Cody
@codymonster91
movie stuff probably | gay stuff definitely | 18+ mostly | he/him | livin in Chicago (The Big Apple) | CFCA member | writer/podcaster for Next Best Picture, AwardsWatch, and YOUR site!
Friends convinced me to jump in the lake in my clothes…I was pier pressured
DISCLOSURE DAY is a tricky one. Mysterious and at times unknowable, an unsteady journey that builds to a conclusion that’s unsettling, emotional, & strangely moving. An agile camera and career-best Emily Blunt keep things engaging when the script wavers. An ode to the unifying power of the truth.
Having Cannes withdrawals so today I did a mini film fest of movies that are super easy on the brain
Just corrected two Americans who were pointing at a random Parisian church and loudly saying it was Notre Dame
My final ranking of the 41(!) films I saw at my first ever Cannes, including every title in competition(!!!)
A strangely muted home invasion thriller, THE BIRTHDAY PARTY (Histoires de la Nuit) isn’t the highest of artistic achievements, and only briefly flirts with being entertaining. But it’s tense, and features a fantastic child performance by Tawba El Gharchi.
Don’t be fooled by the whimsical title, THE DREAMED ADVENTURE (Das Geträumte Abenteuer) is a patience-trying slog. Nearly 3 hours of watching the main character wandering around having tedious conversations, without the reprieve of a score or any interesting filmmaking choices.
Lukas Dhont's COWARD is a beautifully shot, tender look at trying to carve out a place for oneself in a world designed against you. Especially taken by Valentin Campagne's captivating lead performance as a man born a century too early to do what he was born to - slay the Rusical episode.
Leave it to the gays to finally bring some energy to Cannes. THE BLACK BALL is grand, theatrical, & beautifully homosexual. A powerful thank you note for the work done & the progress painfully made by our queer elders. Built like a classic epic. Loved hearing a big orchestral score again.
Took a picture of this gigantic pepper grinder and somehow accidentally gave it sexy anime lighting
ROMA ELASTICA is movie that deserves to be bullied. Obnoxious, pointless, senseless. Wastes Marion Cotillard’s time just as much as the audience’s.
MINOTAUR has so many Звягинцев directorial trademarks - formally slick and desolate with a morbid, bleak sense of humor. Putin’s disposable view of his own citizens is mirrored in the main character’s actions, emphasized by the film’s powerfully cold aesthetic. Adored its misery.
Amazed to say that I really enjoyed Rami Malek in THE MAN I LOVE. Another Ira Sachs film centered around a prickly protagonist, Malek plays an actor with restraint issues, making his twitchy, odd choices dramatically sensical. Typical for Sachs, the film avoids easy conclusions.
BEN'IMANA is stunning. Cannes' first ever Rwandan-directed feature is a gorgeously shot mourning cry, showing the different ways that people try (and sometimes fail) to move on from utter tragedy. Filmmaker Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo's visual & emotional instincts are excellent.
I loved the bold anachronistic choices and documentary-style filmmaking of A MAN OF HIS TIME (Notre Salut), but it's simply too long and monotonous. Endless scenes of administrative chit-chat. I am le tired.
LE TRIANGLE D’OR is carried by two fantastic performances from the pair of central actresses, both working in contextually-appropriate opposing performance styles. Tense and compelling, but (and I can’t believe I’m saying this at this year’s Cannes) it ends too abruptly.
The dynamically-titled I SEE BUILDINGS FALL LIKE LIGHTNING endears you so quickly and so closely to the central friend group, you feel as if you’ve known them for years. Powerful and excitingly paced.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s elegant & gorgeous THE SAMURAI AND THE PRISONER tosses around proper nouns without visual reference, which makes it feel puzzling. But given that the titular samurai is similarly in the dark, trying to solve seemingly-impossible mysteries, this feels thematically appropriate.
BITTER CHRISTMAS (Amarga Navidad) feels like a decidedly minor work for Almodóvar, and he seems to know that. A not-unearned bit of self-indulgent assessment about where artistic inspiration comes from, with dual narratives that feel like they’re sucking energy from each other.
With the amount of walk-outs Nicolas Winding Refn's HER PRIVATE HELL got, sitting by the theater's exit felt like I'd been seated by the kitchen at a busy restaurant. And I kinda dug it 😈 A nasty, unfriendly neo-giallo. If nothing else, Pino Donaggio's hypnotizing strings-heavy score is beautiful.
I can see what Cristian Mungiu is going for with FJORD, but it's so insanely cold (literally, avalanche warning) and detached that I felt miles away from it. Still, it clips along deliberately, and I adore a story about prickly people who you still somehow feel sympathy for. Balding Sebastian Stan 🥵