millerian-55

A relationship broken and corrupted by the prospect of outside romance, i've seen this before and it appears many times on this list, but this is a new avenue to how it is structured and made, this takes entirely in a 24 hour span after a carnival that is held by charel and monique, a married couple, after the carnival monique has meets back with louis again in an abadoned car and the resulting aftermath for lack of a better word is destructive, it is brought forth by a series of excellent performances, jan decleir and doris arden who find a pitch perfect wavelength to showcase two tired, broken individuals who are not stuck in a marriage, but simply going through the motions that plague them, decleir portrays a sort of sadsack, a good father but a man who can't keep a job and is consistently plagued by arrogance and frustration, arden shows a great mother, but a woman who seems to long for the past, when she was younger and is not faced with the prospect of working two jobs to keep the family afloat for the both of them, separated, the two performers are consistently wonderful, arden with great sensuality, and decleir with great pointed arrogance and exhaustion, together they have an utmost chemistry that is right on the money for a married couple of their stature, they aren't exactly broken apart, but they aren't exactly happy either, this is also brought together by guido henderickx's fantastic direction, which is centered perfectly in the art of the slow-moving tone, there are multiple scenes where he locks down the camera and allows the actors to act, especially in the beginning and ending, but in the middle part of the film is where the characters are moving and he is moving with them, the large scene in both the carnival and the big palace, is where henderickx's blocking is consistently glorious and his camera movements manages to switch through so many points of views in the span of such a single location, this is a great example of when emotions are high henderickx's blocking is more performative and moving, the scene where charel beats up louis, and the aftermath of the violence in the bar, where he literally brings charel and monique together through the camera, having no focus on charel, and then having focus on the both of them at the breakfast table in the end, obviously because i am me, i tend to love the direction where he locks down the camera and lets slow-moving dialogue scenes take over, showcasing the monotony of their daily lives, and when something adventorous happens, it is shown with brutality in the openness in his camera movements, but the best scene of the entire film that is shown in almost one long take, is where henderickx puts the camera on arden and where monique breaks down outside of a bathroom stall in which louis is in, pleading for love and to be loved again by louis, louis never opens the door, and through arden's piece of performance we get a destroyed human being, it is not over-the-top, it is all of the emotions boiling to the surface in wonderful ways, destructive and longing all at once, the acting in this is consistently genuine, believable, and beautifully put together by everyone, everytime i watch an unknown film like this i always arrive at the idea that most films with unknown actors to me are easier to watch and observe, this is helped by henderickx writing the screenplay as well, which has a wonderful loose structure, but the dialogue is consistently rich and beautiful, these are fully formed and wonderfully realized characters from a filmmaker who witnesses them through his writing and through his camera, directed and written with understated affections that i seem to love every single time.

A bizarre item, a war film, an 80s shoot-em-up action film, and a biker film all rolled into one, graham baker made one of my favorites of 2022, impulse, and both of these films operate under that same level of precise, stripped down filmmaking that i tend to love, and here it is in all of its purest forms, with no level of schmaltz or care for over-the-top emotional moments, just a film focused on its task at hand, a 87 minute film that is just focused on structure and design, baker's direction is fantastic, he formulates what is obviously an early 1990s film, but uses the excellent wide screen photography of the war films from the 1960s, the blocking on display is wonderful, along with his excellent care for the editing, and the precision involved, included with that is his use of music, the score is surprisingly great, but it is about how he doesn't utilize music in the war sequences and in the emotional, dramatic moments, most of this film plays with a great care for atmosphere, the film puts out a certain feeling that is easily transferrable, with impulse, baker also added a certain level of atmosphere but also a weird balance in that film and this where the romance almost seems to act upon the exteriors of the structure of the film, the romance isn't the goal for both main characters in these two films, it is about the goal of the story and how that story will effect the character, so structurally similar to top gun: maverick except it has all the fat trimmed out, a young hotshot has to face a superior who looks down at him, but grows his superior's respect, has a romance with a woman nearby, and has to teach a group of hotshots, and eventually gets involved in the mission himself, it is great stuff, the screenplay is structured with profficiency, and what it is great is that baker cares about the drama at hand, but he never overplays it, relentless and yet still slow and observational, exactly the opposite to equalizer 3, and a great film to watch after that for comparison's sake, also john stamos is great, he's got great charisma, with none of that swarmy irritation that his full house character provided, and teri polo is also a true movie star here, beautiful, but with a great sense of care for drama that was always, unfortunately underplayed in the meet the parents franchise, like i've said before, 'failures' from the past will always be more interesting in the future, and graham baker here proves to me that he's one of the precise, assignment directors who adds a touch to his films, precisely designs it through efficient blocking and editing, and finds a great film all the same.

Childhood trauma leading to adult ostracism. The events in our young life and the ways in which we still pay for the consequences, mistake or not. A young native girl coming back to her native community and shaking up the system. Protesting the ways in which the system is run, and the contested fury that comes from a childhood mistake & the mom who has also reaped the consequences. Two opposing ideals but really about the desire to revive a community beset by tragedy, the native community being beset by this tragedy and a native american girl who dare tries to bring back some sort of life. The beauty in which she sees her own community & sees what she needs to do. Performances are fantastic, the main girl brings such depths of sadness in her facial cues & expressions, we get each moment of realization and heartbreak without her having to say a word. A community of just great actors feeling entirely believable, even the little pranksters that prank everyone feel so indebted to real life that it doesn't even come out as phony or forced. The white woman in this community is beautiful played, a entire history of sadness & tragedy on her face & in her body language perfectly shown. A person seemingly hurt & destroyed by her own mental state. Camerawork feels so wonderfully understated, using the sense of lighting patterns that feels so atmospheric yet never feels too dark like a lot of bigger movies tend to feel. The burning house is wonderfully used as a visual motif but is just impeccably shot, not showing too much each time but allowing enough visual information to feel the sense of heartbreak & anguish. Another classic case of a great sense of character writing & never telling us what we already know, a filmmaker who trusts her audience & their capacity to understand the film. The ways in which not just the white woman character changes & the main lead changes is so perfectly done. But my favorite arc that is so beautifully done that manages to never feel schmaltzy is the husband to the white woman's character, he's so quiet & seemingly angered towards the lead but comes to see her perspective & grows out of his cynicism to finally help revive the community & reach deep down into her inner native american past & heritage. A movie about finally realizing who you are & reviving loved ones who have seemingly died while still living. The living dead, shocking them back to life with embracing of your own heritage & finally putting some motivation and spark into the stasis from which they buried themselves into. Not giving up, and finally starting to live again. Also fantastic example of a film managing to make a community and a town a seemingly full-fledged character in and of itself, your not only saving people you are saving something else entirely. And a lead character with trauma, growing from that trauma and finally making peace with the ones you hurt. Alcohol also being a pathway to abuse, neglect, death, and corruption. We let it be free & legal in our society & watch it tear us apart. A community being torn apart by a substance that wouldn't be legalized if it was newly released today. Also the irony but eventual change as she realizes she's being ostracized for a past mistake yet bootlegging crimes are treated with normality. Indie cinema remains as some of the most emotionally felt, heartbreaking, and beautiful cinema nowadays.