Little movie
(WARNING: plot of novel and film adaptations discussed in explicit detail)
Have not read Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, alas, but there have been enough adaptations to cement its reputation as a beloved literary classic, actress-turned-filmmaker Greta Gerwig's being the latest.
Crass war
(WARNING: plot twists and story discussed in close and explicit detail)
Bong Joon-ho's Parasite hums along nicely, a Rube Goldberg thriller whose parts are polished to a shine, slide over and into each other with lubricated precision.
Best of 2019, the sequel
(Continued from my Best of 2019 piece)
Loneliness, alienation, the feeling of being cut off from other people or from society in general--a persistent condition that seems to have become strangely prominent in the better films of this year.
The iron butterfly
Lauren Greenfield's The Kingmaker is a welcome addition to the too-meager genre of documentaries and dramas attesting to the abuses of the Marcos' regime.
The in my book best of 2019
After the anger that spat and sparked like a gunpowder trail through much of 2018 I found films released in 2019 a bit muted--strange considering how much louder and more urgent world developments have become, from climate-related disasters to the recent escalation in tension between Trump and well everyone else.
Sea of love
I don't think there's much to uncover underneath the surface of Mati
Diop's feature debut Atlantics (Atlantique, 2019) now available on Netflix. It's a love story--young girl Ada
(Mame Bineta Sane) in love with poor boy Souleiman (Ibrahim Traore)
but is promised to wealthy Omar (Babacar Sylla)--and as with all such
stories the two lovers pine for each other for the duration of the
film. Predictable simple trite--and yet and yet and yet
Recyclable Skywalker
Finally, the last installment of this third trilogy that George Lucas a long time ago in an era far far away once cobbled together, from Flash Gordon serials, The Adventures of Robin Hood, World War 2 fighter plane footage (particularly The Dam Busters) and most of all Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (with a brief callback to Yojimbo). The capstone to his grand edifice of a fantasy* franchise if you like.
Does the movie live up to all expectations?
