A Real Pain (2024): I’ve not really bothered watching Oscar movies, but they have come my way organically, as it were. With this one, Jesse Eisenberg’s second feature, I’m glad it did. Partly, because on the promotion tour for it, he mentioned a trip he made with his family, incognito, to my home town. Partly, because it’s a movie that mixes familiar themes of American filmmaking with a fresh approach, willing to embrace uncertainty. At the core of the movie is what I felt to be the often insurmountable distance between recognizing pain in others and truly connecting with it. Kieran Culkin, who is poised to win the award for Best Supporting Actor tonight, makes the character his, an energetic performance that balances a mania and depression masterfully. He is a natural counterpoint to Eisenberg’s reserved family man and it’s hard to not relate, if not to them directly, then to whatever it is that’s going on between them. 8
Matt and Mara (2024): In one of those “intellectual” romances, Mara (Deragh Campbell), a poetry professor with a seemingly mismatched marriage (+infant), reunites with Matt (Matt Johnson), a published author and former university…friend? The two get along well, tenuously at times, exceedingly at others, and grow close over weeks and months. Their connection is easier, because they share the language of literature, whereas Mara’s husband is a musician, and she isn’t that much of a music lover. A bit on the nose, no? But, alas, because nothing is quite as terrifying to a filmmaker than allowing his/her characters to quit their family over a true connection, Matt and Mara stops short of exploring the unexplored and resigns itself to true and trodden. Still, I grew to like the two leads and their connection, flawed as it was, as they freestyled their way into a lasting impression. The movie left a sorrowful aftertaste, which is part of what makes a good love story – its systemic impossibility. I just wish it had done more to reach that point through grit and heartache, not aimless blunders. 7
Anne at 13,000 Feet (2019): I thought I would stick with the trio of Campbell, Johnson and director Kazik Radwanski and went to their previous effort together. This is a great movie, particularly if you like feeling thoroughly uncomfortable. Anne is a young kindergarten teacher struggling to cope with life and presumably suffering from a kind of imbalance, which translates into behaviours that are not generally deemed professional or courteous. She appears to have found a release in doing skydiving, though it wasn’t all clear to me whether this was meant to be just an escape, or an actual form of coping. Regardless, I found the movie to be profoundly painful and heartbreaking to watch. It wasn’t as structured or brutal as Krisha (2015), thinking of other uncomfortable watches, but it still took its toll on me. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. 7
Craig Ferguson: I’m So Happy (2024): Although the stand-up I watched at the end of last year wasn’t that great, YT pushing another CF show in my feed was enough to give the man another go. And…it’s not getting much better. Bits about generational gaps and cancel-culture were flat, but there were still moments that gave me a chuckle. That, along with Craig’s “I don’t care that much” energy made this enjoyable enough. 6
Awake: The Life of Yogananda (2014): I had no clue about this Yogananda guru and, to be honest, even after watching the movie I don’t really see what’s up about him. Sure, he had an important role in spreading yoga and its spiritual teachings in the US and he has clearly influenced a lot of practitioners. But there was little about the person behind the guru and a hagiography is generally uninteresting to anyone but the already devoted. I also didn’t enjoy the editing, as the movie leaves little room for introspection, jumping across scenes with the ease of a Hollywood blockbuster. So there’s little here to really recommend, other than getting a basic understanding of who, what and when. 5
tributary stu 