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Vanskabte land (2022)
Perfection
This is as good as it gets. A movie that starts out breathtaking and manages to keep transforming itself into something constantly compelling and new. It also manages to keep its many secrets until the exact moment they are need to create the maximum amount of tensions and surprise. The last twenty minutes are jaw-dropping in their volcano emotional heft.
And then there's the visuals, the cinematography is gorgeous and sumptuous; the scenes of lava-flow and verdant landscapes are some of the most beautiful images I've seen onscreen in years.
This one is the real thing. Don't miss it. It's as close to a masterpiece as we're likely to get this year.
When You Finish Saving the World (2022)
Excellent, smart, and under ninety minutes!
This is a rare example of a small, intimate movie made by an insider that actually works. The performances, the writing, the hands-off direction, the music choices, the songwriting are all exactly on point. And Eisenberg sticks the landing - he knows when to cut away, he knows when to stop talking and let the screen go black. Julianne Moor and Finn Wolfhard are both terrific playing utterly self-obsessed characters - without the gentle and honest direction from Eisenberg and the endearing performances form the stars, this might've been a tough watch, but everyone has just enough self-awareness to make the narcissism play.
You Won't Be Alone (2022)
A Masterpiece
Set in 19th-century Macedonia, the story involves a 'wolf-eateress', a witch-like character from Finnish mythology (similar to the Russian Baba Yaga) who, ignoring the desperate pleas of a hysterical mother, steals an infant from its crib.
That child and its journey, as it grows and comes to understand who and what it is, forms the center of the movie; to reveal more of the plot would be to spoil the many delights and surprises of Stolevski's dark and twisted fairy tale.
But suffice it to say, the film manages in a uniquely personal way to give us access to a new depth of feeling about what it means to be human.
Through a deft weaving of myriad sensory elements, Stolevski forges a manifest connection between his richly drawn characters and the audience, allowing us to see through their eyes the redoubtable birth of understanding.
And the actors, especially a sublime Noomi Rapace, effortlessly respond to their director's every nuanced psychological shift.
In one sweet and funny scene, Rapace's character goes through a sort of rebirth, learning to adapt to her altered situation by observing (and mimicking) the women in her village.
Watching the quick-fire play of cascading emotions light across her face as she tries on a series of reactions - joy, sadness, hunger - brings to mind the mercurial clowning of Lucille Ball (albeit filtered through a Macedonian arthouse lens).
"You Won't Be Alone," like many of the great films I've seen this year, is violent. And the first half hour is a test of our comprehensive nimbleness.
But once we become acclimated to the film's specific language, the revelations start to land. And by the time we reach the final images, which, as in Malick's best work, bring home a moving, inherent truth, it's as if we've relived the best (and worst) moments of a love affair.
Nomadland (2020)
Meh
Frannie is always great to watch on screen. And I loved the sort of strange quasi-amateur acting from all the nomads. But the Amazon thing is a really problem. I was watching the Ten Commandments and it occurred to me that Amazon and their factories and the way they treat their employees is not that different than the way Pharaoh treats the slaves. And Nomadland makes Amazon seem like magic happy land where everyone gets a prize! Also the structure of the movie and it's sameness of pace don't really make for compelling cinema. I like slow movies, I like long takes and I don't need action. But this movie's arc is a flatline. Like a layer of fondant on a cake. Like an ice rink after the Zamboni machine has gone by. Blank and flat. Not horrible but not earth shattering or even remotely moving.
Let Them All Talk (2020)
Mannered Naturalism
"Let Them All Talk" is a very strange movie. Most of it is improvised (shudder) and the result is so slack and inconsequential that it barely registers as entertainment; like a filmed adaptation of Brian Eno's ambient records of the eighties.
Mannered naturalism is the hardest trick for an actor to pull off (though Woody Allen can do it in his sleep.) But Meryl Streep is the absolute master. She makes such a brilliant art out of throat clearing, 'pausing with meaning,' and a whole arsenal of seemingly random face-touching that it's a wonder to behold. You know it's artificial, but you can't take your eyes off it.
In the hands of an amateur, however, mannered naturalism is exhausting. Poor Lucas Hedges, who plays Meryl's nephew, just can't stop working the tics and sniffs and meaningless pauses. His hands wander over his face constantly, and he makes the simple act of 'listening' (and we watch him listen A LOT) into something studied and inauthentic. Even in the wide shots you can see him busily twitching away, actively engaged in being 'real.' When, at the end of the movie,he energetically gazes at a pair of photographs of his younger self, it's amazing to see what he looks like when he's still. And the photos give the better performance by far.
For a full hour "Let Them All Talk" is utterly casual, static and fatuously chatty. And then in the middle of a scene with Gemma Chan (as Meryl's agent) the movie suddenly becomes about something. Both Dianne Wiest and Candace Bergen (channeling Gena Rowlands) snap into focus. All this vague jabber has apparently been preparing us for the heartrending moment when Wiest's character stops the film in its tracks to talk about the stars in a way that made me almost weep. Then, thank God, Bergen and Streep have a killer scene together; gorgeous, and subtle - that makes the slog of the first half almost worth the time. I've never had a chance to realize what a terrific actress Candace Bergen is. And her work here is sublime.
Then, unfortunately, the ending of the movie is handed over to Hedges, who can't stick the landing, and who makes the act of staring into space seem as natural as juggling lobsters.
However, there is definitely something to be said for a film that lets us look at and listen to a group of women in their seventies. Yes, they could've used a real script. But if you can make it to third act, there is actual meat on these bones.
The Stand (2020)
Absolutely Brilliant!
I read the book many times when I was a kid - and I watched the TV miniseries back in the 90's - This show is its own beast. They found a way to tell this story that is compelling, and shocking and exciting. From the first frame you can tell the director is totally in control of his story. The actors are uniformly excellent; low key and understated - this is played absolutely straight - even Whoopi manages to come across like a real human (something Ruby Dee has difficulty with in the original series.) I know that purists are already crying foul: but why on Earth would you want to see the story you already know being told in a way that carries no surprise? The decision to play fast and loose with the time frame - and to focus on just a few characters in the first episode is a stroke of genius. I was hoping to binge the whole show! And now I can't wait to see how they bring all the elements in to play. Some of the best television I've watched in a long, long time. Bravo to everybody involved.