Welcome at last to a profoundly late monthly entry covering stuff I watched in January. Why so late? It could be the work trip I went on - it's a bad excuse and I should use the next one as an opportunity to get more writing done. I think it has more to do with being distracted by other interests. Now that I have a zine in print, I'm even more invested in all the other great zines out there. I've been reading everything I can get my hands on and posting about my favorites on social media. I've also been reinvested in comics in a way that I haven't been in years. Finally, after the passing of David Lynch, I've been spending my viewing hours revisiting his work or work that he deemed influential. All of this is great, but little of it contributes to my usual monthly ramblings. Still, I saw a fair amount of movies and it's time to give them their due.
New to Me!
Cain & Abel (1982) - This Philippine family drama/action thriller was a recent pickup during the Black Friday maelstrom. I'm afraid I don't have a lot of context on this one, so much of what I'm saying is informed by the (excellent) supplements on Kani's disc. I had some understanding that this was a crime/crime adjacent movie, and it is, but it's a long simmer before the film gets there. The first 90ish minutes are mostly composed of a drama centered around a landed family whose matriarch clearly favors one son over the other. Neither son is especially admirable but they are pitted against each other largely through the machinations of their mother. There are class concerns, illegitimate pregnancies, dreams deferred, and interfamily feuding galore. The pressure cooker finally does explode into surprising levels of violence in the last 30 minutes or so as different factions of armed thugs rally around the two brothers - resulting in paramilitary levels of armed conflict. Cain & Abel is very different from anything I've seen in a while and I really loved it. Definitely worth your time.
Japan Organized Crime Boss (1969) - Utilitarian title translation aside, this is an incredibly entertaining yakuza yarn from the great Fukasaku. This is familiar territory for the director, but Crime Boss was released before he fully developed the unhinged, nihilistic style familiar to most. There's still plenty of mayhem in Japan Organized Crime Boss, but the frenetic pitch and roll of Fukasaku's camera is largely more subdued here. There is a pervasive sense of doom, even futility, but this is still operating more or less within the conventions of the 60s chivalry film tradition. I love Fukasaku's classic 70s period but was really taken by this (and it has some fascinating political threads as well). Might be a good one to check out if you find the more ferocious Fukasaku a tad overbearing.
Slap the Monster on Page One (1972) - A deeply cynical political thriller critiquing both right-wing partisan journalism and how the levers of power are manipulated to maintain societal control. My interests in Years of Lead Italy naturally gravitate towards vigilante cops and rogue mafioso, but this is an absolute scorcher fueled by another tremendous Gian Maria Volonté performance. I'm woefully unfamiliar with director Marco Bellochio, but I'd like to remedy that.
My Heart is That Eternal Rose (1989) - I've been meaning to catch up to Patrick Tam's doomed romance by way of Triad showdown for years now and I'm so happy to have finally made the time for it. I don't know if "hesitant" is the right word for how I approached Eternal Rose but I think I was cautious after not really engaging with his much lauded Love Massacre. This was much more my bag and maybe because it's more of a conventional crime story recognizable to any fan of Hong Kong's heroic bloodshed years. My tastes aside, Rose is an easy film to love and of course it was shot, in part, by the great Christopher Doyle and beautifully captures that dreamy yet gritty look. It features both Joey Wong and Tony Leung and balances truly emotional dramatic sequences with hard hitting crime violence including plenty of twisty neo-noir plot points along the way. The main theme will stay with you for weeks, Beware!
Dust of Angels (1992) - More East Asian crime but focusing on a Taiwanese society in crisis. Rather than established gangsters, Hsu Hsiao-Ming centers his story around disaffected kids on the fringes of the underworld. There's a distinct slice-of-life, hangout appeal to Dust but the ideas that take shape in myriad conversations between all strata of criminal life confront a culture in flux, riddled with uncertainty. This is a gorgeous film and features some killer music too. I'd love to have a fully fleshed out physical release that provides some additional context to what plays out on screen.
Kamikaze Taxi (1994) - This isn't my first Harada film but it's the first one to really knock me out. An absolute epic of a film that refuses to conform to anything about the yakuza genre. It's a revenge tale and a road film that tackles both honor code systems and (improbably) the immigrant experience in Japan. There's a certain class consciousness to the proceedings and a brilliant, understated performance from Koji Yakusho. It's one that I definitely need to re-watch which is only challenging due to its nearly 3 hour runtime. Absolutely worthy of more eyeballs in this part of the world.
