My December 2021 in Review

With Noirvember in the bag I set out on a silly little endeavor entitled DE[ATH]CEMBER BLUES to correspond with my seasonal depression and eschew viewing convention when it comes to an otherwise warm and fuzzy winter month meant for family, friends, ugly sweaters and tiresome holiday classics. Another largely if not entirely successful go at a monthly project – I only viewed 25 of the 31 films I’d initially programmed for myself – and it actually received some positive engagement from the LB community, thankfully. Huge thanks to those people and the spare few that actually continue to read my monthly posts. It’s an honor.

NOTE: Best of 2021 entry coming soon! Just playing catch-up. In the meantime, feel free to check out my 2021 page for links to reviews for all of the 2021 releases I’ve seen thus far, and click here for my updated ranked list over on Letterboxd.

Trapped in the grasp of outdated propriety and societal flux. 18 years on and Reiko’s still tethered to the memory of her late husband as an ever-obliging helping hand to her in-laws, trying in vain to convince everyone through action that she’s lived her life the way she’s wanted (or previously expected) to as they firmly insist she’s wasted it, given how times have changed as mom-and-pop stores also go the way of the dodo and supermarkets rush in. The way Koji’s love isn’t explicitly unrequited, just suppressed in favor of Reiko’s perpetual commitment to and self-sacrifice for the greater good of a family that’s done infinitely less for her than she’s done for them which produces just the right brand of heartrending woe, and how everything culminates certainly doesn’t make things any easier to digest. A reciprocated titular feeling kept under wraps for fear of backlash that’ll never surface butting heads with the ever-changing present.

My November 2021 in Review

As I stated in last month’s recap I indeed set out on my first ever Noirvember venture and was entirely successful. Had the time of my left exposing myself to the treasure trove of sub-80-minute zigzagging murder mysteries as well as weightier adaptations and revisionary, late-in-the-game zeitgeist-y stuff such as Kiss Me Deadly that appears on this very list. December project is currently underway, so feel free to keep track of my progress on it over at Letterboxd for daily reviews of everything I’ll be watching throughout the month!

NOTE: Feel free to check out my 2021 page for links to reviews for all of the 2021 releases I’ve seen thus far, and click here for my updated ranked list over on Letterboxd.

The high cost of playing God; peddling work meant solely for the good lord as nothing but hustler commodity for personal gain, that is until your reach exceeds your grasp and the downward spiral begins. To err is human indeed, that is unless you’re a false prophet doing so at the expense of others, shrewdly lassoing your words like leashes around the necks of the easily deceived. One hell of a morality play full of evolving personality, complexity of character and a dense air of fatalism that provides for one of the bleakest albeit poignant and unique cruxes in the late ’40s noir game, Stan’s calamitous egomania doing its part as well as Lilith’s goal in giving the man a taste of his own medicine. Power’s performance is outstanding.

My October 2021 in Review

Another year, another spooky season that sadly draws to a close as physical retailers everywhere scramble to prematurely adorn every inch of themselves with immeasurable amounts of Christmas bullshit. Proud of myself though, as I managed to finally stick to my guns and commit to horror and only horror for the entire month, even if a considerable number of rewatches took the reins time and again. Enjoy, and whoever actually reads this can delight in knowing that I’m bringing a similar amount of conviction to Noirvember this month! Stay tuned as they say.

NOTE: Feel free to check out my 2021 page for links to reviews for all of the 2021 releases I’ve seen thus far, and click here for my updated ranked list over on Letterboxd.

A.K.A. Kid Corvino and the Great Sarcophagus. Argento’s zany, supernatural riff on Nancy Drew-adjacent YA mystery convention that doubles as a partial love letter to the “Swiss Transylvanian” countryside and finds him more often than not just playing with his toys albeit not without pointed differences. Offsets his trademark set pieces (although the milieu’s the same) with an ickier adherence to close-ups of those Jennifer communes with (to differing degrees) as she learns to embrace her gift with the help of Donald Pleasence’s paraplegic entomologist and hyperintelligent chimp companion. Looks great, sounds great (e.g. Iron Maiden, Motorhead and more Iron Maiden) and is genuinely a welcome spin on the maestro’s formula that has the confidence to let an ending such as this transpire exactly as it does with zero evidence to the contrary.

My September 2021 in Review

Another hell of a month and solid contender for best non-2021 firsts of the calendar year thus far as we draw nearer awards season following the crop of everything coming out of the slowly reviving festival circuit. Gonna try to actively rectify the increasingly erratic rhyme to my reason regarding my viewing habits as following a discernible pattern helps me tap into a filmmaker’s proclivities, allowing me to observe and properly assess their oeuvre without difficulty. Here’s hoping that changes sooner rather than later!

NOTE: Feel free to check out my 2021 page for links to reviews for all of the 2021 releases I’ve seen thus far, and click here for my updated ranked list over on Letterboxd.

Probably von Trier’s most accomplished depressant in a non-pejorative sense, his ability to uniquely accentuate Bess’ particular brand of human frailty peaking throughout as burying your face in your hands becomes a regular involuntary reflex. The way Bess’ infantile, increasingly afflicted emotional and mental states influence her well-meaning actions to the chagrin of the church is honestly one of the most unabashedly romantic fucking things ever, the persistence in honoring her husband’s (potentially dying) wish winning out over every single thing burned into her brain throughout a drastically sheltered life – regardless of worsening delusional sway – remaining so very special as the tailspin proceeds unimpeded.

