The other show worth mentioning is Justin Kurzel and Shaun Grant's viscerally violent and unutterably romantic meditation on the trauma of war The Narrow Road To The Deep North. Justin Kurzel is one of the best English language filmmakers working today and when paired with writer Shaun Grant he’s extra, extra good. They made Snowtown and Nitram, two of the most hard hitting films on the brutal psychology of the Australian underclass. Here they turn in a contemplative, appropriately stylized period piece about a soldier’s life before, after and during WWII, all tied together by a somber, quietly menacing tone. Features an incredible ensemble cast, especially Frank and rest of the POWs. Love. War. Pain.
I haven't seen the films I am most anticipating yet like Bi Gan's Resurrection (but if it's anything like his previous two, it will be best of the year), or the new Joachim Trier, but of the films I did see, I loved Chloe Zhao's powerful drama about grief, death, mysticism and the healing power of art, Hamnet. There is a lot of fascinating subtext around the witchy naturopathy elements and the way it's shot speaks volumes around those themes. I also loved Mary Bronstein's (Ronald of Frownland's wife) If I Had Legs I'd Kick You. A wonderful piece of work dealing with taboo topics around motherhood. Trippy, unique and beautifully shot on film. Now that I realize what the movie is (partially) about - a woman regretting an abortion - I think this is one of the more striking titles for a film I can think of. I will say that some of the stunt casting was pretty lame and took me out of the movie quite a bit.
I am not Bruce Springsteen fan by any stretch of the imagination but I thought Scott Cooper's movie about him making his album Nashville was pretty darn good. I also really enjoyed Oliver Laxe's explosive techno odyssey Sirat.
There was the usual slew of quality Netflix crime documentaries again this year, the stand-outs being body-cam masterpiece The Perfect Neighbor and the Jodi Hildebrandt/Ruby Franke doc Evil Influencer. If you don't have Netflix, the Hulu doc on the same case, Devil In The Family was even better (because they have an interview with the loser cuck dad). Also, The Alabama Solution, about that god-forsaken state murdering it's prison inmates, is intense too. That's all I've got for now but will update accordingly.
