I wouldn't have thought I'd ever get the chance to tag a post using Rick Springfield's name, but then this DVD showed up in my mailbox. I was never a Springfield fan, but I wasn't a detractor either. I'm old enough to remember his 1980s heyday, and although I never bought any of his records, I did go through a brief General Hospital phase, which coincided with his first run as Dr. Noah Drake (he would return to the show in 2005). This was back when Demi Moore ("Jackie Templeton") was also part of the cast. If anything, I would've pegged Springfield as the breakout movie star, but he decided to make music his primary focus.
Sylvia Caminer's flattering, yet strangely compelling documentary, An Affair of the Heart, doesn't present a conventional portrait of a celebrity. Instead, it's more like 2012's Still Alive, which caught up with 1970s singer-songwriter Paul Williams. If 63-year-old Springfield, who looks 20 years younger, enjoyed his biggest hits, like "Jessie's Girl" and "Don't Talk to Strangers," in the 1980s, his fans have sustained his career, and Caminer profiles a few of the most ardent.
Mike Nipper first posted this video in 2010. That's Rick on guitar.
After a break of almost a decade, Springfield returned to live performing in the 1990s, and fans travel thousands of miles just to see him. His friends Mark Goodman, Linda Blair, and Corey Feldman speak to his past. To Goodman, Springfield was a "dick" and a "lightweight," who's only gotten better and more humble with age. As with the super-fans who’ve congregated around the Grateful Dead and Phish, his shows have spawned friendships and even romances.
Suburban stay-at-home moms JoAnn and Sue welcome the chance to leave their troubles behind for a regular "Rick fix," as they put it. In their case, that means up to 10 shows a year, including Springfield's annual cruise to the Bahamas (and since Goodman participates in that venture, I think it's fair to take anything he says with a grain of salt). Fourteen-year-old guitar player Dustin has been a fan since he was a toddler, a bond he shares with his single dad, Jeff—who looks a little like Springfield—while Steve proposed to his wife, Jill, on stage at a concert.
Pure '80s Velveeta.
Other fans talk about the comfort they took in Springfield songs while recovering from sexual assault and heart surgery (Laurie says her "pity party" over her cardiac woes lasted for 24 years). There's a darker side, too, since Rick addiction has put a strain on Sue's marriage. Oddly, her cardiologist husband, Mike, started out as a New Jersey thrasher,* and he's never understood his wife's obsession.
If there isn't much here about his personal life, Springfield has written a bestselling memoir, Late, Late at Night, that discusses his battles with infidelity, depression, and other more personal matters (amazingly, he's still married to his wife, Barbara, who appears in the film). Watching Caminer's documentary didn't change my mind about his music, but I found his relationships with his fans genuinely touching.
* Mike Devita was the guitarist for Sacred Denial (1982-1988), which had a brief run on Atlantic Records.
My favorite quote: "We touched his butt last time he was here."
Breaking Glass Pictures releases An Affair of the Heart on July 16, 2013 (Blu-ray release TBA).
Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood
These are
the reviews
and other
pieces I'm
working on
this month.
City Pages: The business of music in Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood.
Seattle Film Blog:Barbara Rubin and the Exploding New York Underground and Klute - The Criterion Collection: Special Edition.
Video Librarian: 93Queen, 3100: Run and Become, Birth on the Border, Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas - WM, Freedom Fighters, In Exile, Inventing Tomorrow, The Two Faces of a Bamiléké Woman, The Police - Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out[Blu-ray], and Sinatra in Palm Springs - The Place He Called Home[Blu-ray].
Video Librarian:Milford Graves Full Mantis, The Most Dangerous Year, The Revival - Women and the Word, Time for Ilhan, Shameless - The Complete Ninth Season[four-disc set], Team Khan, Tickled,
and The Gospel According to André.
The Stranger Music Things to Do:The Specials and Alicia Witt (I guess they're using freelancers again, at least for the next few weeks). I'm also quoted in this Filthy Friends blurb.
Video Librarian:62 Days, Break the Silence, Exiled, It’s Criminal - A Tale of Prison
and Privilege, The Longings of Maya Gordon, The Most Dangerous Year, and Time for Ilhan.
The Stranger: No film assignments until SIFF (5/16 - 6/9).
Video Librarian: G Is for Gun - The Arming
of Teachers in America, Jewel's Catch One, Lovesick, Nothing Without Us - The Women Who Will End AIDS,
The Pushouts, The War in Between, Hot to Trot, Nude Area, The
Party's Just Beginning.