My August 2021 in Review

Probably my second favorite collective of blindspots knocked out next to last month’s viewing log, and to be honest, I’m a bit shocked that the fall festival season is now properly upon us. Made a promise to myself to not succumb to foreseeable hyperbole that’s already begun to trickle out of people’s Venice dispatches, i.e. Dune and to a more exciting extent Spencer but I’ll of course have to wait until their theatrical stints as I’m unable to attend an event this year. Enjoy!

NOTE: Feel free to check out my 2021 page for links to reviews for all of the 2021 releases I’ve seen thus far, and click here for my updated ranked list over on Letterboxd and a fashionably late mid-year summary.

Ostensibly a David and Goliath courtroom drama that wields both our and Newman’s fast-fading disgrace of an attorney’s empathy as a weapon of formulaic transcendence. Frank’s slow-going redemptive arc’s of course what adds dimension to rigid legal proceedings and shadier/ulterior machinations, the self-rehabilitation he pursues via the assumption of an ethical and moral high stance proving he’s truly a good person, earnestly struggling to put his hang-ups to rest in the most audacious way possible. Newman’s ability to telegraph his anguish with his facial expressions alone throughout is uncanny.

Ani-Monday: Ninja Scroll (Yoshiaki Kawajiri, 1993)

Especially alluring by way of the Devils’ lore, interpersonal subthreads and of course the havoc they wreak as they inevitably meet their maker(s), i.e. Jubei and his squirrely senior companion. It’s because of their very presence that Edo Period trappings involving a clan war and a metric shit ton of gold air on the side of a half-baked, arbitrary through line, because let’s face it: the action set pieces are steeped in the type of imaginative freneticism and ultraviolence that helped root this in “Anime for Adults” history.

Gender politics however are absolutely abhorrent: all females are either sexed up oppai archetypes or – in the case of Kagero – an abject failure in terms of the arc presented and in the eyes of those who objectify and assault her. In short, this shit has not aged well. Problematic representation aside, this entirely holds up for the more obvious merits in the realm of excitement and stylism.

My July 2021 in Review

Absolutely had a ball with The Criterion Channel’s Neo-Noir Collection throughout July as I took a chronological journey through a handful of egregious blind spots, some great some middling to plain good, whilst I took initiative to do some extra credit with a few titles not featured. Make sure to follow me on Letterboxd to read my thoughts on both this top 5 and literally all of the titles in the Other First-Time Viewings blob at the bottom, although I might consider doing a weekly viewing log at some point in the near future and continue older features like Ani-Monday as soon as this evening!

NOTE: Feel free to check out my 2021 page for links to reviews for all of the 2021 releases I’ve seen thus far, and click here for my updated ranked list over on Letterboxd and a fashionably late mid-year summary.

Discernibly a byproduct of Wenders and the source material as it’s slow to build and enveloped by Ganz’s Jonathan’s brooding existentialism as an expertly played long con leads him on the path to ruin. Robby Müller’s work here’s just as responsible for the film’s uniquely atmospheric tinge as Wenders’ overall vision is, and Hopper does charisma and sociopathy as well as any.

My June 2021 in Review

Business as usual with the obvious exception of celebrating Pride by knocking out a few key queer cinematic blindspots. Presently still marveling at this summer’s unbelievably stacked slate as I recently only got to see Janicza Bravo’s egregiously delayed albeit middling Zola and Soderbergh’s most recent minor triumph, No Sudden Move. Feel free to check out my thoughts on those two, and as always, give me a follow on Letterboxd if you find yourself in dire need of more frequent short-form tidbits on everything I watch throughout each month!

Suffers a bit at the hands of its own rhythm, almost screeching to a halt as the investigative tics begin to trump the exploitative counterculture stuff that admittedly makes all of the lead in much more compelling, especially when juxtaposed with Burns’ naivety and ambiguously evolving behaviors/demeanor. Even still, this is definitely in its own league as far as thrillers of the era go, peaking with zany shit like the hulking, musclebound guy waiting in the wing of an interrogation room to intermittently beat the piss out of detainees, however the concluding stretch is as dourly open-ended and sinister as something alternatively concrete and resolute.

My May 2021 in Review

Not particularly voluminous as my irregular work schedule continues to unceremoniously detract from my film viewing. Even still, I revisited Lynch’s Lost Highway for the first time in a long time which is my personal choice for best on-brand surreal atrocity of his, not to mention Stuart Gordon’s last 2 of 3 directorial outings. Thanks for reading, and I’ll certainly do my best to not wait a week and a half before posting my next one of these, and feel free to follow me over on Letterboxd to read this stuff a lot sooner!

Absolutely indicative of where queer cinema was (or wasn’t, rather) at the time of its release, but the core tryst’s more narratively transgressive by way of setting than the entire film is from front to back. Really comes around in its final third, of which sees the arduous and affecting blossoming of Vivian’s agency that Cay’s proudly flaunted to culminate in a manner that’s both hopeful and melancholy.