misericordia

Looking through the spotty glass of a car window at a winding rural road is a fitting opening to Alain Guiraudie's intriguing, carefully studied Misericordia (the title, in part, references the Latin word for "mercy"). Taking place within a quaint French village, with its characters consisting of only a handful of folks, who seem to be the only ones shown of its citizenry, Guiraudie's film is muddy and knotty.  It's a morality tale that's anti-morality, yet also one that resists the declarative. The film renders a jumble of tones: perversely comic, dry, sensitive, addled.   

The enigmatic Jérémie (Félix Kysyl) comes back to his hometown after the death of an older man he once worked with as a baker. The film suggests that Jérémie was fond of the departed, and perhaps had a sexual relationship with him, or at least, a desire for one. Jérémie stays with the man's widow, Martine (Catherine Frot), for a lodging that seems to be lasting for an abnormally long amount of time. Over the course of these days, Jérémie is threatened by Martine's son Vincent (Jean-Baptiste Durand). Jérémie has taken over Vincent's adolescent bedroom (walls lined with pictures of footballers), and both seem to be harboring simmering animosities towards one another that quickly escalate.

Meanwhile, Jérémie visits, drinks and conversates with a family friend, Walter (David Ayala), for whom Jérémie seems to be attracted to as well (as with his other works, Guiraudie's portrayal of older, schlubby, overweight men as against-the-norm cinematic objects of sexual desire continues in this film as well, quite delightfully). Throughout, a reserved priest (Jacques Develay) mills about in the background, sometimes popping up in the most inopportune moments. This cluster of townsfolk, of intermingling yearnings, makes for a tense, dryly amusing tinderbox. Much of the characters' most uncouth, secretive, and violent behavior occurs within the attractive backdrop of the village's woods—a damp, leafy, fog-draped setting of mushroom foraging and intimate conversations and clashes. 

Guiraudie's film is a well-plotted and characterized tale, its unraveling mostly surprising, with a bevy of understated wit. It doesn't thunder its way to a satisfying conclusion. Instead, it reaffirms its sense of lonesome, dirt-speckled windshield wandering. Claire Mathon, a wonderful cinematographer and frequent collaborator with Guiraudie, shoots the film with a chilly, shrewd feel. The film often cycles through various tones and times of day within its deceptively tranquil settings: the ice blues of morning, the warmth of afternoons, and the unnerving dark of night. When lights suddenly (almost violently so) flick on in a room, the film expresses a flat, unattractive feel (to an amusing degree in one of the priest's later scenes). Through a queer lens, there were some subtleties I was picking up on throughout; there were things resonating with myself deeply that maybe others would feel as strongly about. I sometimes wondered during its screening, Am I the only one seeing this? The film would probably say back to me if it were a person, You aren't that special. ***

-Jeffery Berg

Misericordia, which received praise out of last year's film festivals, is finally making its way to a domestic theatrical release (where best viewed) through Sideshow and Janus Films on March, 21st. 

presence

In this current moment, there is a relatability to Steven Soderbergh's Presence, a moody, domestic drama ghost story with a remarkably effective POV gimmick, cannily marketed as a horror picture by Neon (it originally premiered at Sundance in 2024, in what feels like an eternity ago). Some may feel like the ghost in this tale, bobbing around unseen in limited spaces, watching horrible world events unfold that are difficult and nearly impossible to undo or fix. The family at its center is Rebecca (Lucy Liu) and Chris (Chris Sullivan) and their teen children, Chloe (Callina Liang) and Tyler (Eddy Maday), move into a handsome two-story. The house is quiet, with lovely, modest rooms of hardwood floors and colorfully painted walls, an old mirror over the living room fireplace, and leafy, green views, except for an almost unsettlingly stream of traffic outside their windows (it was filmed in Cranford, New Jersey). The family's relationships are frayed. Chloe recently lost a friend, Tyler is an athlete, trying to stay popular in school, and Rebecca and Chris may have been involved in something nefarious in their jobs (smartly, this remains vague—a stray plot thread that doesn't need to over explained, nor neatly wrapped up as a lesser film would). The tensions between everyone, though not nearly as powerfully portrayed, is reminiscent of Robert Redford's Ordinary People (I felt this most in a scene when Rebecca and Tyler are bonding over Tyler's uncouth behavior at school, while Chris and Chloe are on the outs, reminding me of a quick flashback scene between Buck and Mary Tyler Moore's Beth).

