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I wish the ending was clearer to me, I had to look it up. I’ve heard it’s better in the book and maybe I’ll read that because the story is gripping and devastating.

Perhaps a little long but a really strong directorial debut. Interesting camera techniques using perspective in first person. Which ultimately makes sense with the ending.

Beautiful, moving and other worldly. 
Moments take your breath away. On the edge of your seat.

Extra half star for the whale thing. You know how I love whales.

Shed many a tear in this one. Funny, poignant, incredible tension especially in the first half of the film. Performances to die for - Colman, of course. Star of the show is Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin - enthralling from the moment he steps on screen. Robbed of a ing actor Oscar nom. There’s one scene where he just ends the interaction by just staring and it’s so brilliant - so full of emotion. Can I just say - THESE MEN PLAYING THEMSELVES PERFORMING IN A PLAY SET IN A PRISON FROM THEIR PAST - what the hell, incredible.

The end is probably a bit predictable but it’s just a great, feel-good film. Totally worth a watch.

So weird. I loved it.

“Government is for losers” 

The chilling performances from Sebastian and Jeremy carry this film. To be honest, chilling from start to finish generally. Found some moments on the nose with cliche metaphor, e.g. scrubbing the hands after his brother’s death and even the final image we are left with, but for the most part the film flowed. 

Generally left with the feeling of despair that exists in our world today with Trump as the President, so “enjoying” the film isn’t really appropriate here. 

Great soundtrack, very gay. Trump would hate it. Nice to see Maria Bakalova getting a good gig here, I loved her in Borat and she’s excellent here too.

Okay I will start by saying, obviously too long. 

The first part was truly excellent. I hung on every word but the second part dragged, which is ironic given most of the major plot points happen there.

Adrian Brody is extraordinary in every way. His capacity to hold his grief in every word he utters, my heart bled for him in his addiction. Even when he was a dick, I loved him. The whole cast are mostly great. 

The ending really made it. I’m not 100% sure of its intent but it left me with sadness more than joy. A sense that we boil down where we end up in life to a history of our parents and grandparents that really goes unspoken (or forgotten) and need to just be thankful for the ending of the journey rather than the journey itself. It’s really stuck with me. Perhaps also because we spend such a long sequence searching for a privileged character we detest and we don’t see some of our beloved characters again. That search bled over into the epilogue, for me.

That being said. Wonderfully made. Script is excellent, direction is excellent, lead performances are excellent. I did search for AI the whole way through.

Perfect storytelling. Fernanda’s performance holds the whole movie together, from the minimal glances where whole ocean is in her eyes to her explosions of rage, it is absurd to me that anyone else would win the Oscar. 

The ending destroyed me. I cannot believe these things happen in real life. There are moments through the film where it drags slightly, but I think that’s the point. The moments of climax make it all worth it.

A+++ casting. The family are perfect, as children and adults. They all look like family and their acting is extraordinary. Direction is beautiful and understated and considered. I really, really liked it.

Survivor: Vatican.
Cinematography was perfect, direction excellent and Ralph was spellbinding.
Ending was wild. Maybe too wild for reality, that world I mean. But yeah great.

- I feel like one of those plates, you know, that the French guy spins on those sticks on the Sullivan show.
- Oh, I like that guy.
- I'm sure it's fun to *be* the guy, Bob. But I was a plate.

Adored this film. Timothee is really remarkable. The ing cast all hold their own, but for me it’s the music and the way it just filled my heart and the whole cinema. I’m a Dylan fan, and I think that helped it really speak to me. 

Really interesting thoughts about artists reinvesting themselves and the people and the fans who try to hold them back and keep them within a recognizable formula. I empathize with this fully. I love the Freewheelin’ record the most, by far, so when he wouldn’t play it - I was pissed, man. It perfectly encapsulates his whole persona and career. He’s an asshole, truly. 

You leave knowing nothing about him really and that’s the point, I think. He leaves people who loves him on his wake. It was a bit close to home with prior relationships, and I oop.

Second time watching and I like the ending much more on a second watch, it’s - weirdly and grotesquely - poignant. 

Definitely will be one the main films ed from 2024.

I cannot in good conscience recommend this film. The two lead performances are incredible and there are moments that really breathe life into you, but the bad is so bad. I was laughing out loud.

