Jeff and I were talking recently about the many problems of
canonization, specifically that nagging thought that sticks to the back of my
brain when watching something/anything with the expectation that it could
possibly occupy a spot on some forthcoming trivial list. That prospect is just
another wall built up between me and the movie itself, locking me inside my own
head at intermittent moments throughout. I’m thinking when I should be seeing,
hearing, and feeling. It’s like watching a movie with a noisy/opinionated
audience, except that audience is me. It’s hard enough for some to pay
attention to a movie with phones constantly beckoning or with free time itself
being a dwindling resource. But here we are, too deep to turn back.
All of that being said, I think Hard to be a God could be/needs
to be much higher on my list but I saw it under extremely distracting circumstances.
I was tending to the numerous demands of a newborn girl, which made for some eagerness
on my part. I broke it up into four viewings, which is a flat injustice to
something so inimitable and otherworldly. Like Mad Max, it simply could not be
duplicated. It comes from a very specific filthy place, where ideas are
constantly materialized and not a moment is wasted on useless exposition or
anodyne filler. I doubt we will see the likes of either anytime soon. Hard to
be a God is not a movie I’m eager to reenter, less because of the spit, shit,
and misery than the running time, but I clearly owe it another more lucid go. I
had a similar experience with In Jackson Heights and About Elly, all movies
that our local Art Mission Theater wouldn’t dream of showing.
I paid money to see seven of the ten, all assiduously viewed
on a big screen with the exception of Heaven Knows What. I saw that one in my
basement with my euphoric mother in law. That goes for all of my honorable
mentions with the exception of five titles. My #1 has stayed put since I saw
it, oddly enough with my friend Hunter with whom I share very little
commonality when it comes to cineaste predilections. For instance, he declared
The Revenant his favorite of the year for reasons that I frankly understood but
couldn’t abide. We both agreed on Timbuktu. Sissako’s juggling of tenor threatened
to come apart and it nearly does in its final moments, only to seamlessly
bookend this tale of maladroit terrorists and the families they destroy. I’m
not sure I’ve been as wrecked by any single scene in the last few years as the
one where Kidane chooses to bow in the direction of his wife and daughter, a
brave and pure gesture and a spit directly into the mouth of intimidation and
death itself. I also cried during Inside Out, Creed, and The Good Dinosaur. I
saw Blackhat extremely stoned with Mike O’D.
I sat next to a couple during The Hateful Eight and around
the halfway point she whispered “get me the fuck out of here” which tbh I completely
understand. I hope Tarantino injects some of his undervalued benevolence in his
next movie. Part of what I love about the guy is his joy for filmmaking and all
of the people, places, influences, etc. that make it so special and important
to him. He’s a far less interesting provocateur, at least these days. Roth made
two films that one could argue were deliberately/gleefully abhorrent. I don’t
know. I enjoyed the hell out of both and I think part of that stems from his
diminished reputation. It’s a good thing. He’s making movies like he has
nothing to gain or lose. The Good Dinosaur is underrated, mostly because
critics were too hung up on its assembled Frankenstein plot structure. I
thought it landed everything it needed to and I’d take it 100% of the time over
something like The Revenant, which is similar in structure, kinda. I have
little or nothing to say about Bridge of Spies, except that I think it’s the
best thing he’s done since 2005. I don’t want to dwell too much on the
negative, but I left a lot of the critically adored films with a meh. I’m not
sure why, maybe I’ll try and tackle that in a post this week. Probably not.
2015 B*$:
1.
Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako)
2.
Heaven Knows What (Sadfies)
3.
Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller)
4.
About Elly (Asghar Farhadi)
5.
Bridge of Spies (Steven Spielberg)
6.
Creed (Ryan Coogler)
7.
In Jackson Heights (Frederick Weisman)
8.
Inside Out (Pete Docter)
9.
Hard to be a God (Aleksei German)
10.
Blackhat (Michael Mann)
Honorable beloved mentions: The Hateful Eight, Carol,
Sicario, The Good Dinosaur, Mistress America, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation,
Magic Mike XXL, Bone Tomahawk, Girlhood, The Mend, Buzzard, The Green Inferno,
Knock Knock, Run All Night.
Not for me, my fault: Anomolisa, Spotlight, Ex Machina, The
Assassin, Room, Tangerine, It Follows, Phoenix, Clouds of Sils Maria, While
We’re Young, Jauja, Eden, Queen of Earth, Results, Jurassic World, Unfriended,
Black Mass, The Visit (minus that scene under porch), Krampus, The Revenant.
Didn’t see: Brooklyn, Son of Saul, 45 Years, Arabian Nights,
Embrace the Serpent, Irrational Man, Spy, Ricki and the Flash.
I liked these to varying degrees but their presence of an
honorable mentions list feels as though it cheapens the aforementioned movie’s
worth: Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Amy, The Walk, Crimson Peak, The Man From
UNCLE, The Lobster, Horse Money, Amour Fou, Vacation, Goosebumps.
