My last post and last New-to-Me list of 2023. I actually did a list for every month this year which is the baseline of consistency I was looking to accomplish in this space. As always, thanks for reading those and the other little lists and reviews I've managed to put up this year. If you have not checked it out already, please take a look at my French Crime Christmas movie list and reviews. I watched a lot of other great flicks in December, but I still think Paris Pick-Up is probably my discovery of the month. Much like in November, I've been getting out to the theater very regularly as the onslaught of festival films starts to hit our shores and awards season approaches. I love our local repertory scene but it's also fun to go out to new movies with other people who are excited to see them - even if the films don't always land cleanly with me. I'm definitely looking forward to the Film Independent Spirit Awards screenings starting next month for similar reasons. There are always some great movies programmed and there's at least a touch of that festival energy in the air. Anyway I hope you had a good holiday or at least a break from the grind and here are the final new-to-me movies of the year.
T.R. Baskin (1971) - Baskin is a movie I'd heard of but had no inkling of where to watch it until it was recently released by Fun City Editions. It stars Candice Bergen as the titular Baskin - a young woman who recently moved to Chicago looking to find "fame and fortune" and herself to a degree. Her story is told largely through flashback during a confessional conversation she has with a traveling businessman played by Peter Boyle - who was under the impression that she was some kind of escort. The film is a genuine curiosity - in many ways it fits within the milieu of New Hollywood films but bucks against the themes and conventions the movement is often associated with. The story centers squarely on a woman, she's a fully realized character, and though she is sexually objectified by men around her, it's not really the story about sex lives or sexual awakenings (quite a contrast to Carnal Knowledge which came out the same year starring Bergen). It's also shot fully on location in Chicago which was extremely rare at the time and gives the film a unique look and feel compared to the deluge of of New York and Los Angeles movies that are synonymous with the period. The films cover reads "Candice Bergen Is T.R. Baskin" and that statement couldn't ring more true. If there was ever a woman born to play this role, it's Bergen. Although she was quite young at the time, there's this inherent maturity to Bergen that fits Baskin perfectly - the character both being naive about city living and possessing an incredible astuteness in her observations. Boyle is also tremendous in his role as a sad-sack foil to Baskin's unrelenting wit. It's a complete about-face from his breakout role in Joe only one year previous. The film does employ a plot conceit that's a touch awkward for me, but it's overflowing with rich dialogue, great performances, and a brilliant collection of Chicago location work. The disc looks terrific and supplemental features add some great context to what is a real discovery for me this year.
One False Move (1991) - This definitely falls into the better-late-than-never category. I'm not sure what's been keeping me from watching Carl Franklin's relentlessly hardboiled 90s neo-noir standout, but I knew that grabbing a copy of the Criterion 4k would ensure that I finally got around to it. There are a couple of aesthetic choices that I did not love but One False Move has a violent authenticity to it that apparently stems from both Franklin's biography (he sets up a scene similarly to how he saw someone get shot) as well as extensive conversations between LAPD and writers Thornton and Epperson. Bill Paxton totally inhabits the character of Dale Dixon but I was truly impressed with Cynda Williams and Michael Beach in their comparatively nuanced performances. You probably don't need me to recommend this one to you but if you need a nudge, you have been nudged.
Dirty Money (1972) - Another absolute 70s Quebecois crime banger from the good people of Canadian International Pictures. I was under the impression that Dirty Money would be more of a comedy but I didn't really perceive it as such. It's frequently compared to Blood Simple and like that film, it does have a certain dark irony and there is a stark absurdity to its brutality. However, also like the Coen's debut, Dirty Money delivers on low budget yet hard hitting genre goods. I'm absolutely loving these crime films coming from CIP so I hope more are in the works.
Les Cousins/The Cousins (1959) - I've been watching a lot of Chabrol this year and especially in December so I'm going to cover a few in a row. I'm trying not to just include all of them but this truly has been a rewarding pursuit and one I'm happy to continue into next year. Cousins was supposed to be Chabrol's debut feature but he was able to put the funding together for Le Beau Serge first so Cousins had to wait. Still one of the earliest Nouvelle Vague pictures out of the gate, it mirrors Serge in many ways. The country is exchanged for the city and while the two leads aren't a precise exchange of their previous roles, Jean-Claude Brialy becomes the brasher character while Gerard Blain assumes an introspective demeanor. I like both films but Cousins is more indicative of the kind of Chabrol movies I've become such a fan of - bad behavior, class conflict, generational strife, deceit, and generous helpings of existential angst. Henri Decaë shot both films and while the neo-realist informed Serge is undoubtedly a handsome picture, Decaë seems more assured in the urban milieu - street scenes, driving sequences, and a camera lurking around corners, capturing stolen moments. The leads are both excellent but Cousins was also the screen debut of Juliette Mayniel. She's probably best known for Eyes Without a Face but I really fell in love with her watching Night of the Hunted last month. She delivers an impressive performance as the woman caught between the desires of the cousins as well as her own.