Video Librarian:Band vs Brand, Olancho, and Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex, Fashion & Disco.
Endnote: While doing a Google search, I found my Slog review of the 2012 documentary Elena at the film's website. It could use a wider audience. Image of Grace Jones and Jerry Hall from the IMDb.
Originally posted to The Stranger on Mar 14, 2012 at 12:58pm.
CAROL CHANNING: LARGER THAN LIFE (Dori Berinstein, US, 2012, 87 mins.)
I review a lot of punk documentaries, so my interest in Carol Channing—as opposed to, say, Chad Channing—may seem odd, except this lady's been kicking ass for decades now.
Further, the gap between punk and musical theater isn't as wide as it might seem, especially since Green Day's American Idiot became a Broadway hit (to say nothing of Stew's Public Theater production, Passing Strange, which lives on as a Spike Lee joint).
I've
always been fascinated by Channing's unique voice, which isn't
attractive by conventional standards, yet it's more distinct than that
of Glee and Wicked co-stars Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, who are likely to be more recognizable to younger viewers.
Channing has a grittier Vaudevillian style, and the older she gets, the more she sounds like Louis Armstrong, which is ironic, since he also recorded "Hello, Dolly!"
DRAMATIC FORCES, LLC
"You're lookin' swell..."
In Gotta Dance, Dori Berinstein profiled
the AARP-age performers of the NETSationals senior dance team. She has a
way with subjects who've been kicking around for awhile, and Channing
turned 90 during the filming of Larger Than Life. Archival footage reinforces her love of white, sequined dresses, and red lipstick.
Like Liza Minnelli, she's rarely changed her look, and there's no need when it continues to serve her so well. Comedy writer Bruce Vilanch describes her as "this creature with huge saucer eyes and gigantic red lips and a massive smile."
Channing grew up in San Francisco,* where she fell in love with performing at an early age. Once she saw Ethel Waters in
concert, she knew she wanted to do the same thing, and established a
life-long friendship with the singer. Not until years later would she
find out that she was part black, and also part Jewish, much like Dolly
Gallagher Levi (Channing's parents were prominent Christian Scientists).
If she made the occasional movie—earning an Oscar nod for Thoroughly Modern Millie—theater
and television became her bread and butter. Berinstein takes in the
totality of her career, but concentrates on Channing's signature role in
1964's Hello, Dolly! (the only high school musical in which I ever participated).
*The film doesn't mention that Channing was born in Seattle.
My favorite Channing screen performance appears in this film (music by Harry Nilsson!).
Composer/lyricist Jerry Herman says the part was intended for Ethel Merman,
who declined, but now he can't imagine anyone else in the role (sorry,
Barbra Streisand). He later wrote "Before the Parade Passes By"
specifically for her, and Dolly ranks
among the longest-running musicals. The indefatigable Channing never
missed a full performance—not even while receiving treatment for ovarian
cancer.
Larger Than Life prioritizes Channing's public life over her personal one, but doesn't stint on her relationship with the late Harry Kullijian, her sweetheart from the 1930s. After high school, he went off to Korea, and she went to Bennington.
They
proceeded to marry other people (she was married for 42 years, Harry
for 65*), but reconnected 70 years later, making the film as much a
profile of her career as her marriage, to which famous friends from Tippi Hedren to Barbara Walters pay tribute (Debbie Reynolds starts to cry when she talks about it).
On
the downside, the jigsaw structure can feel haphazard, as if Berinstein
felt that a purely chronological approach might not be sufficiently
dynamic. She also hints at darker times, but doesn't push as far as she
could, even though Channing seems like a willing participant. Still, a
documentary of this nature lives and dies by the personality of its
subject and Carol Channing has plenty to spare.
*Also unmentioned: Channing was married four times; her son with Alex Carson, Chan Lowe, is a political cartoonist.
Carol Channing: Larger Than Life opens at SIFF Film Center on Fri., March 16. For more information, please call 206-324-9996 or click here.
ON HER SHOULDERS (Alexandria Bombach, US, 2018, 94 minutes)
Alexandria Bombach doesn't build her documentary around a person with a particular job, but rather a person with a particular request. That's how Nadia Murad, the soft-spoken 23-year-old at its center, describes herself to the filmmaker. Through public appearances, she seeks assistance on behalf of the Yazidis (a non-Muslim minority), who suffered genocide at the hands of ISIS in Northern Iraq in 2014.