Pixote (1980) - Another longtime watchlist denizen that I can finally claim to have seen. Pixote is a devastating portrait of youth and poverty in Brazil featuring a heartbreaking lead performance from Fernando Ramos da Silva. Pixote reminds me in many ways of the Quinqui films coming out of Spain from around the same time, but those films featured freewheeling teenagers where Pixote blends that with children just trying to survive and find a place in an unforgiving world. This is bleak stuff and from what I understand, that tragedy extended to da Silva's brief life off camera as well. Aside from the gut wrenching drama that unfolds, Pixote also acts as an incredible snapshot of street life in Rio and São Paulo and features some window into queer life during that time as well.
Experiment in Terror (1962) - My wife and I are planning to re-watch the entirety of Twin Peaks over the next year or so and because I'm me, I put together a list of both TP titles and films that were either directly referenced in the series or that Lynch claimed were influential on his work. One I watched in January that really struck me was this noir-thriller from Blake Edwards. Besides featuring a street sign that reads "Twin Peaks" within the first five minutes of the film, there's plenty of connective tissue. Terror isn't exactly what I would call sleazy, but it dives almost immediately into a strange underworld (largely driven by an asthmatic would-be rapist and bank robber) that strikes a violently discordant tone with the world of order and goodness that reigns during the daylight hours. Terror sags a little at just over two hours but I was totally taken by it. It's kind of goofy, kind of menacing, and altogether weird movie. I'll almost certainly revisit it at some point.
Theatrical Screenings!
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025) - My first cinema trip of the year and my first 2025 movie was the follow up to Christian Gudegast's 2018 heist thriller. The first Den of Thieves felt very much like a pastiche of great films that are markedly better BUT I thought Gudegast managed it faithfully enough that it won me over. If the first chapter was a take on Heat with some Training Day tossed in the mix, DOT2 is more along the lines of Ronin - exchanging L.A. grit for a jauntier, jet-setting affair. The set up is extensive (144 minutes is nearly criminal for a runtime) though some of the hangout vibes are infectious. However, once this thing kicks into heist mode, I was totally on board. I can totally see why some people may miss the gravitas (however hackneyed) of the first film, but I still came away with a smile on my face. I appreciate that these films don't approach their subject like an overlong music video and that Gudegast has enough restraint to not indulge in CGI, comic book buffoonery when it comes to his heists and chases. Honestly, give me one of these every year or two and I'll keep coming.
No Other Land (2024) - This is likely the hardest film to write about in this post. No Other Land is a collaboration between Palestinian and Israeli journalists and activists capturing what amounts to a decades long siege of Masafer Yatta on the West Bank by the Israeli authorities. It's a devastating portrait of senseless authoritarianism and state sponsored violence. At the same time, there's a touching relationship between two young men that propels much of the film. I am generally skeptical of "issue" documentaries because they are always propaganda at the core - either through what they show and tell or what they choose to omit. I imagine No Other Land suffers from this in some ways. These filmmakers are professional activists and I do have some questions about how things were presented. However, that doesn't rob the impact and the outrage anyone would feel after seeing the breadth and depth of abuses heaped on the denizens of Masafer Yatta by the IDF. This was shown as part of the Film Independent Spirit Awards screenings at the Walker and I absolutely commend them for doing so. When this was screened, No Other Land still had a severely limited theatrical run in the US and is only now seeing a wider release schedule. It's a hard watch and I strongly encourage you to seek it out however you can.
Problemista (2023) - Another Film Independent screening and one I had not found the time to catch up to during it's initial run. Julio Torres' coming of age, coming into your own, immigrant, NYC story has a mostly delightful, whimsical feel and features an absolutely fantastic cast. Torres stars and embodies his determined dreamer with just enough edge to keep him from being absurd and Swinton is clearly having the time of her life as the deeply problematic society woman who offers a key to his success. Support from the RZA as Swinton's egg obsessed artist husband was terrific as well. Problemista gets a little too cute for me at times and is very theatrical. There's part of me that kept wondering how it might be adapted to a stage production. Still, very glad to have caught it.
Nickel Boys (2024) - A rewatch for me and I felt it holds up quite well even though I knew the "reveal" before going in. My mind is unchanged after a second viewing - I think RaMell Ross has accomplished something astounding here both in terms of form and in literary adaptation. I can appreciate that the first person perspective is challenging for some viewers but I find it effortlessly immersive and I'm fortunate to have caught it on a screen for a second time. I would like to see what he chooses to do next though I do hope he doesn't become the "POV guy" moving forward.
Presence (2025) - Speaking of POV. I caught Soderbergh's supernatural mystery/family drama at the multiplex while wrapping up my work travel. Though I understand his talent and that he is much beloved, I find Soderbergh's films very hit or miss for me. Presence is not a miss, but I can't say that I was truly taken with it either. The form is interesting but (unlike Nickel Boys) feels a little like an academic exercise. The story is a combination of some genuinely touching moments and more than a few that felt undercooked to me. Overall, a bit slight and not something I'll be thinking about by the end of the year.
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