La Femme Infidèle/The Unfaithful Wife (1968) - The first film in Chabrol's Hélène cycle and perhaps the original text for the "Chabrol-ian" thriller. Stéphane Audran (Chabrol's wife at the time) plays a beautiful woman who is bored in her marriage to a successful insurance executive played by Michel Bouquet. The film follows them as they go through the motions of their bourgeois life but suspicions are aroused around how Audran's character spends her free time. The plot beats for La Femme couldn't be more straightforward though the finale does twist ever so slightly - however it's how everything is presented that makes this such a powerful viewing experience. The deliberate pacing, the wry sense of humor, the character studies all conspire to rachet up the tension and hold the viewer in suspense. If I had a better mind for classic films I'm sure I could see more of the Hitchcockian references on display but there are certainly some nods towards Psycho and Vertigo that even I could pluck out. I've been hopping all around Chabrol's filmography this year, but this might be where I recommend people start if they're interested in his thriller mode of filmmaking.
Poulet au Vinaigre/Cop au Vin (1984) - I've seen this get some middling reviews from people who I think must either be expecting something more shocking or something more conventional. In Poulet Chabrol delivers something akin to an Agatha Christie mystery but the investigation doesn't even start until midway through the film. However (and this is something that I've noticed in a lot of French mystery stories) the first hour of the film is spent painstakingly immersing the viewer in all of the local intrigue that's as important if not more important than the details of the murder. I was able to re-watch some of the scenes with commentary from Chabrol (thanks to Arrow's truly excellent box set) and he sets it all up so beautifully that it's impossible not to admire his craftsmanship. This is perhaps on the lighter side of his filmography but I really enjoyed it and actually prefer it to the more conventional Inspector Levardin films that would follow.
Betty (1992) - A somewhat detached but no less engrossing tale of a woman (Marie Trintignant) spiraling into self-destruction following the implosion of her bourgeois life. The present storyline unfolds in a bizarre limbo-like hotel and restaurant somewhere "near Versailles" and the tale of Betty's downfall is revealed via interwoven flashbacks (and occasionally flashbacks within flashbacks). The style doesn't feel overwrought and though Betty has thriller plot beats at a distance, the execution feels much closer to an arthouse film. Trintignant is very good and Stéphane Audran is tremendous and even heartbreaking as the affluent older woman who takes Betty into her care. Following the release of La Cérémonie, Chabrol addressed why so many of his films were centered around women, "They live in a world that is still very macho. So to be heroines, they don't have to do extraordinary things. It's enough for them to be women to have very real problems." While the situation the women of Betty find themselves in is hardly universal, their struggles around desire, addiction, and self-worth are highly relatable.
Ménage (1986) - The cinematic personification of "Be Gay, Do Crimes." Whatever philosophy actually drives Bertrand Blier is not clear to me other than his love of chaos, provocation, and absurdity. I also have to wonder what Gerard Depardieu was really like as a younger man (he seems mostly horrible as an older one). I read Ménage as a largely a joyous expression of ridiculousness but, as always with Blier, your mileage may vary.
Italianamaerican (1974) - I've been on a slight Scorsese binge with Killers of the Flower Moon in theaters this year and After Hours and Mean Streets releasing on 4K. His early documentary where he interviews his parents is as effortlessly charming as they both would prove to be in his fictional work. There are conversational beats in this film that are essentially echoes of their later performances in films that I've totally internalized after a youth spent watching them on repeat. I love that the conversation settles around storytelling as an artform as Scorsese's own work is so frequently fueled by a recreation of oral storytelling - either through first person narration or iconic scenes of characters sharing anecdotes. I also watched American Boy and would recommend that as well if only to hear the original version of Pulp Fiction's famous overdose scene.
Full Time (2021) - I loved Laure Calamy in Origin of Evil which I saw earlier this year so perhaps I would have tracked this down one way or another - but I confess that I was definitely nudged towards watching Full Time after hearing Samm Deighan recorded a commentary track for Music Box Film's blu ray release. Either way, I'm so glad to have watched it. I think there's a fair criticism that the politics of Full Time isn't exhaustively articulated - however I think it presents perfectly well a perspective from a person struggling to put the pieces together in the face of repeated hardship and frustration. A key point of the film and the source of its anxiety inducing kinetics is Julie's problems getting from her (presumably) more affordable suburban home to her job in Paris in the midst of a transit strike. The strike and the transit workers are largely without a voice in the film, only providing an obstacle to Julie's frantic attempts to keep her life on the rails - but that's part of the insidiousness of the system we're in. Julie may well be sympathetic to the transit workers' plight (she does not criticize them in the film) but it doesn't stop her from having to get to work, to pick up her children, to feed them, and to try to improve her lot. Julie's one source of optimism is her pending application for a corporate marketing job - one which she is actually overqualified for - which could be seen as politically reactionary. Scrambling at all costs - including abusing the trust of her co-workers - to get out of a working class position at a hotel to achieve the incremental victory of landing in the white collar world. However, I don't know that the film even paints this possible future as particularly promising. It's a respite perhaps, the boot is lifted ever so slightly for a moment, but there's no reason to think that the corporate churn will treat her much better.
