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Piaffe 2022
Belatedly got round to doing my top ten of the year, which you can read here. Wanted to highlight Piaffe especially, as it's the only film on the list without a proper release yet — as well as one of the most exciting debuts I've seen in ages.
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In the debut feature from visual artist Ann Oren, introverted protagonist Eva (Simone Bucio) is roped into working as a foley artist on a commercial for a dubious mood stabiliser; her…
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Aftersun 2022
Young dad Calum (Paul Mescal) is tucking his 11-year-old daughter Sophie (Frankie Corio) into bed; they’ve just arrived at a Brit-crammed Turkish holiday resort, and Sophie is presumably knackered. As she lies asleep in the foreground, he sneaks out for late-night cigarette on the balcony. In one long, slow shot, the camera closes in on Calum, his back to us. He lights up, takes a few drags, and then begins to sway dreamily from side to side. Is he practicing…
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The World's End 2013
Had put this off for years despite loving the preceding entries in the Cornetto trilogy, and wish I hadn’t. This is certainly weaker dramatically and structurally than Hot Fuzz, though it's maybe the most interesting of all of them for how ambivalent its satire is. All three films turn on the same underlying joke — that the twist is actually unnecessary to explain why English people are such insufferable cunts; as in Shaun of the Dead, our protagonists initially fail…
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Glen or Glenda 1953
A wonderful mess of contradictions that had me flitting between laughter and repulsion and startling pangs of emotion. Obviously a lot of the voice-over reasoning is predicated on some hardcore essentialism, and Wood’s attempts to delineate between the transvestite (NOT GAY) and the transsexual are especially hilarious and revealing. But in other ways this feels way ahead of its time, and ultimately the film’s pleas for acceptance and understanding are what shine through. Charmingly bizarre in its construction, framed once…
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About Time 2013
Bill Nighy: You see, son, all the men in our family have the ability to time travel.
Domhnall Gleeson: What? What about the women??
Bill Nighy: *chuckling softly* oh no son, that would give them narrative agency! Anyway have fun using your powers to get away with being a total arsehole, stalking and manipulating women while you craft yourself a perfect life formed on the basis of exploitation and lies!! -
Belle 2021
The best I can say for Belle is that the film’s emotional beats are clearly hugely felt by the filmmakers, and in moments this can’t help but be infectious. And there’s a staggering sense of depth to the opening images that crops up in a few other scenes and makes for some spectacular imagery. But this doesn’t cohere into anything resembling a compelling narrative — especially when the film, in a bizarre detour, sets up this mystery around the identity…