Perhaps the most troubling part of the whole experience was reading the French male names on the production team credits. The backlash this film faced truly skewed my thoughts on it and I really tried to let it all go and watch it without judgement but fuck man, “La Vaginoplastia” is heinous, truly. And watching a random Israeli doctor sing about being a doctor - and sing so poorly and so earnestly. I need that time back.

The child’s song is really lovely. Big swing, minimal ding… mostly a miss.

This makes me keen to see more of his films, I felt there may have been a bit lost in the translation of his Spanish work to working in purely English, but I can tell his art direction is inspired. Some of the early scenes seemed a bit explanatory and overly sharing plot points but it came more into its own once Tilda and Julianne made it to house.

Masterclass filmmaking. Sean Baker’s best. Mikey is extraordinary. 

I feel like it’s such a perfectly structured film, the half star off is because I didn’t quite connect emotionally with it as much as I wanted to, but that’s not to say I wasn’t hugely on the ride.

A simple film. Very effective in its lead performances and writing. Perhaps I just wasn’t in the mood, but I wanted more. Kieran Culkin is painfully annoying, but brilliant. I felt a deep, deep embarrassment for everyone around him at all times, and it did touch on some personal things for me, but generally, it was a good film not a great one.

Nostalgia stayed with me more second time around, and really adored Cynthia and Jonathan even more this time.

Just so beautiful. Similar gripes about Michelle. But look, The Wizard and I is perfection and Defying Gravity would have been without the extended scene breaks that broke it all up and drained it of its natural build.

Design Incred. Can’t get over it, really,

Overwhelmingly nostalgic and just well made. The two lead performances are stellar.

Ariana Grande is actual perfection, give her the Oscar now. I’ve been a big fan of Cynthia Erivo for a long time and it’s very exciting the whole world will see her talent and rawness in this. Nonetheless, will say that I feel she may have missed some of the typically comedic Elphaba moments - particularly at the beginning of the film. But honestly, that ballroom scene makes up for it alone. My eyes were leaking.

The ing cast are good, nothing mind blowing. I can’t help but feel like Michelle has been miscast Morrible. It seemed wrong to me, and a waste to not give an opportunity to someone more understanding of musical theatre rather than just a name (surely there’s a midway point here…). 

NONETHELESS, visually stunning and had me in the palm of their hand. For me, the run time flew by. But I eat this shit up. I forgot how much I adore this story and these songs, I bawled from beginning to end.

I liked the direction generally. I think that’s something worth noting here, and out of the two brothers, Malcolm Washington has more to offer here.

However, John David Washington is so irritating, and so unlikable and yeah the character is the villain, sure, but I can’t help but think there was an engaging, loving antihero opportunity gone begging here with John being so… annoying. The timbre of his voice, his acting, his banal and calculated choices. It completely ruined the flow of the film.

The other performances are solid if not, just fine. I actually really liked Ray Fisher’s performance, he was the most interesting to me. 

The supernatural elements were far more engaging than anything else. Most of the duologue scenes were too long and I encourage you to drink every time someone says “piano” or “watermelons”.

Like, I wasn’t bored. But I wasn’t hugely engaged either.

Too many cons to let it slide with its grandeur: shots weirdly out of focus with actors walking in and out of focus (??), awful AWFUL CGI (the sharks, come on) and some truly wooden performances. 

Denzel Washington is really spectacular as the film’s Iago and I constantly waited for him to come back on screen. 

However there is really nothing enlighten original about this sequel and anything that is different feels forced.

Spoiler alert: killing Derek Jacobi seemed a stretch too far.

“You have to make the clitoris your best friend.”
“What kind of friend is always hiding.”

Constantly amazed by Alfonzo Cuarón’s chameleon-like directing style. No film is the same, except for being exceptional.

Poignant, sexy and poisonous - all in the ways teenage life is when sex starts to fuck shit up. The boys are great but Maribel Verdú is spellbinding as Luisa, mysterious and beautifully unhinged.

“My tit.”
“No, your heart.”

Very good. Very quotable. The height of cinema? No. Politically correct? Also no. Did I like the term “wettie”? Definitely no.

This is really staying with me. I can’t help but cringe every time I think about it. Never seen anything by like it.

Finding a place for that earring just sent me.

Beautiful tight film with excellent performances.

Just my favourite documentary ever. Watched this again as I do every few months and could not look away. 