The skillful cinematography by Soderbergh (aka Peter Andrews) takes on the perspective of an unnamed, undefined spirit whose cinematic sweeps through the house are evocative and near-seamlessly presented. I thought of the ghost child who haunts over Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married, who sometimes seems to be much of that film's rocky and fragile point-of-view. Soderbergh, in his remarkably varied and fascinating ouvre, continues to play with form, technology and perspective while relaying a sense of thorny, heightened realism. Zach Ryan's score is somewhat florid, but very beautiful, almost Jerry Goldsmith-esque, adding both melancholy and warmth to the movie and the dream-state feel of the camerawork; many contemporary films of this ilk would have probably opted for a colder, starker tone with ambient, atonal music or no score at all. The script by David Koepp—a screenwriter with a familiar, cozily 1990s sensibility (a shorter version could have easily been one of those supernatural slices in The Sixth Sense)—has its moments of sharp characterizations and insights, though the actors seem to be imbuing the material, especially Sullivan, more thoroughly. Packing in quite a bit in its airy 85-minute runtime, the film swerves into jagged, crackerjack thriller territory in the final act, and yet still, the story (and its sudden, emotional coda) are so involving, that I appreciated it overall for its empathy, entertainment value and risk. ***

-Jeffery Berg

parasite in imax

Neon is bringing back Bong Joon Ho's masterpiece Parasite in IMAX theaters in time for its 5th anniversary!

The exclusive engagements begin on February 7th.

santosh

Methodical and patient, Sandhya Suri's Santosh is an involving, India-set crime story. After the death of her police officer husband, Santosh (Shahana Goswami) becomes a constable as part of a sort of job inheritance. By her own initiative, she takes on a case in a rural area where a young girl was brutally murdered. This kind of procedural of a woman on her own investigating a crime seems familiar at first, especially to those who routinely watch film and television mysteries, yet the details, setting and Suri's slippery, slightly askew observations make it a wholly unique story.    

Much of the film relays small and large tensions of class, gender, and corruption within the caste system. There's also an element of unpredictability—the ways in which people behave and react are sly and consistently surprising. As a viewer, I was recognizing certain familiar crime drama tropes, but felt as if I was always on my toes throughout. The film is more of a rumination and meditation than a whodunit. 

When Santosh meets the more experienced, more jaded and worn local officer Sharma (Sunita Rajwar, in a wonderful, layered performance), their relationship and the movie's plot take on an intriguing complexity. The film seemed to hover dangerously close to an outmoded patristic lesbian-coded matriarch dynamic, but Suri is a keen writer and filmmaker who subverts expectations without being gimmicky. 

The film is beautifully photographed by Lennert Hillege (who shot Steve McQueen's Occupied City, which surely had to have been a towering undertaking). The photography reaps the lush colors of its locales at odds with the police force's plain, bland khaki uniforms and the murky opaqueness of the story (the film's brilliant final shots almost have the feel of images in disintegration, considering what they are blocked by). Santosh is a quiet, plain protagonist who changes in subtle and more shocking ways, and is the perfect guide of this carefully-crafted, unraveling tale. Suri, whose background is in documentaries, shows tremendous promise with this first narrative feature. ***

-Jeffery Berg

the 2024 jdb awards!

Just for fun, here goes my personal award winners and nominees for the film year that was 2024.

