The director of this movie was supposed to be at this preview screening, but got stuck in New York because of snow storms.
From the start of the year I’ve watched at least one movie a day, something I haven’t done before, but once I got that streak going on, it has been hard to let go of it. The darkness outside of course helps decide just to stay indoors too.
The movies have varied a lot, as I pretty much pick a movie by random. While basically all have been worth watching, I won’t go through all of them in this post, but a few picks nonetheless.
The year started with a rewatch of Repo Man in a movie theatre. This is such a classic 80’s movie I first saw as a kid on VHS (like a lot of movies back then). Still as weird and anarchic as ever. Great soundtrack too.
Sampo was a fascinating collaboration between Finland and the Soviet Union about the Finnish epic Kalevala (well, a part of it). A fantasy movie with surprisingly good production values for its time. Mind you I watched the original version, not the butchered US version.
Jojo Rabbit was a movie that made me think during the first ten minutes I’m going to hate this one, but after the movie ended I must admit it was surprisingly good after all. Very well written script in this one.
Je’Vida was a story about a Sámi girl being forced to integrate into Finnish society. Beautifully filmed in black and white, it did make me think about how past generations and traditions being washed away by newer or stronger ones.
I never saw The Sound of Music before and I was sceptical about it, but it was much more watchable than I expected. Solid classic musical, would recommend to watch at least once even if it is not for everyone.
Donkey Skin was another musical, this one from France, that was based on an old fairy tale I actually haven’t heard before. It was bizarre, following the fairy tale so literally to show how silly they can be while balancing enough not to make it a full blown parody. Apparently considered a classic in France.
Ali: Fear eats the Soul was fantastically well directed film touching on xenophobia in West Germany. Anyone interested what kind of movies German New Wave had should have this on their list in my amateur opinion.
There are many other films I should equally mention here, but I’m too impatient to go through them all. And besides, the internet is packed with articles that articulate vastly better than I could ever about the movie’s backgrounds, themes and legacies. I just watch them and hope they give me more perspectives and topics to bring up in conversations.
A mosaic of movies I’ve watched this year.