Corruption of the innocent. That's the central theme of director Enzo Provenzale's "South Wind" when a young man (a very good Renato Salvatori), bound by his obligation to the mafia, decides to shirk his duties and go on the run. Caught up in her own desire to leave an oppressive family, Grazia (Claudia Cardinale) joins him and the two set off into the humid Italian landscape. As an early vehicle…
12. Lost in New York (1989), directed by Jean Rollin Jean Rollin’s films are often brilliant bursts of gallic, gothic horror. Then there’s his pornographic phase. “Lost in New York” falls into his late career period where he’s sort of abandoned logic even further, embraced more digital filmmaking, and built on ideas of the past. Bodies in motion….. silent trespass across graveyards and castle…
"He votes against long hair, porn, and abortions. But not arms dealing." French politicians of the 1970's in Georges Lautner's wonderful "Death of a Corrupt Man" haven't changed their stripes from global democracy of today, apparently. One of the best of the 70's French paranoid thrillers that stars two of my favorite actors, Alain Delon and Ornella Muti and just drips with corruption behind every…
1. The Net (2003) - Getting past that early aughts digital video essay vibe (done much more propulsively by Adam Curtis) is just one of the overwrought obstacles in Lutz Dammbeck's spiral into the birth of computers, CIA-LSD experimentation, and the vengeful bombing borne from Ted Kaczynski's paranoid beliefs. But, forgiving "The Net's" time and visual limitations, I still became frustrated with…
Pasquale Squiteri's "I Guappi" reveals the inauspicious entanglement of the Mafia with everyday life in nineteenth century Italy during a pivotal scene. Newcomer in town Nicola (Franco Nero), after quarreling with local Don Guatano (Fabio Testi), soon earns his trust and becomes inducted into the Cosa Nostra with a familiar ceremony that includes the pricking of fingers and solemn words. What…
Parthenope Paolo Sorrentino's latest film, "Parthenope", features so many of his affectations that mar some of his previous work. It's messy at times. Its emotions are scattershot. And it's framed and stylized like an aue du cologne commercial. All of these things are exactly why I love it so. It's messy and busting at the seams with snippets of life. Its emotions are tonally divergent (sometimes…
12. First Love (1978), directed by Dino Risi - I've seen a few Dino Risi films this year (mostly for the captivatingly beautiful Ornella Muti) and all I can say is that Italian sex fare has no business looking this good. Through a succession of accomplished cinematographers, including Tonino Delli Colli on this film), Risi's films take queasy romantics about the possession of a young Muti…
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin I never played World of Warcraft, but as someone who grew up alongside the burgeoning Internet, the idea of a faceless community turning into a curated online family is something I certainly experienced. Hours of my teenage life were spent making friends through various chat rooms and online message boards where the words (and subtle meanings expressed behind them)…
Anora For all its anxiety inducing set pieces, the most masterful thing about Sean Baker's electric "Anora" is that all the controlled chaos only makes the quiet, reflective moments that much more powerful. As the title character, Mikey Madison gives a ferociously alive portrayal of a woman caught up in a spiral of very messed-up hide and seek when her newlywed Russian husband goes missing, and…
The Breaking Ice Nana (Zhou Dongyu) is a tour guide whose dropped off the face of the earth from her family, constantly dreaming about her previous life as a figure skater before an accident injured her body. Hao Feng (Liu Haoran) is a tourist in town for a wedding who seems to be enamored with dangling his body on the edges of tall places and almost daring himself to jump. Han Xiao (Qu Chuxiao)…
My exploration of the films of Robert Siodmak continues, and, dare I say, his best films have been the ones that aren't readily available for mass market consumption. Yes, "The Killers" (1946) and "Criss Cross" (1949) are film noir staples, but films such as his late career effort "Escape From East Berlin" (1962) and the mid 40's "Phantom Lady" (1944) have been revelatory viewings for me. And now…
The Sweet East From its opening few minutes when teenager Lillian (a vibrant Talia Ryder) sings a song into a streaky restroom mirror and then erupts on an Alice In Wonderland-like vaunt across a funky, ideologically dangerous swath of the Northeast, Sean Price Williams' "The Sweet End" had me hooked. From that jumping off point, the film follows Lillian through about seven different genres as she…
