We’re just about upon the midpoint of the year, so I figured I would touch on some of the highs and lows of my movie-going experiences this year, as well as what I’m looking forward to for the rest of the year!
Starting with my top 5 films of the year — so far! These are all subject to change and I expect them to especially as festival stuff trickles out to the general public.
Also, just to be transparent on how I “rank” the stuff I watch: there’s no way I quantify quality. No scoring system or anything like I know a lot of people who are as insane as me use. I order all my new watches purely based on vibes and how much I connected with it, and I constantly go back to update rankings based on how much I continue to think about it as time goes on. It’s all feelings-based.
Now that that’s out of the way…
5. I Used To Be Funny (dir. Ally Pankiw)
Starting off with a very recent watch that I feel could move up given time or a re-watch, I Used To Be Funny is an indie Canadian dramedy from writer/director Ally Pankiw starring Shiva Baby/Bottoms star Rachel Sennott. The film follows Sennott as a stand-up comedian in Toronto struggling with PTSD and depression following the disappearance of a teenage girl she used to nanny. It premiered last year at SXSW and made a festival run through the rest of the year.
This is an incredibly strong feature film debut for Pankiw, who has until now made her name directing music videos for MUNA, Janelle Monáe and Ariana Grande as well as writing and directing for TV shows like Black Mirror, The Great and Schitt’s Creek. I Used To Be Funny fits perfectly into a group of films I’m mentally categorizing as a Gen Z mumblecore resurgence (although Pankiw is a Millenial) which includes films like Shithouse and Shiva Baby.
I Used To Be Funny is an incredibly touching mid-20s trauma comedy (traumedy?) that I really cannot recommend enough. Sennott’s depiction of mental illness is incredibly grounded and real, bypassing any sort of unrealistic depictions I feel are very common in film. This has elevated her in my mind from a really funny actress I enjoy watching to a really funny and also really good actress I enjoy watching. In a just world, a restrained and realistic performance like this would be included in awards chatter once the Academy Awards buzz heats up, but unfortunately, this won’t even crack through to those conversations.
I Used To Be Funny is playing in select theatres in the United States and Canada.
4. La chimera (dir. Alice Rohrwacher)
This Italian film starring Josh O’Connor is the conclusion to director Alice Rohrwacher’s thematic trilogy about Italy’s relationship with its past.
I was deeply touched by O’Connor’s performance as Arthur, a British archaeologist turned tombaroli (Italian grave-robbers), and his restrained depiction of grief. I have not seen him in many movies and shows, but he’s quickly become one of my favorite actors working right now (I love a white boy who can act sad). Every silent inaction by Arthur is a gateway into his past and what he’s seen and experienced. His constant battle with himself is subtle but loud, O’Connor telegraphing a man who has been torn to pieces by the choices he has made.
La chimera is an incredibly slow burn, but by the time it reached its crescendo it really overtook me and I was left in awe of the achievement. For me, a good movie doesn’t scream at its audience the emotions it is trying to evoke, rather it shows them genuinely and quietly, just as real life does. La chimera barely tells you what it is trying to say, but it’s almost impossible not to pick up on every little thing. I was kicking myself for overlooking it when I was at Cannes last year for its premiere.
As a final profession of love for this movie, I would just like to mention how much I loved the stylistic choices of mixed film stocks to depict reality and dreams. Using film is always going to be super effective for me, especially when it can be used to serve a narrative purpose. Visual, tactile storytelling, baby!
La chimera is available to rent on PVOD.
3. Dìdi (dir. Sean Wang)
After glowing Sundance reviews, I was glad to catch Dìdi at the Independent Film Festival Boston. Sean Wang’s narrative feature debut is a coming-of-age film set in the summer of 2008 in Fremont, California, where 13 year old Taiwanese-American Chris is in between middle and high school. I was really looking forward to this because its setting is essentially a reflection of my childhood (although I grew up in the North Bay, and Fremont is in the East Bay). Coming-of-age is a genre that is easy to make cringe and trite and can be incredibly challenging to make genuine and special. Luckily, Dìdi threads this needle perfectly, capturing the authentic crudeness of being a 13 year old boy in the early age of social media.
