I logged my 100th movie of the year in June! This is thrilling for me and probably disturbing to the people in my life that care about me and want to see me succeed in life.
Anyways, here’s a comprehensive list of all the movies I watched in May 2024:
Moulin Rouge! Baz Luhrmann (2001)
The Sweet East. Sean Price Williams (2023)
The Beekeeper. David Ayer (2024)
Hit Man. Richard Linklater (2023)
3 Women. Robert Altman (1977)
The Squid and the Whale. Noah Baumbach (2005) Rewatch
Practical Magic. Griffin Dunne (1998)
Drop Dead Gorgeous. Michael Patrick Jann (1999)
Gattaca. Andrew Niccol (1997)
Whisper of the Heart. Yoshifumi Kondo (1995)
The Bikeriders. Jeff Nichols (2023)
French Exit. Azazel Jacobs (2020)
Fitzcarraldo. Werner Herzog (1982)
The Apartment. Billy Wilder (1960)
Mandy. Panos Cosmatos (2018)
The Boondock Saints. Troy Duffy (1999)
Run Lola Run. Tom Tykwer (1999)
River of Grass. Kelly Reichardt (1995)
Night Moves. Kelly Reichardt (2013)
I’m a serial rewatcher, so I’m proud of myself for looking at this list and seeing only one rewatch (Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale, which has turned into somewhat of a comfort movie for me in recent years. I’m choosing not to psychoanalyze that).
Favorite Movie this Month:
There were several movies this month that really resonated with me. Certainly the most ethereal of them all was Robert Altman’s 3 Women, which has been on my list since I saw and promptly saved this picture of Shelley Duval and Sissy Spacek:
It started out slow and yearning, then morphed into something sweet and quirky. It soured but just as quickly became tender. And then it was feverish, close and breath-quickening. Horror, then suspicious harmony. Every time I had a grip on who these women were, they shifted. Slippery, elusive, mystical, and yet the film was sticky in brain. It lingered for days. The movie is a sun-kissed fever dream consisting of freckly noses, shy smiles, and mirages sought out in the warped reflections of a shimmering swimming pool. The fickle nature of girlhood is more complicated under the stiflingly vast California sky.
2024 Movie to Watch:
The Beekeeper. Just kidding! Carlos and I watched this hungover one morning and couldn’t get over the fact that the it played like a serious film inspired by a parody of an action flick. My real 2024 movie is… probably considered a 2023 movie? But it’s The Sweet East, Sean Price Williams’s feature directorial debut. The film looks great- unsurprisingly, as Williams was cinematographer for the likes of the Safdie Brothers and Abel Ferrara. The whole film takes after it’s melodic visuals, going so far as to shoot a music video for the opening credits.
This may seem indulgent, but in Sean Price Williams’ defense, Talia Ryder just has a face you’re willing to watch do next to nothing for long stretches of time. I loved her performance in Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020), so it was only a matter of time she would lead her own coming-of-age tone poem. This is very much a movie grounded squarely in the present, for better and for worse. Some of the over-the-top characterizations really work (the erudite, sensitive, alt-right Simon Rex, Ayo Edibiri as a quiveringly sincere new filmmaker) and some of it is simply too cringe for my sensibilities- notably the Pizzagate of it all. The film is admittedly light on plot, but the performances carried it through for me. I’m curious to see what Sean Price Williams makes next!
Movie that Most Surprised Me:
Whisper of the Heart moved me in a way that caught me off guard. I’m historically not a huge fan of animation. I am actively trying to remedy this! My friend Willow knows how much I love slice-of-life and coming-of-age movies and recommended this to me as a sort of animation gateway drug. And let me tell you: I’m hooked! Though this is still my preferred version of “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, Whisper of the Heart did encourage me to make this meme:
It’s a relatively small-stakes movie, but delves so deeply into the complexities of budding romance, artistry, and adulthood. We see our protagonist Shizuku follow… wait for it… the whispers of her heart in all of these areas, but the most affecting was her pursuit of creative writing. Shizuku wants to be a writer but doesn’t actually know if she has the talent or drive for it. She resolves to put her skills to the test and write a story of her own, which results in many days of hair pulling and anxious snacking. Relatable!
