mm

• Elena (2011, Andrey Zvyagintsev) - ✯✯✯½

• Colony (2026, Yeon Sang-ho) - ✯✯✯½

• Ghost Killer (2024, Kensuke Sonomura) - ✯✯✯½

• Little Odessa (1994, James Gray) - ✯✯✯✯✯

• Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026, Destin Daniel Cretton) - ✯✯✯

• The Crying Game (1992, Neil Jordan) - ✯✯✯✯✯, watched on 35mm

• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974, Tobe Hooper) - ✯✯✯✯✯

• Christiane F. (1981, Uli Edel) - ✯✯✯✯✯

• Confessions of a Police Captain (1971, Damiano Damiani) - ✯✯✯✯✯

• Theater Camp (2023, Nick Lieberman and Molly Gordon) - ✯✯✯½

• Scream 7 (2026, Kevin Williamson) - ✯

• Risky Business (1983, Paul Brickman) - ✯✯✯✯✯

• His Motorbike, Her Island (1986, Nobuhiko Obayashi) - ✯✯✯✯✯

• Dunkirk (2017, Christopher Nolan) - ✯✯✯✯✯, watched on 70mm

• Hellcat (2025, Brock Bodell) - ✯✯✯

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