i don't know half of you half as well as i should like; and i like less than half of you half as well as you deserve
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All About My Mother 1999
It’s probably a blessing that the oedipally horny 17-year-old died before meeting Penelope Cruz.
Anyway, folks. This is the most Almodóvar film possible: Even the men are women. And everyone's a bit lesbian. And there's bright colors, a bittersweet ending — ah, truth be told, it's just lovely.
In general, for me, this lacked the sheer coherence of Volver, but it's not far behind. The slightly-forgotten trip to A Caruña was a weaker moment (frankly, the whole organ donation sideline, apart from the scene when the same doctors come to speak to Manuela, had issues). But what the heck: A lovely, funny, heartfelt film.
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Nights of Cabiria 1957
This is so terribly bleak, isn’t it? Someone very dear to me once told me it was her favorite film, and that her life was much like Cabiria’s. Today I came to understand her better, and it broke my heart a little bit.
But I think, too, she — my friend, that is, if that’s what I should call her — identified also with Cabiria’s indefatigably hopeful soul. I can’t help but think that.
A stunning film, truly: And such a sad one. How by little those who live in this world deserve its horrors, and how much they deserve the blessings faith offers.
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F for Fake 1973
As I watched this film, a woman beside me in the theatre — just after Welles introduced image after image, ethereal and mist-ridden, of Chartres cathedral — murmured, almost inaudibly, “Chartres, Chartres.” Sometimes you sit beside someone who’s enjoying a film just the right amount, and it heightens your own experience. That stranger, for me, did that today.
This is an appallingly funny film; I’m not sure it’s an argument about the nature of art, so much, as a comedy…
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Challengers 2024
This is essentially a much-inferior remake of the HBO mockumentary "7 Days in Hell." Its main redeeming feature is that, if we measure quality primarily in number of times I gasped, it might be the best film I've ever seen. Measured most other ways, it's not great.
Let's start with Zendaya. As a confident high schooler, she did well, but when she needed to convey the gravitas and poise of an older woman — an established top-tier tennis coach and…
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