Man with a Movie Camera (1929): I picked this up for no clear reason whatsoever and with just as little background knowledge. Dziga Vertov’s “urban life” cinematic diary is amazing. Without a narrative, it just shows instances of the day to day, but with such dynamic vibrancy that the movie feels way ahead of its time. I don’t in truth know how ahead it was, with filming and editing techniques that not only give it a lot of flair, they also make it look contemporary in many ways. Beyond this, it’s more important that the movie is just…alive, a thrill to watch, alongside whichever musical accompaniment you can find it (I read The Cinematic Orchestra is a strong recommendation – I had the Michael Nyman one). It’s a true cineconcert, worthy of a big screen experience if possible. 8
Citizen Ruth (1996): This movie marked Alexander Payne’s feature length debut and it stars an energetic performance from Laura Dern. Dern plays the titular character, Ruth, a social outcast addicted to any drugs she can get her hands on, and the first fifteen minutes of the movie represent one of the saddest introductory sequences that I’ve ever seen. Then the movie becomes more of a pamphlet, pitting pro-lifers with pro-choicers, two groups focused only on using Ruth for their own agendas, while Ruth stays stubbornly herself. It’s a too on the nose and generalizes indiscriminately, feeling almost like we’re missing the final act. The ending looked cool, but it plays reductive, first and foremost because it’s not really easy to root for our lead and be happy that she’s “above” the politics. 6
The Persian Version (2023): This semi-autobiographical movie by writer-director Maryam Keshavarz explores the fraught connection between an Iranian mother-daughter couple. Heavy on narration and well-stocked up on visual flair, it’s easy to look at, but not as easy to emote with. As we go across three timelines to make sense of the complicated heritage that Leila (daughter) – Shireen (mother) – Mamajoon (grandmother) share, it feels a bit too rough and disjointed. For a movie that tries to tell a story of a different culture, it looks and plays like most movies of this type that you’ve seen before. Thankfully it’s an easy and mostly engaging watch that finds some humour in the drama. 6
Quiz Lady (2023): Back in the simpler days of the 00s, Jessica Yu, established documentarian and since then veteran TV director, released her first feature, called Ping Pong Playa (2007). I am as surprised as you are in saying that I saw that, but have no memory of it whatsoever – other than that it was pretty much ok. Well, Quiz Lady is also pretty much ok, well polished and occasionally funny even. The movie rests on the shoulders of Awkwafina and Sandra Oh, who play a pair of sisters that are nothing alike, while also benefitting from a quality comedy cast, with the likes of Tony Hale, Jason Schwartzman, Holland Taylor and, naturally, Will Ferrell. I namedrop when I don’t have that much to say about the movie and that’s the case here. Quiz Lady is everything the trailer promises and nothing more, an adequate time filler for most people and a tease for quiz aficionados. 6
Expend4bles (2023): I’ve been kind of a fan of this gimmicky action franchise, which, for some reason, has survived to its fourth iteration. I liked the first two, and despite some shortcomings in the third one, I could find some things to enjoy. But this fourth entry, while still starring Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham, alongside some of the other familiar names and a few new ones, is just dull and lifeless. It lacks the visceral visual imagination and gallows humour that made the series watchable, and instead just goes through the motions. Heads blow up from all sorts of impacts, whether bullet-induced, floor-induced, or any other inducement you might imagine, and it’s just never exciting or fun. Maybe it’s good to stop while you’re a little bit ahead, no matter how much money it might be worth, right? 4
tributary stu 