1. Furiosa (2024) - I liked "Fury Road" (2015). "Furiosa" is a masterpiece. It's a film that deepens, strengthens, and expands on filmmaker George Miller's imaginatively conceived brutal wasteland of post apocalypse Australia. Stretching back to the early 80's, Miller's violent brushstrokes have always generated cathartic thrills, but with "Furiosa", the focus on certain people within the barren…
One of the best films of the year, Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "Evil Does Not Exist"is a tantalizing, challenging wonder. Part eco-thriller, but mostly a deliberate drama about the entrenching scale of urban growth into peaceful forestry, Hamaguchi employs his distinctive observational style to subtly shift gears between both. Imagine if Frederick Wiseman film were present in this peaceful natural village…
If I were sculpting a Mount Rushmore of neo-noir sleuths, the first would be Elliot Gould's Marlowe in "The Long Goodbye". The second would be Jeff Lebowski. Obviously, I love my "detectives" to be reluctantly oblivious, slightly impaired, and wholly suited for solving the case by allowing the devious world to open up its secrets in time without doing much except sulking around. Now add Michael…
Origin In "Origin", Ava DuVernay takes a sweeping nonfiction book and not only manages to weave a heartfelt portrait of the author herself, but illuminate the thesis of the narrative with a magnificent, globe trotting vision. From Nazi-era Germany, to the Jim Crow infested American South, to the inhumane treatment of a certain sect of people in India, "Origin" almost becomes an overwhelming…
The layers in Martha Coolidge's hybrid documentary "Not a Pretty Picture" are potent. The film deals with rape- not only that of the filmmaker herself in 1962, but the actress portraying her (a wonderful Michele Manenti) at that age is also a survivor of the same trauma. We watch as the film intercuts between Coolidge's fictionalized re-telling of the event as well as the deconstruction of the…
The full list can be found here: My Favorite Films of 2023 | Dallas Film Now. , which has basically transported the more professional writing I'm currently doing. I don't want to forget this humble home, however.
11. The Mind Benders (1963) - Generally regarded as one of the first true paranoid thrillers, John Frankenheimer's "The Manchurian Candidate" dealt with the brainwashing of a Korean War POW (Laurence Harvey whose steely eyed presence seemed like the perfect tonic for an empty vessel) and his subsequent mission as a presidential assassin. It holds up even better today. Released just a year later in…
Killers of the Flower Moon Scorsese's latest is a corrosive epic that clearly reveals its shades of morality for everyone involved within the first third, then proceeds to deliberately track the insidious nature of violence and deluded companionship over the remaining three hours. Imagine if the walls closing in around Henry Hill in "Goodfellas" were protracted out for 180 minutes. That's the…
Passages It'd be misleading to read Ira Sachs' latest effort, "Passages", through the eyes of its amorous, confused, and ultimately destructive lead character Tomas (Franz Rogowski). Oscillating between the relationship with his husband, Martin (a tremendous Ben Whishaw who deserves all the year end accolades) and his start-up affair with beautiful teacher Agathe (Adele Exarchopoulos), Tomas…
For two nights in a row, I exited a movie theater supremely disappointed in the latest incarnations of two franchises whose history has given me a memorable (and in one case classic) lineage. "Insidious: The Red Door" and "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" pretty much broke my heart. From where both of these franchises started to the dregs of where they are now, I began to wonder if the fault…
Ringo Lam's "Undeclared War" had me from its stunningly violent open in which a baptism ambush leads into hand grenades and helicopters. From there, it staggers into pretty much every late 80's/early 90's action film aesthetic- from the gaudy lens flares that visually accentuate Hong Kong 'actioners' of the time to the cop buddy narrative that sees two opposing worldviews combine to stop a global…
Sanctuary The twisted beauty of Zachary Wigon's "Sanctuary" is that it's a film of two people, sitting in a room and talking. Well, it eventually devolves into a maddening, cerebral examination of the push-and-pull between the said two people (Christopher Abbott and Margaret Qualley), and it doesn't help matters that the relationship is based on the paid expectation of a dominatrix session.…
Joyland There's a scene in the middle of Saim Sadiq's ironically titled "Joyland" that sees Haider (Ali Junejo) save the lighting impaired show of trans dancer Biba (Alina Khan) by urging everyone to shine their cell phone lights towards the stage. It's a bustling moment of joy that interrupts the generational struggle of the film's many characters and establishes a quiet humanity that most films…