Picture

HARD TRUTHS

nominees

CHALLENGERS

GHOSTLIGHT 

INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL

NICKEL BOYS

NO OTHER LAND

NOWHERE SPECIAL

A REAL PAIN

SAMSARA

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG

Director

RaMell Ross, NICKEL BOYS

nominees

Luca Guadagnino, CHALLENGERS

Mike Leigh, HARD TRUTHS

Lois Patiño, SAMSARA

Mohammad Rasoulof, THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG

Actor

Colman Domingo, SING SING

nominees

Adrien Brody, THE BRUTALIST

Keith Kupferer, GHOSTLIGHT

James Norton, NOWHERE SPECIAL

Josh O'Connor, CHALLENGERS

Actress

Marianne Jean-Baptiste, HARD TRUTHS

nominees

Cynthia Erivo, WICKED

Karla Sofía Gascón, EMILIA PEREZ

Kani Kusruti, ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT

Mikey Madison, ANORA

Supporting Actor

Adam Pearson, A DIFFERENT MAN 

nominees

Kieran Culkin, A REAL PAIN

Bill Irwin, HIGH TIDE

Clarence Maclin, SING SING

Guy Pearce, THE BRUTALIST

Supporting Actress

Tara Mallen, GHOSTLIGHT 

nominees

Michele Austin, HARD TRUTHS

Carrie Coon, HIS THREE DAUGHTERS

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, NICKEL BOYS

Sophie Okonedo, JANET PLANET

Ensemble

SING SING 

nominees

ANORA

CHALLENGERS

EMILIA PEREZ

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG

International Film

SAMSARA 

nominees

ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT

DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD

EMILIA PEREZ

I'M STILL HERE

INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL

NO OTHER LAND

ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL

PICTURES OF GHOSTS

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG

Documentary

NO OTHER LAND

nominees

DAHOMEY

HIDDEN MASTER: THE LEGACY OF GEORGE PLATT LYNES

LOOK INTO MY EYES

MAD ABOUT THE BOY: THE NOEL COWARD STORY

MERCHANT IVORY

MUSIC BY JOHN WILLIAMS

A NEW KIND OF WILDERNESS

ONLOOKERS

PICTURES OF GHOSTS

Adapted Screenplay

RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes, NICKEL BOYS 

nominees

Pedro Almodóvar, THE ROOM NEXT DOOR

Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar, SING SING

Justin Kuritzkes, QUEER

James Mangold & Jay Cocks, A COMPLETE UNKNOWN

Original Screenplay

Mohammad Rasoulof, THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG 

nominees

Jesse Eisenberg, A REAL PAIN

Justin Kuritzkes, CHALLENGERS

Mike Leigh, HARD TRUTHS

Aaron Schimberg, A DIFFERENT MAN

Cinematography

Jomo Fray, NICKEL BOYS 

nominees

Michał Dymek, THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE

Mauro Herce & Jessica Sarah Rinland, SAMSARA

Dinh Duy Hung, INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL

Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, CHALLENGERS and QUEER

Editing

Marco Costa, CHALLENGERS 

nominees

Nicholas Monsour, NICKEL BOYS

Lois Patiño, SAMSARA

Kathryn J. Schubert, BLINK TWICE

Hansjörg Weißbrich, SEPTEMBER 5

Score

Umberto Smerilli, A DIFFERENT MAN 

nominees

Daniel Blumberg, THE BRUTALIST

The Octopus Project, SASQUATCH SUNSET

Robert Ouyang Rusli, PROBLEMISTA

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, CHALLENGERS

Song

"Leash," BABYGIRL

nominees

“Gretchen’s Song,” CUCKOO

"Mi Camino," EMILIA PEREZ

"Sick in the Head," KNEECAP

"Starburned and Unkissed," I SAW THE TV GLOW

Art Direction / Production Design

THE BRUTALIST

nominees

BLITZ

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN

LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL

MARIA

Costume Design

Massimo Cantini Parrini, MARIA

nominees

Jacqueline Durran, BLITZ

Steph Hooke, LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL

Arianne Phillips, A COMPLETE UNKNOWN

Paul Tazewell, WICKED

Make-Up & Hair

THE SUBSTANCE

nominees

A DIFFERENT MAN

LONGLEGS

MAXXXINE

SASQUATCH SUNSET

Sound

CHALLENGERS

nominees

BLINK TWICE

FLOW

MARIA

THE SUBSTANCE

Visual Effects

THE SUBSTANCE

nominees

ALIEN: ROMULUS

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE

THE SHROUDS

TWISTERS

Animated Film

FLOW

nominees

PIECE BY PIECE

THE WILD ROBOT

A look back to the jdb awards for the 2023 film year when All of Us Strangers won Picture, Director, and Adapted Screenplay.