Nadia's highest profile appearance takes place in 2015 when she speaks in front of the United Nations Security Council. Though Simone Mona-
sebian of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime encourages her to describe herself as an activist, Nadia sees herself as a refugee. Simone doesn't understand why she can't be both, but Nadia doesn't look at the situa-
tion through the same lens. When a Canadian radio host asks about her life before ISIS, she mentions school and farming. When ISIS came to her village, they killed most of the men and all of the older women. They raped younger women, like Nadia, repeatedly. It's difficult to listen to her detail such atrocities, but it must be worse to relive them.
Nadia is a slight fig-
ure with long, dark hair, who once dream-
ed of op-
ening a beauty salon. She has the calm, thoughtful countenance of Charlotte Gainsbourg, circa Jane Eyre. When she smiles, which isn't often, she puts her entire face into it. She's close to Murad Ismael, the 30-year-old executive director of Yazda, who has become a sort of surrogate brother (he also serves as her translator). If she cries on occasion, she spends more time comfort-
ing the Yazidis she meets at protest marches and in refugee camps. It means everything to them that she has become their face to the world.
From Canada, Nadia travels to Greece and then to New York where the UN appoints her Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking (human rights attorney and recent Vogue cover star Amal Clooney accompanies her on the trip). As the end credits indicate, Nadia has continued to advocate for the Yazidi people ever since. If she didn't set out to become an activist, she has proven to be a very effective one. As a filmmaker, Bombach (Frame by Frame) treats her with respect, but stops short of full-fledged worship. Nadia is still a human being, albeit one with more passion and poise than most.
If there's a subtext to Bombach's film it's that even well meaning people don't always know how to respond to someone like Nadia. Journalists and political figures come across as concerned in a way that seems more awkward than insincere. They can't decide whether to treat her like a delicate flower or a grizzled warrior, and her polite, if reserved manner throws them off. It's not that she's cold so much as self-contained, and I think that's why she never opens up in this film as much as she could have. It always feels as if she's holding something back, but maybe that's the only way to get from day to day, dredging up terrible memories to discomforted people for the greater good.
Endnote:On Her Shoulders plays the Northwest Film Forum (1515 12th Ave) through Thurs, Jan 10. Check the website for times.
The Village Voice: Pazz & Jop ballot (link to come).
Video Librarian:Bad Reputation, Benevolence, The Breast Archives, Drawn Together, Nimble Fingers, Nowhere to Hide, Qi Gong - Mindfulness
in Motion, Return to Cuba, Sex Weather, and Woman and the Glacier.
Endnote: As of 2019, The Stranger will no longer be soliciting concert previews, known as Music Things to Do, from freelancers. It was a fun gig while it lasted. My last previews ran in the mid-December issue.
Click here for the 2017 edition. Links lead to my concert previews for The Stranger.
Top 10
1. Gwenno - Le Kov (Heavenly-PIAS)
Le Kov marks two stunning solo albums in a row from ex-Pipette Gwenno Saunders. If 2014's Y Dydd Olaf, inspired by Owain Owain's dystopian novel from the 1970s, was the more ambitious release, the follow-up marks an artist firmly in control of her powers. The Welsh Cornish language has rarely sounded lovelier.
Ndegeocello's 2014 paranoid-funk cover of Whodini's "Friends" merely hinted at this brilliant reinvention of 11 pre-millennial R&B and funk classics. The singer and bass player at her sensual, soul-stirring best.
3. Lorelle Meets the Obsolete - De Facto (Registros El Derrumbe)
There'll never be another Broadcast, but on their fifth full-length, this Ensenada-by-way-of-Guadalajara duo (Lorena Quintanilla and Alberto Gonzalez) conjures up a similar sense of magic and mystery. Mixed by Cooper Crain (Bitchin Bajas) and mastered by Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Total Control): México goes motorik.
From the electro pop of "High Horse" to the rustic psychedelia of "Slow Burn" to the stadium tour with Harry Styles, Musgraves' creative risks rankled purists, but the CMA Award for album of the year confirms that her resemblance to Bobbie Gentry is more than just skin deep.
5. DRINKS - Hippo Lite(Drag City)
It was a good year to be Cate Le Bon--or a fan of the Welsh polymath--as she co-produced Deerhunter and hit her stride with White Fence's Tim Presley on their second, even-better-than-the-first record.
After establishing her acting bonafides in 2016 (Moonlight, Hidden Figures), Monáe emerged in 2018 as a "free-ass motherfucker," an orientation reflected in the Prince-inspired "Make Me Feel" and the Georgia O'Keefe-on-ecstasy "Pink" video with pal Tessa Thompson.
