Stranger Eyes (2024): This Taiwanese movie I managed to watch during this year’s Viennale is definitely uneven and contrived, but it’s one to get you talking. We follow a couple whose child disappears and observe as their almost catatonic despair highlights their own shortcomings as parents. All the while they are being observed by a third party, the presumed kidnapper, in a society intent on the concept of video control. After a series of twists and turns, with impressive agency shifts, it all comes together as a commentary on parenthood and interpersonal relationships – the duties, expectations and desires that conflict with one another and often leave us isolated and alone within the world of our familiars. 7
Thelma (2024): It’s never too late to land your first leading role, or so it went for June Squibb, who finally checked the box after a seventy year long career, at the ripe age of 93/94. The result is a well calibrated feel-good movie about a grandmother who gets conned by some telephone grifters and then, to prove her family wrong regarding her coping abilities, sets out to get payback. It’s not exactly Ethan Hunt territory (with Tom Cruise a leitmotif throughout), but endearing performances all around, littered with funny moments as well as heartfelt/heartbreaking observation re: aging make Thelma worth watching. 7
Atsuko Okatsuka: The Intruder (2022): Maybe I’ve gone off stand-ups. Is there anything I find truly funny any more? Probably the last time I really had fun with a performance was at Taylor Tomlinson’s second to last special. Sure, Atsuko is amusing, with a warm and easy style, but I can’t say the material was particularly memorable. It clicks well on some stories, thanks in big part to Atsuko’s physical presence and particular rhythms, without ever really coming together as something I could go into much depth about. 6
Clara (2023): There is such a thing as movie being too sober for its own good. It’s the case of Clara, which tells a mother’s tale of woe, as she has to balance working abroad with caring for her son back home. When the latter disappears, the precariousness of her existence comes into contrast and she is forced to reevaluate her choices. The story bears the weight of countless real life examples, a weight under which it frequently falters into mundane existentialism. There are next to no chuckles to be had, with colourless characters and witless dialogue creating that heavy atmosphere of bureaucratic arrested development. The movie highlights societal pressures and constraints that someone like Clara (Olga Török) has to endure, to the point that she becomes a ghost in her own life. But the sterile environment doesn’t allow for much of an emotional connection, so while Clara’s predicament is sorrowful, it doesn’t elicit compassion or, at the very least, frustration. Longform review here. 6
The Intern (2015): This Devil Wears Prada spin-off (haha, not really) features Anne Hathaway as the CEO of a fashion outlet and Robert De Niro as her 70 year old intern. Parts of the story are warm and fuzzy and have that feel-good vibe to them that makes forgiving the movie’s shortcomings easier. The other parts are just drawn out and, even to my stunted sensibilities, not particularly strong in the “feminism” department. For all her success, the life of Hathaway’s character appears dependent on the men who surround her. All in all, comfort cinema, but could’ve been more given the star power. Could’ve also been less, I reckon, judging by De Niro’s track record with the genre. 6
tributary stu 