I don’t enjoy the whales being masturbated.

A slow start but took a compelling turn at the truffle restaurant. That scene with David Knell is one of the best duologue scenes I’ve seen. I didn’t expect to feel as much as I did.

“Every day you wake up, and there'll be less of you. You live your life for them, and they don't even see you. You don't even see yourself...we don't get a lot of things to really care about.

Derek, who has my pig?"

A lot to maybe like from the trailer but none of that existed in the film.

Heartbreaking watching River Phoenix do this film knowing he overdosed two years later. Mike is so brutal with his body and River is so spellbinding writhing through his life. 

Also, is this the most attractive Keanu Reeves has ever been? Jesus.

“It's when you start doing things for free, that you start to grow wings. Isn't that right, Mike…
Wings, Michael. You grow wings, and become a fairy.”

This film repeatedly stabbed me in the neck as I tried to escape in the middle of the night in my truck. And that alligator was so big. I liked.

This was very real for me in this current moment in time.

Very good, very fun. Excellent cast. 
YOU KNOW WHAT I’M TALKIN ABOUT, Denise

Face leaks.

Some obvious racist issues here but trailblazing for the queers.

Funny at times but generally fine.

Taking half a point off for the squelching muscle expanding and the scene where she vomits up Kristen Stewart.

Kind of trash but also I bawled so…

I don’t know what the fuck she’s saying, but girl, I am living.

Cinematography 10/10
Sound Design 10/10
SFX 10/10
Casting 9/10 (point off for Christopher Walken)

But I honestly have no real idea what is happening now. It seemed long for the first half and then too rushed for the second half. Not sure if how brilliantly it’s made is enough to completely save it for me, but it had blow-my-mind potential.

Loved - like loved - the first half. The scene writing “Fuck” was so great. Where it was going with that really excited me, this like metaphysical realism with the family and his brain, and it just became something else so meh by the end.

Interesting conversations granted, and pretty good performances, I really wished the end packed more of a punch. I wasn’t left with questions really, I just wanted more.

And why are we still casting straight men as gay characters and then nominating them for transformational Oscars, come on now.

This left me reeling. His parents being proud of him for just getting through life. Man. My eyes leaked a lot.

“Three cheers for our parakeet king!”

Almost nothing made sense and I loved it. Somehow I was touched so deeply by the end of the film, the connection to a son and his mother’s love. The use of birds across the board was spectacular, and the chaos of every moment just washed over me and I found myself grinning the whole way through.

I can’t say I enjoyed this. The banality of the film was chilling. And the onslaught of the mediocrity of the character’s lives given the circumstances left me uneasy.

That being said… Sandra Hüller is becoming my favourite actor, I think. 

It’ll stay with me for a while.

I liked it. The stern-cantankerous-lead-come-good trope was predictable, but it was expected from the trailer. Performances were wonderful. There was something mismatched about the three as actors - not as characters - that I don’t think sat properly. Left me feeling a bit left out of their emotional arc. Overall though, had a laugh and a smile.

Beautiful use of space. Still haven’t made up my mind about the conclusion and I HATE the prosecuting lawyer, what a dick. 

Acting 6/5 stars.

Slow to start but Colman has some really wonderful moments in the second half. Generally the ing cast is pretty meh across the board. The story is amazing though, but that’s history I guess.

Spellbound by this film. Just agape at its artistry. 

I must go punch that baby.

Very horny and very disturbing. Covered my mouth with my hand a few times but kind of forgettable.

A beautiful exploration of what a healthy, communicative relationship could look like. Beautiful nuance.

I’d never seen this and I lived, honestly. I loled hard. A lot.

I did like it. I did find myself checking my phone from time to time but both Bradley and Carey are incredible. I think Carey steals the film to the honest, her scenes towards the end of the film broke me.

One of the best ever. Every dance sequence. The vocals. Catherine. Renee. C’mon now. I used to think Richard wasn’t as good as the others in this, and granted the others ate but after a rewatch, he’s excellent too.

Five stars. No crumbs. Not taking questions.

Intense and long but a very good film, left me feeling very sad.

Some beautiful moments of colour and moments I genuinely gasped.

• Gravity
• Call Me by Your Name
• Amour
• Room
• Wild
• Moonlight
• Roma
• Whiplash
• Boyhood
• Nebraska

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.