Berlin-based Anika launched her career as a solo artist, so it came as a surprise when she joined forces with two Mexico City musicians to form this transcontinental trio. Their discography to date isn't a repudiation of the stark sound she established with BEAK's Geoff Barrow, but a more textural version marked by unnerving shows in which the cool blonde segues from quasi-catatonic to confrontational.
Lorelle Meets the Obsolete
8. Kelly Lee Owens - Kelly Lee Owens (Smalltown Supersound)
On her enchanting debut, the Welsh producer whispers sweetly over diaphanous clouds of synths and gently pulsating beats. It's Charlotte Gainsbourg by way of Juana Molina through a Giorgio Moroder haze.
Meg Remy, the American-born sonic architect behind this Toronto noise-pop project, takes recognizable elements, including girl-group harmonies and soul samples, and scrambles them into something new and unfamiliar, like Ronnie Spector fronting the Residents. On her riveting new album, she references male-generated works about men, like Hamlet, to interrogate male power and female agency.
10. The Nels Cline 4 - Currents, Constellations(Blue Note)
Cline, a guitarist and composer with free jazz (Charlie Haden, Julius Hemphill) and alt-rock roots (Wilco, Mike Watt, Thurston Moore), brings playful prog-punk energy to his second Blue Note outing.
Note: All comments from my 2018 Pazz & Jop ballot.
2. Kendrick Lamar, SZA - "All the Stars" (Top Dawg-Interscope)
Wakanda forever.
3. Janelle Monáe - "Make Me Feel" (Bad Boy)
It's hard to imagine that "Make Me Feel" would exist without Prince's "Kiss," but Monáe ups the ante with Hereditary-like tongue-clicks as a rhythm track--and words never heard in a Jehovah Witness's Bible.
4. Childish Gambino - "This Is America" (mcDJ Recording-RCA)
Donald Glover's incantatory recitation would work without visuals, but Hiro Murai's video represents America in 2018 as acutely as the newsreel footage in Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman. Utterly unnerving.
5. Brownout - "Fear of a Black Planet" (Fat Beats)
Public Enemy's production team, the Bomb Squad, spun hiphop gold from funk filaments, so it's only right and natural that these Austin instrumentalists would strip the PE track down to its funky essence.
6. Khruangbin - "Maria También" (Dead Oceans-Night Time Stories)
The very definition of sinuous.
7. Ashley Monroe - "Hands on You" (Warner Bros Nashville)
The year's sexiest song...and even better than anything on Pistol Annies' not-at-all-bad Interstate Gospel. "I wish I'd a pushed you against the wall, locked the door in a bathroom stall..."
8. Angelique Kidjo - "Born Under Punches" (Kravenworks)
"Look at these hands," Kidjo asks commandingly, turning the words of David Byrne's (presumably white) government man inside out. "All I want is to breathe," sighs the Beninese-born singer.
9. The Internet - "La Di Da" (Columbia-Sony Music Entertainment)
The spirit of early-'70s Stevie Wonder infuses this breezy track.
10. Little Dragon - "Lover Chanting" (Ninja Tune)
A summery wisp of a thing. "Do you wanna be my girl, I wanna-wanna-wanna be your ma-a-an." That's about the gist of it.
Also worthy of note:Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel (Mom+Pop), Cruel Diagonals - Disambiguation (Drawing Room), Jacco Gardner - Somnium (Polyvinyl Recording Co), Ross Goldstein - Eighth House (Birdwatcher), Hinds - I Don’t Run (Mom + Pop), In- solito Universo - Folk Experimental de Venezuela (Olindo), The In- ternet - Hive Mind (Columbia), Jo Passed - Their Prime (Sub Pop), Angelique Kidjo - Remain in Light (Kravenworks), The Limiñanas - Shadow People (Because Music), Samara Lubelski - Flickers at the Station (Drawing Room), Dave McMurray - Music Is Life (Blue Note), Melody’s Echo Chamber - Bon Voyage (Far Possum), MGMT - Little Dark Age (Columbia-Sony Music Entertainment), Papa M - A Broke Moon Rises (Drag City), Pusha T - Daytona (GOOD-Def Jam), Shamir - Revelations (Father/Daughter), The Shifters - Have a Cunning Plan (Trouble in Mind), Colin Stetson - Hereditary (Original Motion Pic- ture Soundtrack) (Milan), Sudan Archives - Sink (Stones Throw), Szun Waves - New Hymn to Freedom (Leaf Label), Dean Wareham vs. Cheval Sombre - Dean Wareham vs. Cheval Sombre (Double Feature), and Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Sex & Food (Jagjaguwar).
Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends! Though I spend a substantial portion of the year avoiding ranked lists as best as I can, I wait until the tail end of each one to give in to my most hierarchical impulses.
As with last year, I've decided to keep commentary to a minimum, but if there are any films you feel strongly about that you don't see listed below, feel free to leave a comment or drop me a line. If it isn't here, it's more likely that I didn't see it than that I didn't like it...unless you're touting Bohemian Rhapsody or A Star Is Born. It's not that I hated either one, it's just that when it comes to music films in 2018, docs were where it was at. In any case, I have screeners for most of the year's award-seeking films through membership in the Seattle Film Critics Society, for which I've served as trustee for the second year in a row, so I plan to spend January catching up with the films that I missed.
Amanda Seyfried in First Reformed
Links lead to my reviews for or podcast contributions to SIFFBlog, SIFFcast, and The Stranger. A few, like Bad Reputation, also appeared in The Portland Mercury (my reviews for Video Librarian live behind a paywall or by way of a print subscription). Starting in 2018, my Stranger reviews have found a second home at Rotten Tomatoes.
If I did a better job at keeping up with new films than in 2017, I failed to write about as many of them due to a variety of factors, including other responsibilities and distractions. Here's to a more creatively and financially fulfilling year for me, for you, and for everyone we know!
Top 10* 1.Leave No Trace (Debra Granik) 2.First Reformed (Paul Schrader) 3.The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos) 4.Angels Wear White (Vivian Qu) 5. Shoplifters (Hirozaku Kore-eda) 6.BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee) 7.Mandy (Panos Cosmatos) 8. Sorry to Bother You (Boots Riley) 9. Happy as Lazzaro (Alice Rohrwacher) 10. Annihilation(Alex Garland)
*The Phantom Thread didn't open in Seattle until 2018, and I missed the 2017 press screening. If I'd seen it then, it would've made last year's top 10. To make room for as many new releases as possible, I've given it a sort of honorable mention by acknowledging that I don't know where to place it, so for the time being: it lives inside this footnote.
Note: I don't take back anything I've ever said about Lanthimos. Working with Tony McNamara and Deborah Davis's brilliant script made a world of difference to his filmmaking. I still consider The Killing of a Sacred Deer, which folds Michael Haneke's worst traits into one film, among 2017's most overrated art house efforts. Meanwhile, Luca Guadagnino, whose previous two features made past lists, fell from my grace with his pointless remake of Suspiria.
Runners-up 11. 1945 (Ferenc Török) 12. Black Panther (Ryan Coogler) 13. Can You Ever Forgive Me?(Marielle Heller) 14.Support the Girls (Andrew Bujalski) 15.Madeline's Madeline (Josephine Dekker) 16.Félicité (Alain Gomis) 17.Don't Worry He Won't Get Far on Foot (Gus Van Sant) 18.Burning (Lee Chang-dong) 19. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs(Joel and Ethan Coen) 20.Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson)
Adriano Tardiolo in Happy as Lazzaro
Second Runners-up 21.Widows (Steve McQueen) 22. Roma (Alfonso Cuarón) 23.Claire's Camera (Hong Sang-soo) 24.If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins) 25.Private Life (Tamara Jenkins) 26.Thelma (Joaquim Trier) 27.Thoroughbreds (Cory Finley) 28. Eighth Grade(Bo Burnham) 29.November (Rainer Sarnet) 30. You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay)
Note: I usually include documentaries in my top 30, but decided to separate them from narrative features this year. I don't have a good reason for this; it just felt right. I'll probably revert to form in 2019.
