Category: Film
My collected writing on one of my greatest passions: film. I was a film critic in my undergraduate days (trivia: that’s how I met my wife!) but I now take a more philosophical approach to thinking and writing about films I see.
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The Substance
Fargeat | 2024 | France, UK, USA Every frame is compelling, and I melted at the needle drop from the Vertigo score. Margaret Qualley is a generational talent. I’m high on this movie’s supply.
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Conclave
Berger | 2024 | UK, USA Melodramas aren’t really my bag. They very often create “twists” by withholding information rather than attempting to use your expectations against you. However, this one stays interesting enough thanks to the performances (and rather stunning visuals).
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Anora
Baker | 2024 | USA Second viewing. Still my favourite movie of 2024 so far, and I liked it better this time. Mikey Madison is a force and every movie should be written for her.
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Nosferatu
Eggers | 2024 | USA Does nothing to demystify the process of buying real estate. Gets a long way on imagery. Nicholas Hoult ably provides an emotional core for the story but seems to be in his own, different movie as a result.
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A Real Pain
Eisenberg | 2024 | Poland, USA I saw a lot of myself in this movie, which can be a confronting coincidence. But this is as funny as it is moving and deftly achieves something few films do: it never robs its characters of their agency.
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The Royal Hotel
Green | 2023 | Australia 99.99% wonderful, and rather unexpectedly so. Unfortunately, it does not stick the landing but everything else (including and especially Julia Garner) is borderline perfect, prompting you to question your own assumptions at every turn. So Australian in idiosyncratic but meaningful ways.
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Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Besson | 2017 | France Third or fourth watch. Criminally underrated (I understand the criticisms but I wholeheartedly disagree with them). The ‘Big Market’ sequence lives rent free in my head for both its inventiveness and execution. Just a relentless delight every time I get to revisit it.
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Anora
Baker | 2024 | USA | 35mm Sublime. I will have more to say but THIS IS CINEMA. Mikey Madison is incredible. If Tangerine was proto Sean Baker and The Florida Project was Realised Sean Baker, this is Actualised Sean Baker. An artist at the height of his powers.
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Heretic
Beck & Woods | 2024 | USA I really enjoy Sophie Thatcher but sometimes a movie is so exactly what you expected that it feels almost redundant to have watched it.
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Bookshelves Lined With Your Personality
I don’t get to read much fiction these days. As an academic, I read more non-fiction than most people (yet somewhat less than I’d like to read). Unfortunately, I can only read so much in any given day before I hit a point of diminishing returns in regard to my ability to engage with and […]