Monthly Top Five

I once read gossip about Natalie Wood shagging up with Michael Caine. They were co-stars in this now forgotten comedy titled Pepper from 1975. It's a lite spoof of those 1940's private detective stories that were all the rage in that era. Michael Caine is fantastic and the dialogue is witty and fun. But the story and characters are largely boring. It's worth checking out just to witness Michael Caine at the height of banging Natalie Wood at his trailer.

Well I'm off to a blistering start. Watched 44 movies in January. Neverending would rather me be watching more NBA, but here's my top five to start 2021:

5. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (Werner Herzog, 1974)- 8/10

Werner Herzog is one of the most interesting filmmakers we've ever been graced with, and a huge part of that stems from his bold embraces of unconventional methods of eliciting performances from his actors. I watched a film of his last month called Heart of Glass, famous (or infamous) because Herzog hypnotized all of his cast except for one person to make it appear as if the entire town is under a sort of trance since they have no purpose in life. Who else but Herzog?

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, based on a real-life account of a mysterious man who seemingly appeared out of nowhere in a German town in the 1800s, sees Herzog going with a different technique of casting a non-actor, Bruno S. Bruno was a street performer in Berlin who had quite a turbulent past of his own, similar to Kaspar Hauser's, and he gives one of the most astounding performances I've ever seen in a film. Even for those that find Herzog to be too esoteric for their tastes, Kaspar Hauser is perhaps his most approachable and endearing of his works. Upper society attempts to "civilize" Bruno, who quickly educates himself in reading, writing, and stuffy class mannerisms, bringing to these matters a unique sense of logic and ideas that the privileged can't understand. They try to cover their own lack of tact and progressive thinking by mocking him as never truly being one of them; a mere pet project despite their initial intentions to seemingly groom him as one of their own. This is a wonderful film featuring perhaps the best performance by a non-actor ever put to cinema.

4. The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese, 1988)- 8/10

This is one of the few Martin Scorsese movies I had yet to see, and thankfully I was not aware of the exact details of the controversy that surrounds it since it's a major spoiler to what's one of the boldest and most revelatory depictions of religious dogma that I've ever seen. Willem Dafoe is incredible as Jesus, who instead of portraying him as this infallible walking deity as most Bible-thumpers would prefer brings complexity to a humanize a man who questions his role of being chosen as the savior of the people. While the narrative isn't always focused, often jumping around at random from one major biblical event to another, the ideas that Scorsese is exploring here are fascinating and less morally ambiguous as what he tackled in Silence decades later. The climactic twist that riled up so many religious stooges isn't blasphemous but brilliant. It jolted me in the best of ways, just when I thought the film was gently fading into its final frames. The Last Temptation of Christ is one of Scorsese's boldest and most fascinating of projects, and its controversy should be embraced as an incredible piece of art bringing a palpable logic to what's generally a sycophantic fairy tale.

3. No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (Martin Scorsese, 2005)- 9/10

More Scorsese, but this time it's his exhaustive documentary on Bob Dylan. While it goes over the summation of Dylan's career, it largely focuses on his controversial decision to go electric. During his tour through England, Dylan is assaulted by vehement accusations that he's sold out, raising questions about when an artist's career decisions stop being theirs to make and the vitriolic nature of selfish fandom. For Dylan aficionados this documentary might no be shedding light on anything new, but nonetheless the ideas that Scorsese and Dylan discuss are pivotal ones in understanding the messy relationship between artistic integrity and fans.

2. Opening Night (John Cassavetes, 1977)- 9/10

John Cassavetes is hailed as one of the heroes of independent cinema, and for good reason. His actors (including himself) give incredible improvisation to their scenes, he has an instinct of where to put the camera from landscape wides to uncomfortable closeups, and pulls the veil off glamorous show business in his works to blur the line between acting and reality in humanistic fashion. The latter is especially explored in Opening Night, which stars his wife Gena Rowlands, an aging star struggling to accept this while being the headliner of a play where her character is just that. It culminates with Rowlands on opening night of the play getting hammered drunk and forging the role to be her own, not as the old maid who needs to come to terms with her life as a young, leading lady no longer being viable. A great companion piece to the superior A Woman Under the Influence.