16th Annual Dorian Film Award Nominations!

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, consisting of over 500 entertainment critics, journalists and media icons, today announced the group’s democratically chosen nominees for its 16th Dorian Film Awards. The Dorians go to both mainstream and LGBTQ-themed content, celebrating what the group calls “the expert Q+ eye on entertainment.” 

Leading with an impressive nine nominations is writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s thought-provoking horror tale I Saw the TV Glow, a film overlooked by many other kudos groups considering 2024’s theatrical and digital releases. Star Demi Moore’s thriller of a comeback The Substance is a close second, with 8 Dorian nods. 

From there, the genre-defying trans mobster musical Emilia Pérez and tense ménage-à-trois drama Challengers each hold six nominations, and Dorian-nominated director Brady Corbet’s artful epic The Brutalist makes more than good with five. Other movies GALECA anointed with multi-nominations: Anora, Nickel Boys and Wicked all with four nods each, and Problemista and Queer with three apiece. 

Some notable titles in the group’s trademark races include the inventive slapstick comedy Hundreds of Beavers vying for Unsung Film of the Year, Madame Web and Trap looking at Campiest Flick honors, and The Brutalist, Nosferatu and Dune: Part Two among the cinematic dazzlers aiming for Visually Striking Film. 

The group’s Timeless Star career achievement honoree will be named when the winners are announced Thursday Feb. 13. GALECA’s members are tentatively scheduled to toast winners and nominees in a brunch the following Sunday.

Along with its film nominations, GALECA announced it is donating $1000 to The Los Angeles Press Club’s emergency relief fund, the amount earmarked for entertainment journalists directly affected by the historically devastating wildfires that have destroyed vast swaths LA, leaving thousands of residents homeless. 

“Entertainment journalists are an obviously integral part of the Hollywood ecosystem, and we want to make sure they aren’t forgotten in what’s already a very tough environment for those in our profession,” said GALECA Executive Director John Griffiths. Added Vice President Diane Anderson-Minshall: “We applaud our friends at the Press Club and its sister organization the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards for coming to our brethren’s need.” 

Professional journalists whose main livelihood involves entertainment criticism, editing and/or reportage can apply for help at lapressclub.org. Additional donations may be made there as well. 

GALECA: THE SOCIETY OF LGBTQ ENTERTAINMENT CRITICS

16TH DORIAN FILM AWARDS LIST OF NOMINEES 

FILM OF THE YEAR

Anora (Neon)

Challengers  (Amazon MGM Studios)

I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)

The Substance (Mubi)

LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR

Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios)

Emilia Pérez (Netflix)

I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

Love Lies Bleeding (A24)

Queer (A24)

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

Brady Corbet, The Brutalist (A24)

Coralie Fargeat, The Substance (Mubi)

Luca Guadagnino, Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios)

RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)

Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR 

— Original or adapted

Anora (Neon)

Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios)

Conclave (Focus Features)

I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

The Substance (Mubi)

LGBTQ SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR

Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios)

I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

Love Lies Bleeding (A24)

Problemista (A24)

Queer (A24)

NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

All We Imagine as Light (Sideshow / Janus Films)

Emilia Pérez (Netflix)

Flow (Sideshow / Janus Films)

I’m Still Here (Sony Pictures Classics)

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Neon)

LGBTQ NON-ENGLISH FILM OF THE YEAR

Crossing (Mubi)

Emilia Pérez (Netflix)

Queendom (Greenwich Entertainment)

Vermiglio (Sideshow / Janus Films)

All Shall Be Well (Strand Releasing) 

UNSUNG FILM OF THE YEAR

—To an exceptional movie worthy of greater attention

Didi (Focus Features)

Hundreds of Beavers (Cineverse, Vinegar Syndrome)

My Old Ass (Amazon MGM Studios)

Problemista (A24)

Thelma (Magnolia)

UNSUNG LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR

Femme (Utopia)

My Old Ass (Amazon MGM Studios)

National Anthem (Variance, LD Entertainment)

