This ongoing survey begins
shortly after the Oscar winners were announced, and I have surprisingly few
quibbles with the results, as will become clear when I finally get to my own
Best of the Year list at the end of this post.
Belfast Belfast Belfast
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive
My Car is my probable #1 film of the year, but he had another new release
that will figure in my list, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (MC-86,
CC), a triptych of 40-minute dialogue-heavy vignettes. Few filmmakers can make so much out of two
people talking – from the far edges of the frame, face to face, facing the same
direction, or straight to the camera.
Whatever the posture of the actors, viewers are on the edge of their
seats, following the conversation and wondering where it will turn next,
marveling at the revelation of character, the twists and turns of connection. Not since Eric Rohmer has there been such
penetrating dialogue about attraction and desire, such analytic eroticism of
language. Personality and circumstance,
truth and lies, silences and illusions, all circle around this triangle of
separate stories. Hamaguchi is certainly
a young filmmaker to watch, a man with a commitment to explore the hearts and
minds of contemporary Japanese women (and the occasional man).
Mentioned on few lists, but
certainly among the most powerful films of the year was Mass (MC-81,
Hulu). Written and directed by Fran
Kranz in minimalist style but with maximum effect, it gathers four people in
the sterile meeting room of a church to mediate severe grievances. The trailer gives away the premise, so I
won’t spoil too much by saying that the teen son of one couple has murdered the
teen son of the other. The writing and
acting are profound and truthful. Martha
Plimpton and Jason Isaacs as one couple, Ann Dowd and Reed Birney the other,
all articulate their pain in various wrenching ways, in coming to a well-earned
resolution that seems hopeful yet plausible, sad but not saccharine. If absolution is too much to ask for, mutual
understanding may lead to a way forward from an inexplicable and excruciating
event. I hung on every word and glance,
admiring the painful truth of the personal and moral revelations.
Another first-time writer-director,
Megan Park, tackles the issue of school shootings from the surviving students’
perspective in The Fallout (MC-84, HBO). This film is much better than a typical
Afterschool Special, but somewhat less gripping to me than Mass,
possibly because I can relate better to parents than “these kids today,” with
their social media and texting, drug and sex choices. The film is blessed by Jenna Ortega as the
central character – a 16-year-old turned upside down by incomprehensible
tragedy – and the supporting cast is sound.
This story could have gone wrong in so many ways that I admire its
sure-footedness, grim in implication but not humorless in execution, though its
depth and impact are not as exhilarating and revelatory as the films of Eliza
Hittman, for example. Still, a promising
debut for the teen-actress-turned-filmmaker.
Romanian film remains an
unusual hotspot of world cinema, and so Radu Jude’s Bad Luck Banging or
Loony Porn (MC-74, Hulu) earned best of the year listing from a number
of reliable critics. The porn that’s in
it is censored visually but loudly audible.
It’s a homemade video by a school teacher, which gets uploaded to the
internet and puts her job at risk. The
first section of the film after the porn clip just shows her walking through Bucharest
[I will continue to add
comments here, as I track down other best-reviewed films of 2021, and fill in
my own lists of the best films of the past year. To see my provisional Top Ten and other
lists, click on the “Read more” link.]
The Power of the Dog (89)
Petit Maman (94)
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