1. Stroszek (Werner Herzog, 1977)- 9/10

Stroszek is the second and final collaboration between Werner Herzog and Bruno S., and that's honestly a shame because between Kaspar Hauser and Stroszek the two were an incredible cinematic duo. Stroszek takes place in (then) contemporary Berlin, where Stroszek (played by Bruno) and his prostitute girlfriend escape her violent pimps to America to live the dream. They arrive in a rural part of Wisconsin (Herzog actually chose the location that serial killer Ed Gein came to notoriety because he's Herzog) and quickly find that they've pursued a false promise. Creditors from the bank hound them, his girlfriend can't give up her promiscuous ways, and the images of Coca-Cola and other shallow American materialism permeates Stroszek's growing disillusionment with this land of opportunity.

The film is able to deftly straddle the line of heartbreaking and hilarious, at times laughing at Stroszek's misery and other times at the ignorance of Americans. There's no better example of this then the climax, where Stroszek and his counterpart go to rob the bank that took their house from them only to realize it's closed so they rob the barber shop next door instead. Then they leave the getaway car running to go across the street to buy groceries, before Stroszek later drives off to a remote town with a sort of indigenous people's carnival that's in the offseason, where he makes a chicken dance, a duck man a firetruck, and rides a gondola into nothingness. It's an absurd, brilliant, heartbreaking, hilarious depiction of the immigrant's dream in America that only Herzog could tell. Highly, highly recommend.

Honorable mentions:

Baby Doll (Elia Kazan, 1956)- 8/10

A Face in the Crowd (Elia Kazan, 1957)- 8/10

Gosford Park (Robert Altman, 2001)- 8/10

Catch Me If You Can (Steven Spielberg, 2002)- 8/10

Basically all my viewing in January were 2020 movies, Film Club watches, and re-watches, so I'm probably going to just sit this month out here.

I still have 7 left on my "free" watchlist for 2020 before delving into the rentals for your thread.  

My top ten first time watches of 2020.

10. Die Nibelungen Parts I and II (Fritz Lang, 1924)

Epic fantasy filmmaking and at the time Lang's best work.


9. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (Paul Schrader, 1985)

Highly ambitious biography of great cinematic vision. I suspect it'll only get better with repeat viewings.


8. Burning (Lee Chang-dong, 2018)

Wonderful character study that builds into a strange and gripping thriller.


7. The Sword of Doom (Kihachi Okamoto, 1966)

Even as part of an incomplete trilogy, this movie is badass. Amazing action, moody atmosphere, and the abrupt ending is incredibly powerful, even if it was on accident.


6. Lost Highway (David Lynch, 1997)

Lynch at his bleakest. A mean-spirited neo-noir with an excellent soundtrack of alt-rock and industrial Metal. Also The Mystery Man is fucking terrifying.


5. Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, 1997)

An incredibly prescient portrait of online fan culture and the dehumanization of women in media. Also just a devastating thriller with some striking imagery.


4. Come and See (Elem Klimov, 1985)

Thanks, thebtskink


3. Secrets and Lies (Mike Leigh, 1996)

I also considered All or Nothing, Happy-Go-Lucky, and especially Naked for this list, but Secrets and Lies takes the crown as the best Mike Leigh movie I saw in 2020. Just a beautifully observed human drama that quietly builds before culminating in an emotional explosion. Great performances across the board. Excited a Criterion Blu is on the way.


2. The Cranes are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957)

Thanks, Dracula


1. Paper Moon (Peter Bogdanovich, 1973)

It was a year of Bogdanovich between TCM's The Plot Thickens podcast and my own viewings of Targets, Daisy Miller, Saint Jack, The Cat's Meow, and She's Funny That Way. I wanna rewatch The Last Picture Show, but Paper Moon might be my favourite of the dude's movies. It's a wonderful balance of nostalgic whimsy and sobering drama, with a great central duo and gorgeous black-and-white cinematography. More than anything I just love how this movie feels. I watched Paper Moon just as the pandemic was settling in while my girlfriend was in another country trying to come home earlier than expected, and this movie's blend of drama and playfulness was exactly what I needed.