The People’s Joker (Altered Innocence)

Problemista (A24)

FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

Adrien Brody, The Brutalist (A24)

Daniel Craig, Queer (A24)

Colman Domingo, Sing Sing (A24)

Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez  (Netflix) 

Cynthia Erivo, Wicked (Universal)

Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths (Bleecker Street)

Nicole Kidman, Babygirl (A24)

Mikey Madison, Anora (Neon)

Demi Moore, The Substance (Mubi)

Justice Smith, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

SUPPORTING FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

Michele Austin, Hard Truths (Bleecker Street)

Yura Borisov, Anora (Neon)

Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain (Searchlight Pictures)

Ariana Grande, Wicked (Universal)

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)

Brigette Lundy-Paine, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing (A24)

Guy Pearce, The Brutalist (A24)

Margaret Qualley, The Substance (Mubi)

Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez (Netflix)

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR

Dahomey (Mubi)

Daughters (Netflix)

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix)

Sugarcane (National Geographic)

Will & Harper (Netflix)

LGBTQ DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR

Chasing Chasing Amy (Level 33)

Frida (Amazon MGM Studios)

Merchant Ivory (Cohen Media Group)

Queendom (Greenwich Entertainment)

Will & Harper (Netflix)

ANIMATED FILM OF THE YEAR

Flow (Sideshow / Janus Films)

Inside Out 2 (Disney)

Memoir of a Snail (IFC Films)

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Netflix)

The Wild Robot (Universal, DreamWorks)

GENRE FILM OF THE YEAR

For excellence in science fiction, fantasy and horror

Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.)

I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

Nosferatu (Focus Features)

The Substance (Mubi)

Wicked (Universal)

FILM MUSIC OF THE YEAR

The Brutalist (A24)

Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios)

Emilia Pérez (Netflix)

I Saw the TV Glow (A24)

Wicked (Universal)

VISUALLY STRIKING FILM OF THE YEAR

The Brutalist (A24)

Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.)

Nosferatu (Focus Features)

Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)

The Substance (Mubi)

CAMPIEST FLICK 

Hundreds of Beavers (Cineverse, Vinegar Syndrome)

Madame Web (Sony)

Megalopolis (Lionsgate)

The Substance (Mubi)

Trap (Warner Bros.)

“WE’RE WILDE ABOUT YOU!” RISING STAR AWARD

Jonathan Bailey

Vera Drew

Karla Sofía Gascón 

Brigette Lundy-Paine

Mikey Madison

Katy O’Brian

Drew Starkey

WILDE ARTIST AWARD

To a truly groundbreaking force in entertainment

Colman Domingo

Luca Guadagnino

Coralie Fargeat

Jane Schoenbrun

Tilda Swinton

GALECA LGBTQIA+ FILM TRAILBLAZER

For creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity

Vera Drew

Cynthia Erivo

Luca Guadagnino

Jane Schoenbrun

Julio Torres

TIMELESS STAR (Career achievement award)

Honoring an exemplary career marked by character, wisdom and wit

To be announced February 13 with all winners.

Nomination counts per studio:

Altered Innocence - 1 

Amazon/MGM + Orion - 13

A24 - 25

Bleecker Street - 2

Cineverse / Vinegar Syndrome - 2

Cohen Media Group - 1 

Disney - 1

Focus Features - 4

Greenwich Entertainment - 2

IFC - 1 

Level 33 - 1 

Lionsgate - 1

Magnolia - 1 

Mubi - 10

National Geographic - 1

Neon - 5

Netflix - 11

Searchlight -1 

Sideshow / Janus Films - 4 

Sony - 1

Sony Pictures Classics - 1

Strand - 1

Universal  - 5

Utopia - 1

Variance / LD Entertainment - 1 

Warner Bros. - 3 

About GALECA & The Dorian Awards

Formed in 2009, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics honors the best in film, television and Broadway/Off Broadway, mainstream to LGBTQIA+, via the Dorian Awards. A 501 c 6 nonprofit, GALECA serves to remind bigots, bullies and our own beleaguered communities that the world looks to the informed Q+ eye on entertainment. The organization also advocates for better pay, access and respect for its members, especially those in our most underrepresented and vulnerable segments. GALECA’s efforts also include the Crimson Honors, a college film/TV criticism contest for LGBTQ women or nonbinary students of color. 

