The Friday 5
Your Weekly Film Update by Critic and Historian Jack Hanley
I. Film I Am Loving This Week
Aki Kaurismäki's latest (and sadly, perhaps last) is a deeply plaintive and poetic love letter to human connection in an inhumane world that has no right being so damn charming and optimistic…beautiful and Chaplinesque in its unabashed love for humanity. Don’t miss this one- FALLEN LEAVES is the Finnish-German absurdist love story you didn't know you needed in your life. I DARE YOU not to smile. Streaming now on MUBI and in selected theaters.
II. Video Essay I Enjoyed This Week
Cinephile Marcus Flemmings examines why the 2014 Swedish film FORCE MAJEURE (by famed auteur Ruben Östlund) is a masterpiece- and why its insipid American remake DOWNHILL (starring Will Ferrell & Julia-Louis Dreyfuss) is NOT. A wonderful illustration of the power of editing...when it matters- and when it matters that you don't.
III. My Annual Top Ten Films Of 2023 List
Because you've asked! ;)
In no particular order: PAST LIVES (Dir. Celine Song); POOR THINGS (Dir. Yorgos Lanthamos); SLEEP (Dir. Jason Yu); KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (Dir. Martin Scorsese); SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (Dir. Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson); MAY DECEMBER (Dir. Todd Haynes); SKINAMARINK (Dir. Kyle Edward Ball); FALLEN LEAVES (Dir. Aki Kaurismäki); ASTEROID CITY (Dir. Wes Anderson); THE ZONE OF INTEREST (Dir. Jonathan Glazer)
Honorable Mentions Just Too GREAT Not To Mention: KOKOMO CITY (Dir. D. Smith); BARBIE (Dir. Greta Gerwig); THE TEACHER'S LOUNGE (Dir. Ilker Catak); BOTTOMS (Dir. Emma Seligman); GODZILLA MINUS ONE (Dir. Takashi Yamazaki); THE IRON CLAW (Dir. Sean Durkin); SALTBURN (Dir. Emerald Fennell); ANATOMY OF A FALL (Dir. Justine Triet); GODLAND (Dir. Hlynur Palmason)
IV. Film Journalism I Am Reading This Week
From our friend Marcus Jones via IndieWire: "It's Black History Month: 10 Visionary Filmmakers To Watch"
A lovely ode to some of the contemporary African-American filmmakers that we all SHOULD know — along with the reasons why we should also revisit their feature debuts.
V. New Project I Am Excited About This Week!
Be on the lookout for our new YouTube film series "FLICKER with Jack & Scott"- a new weekly video cinema channel that will feature reviews, film analysis, curated lists, our takes on movie news, and much more! Hosts Jack Hanley and Scott Aigner (of Blindspotting: A Film Discovery Podcast) are longtime friends, film critics, festival programmers, and passionate cinephiles ready to offer their unsolicited rants, reviews, and ravings about ALL THINGS cinema. Look for our first episode next week- we hope you will join us!
Have a WONDERFUL week- here's hoping we run into each other OFTEN out there in the dark! LOVE LIVE CINEMA.
