Paolo Sorrentino’s feverish work in Il Divo and both The Young (and New) Pope have utterly dazzled me; so at first The Hand of God at first felt like a huge change of scale. Dialing back from the recent operatics, he confronts the other end of the lifespan from his Oscar-winning La grande bellezza, to give us a closely-observed family drama that’s also a tender ode to his cinematic influences. It may seem smaller than the grand sweep of the Italian mafia or the vast questions of faith and power at the head of the Catholic Church. But reflection, I suppose there is no bigger story than the one about how you became who you are.
With Nightmare Alley Guillermo del Toro masterfully crafts a noir thriller overflowing with atmosphere
Even as it may not see the director make use of monsters or creatures, Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley is characteristically strong work from the auteur that revels in the darkness of its noir origins.
Drive My Car is the year’s best three-hour commute
Where other directors might try to compress a sprawling novel into a feature film, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three hour long adaptation of a short story is the definition of patience rewarded. For me, nothing has better replicated the feeling of being completely enveloped by Haruki Murakami’s (translated) prose quite like Drive My Car, with the substantial benefit that his rendering comes without the unpleasant surprise of the squicky and ghosty elements that the novelist is so fond of exploring. I admit to being wary of the long running time when I queued up the screener, but by the end I began to worry that each minute would be the last.
Being the Ricardos is a fun, but flawed, trip down memory lane
Being the Ricardos purports to tell the story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz during a particularly eventful week in their lives. The tabloids reported (accurately) that Lucy was a Communist at one time and that Desi (also accurately despite his denials) is a philanderer. They also try to convince CBS to allow a storyline about Lucy’s pregnancy on the show despite the pearl-clutchers in senior management and at primary sponsor Phillip Morris.
Red Rocket is a thrillingly squirmy ride on the Simon Rex Express
Sean Baker’s enduring interest in the frequently-overlooked lives of ordinary struggling Americans, especially those who make ends meet with sex work, continues with Red Rocket. But here, he drops a golden god and his giant schlong among them as an instigating agent of mischief. Simon Rex returns from his long slumber as Mikey, the physically “blessed” anti-hero who long ago left Texas City for the bright lights of Los Angeles’s adult film scene. It turns out that his pledge to “leave and never look back” has an expiration date. After decades away during which he ascende the heights to an award-winning (“Best Oral”) film career, he, like so many stars before him, has been chewed-up, spit-out, and returned to the life he once fled.
Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story is spectacular
With his last two films being the perfectly adequate Ready Player One and the wholly unnecessary The Post, I had forgotten how remarkable of a filmmaker Steven Spielberg can be when he’s working on the right project. Remaking a movie musical from fifty years ago that is as close to perfect as a non-Bob Fosse musical can be might seem daunting in a lesser filmmaker’s hands, but nearly everything in West Side Story felt like it hit exactly as it should. Spielberg’s version of this legendary film doesn’t so much surpass the original, a near impossibility, but runs parallel and that pays tribute to and complements its source marvelously.
End of Us exudes a charming nostalgia none of us ever wanted
Leah and Nick are at the end of their rope. Nick is a starving actor relying on the steady income and stability that Leah adds to his life. She’s just about ready to cut the cord on him and the relationship when the pandemic hits and they’re literally stuck with each other. Even in the early days of COVID, the fear and intensity of the moment didn’t seem to distract from the frustration of being with someone they couldn’t stand and we’re taken along for the ride. They traverse the murky waters of isolation and uncertainty in a bubble of their own drama where both of them make questionable decisions, but seem to find a way to accept the humanity in one another.
A film about finding yourself, Wolf will leave you howling in both pain and laughter
The next progression in the unintentional trilogy of films that have a single word title of an animal, with Pig and Lamb preceding it, Wolf is an uncomfortably strange look at a young man who thinks he is the four-legged predator.
Despite a great performance from Riz Ahmed, Encounter never arrives at a meaningful destination
Defined by missed potential, Encounter sees Riz Ahmed giving a committed central performance that is let down by the meandering narrative of the rest of the film around him.
In The Power of The Dog Jane Campion finds something new in the Old West
Adapted from Thomas Savage’s novel of the same title, Jane Campion’s latest film is a simmering exploration of cruelty, duty, and revenge. Amid conventions of the Western genre, she nevertheless finds surprising ways to uncover fresh ideas in classic archetypes of masculinity. Filmed against a stunning New Zealand landscape that stands in for 1900s Montana, the intimately personal story showcases Campion’s remarkable grasp of capturing both the grand sweep of natural beauty as well as a keen eye for the insightful details of places and personalities.