See our members' latest reviews, commentary and interviews, along with looks at entertainment’s past, on Bluesky and elsewhere @DorianAwards. GALECA’s YouTube channel features the group's past Dorians film and TV Toast awards specials, video chats with filmmakers and performers, plus talks with members about their latest books and more. Find out more at GALECA.org.

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment journalists is a core member of CGEM: Critics Groups for Equality in Media, an alliance of underrepresented entertainment journalists organizations. 

jeffery berg's top 10 films of 2024!

Another fractured, uneasy, but cinematically-rich (if you seek it) year gone by. 

Here are my Top 10 films of 2024 and notables.

10.

GHOSTLIGHT

Begins with a bit of a schematic, pat feel, Alex Thompson and Kelly O'Sullivan's family drama eventually settles into an incredibly moving finale, anchored by an authentic powerful turn from Keith Kupferer.

9.

INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL

Vietnamese director Thien An Pham’s debut feature is an absolutely mesmerizing journey.

From my Film-Forward review:

Although the pace and hazy storyline requires a patient viewer, Pham’s direction, and the hypnotic camerawork by Dinh Duy Hung, sometimes borders on the sublime. In an elongated take, through an open window, an older gentleman (Mr. Luu) recalls his experiences in war as the camera closes in so slowly that it’s almost imperceptible. Luu is a local non-actor, known in his community for his storytelling. That Pham crystalizes Luu’s stories in seemingly one take is a testament to Pham’s sensitivity and care as a director.

8.

A REAL PAIN

An inharmonious cousins' (well-played by Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin) sojourn to Poland makes for a low-key, disarmingly affecting portrait. Catharsis doesn't come easy.

7.

NOWHERE SPECIAL

James Norton is terrific as an ailing window cleaner taking care of his young son in this Ireland-set drama. Excellent, naturalistic child performance from Daniel Lamont. The film quietly sneaks up on you.

6.

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG

This Iranian family drama is a powerhouse effort filmed under extraordinary circumstances by Writer / Director Mohammad Rasoulof.

From my Film-Forward capsule review:

When a gun goes missing, the story takes on the tone of a breakneck thriller in its twisty final act, deepening its themes of paranoia and distrust. At first, Rasoulof’s shift to another genre with its melodramatic swings may feel abrupt. Yet, because we’ve come to know this family so well, the conclusion becomes incredibly involving. The film culminates in a tense, almost operatic sequence of chaos—and perhaps a family’s rebirth.

5.

CHALLENGERS

Very few films this year felt as vividly alive as this one did. Playful performances, exquisitely crafted and edited, with a riveting techno score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

From my Film-Forward review:

Faist, who emanated theater kid energy in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, is given a more down-to-earth role and is completely convincing. With his rumpled, disheveled handsomeness, O’Connor, who delivers another terrific turn in this year’s La Chimera, seems at ease at infusing Patrick with wily unpredictability. This trinity of the cool Hollywood star, the theater kid, and the versatile indie actor lends itself to a powerful collaboration of differing styles and tensions among the trio. Their sweat-drenched physicality of racket-thwacking tennis playing is rigorously believable. Like so much here, it often made me wonder how things were done. It’s quite astonishing.

4.

SAMSARA

I felt so fortunate to discover this luminous Laos and Zanzibar-set movie as part of the Museum of the Moving Image's First Look Festival. Its sensory details, strangeness and vividness stuck with me throughout the year.

From my Film-Forward review:

...the film takes on a roughly 15-minute interlude that is unlike anything I’ve ever seen (and/or also not seen, as before it commences, an on-screen title instructs viewers to close their eyes).

Shot on 16mm Kodak film, the cinematography by Mauro Herce and Jessica Sarah Rinland is gorgeous. A scene of a small group of saffron-clad monks standing in the turquoise waters of the Kuang Si falls is simply breathtaking. But Patiño’s film feels more than an array of pretty snapshots. There’s a serenity, spirituality, and inventiveness in the piece that is exciting to behold.

