Favorite films

Recent activity

• 

  ★★★½

• 

  ★★½

• 

  ★★★

• 

  ★½

Recent reviews

• 

  The Lady Eve 1941

  ★★★★★ Rewatched 05 Jan 2023

  My new lifehack: set up a recurring calendar entry for an annual Lady Eve viewing in the first week of January. It starts the new year off right.

• 

  After Yang 2021

  ★★★ Watched 28 Sep 2022

  I would simply not give my Chinese bot a bowl haircut.

Popular reviews

• 

  The Crimson Kimono 1959

  ★★★½ Watched 08 Apr 2020

  Pea Brain: You call this noir? It’s a dopey police procedural, lacking in tension and style, with a last-second revelation that makes absolutely no sense. For my money, this is the weakest entry in Criterion Channel’s Columbia Noir series.

  Normal Brain: Look, the whodunnit is a let down, but it’s a fascinating historical document on representation. How many movies of that era feature an Asian-American co-lead? How many explore the “just how American are you” question at the root of…

• 

  France 2021

  ★★★½ Watched 07 Jan 2022 1

  First 30 mins (a zippy satire of French TV journalism, told via conventional editing and coverage shots): Hey, this is fun! Are we sure Bruno Dumont directed this?

  Next 70 mins (moves into a study of depression, with longer takes and more stylized camera angles (e.g., shooting France crying from the point of view of a steering wheel)): Wow, Léa Seydoux is absolutely crushing this, and Dumont's direction--his command of rhythm and the carefully chosen stylistic flourishes--is on point. Has he finally put it all together?

  Last 30 mins (starting with France's return to TV): Oh merde, c'est vraiment un film de Bruno Dumont.