Most Disappointing Watch:
The worst movie I saw by far was The Boondock Saints. I was ridiculed at family meal the other day for not having seen this movie (despite many reports of it being bad), but it’s a 1999 movie and Willem Dafoe is in drag so like, what the hell. It was thankfully under 2 hours so it’s not like I lost years off my life but… I will never watch again.
I was most looking forward to Hit Man, so it had the hardest to fall when I was finally able to see it. And fall it did. It looks cheap, the writing is corny, and it was totally predictable. I’m generally pro-Linklater but this exhibited his lesser qualities: ham-fisted philosophy and poor plotting being the two most offensive. My friend Sam sent this text which chilled me to the bone: “I think Glen Powell might be the new Armie Hammer”. I’ve maintained that Powell looks AI generated, which was further confirmed by his ability to look totally bland no matter what disguise he donned. The climactic performances delivered by Glen Powell and his (impossibly horny) love interest Adria Arjona was good, but it couldn’t make up for the flimsy plot.
5 Movies I Recommend:
Drop Dead Gorgeous. This has been on my list for such a long time. Most actors take a lifetime to reach what Kirsten Dunst achieved in 1999 alone. Between this and The Virgin Suicides, Dunst portrayed suburban teenage girlhood with enough grace, humor, and charm to make a girl think: wow! I will never be as effortlessly cool or vibrant or compelling as Kirsten is. What’s even the point??? This mockumentary equal parts hilarious and scathing with an all star cast that rose to match Dunst’s star power.
Mandy. I had put this off for awhile because I was scared. And it was scary! I had to put on Gilmore Girls to fall asleep after finishing it. Cult shit is freaky, okay? But this was well worth losing sleep over. It plays like a bad acid trip- horrifying and nauseating but vibey. I was moved almost to tears by the tenderness between Nicolas Cage and Andrea Riseborough. Their gentle, intimate relationship was an oasis for two broken people- it’s what makes the loss of that oasis so devastating, and the ensuing revenge so justifiable despite its comic book absurdity.
The Apartment. I’ve seen a couple Billy Wilder films- Sunset Boulevard in film school and, recently, Some Like it Hot. I liked both but was surprised by how taken I was by Jack Lemmon’s physicality in The Apartment. He was equally outlandish and subdued, friendly but deeply alone. There’s a dark undercurrent to the film that kept it from being a total romp, and the dialogue is kinetic without becoming frivolous. It’s pretty great, movie-wise.
Gattaca. I want to live in this movie. Okay, maybe I’d just settle for the aesthetics of the movie. I imagine Denis Villeneuve’s Dune owes a lot to Gattaca: the distinct colors of each scene, the production design, even the clothes were tastefully dystopian. It also helps that everyone acting in this is hot. I want a coffee table book to be made out of images from Gattaca. Until something like that exists, this is definitely going to be one of those films I put on while doing housework.
Run Lola Run. It’s a heavily-stylized movie about a girl running around Berlin in Docs to techno music. AND it’s under 90 minutes. It doesn’t get better than that.
I half-watched Gladiator with friends over dinner and was once again floored by how much boys can just verbatim quote this movie. Get a hobby! Moulin Rouge! was a film I eagerly anticipated but grew quite fatigued by almost immediately. I had to break it up into two watches. I think I’ll stick to Nicole Kidman in Practical Magic, thank you very much.
I also completed Kelly Reichardt’s filmography this month- a favorite director of mine whose slow but pretty little stories never fail to resonate with me. I remember seeing Lily Gladstone in Certain Women and hoping to see her in more things. Scorsese also cites Certain Women as being his introduction to Gladstone and I thought: you know, Scorsese and I have a lot in common.
Despite trashing Glen Powell, I am unironically looking forward to Twisters. I’m seeing Kinds of Kindness today, one of my most anticipated of 2024. I will also be seeing Maxxxine when it comes out, marking the first film I’ve seen from the Mia Goth-led trilogy. When I asked my boyfriend why he wanted to see this one despite his disinterest in the other two, he hit me with “Mia Goth looks hotter in this one”. Ladies, this is what you get when you ask questions.
I had the same substitute teacher put on Gattaca in several different classes that they were called in to sub. This was all within one high school semester.
Despite their best efforts, I still don’t know if we’ve learned enough to avoid that tragic future.