Mademoiselle (1966) - Tony Richardson's largely French study in cruelty is a bit of a conundrum to me. On the one hand, it's beautifully shot and Jeanne Moreau's portrayal of an icy sociopath is as good as anything she's ever done. No small part of me wants to see this theatrically as soon as possible. On the other hand there's elements of Mademoiselle that come off as ham-fisted: the clunky Freudian imagery, the seemingly actual pain and death inflicted on animals, and the idea that Jeanne Moreau has somehow been driven mad from sexual frustration doesn't quite convince. It's still a hell of a movie and well worth seeking out if you think you can stomach it. Richardson is a huge blind spot for me and it sounds like Mademoiselle is somewhat singular in his filmography. Still, I'd like to watch more of his stuff.
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974) - I confess that I do not universally adore the M.R. James "Ghost Story for Christmas" adaptations but Abbot Thomas is now one of my favorites. Genuinely disturbing and spooky with a terrific final sting. It follows the usual story of academics failing to heed the warnings of older, esoteric arts and finding the darkness that lurks in hidden places. Good stuff!
Theatrical Screenings!
The Holdovers (2023) - Genuinely excellent. I wondered if the 70s setting was just going to be aesthetic gimmickry or pasted-on nostalgia but I was very pleasantly surprised. It is definitely a nod towards a certain kind of film from the 70s (Hal Ashby comes immediately to mind) but it's also an authentic part of the story being told. I think all of the performances are solid and I couldn't be happier to see Da'Vine Joy Randolph getting some award nominations. I'm sure part of this was just due to my recent visit but I totally nerded out in Rick Dalton meme fashion when they visit Brattle Book Shop in Boston.
The Boy and the Heron (2023) - Every bit as visually arresting as I thought it would be. Stunning images and ideas - some of them disturbing, some of them silly, and some of them reflective. Heron (more appropriately titled How to Live originally) touches on most of Miyazaki's visual motifs - nature, grotesquerie, transport, work, labyrinthine interior spaces, etc. - and appears to have direct references to his previous films. I was surprised how often I could see reflections of the Castle of Cagliostro in this, but I've been perhaps over-invested in that film since the early 90s. Thematically, I felt things getting a little muddled. I wasn't connecting particularly well to the emotional thrust of the film and often wasn't that invested in its characters. Of course the mere existence of a new Miyazaki film in 2023 is reason to celebrate but I don't know that this is one that will become as dear to me as his previous efforts.
Found Footage Festival Vol. 10 (2023) - I've enjoyed the Found Footage Festival for years now but had not managed to make it out to a live show before. I can't imagine missing one now. I haven't laughed so hard during anything in recent memory and was amazed when they showed a bunch of clips from my home town's public access channel! I was invited by friends and did not realize that Strange Tapes was opening the show. Not only did Scott show some hilarious stuff but I believe Strange Tapes is where I first discovered Hamburger Dad which is the kind of debt I'll never be able to repay.
Poor Things (2023) - The latest phantasmagoria from Yorgos Lanthimos is definitely in line with his previous work. It's by turns grotesque, hilarious, and filled with excellent (if highly affected) performances. I also found it to be perhaps his slightest piece yet. The Favourite was similarly bombastic but even that had something more to chew on - the self actualization tale being told in Poor Things doesn't feel particularly provocative or revelatory. Looking in to the source novel, it seems that Yorgos and McNamara excised a significant element that would have possibly convoluted their film a step too far but also appears to (I haven't read it so I'm hypothesizing) add some complexity and focus to the thornier issues that the film breezes by. In no way would I discourage you from seeing Poor Things and I'm always willing to allow cinematic stylists exist as just that. I always like to consider the films that captured my imagination as a younger viewer that are less that perfectly realized in hindsight. Poor Things could very easily be that influential piece of fantastique for someone else, I just wish it was as rich in ideas as it is in aesthetics.
Ferrari (2023) - I hate to end the year on a sour note, but I found Ferrari to be incredibly dull. Fine performances I suppose but I failed to give a shit about anything that was happening. People seem to like it so it might just be me but I was struggling to stay conscious during Mann's latest and that's definitely disappointing. Maybe Heat 2 should remain a novel.
That's a wrap on 2023, thanks so much for reading and I'd always love to hear your thoughts on any of these you've watched. Happy New Year!
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