3.

NO OTHER LAND

In this sobering documentary, a bond emerges between filmmakers and activists Israeli Yuval Abraham and Palestinian Basel Adra as Palestinian lives, homes, schools, infrastructure are continuously attacked and destroyed along the West Bank by the Israeli military. Rachel Szor's on-the-ground photography is impactful.

From my Film-Forward capsule review:

The film, shot between 2019 and October 2023, feels like a lightning bolt amid the current landscape of Israel’s war on Gaza. It cannot hope to capture the full scope of that crisis or the vast history of conflict. Instead, it focuses intently on a few individuals, including a woman living in a cave-like space as she cares for her son, who was shot by the military. The documentary’s strong points of view form a powerful political picture, one that has the potential to change and deepen perspectives.

2.

NICKEL BOYS

A complicated, monumental achievement of editing, acting, and ingenious camerawork (by Jomo Fray). 

From my review:

In its search of developing a unique cinematic language through its adaptation of a novel (the tight POVs almost feel like the act of reading a book), and in its mesmerizing and tactile invocation of and resistance to memory, Nickel Boys flourishes. Ross's direction is bold, continuously surprising and resonant. Much credit should be given to Jomo Fray, the cinematographer who also lensed the striking All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt... 

The dynamic undertaking in Nickel Boys is otherworldly to me. I can't quite wrap my head around how he and Ross (and editor Nicholas Monsour) were able to pull and shape this all together so seamlessly, while keeping the narrative focused. Because of what ultimately happens to its two lead characters, in many ways, I can't think of another way this novel could have been adapted.

1.

HARD TRUTHS

Marianne Jean-Baptiste gives one of the most arresting screen performances I've ever seen. Period. It's broad, but also stinging, specific in its minutiae. Mike Leigh's staid, unfussy direction (with the late Dick Pope's clear-eyed cinematography: a fitting, elegiac close to an illustrious career) perhaps highlights Jean-Baptiste's work even more, and the contrast between her character's family with her sister's (a wonderfully warm and present Michele Austin). Looking forward to returning to this world again.

The best of the rest... other notable films of 2024 (in approximate order of preference):

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, Look Into My Eyes, MaXXXine, All We Imagine as Light, A Complete Unknown, Wicked, I'm Still Here, Emilia Pérez, Anora, Thelma, High Tide, His Three Daughters, The Substance, A Different Man, Queer, Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, Pictures of Ghosts, The Brutalist, Janet Planet, Nightbitch, Evil Does Not Exist, Music by John Williams, A Traveler’s Needs, Longlegs, Big Boys, Here (Bas Devos, director), Sing Sing, Hidden Master: The Legacy of George Platt Lynes, A New Kind of Wilderness, Conclave, September 5, Babygirl, Vermiglio, I Saw the TV Glow, How to Have Sex, Onlookers, Sasquatch Sunset, Dahomey, The Monk and the Gun, The Room Next Door, Merchant Ivory, Sebastian, Sujo, Late Night with the Devil, Love Lies Bleeding, Blink Twice, Will & Harper, How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, Maria, Flow

A look back at my 2023 list, where All of Us Strangers was #1.

-Jeffery Berg

it girl

Okay, here goes another banger from JADE, the industry-skewering "IT girl."

That's 4/4 for her singles so far!

disco nap

Lovely that Friday has been graced with "Disco Nap," a pleasant collabo between Polo & Pan and Metronomy.

writhing in the wind

I'm looking forward to serpentwithfeet's next record GRIP SEQUEL, a follow-up to GRIP, which drops February 28th.

Here is a short, breezy track that just dropped, "WRITHING IN THE WIND."

The official visualizer was directed by serpentwithfeet.

orlando in love

The much-anticipated new album from Japanese Breakfast is scheduled to drop March 21st.

Their new track, "Orlando in Love," per press release is "a riff on John Cheever’s riff on Orlando Innamorato, an unfinished epic made up of 68 ½ cantos by the Renaissance poet Matteo Maria Boiardo—the hero is a well meaning poet who parks his Winnebago by the sea and falls victim to a siren’s call."