Sitting in a sold-out screening at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA definitely played into my enjoyment of Dìdi: a loud collective gasp took hold of the audience as the protagonist types a potentially premature “<3” to send to his crush over AOL Instant Messenger. Its depiction of a youth spent partially online is overflowing with realness in ways that other movies which depict being online haven’t been able to perfect. Dìdi is a film I’ll hold close to my heart for years. It reminded me of the agony and pure joy of growing up in the Bay Area, awkwardly texting girls, wondering if you have any friends and trying to be cool. I’m excited to see it again this summer.
Dìdi releases in theaters in the US on July 26, 2024.
2. Challengers (dir. Luca Guadagnino)
Sports rule. Movies rule. Sports movies inject some sort of special serum directly into my bloodstream that causes me to start barking and shaking uncontrollably.
Trying hard to not be weird about this movie, but it just has that special sauce that gets me so pumped. I’m not really into tennis at all, but this movie electrified me about the sport more than I feel about my actual favorite sports.
Using sport as a metaphor is one of the easiest pitches to me as a moviegoer, and in a genre where the metaphor is so oversaturated with team sports/teamwork messages, an individual sport like tennis is incredibly intriguing. Of course, Challengers uses tennis as a metaphor for relationships and it rocks so hard.
Giving a script like this to a director like Guadagnino is a match made in heaven, where the concern falls less on the sport part of the movie and more on the relationship part of the movie. There’s a version of this directed by someone else where the emphasis is placed on the actual challenger match and not on the relationships and it might still be good, but probably isn’t as good as this version.
As a final note, I’m sure we’re all aware, but the score rips. It’s a top 3 Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score for me, it might even be their best. The Social Network is obviously iconic, and I think their work on Bones and All has gone largely overlooked, but this injects such a unique energy into the movie that it’s arguably as key as any of the performances. Often times when I’m at work and need to focus I’ll put on “I Know” and just absolutely lock in on a video project.
Challengers is now available to rent on PVOD.
1. Dune: Part Two (dir. Denis Villeneueve)
This feels kind of obvious.
Also, before I proceed: I’m not the world’s biggest IMAX-head by any means. I typically do not care about the size of the screen I watch something on (as long as its in a theatre, ideally). I also am not the biggest fan of massive event-style action or sci-fi movies. I usually am much more aligned with a small drama or comedy, as we can all tell given all the other movies I’ve written about here.
All that is why I feel as strongly about Dune: Part Two as I do. Seeing this twice in IMAX and Dolby Atmos was as close as I’ll get to a religious movie-going experience (I’m being dramatic). Watching Paul ride the sandworm for the first time on a massive screen with completely overwhelming sound is an experience that will be incredibly difficult to replicate in any movie for the rest of my life, probably.
This just felt like the peak of everything it needed to be. The best of the best right now all working in harmony to create a huge experience that completely overtakes you. The Villeneuve/Zimmer/Fraser three-headed monster is just astounding and fires on all cylinders. It also helps that this movie is a massive coming-out party for Zendaya, Timothee Chalamet and Austin Butler. These three we can all assume will be three of the biggest stars of this generation, so it feels like a pop culture moment.
Completely unrelated to the quality of the movie, but the sheer excitement around Dune is what I credit with getting me back into reading. I was so caught up in Dunemania that I bought the initial trilogy box set and tore through the first novel in a week. I also read Messiah, but it took me a little longer because it’s pretty boring and honestly just is not as good as the first book. I’m going to get around to Children of Dune eventually, too, but I’m taking a little break to read other stuff right now because I was a little worn out by the Duniverse. Shoutout to Dune, though, because I’m in the weird post-college stage where I’m trying to rewire my brain’s relationship with reading and comprehending that I can do it for enjoyment now.