As a companion piece to my Top Ten list, every year I write a post to discuss some of the other major films that got a lot of positive attention. I find this exercise helpful in providing context for my own choices and how I feel about the year in film as a whole. It is also a lot of fun. Please note that I will not be writing about the films listed among my honorable mentions, including "Marty Supreme," "Train Dreams," and "Frankenstein."
Let's start with the foreign films, because there were a lot of big titles being talked about this year that I failed to connect with. Filmmakers I generally really enjoy, like Kleber Mendonça Filho with "The Secret Agent," Joachim Trier with "Sentimental Value," and Jafar Panahi with "It Was Just an Accident," made films that just sailed over my head. I can tell they're all very well made, but they either had characters I found unengaging, or were referencing political situations that I didn't have enough information to find resonant. I had to look up what was going on with the disembodied leg in "The Secret Agent," which didn't land at all when I was actually watching the film. "No Other Choice" just confirms for me that Park Chan-wook's sense of humor and mine do not vibe at all. Oliver Laxe's "Sirat" was intriguing, but the unconventional plot left me adrift. Bi Gan's "Resurrection" was beautiful, but so experimental that I had trouble parsing it.
Among the awards contenders, "Bugonia" had a lot of strong performances and ideas that didn't cohere in the end. I found "The Testament of Ann Lee" an incredibly brave film which must have been difficult to get made, but it wasn't as compelling as I hoped. "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You" was simply too anxiety-inducing for me to enjoy, though it had a great Rose Byne performance, and some fantastic imagery. "Sorry, Baby" had a few strong sequences in isolation, but the main character rubbed me the wrong way early on, and the film never managed to win me over. "Song Sung Blue" was better than I expected, and "The Smashing Machine" far, far worse, but both were based on more interesting documentaries. Speaking of documentaries, I was a fan of "Predators," "The Perfect Neighbor," "Mr. Nobody vs Putin," and "The Librarians," but when it came to their filmmaking, none of them really distinguished themselves.
There weren't many popular favorites this year in contention. I'm glad that the new "Superman" came out so well, but it's a little too comics-obsessed and features too many of James Gunn's quirks for me to fully embrace. My favorite superhero film of the year was the very imperfect "Thunderbolts." I'm very happy for the success of "KPop Demon Hunters," but it's too derivative and slapdash for me to count as a favorite. It was a tough year for animated films in general, and nothing really stood out. "Avatar: Fire and Ash" looked great, but offered nothing new. "28 Years Later" was innovative, and I liked the third act turn, but there were far more accomplished horror films last year. "One of Them Days" was the kind of comedic crowd-pleaser I want more of, but could have been better.
Among the smaller titles that people were championing, "Eddington" struck me as a "Beau is Afraid" retread set in the real world that was very smart, but a whole lot less funny in that context. "Pillion" was enjoyable, but ultimately not to my tastes. I really liked the performances in "Black Bag," but the film as a whole felt awfully slight. "The Mastermind" featured some great work by Josh O'Connor, but he was better in "Wake Up Dead Man." "The Shrouds," "Father Mother Sister Brother" and "Vulcanizadora" were all very singular films with strong points of view, but not as good as similar titles from the same directors. And I really liked "Peter Hujar's Day," but I suspect I liked it for reasons that have nothing to do with its quality, so I'm leaving it off.
Films that were very close to making my honorable mentions this year include "Blue Moon," "Relay," "40 Acres," "Familiar Touch," "The Long Walk," "Freaky Tales," "A Savage Art," and "A Little Prayer."
And that's my 2025 in film. Happy watching.
---
No comments:
Post a Comment