I'll do my top 5 for January in a little bit.

Best movie I watched in February was Tammy and the T-Rex, but that's cheating because I've seen it many many times before.

1. Alone
2. The Love Witch
3. Greenland
4. Come Play
5. Freaky

Also watched Wrong Turn, Shadow in the Cloud, and The Empty Man. No to all of those.

Oof, I never posted my January picks. Guess I'll throw those down first while I catch up on Letterboxd. I did not see a lot so there's a lot of goodish rather than great movies.


January


5. Point Break (Kathryn Bigelow, 1991): Finally crossing Point Break off my list definitely feels good, even if I'm a bit mixed on the film itself. What this has going for it is the filmmaking. Early Kathryn Bigelow seemed to take a lot of cues from Tony Scott and that's on display here in the slick wide-screen cinematography and contrasting oranges and blues, but we also see her tipping ever closer to the docudrama style she'd develop in the late 2000s. There's a lot more handheld camera work and it's telling that one of the best action scenes here is a very simple foot-chase through some backyards. The action in general is really strong (the two skydiving scenes rock) but I was a bit disappointed by the story and characters. Surfer bank robbers is inherently silly and I never bought into the camaraderie the film banks its emotions on. Keanu Reeves seemed a bit miscast too. He'd eventually blossom into a reliable action star (Speed, Matrix, and John Wick are of course game changers) but he just felt aloof and a bit awkward here. The action is enough to give Point Break a pass but this isn't the gem I was hoping for.


4. King of the Hill (Steven Soderbergh, 1993): King of the Hill is sort of a hard movie to judge. It's certainly not a kids movie, but it's firmly told from a child's perspective and caries with it a certain wistful tone. I might compare it to something like The 400 Blows, but Antoine Doniel's story feels much more adult in its appeal than young Aaron's. But while the film maybe sits awkwardly between kids and adults, one thing I can't really scoff at is the filmmaking. The film's budget is actually fairly small but Steven Soderbergh squeezes out a lot of production value and really brings the period setting to life. The film on the whole is undeniably solid and remains further proof of Soderbergh's versatility as a filmmaker, but it's definitely middle of the pack in the dude's filmography.


3. The Endless (Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, 2017): Thanks frankyt


2. Le Cercle Rouge (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1970): Reminds me a lot of Le Deuxieme Souffle in that there's a really cool 90 minute crime movie inside this two and a half hour film. Jean-Pierre Melville is a master of atmospheric neo-noirs and this film has some really striking elements. The central heist and its fallout are really exciting, as is the initial escape from police and skirmishes with rival gangsters. But the story and characters are ultimately pretty two-dimensional and not really enough to sustain the runtime here. Don't get me wrong, Le Cercle Rouge does a lot right and its highs are absolutely worth seeing, but this could have been a lot tighter.


1. The Ladykillers (Alexander MacKendrick, 1955): Perhaps the most famous of the Ealing comedies and it definitely lives up to the hype. The thing with Ealing is not that their comedies are the most gut-bustingly hilarious movies you'll ever see, but they're witty as hell and made with a real craft. The Ladykillers in particularly has a wonderful sense of visual storytelling which plays as both comedy and exaggerated crime yarn. The cast is also impeccable. Alec Guinness holds it down as a delightfully slimy crook and his band of thieves is rounded out nicely by Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Danny Green, and a young Peter Sellers. These characters are all fun in their own right but it's their growing irritation with the wholesome Katie Johnson as the kindly old lady not knowing their tenants are criminals that's the real treat. Also, for a seemingly breezy comedy, there's a real dark streak to The Ladykillers that it hits just the right balance of nasty and funny.

Oh yeah, I also watched The Choppers at the Mads live show. It does not make the list.

These are the three movies I see the connections in. Near Dark reminds me a lot of Scott's The Hunger, even if Scott's as a cool urban setting and Bigelow's rural.




It's bad. Ealing's version rules.

I didn't see Beverly Hills Cop till a couple months ago.

SnoBorderZero didn’t even know who Eddie Murphy was till he started working on Coming 2 America.