Top Documentaries 1.Won't You Be My Neighbor (Morgan Neville) 2.Monrovia, Indiana (Frederick Wiseman) 3.Whitney (Kevin Macdonald) 4.Filmworker (Tony Zierra) 5.Hal (Amy Scott) 6. Bad Reputation (Kevin Kerslake) 7.M.I.A. Maya Matanga (Steven Loveridge) 8. Shirkers (Sandi Tan) 9. Dark Money (Kimberly Reed) 10. Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes(Alexis Bloom)
Gothic Estonian horror in November
Doc Runners-up 11. Milford Graves: Full Mantis(Jake Meginsky) 12. Bisbee '17 (Robert Greene) 13.Hale County This Morning, This Evening (RaMell Ross ) 14.Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat (Sara Driver) 15.Naila and the Uprising (Julia Bacha) 16.McQueen (Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui) 17.Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami (Sophie Fiennes) 18.Departure(Lana Wilson) 19. RBG(Betsy Cohen and Betsy West) 20. Three Identical Strangers (Tim Wardle)
Note: Ofthe fashion-oriented films released in 2018, Bonhote and Ettedgui's portrait of the late British designer Alexander McQueen ranks above them all. By contrast, Lorna Tucker's Vivienne Westwood documentary, Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist, plays as if the subject pressured her to stick to a narrow script, and she probably did. Free rein shouldn't be a requirement for effective portraiture, but the film needed a director who saw the limited scope as an opportunity to tap creative impulses rather than a directive to keep them in check. As a corrective, I'd recommend Viv Albertine's 2014 memoir, Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys., for a more idiosyncratic take on Britain's fashion scene during the punk era, including appearances from Westwood and Malcolm McLaren.
Also worthy of note*: A Ciambra, After Louie, Aida's Secrets, Ask the Sexpert, Big Sonia, Birdboy, Blaze, Borderline, Borrowed Time, Breaking Silence, Catwalk: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit, The Children Act, Damsel, The Death of Stalin, The Divine Order (2017), Driving with Selvi, En el Séptimo Día, Forever Chinatown, Gemini, Gender Troubles: The Butches, The Gospel According to André, Half the Picture, Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405, Hereditary, I Miss You When I See You, The Issue of Mr. O'Dell, John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, Just Charlie, The Kindergarten Teacher, Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story, Last Child, Lean on Pete, Let the Sunshine In, Little Stones, Logan Lucky (2017), Lou Andreas-Salomé: The Audacity to be Free, Love After Love, Love, Gilda, Mama Colonel, Mankiller, Men: A Love Story, M.F.A., The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Mom and Dad, Next Time I’ll Aim for the Heart, Oh, Lucy!, A Private War, Pushing Dead, Puzzle, Revenge, Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda, Serenade for Haiti, The Sisters Brothers, Skate Kitchen, Spettaculo (2017), A Star Is Born, Stumped, That Summer, Tania Libre, Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Unsane, The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin, Virus Tropical, Whipping Zombie, A Woman and Her Car, Wildlife, Yours in Sisterhood, and Zama.
*I count video releases, and I review a lot of videos, though it's worth noting that some films received theatrical releases in previous years, while others made their 2018 debut on video.
Barbara Loden in Wanda, her sole directorial effort
Missed or haven’t seen yet: Anna and the Apoc- alypse, Aquaman, Assassination Nation, Beautiful Boy, Ben Is Back, Border, Bumblebee, Capernaum, Charm City, Cold War, Colette, Crazy Rich Asians (though I've listened to the score; it's fine), Destroyer, Disobedience, The Endless (didn't grab me; may try again later), First Man, Free Solo,The Front Runner, The Great Buddha, Green Book, The Hate U Give, Hearts Beat Loud, Hold the Dark, Incredibles 2, The Land of Steady Habits, Last Letter, Let the Corpses Tan, Mirai, Monsters and Men, The Old Man & the Gun, On Chesil Beach, On the Basis of Sex, The Other Side of the Wind,Paddington 2, A Quiet Place, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Sadie, Searching, A Simple Favor, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, Tully, and The Wife. Top Archival Releases 1. Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi) 2. Wanda (Barbara Loden) 3. Belle de Jour (Luis Buñuel) 4. Edward II (Derek Jarman) 5. The Crime of Monsieur Lange (Jean Renoir)
Didn't like:Maniac (though Emma Stone is quite good), Mary, Queen of Scots, Molly's Game, and Wim Wender's Submergence.
Endnote: I watched less TV than usual, but I enjoyed GLOW the best (props to local filmmaker Lynn Shelton for her excellent work on the Netflix series). Also, that one bonkers episode of Law & Order: SVU with Judd Hirsch and Wallace Shawn. I look forward to catching up with Atlanta,Barry, Better Call Saul, Sharp Objects, and the final seasons of Breaking Bad and Justified in the months to come.
I write about popular music and film and the relationship between the two. I'm Irish on one side, Italian on the other—British on both. I was born in Connecticut (Far From Heaven), raised in Alaska (Northern Exposure), and I've lived in Seattle, WA (Trouble in Mind) since 1988.
