Favorite films

Pinned reviews

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  Drive My Car 2021

  ★★★★★ Watched 23 Jan 2022

  especially during the prologue, hamaguchi plays with the same ethereal, distanced, and sinister qualities that haunt murakami's work, but the layers slowly peeled back over the course of DRIVE MY CAR reveal things that are much more grounded, and heavy. 

  murakami can often let his stories get structured to the point of tedium, hollowed-out symbols serving as waypoints in dreamlike journeys; the appeal is almost entirely captured in the itinerary. 

  conversely, DRIVE MY CAR is absolutely about the destination, and…

Recent reviews

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  Network 1976

  ★★★★½ Watched 17 Mar 2025

  Insane, i had some questions about where the screenplay was branching throughout the movie but in its last act it just redefines landing the plane. my favorite directing choice is how Howard is almost immediately objectified after he is introduced, shot like a wild animal in a nature documentary, only ever in action and with no concept of interiority. the pacing further re-emphasizes this de-humanization, breakneck, we don't even get to see tears dry on-screen.

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  Mickey 17 2025

  ★★★½ Watched 16 Mar 2025

  Bong is a weird dude and a weird director and PARASITE being the most polished and glossy of his films has people indexed to the wrong expectations i think. It seems clear now that his politics are fairly simple (almost to a fault) and that he is the happiest when on the border of camp so ultimately i will choose to appreciate that my guy gets to be as weird as he wants to be with a blank studio check.…

Popular reviews

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  Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus 2023

  ★★★★½ Watched 12 Oct 2023

  This movie is inextricable from its context — a son filming his father close to his passing, summoning up the last of his energy across several days for one last performance. There’s some meaning to be imparted to the track sequencing, which traverses some of Sakomoto’s most enduring and iconic works as well as more understated pieces from his last couple albums, but I think most moving are the moments his son Neo chooses to lets the facade briefly fall.…

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  Anora 2024

  ★★★ Watched 31 Oct 2024 2

  really weird movie, one where i feel that the script that sean baker wrote diverges totally from the movie he made. the result is something eminently watchable that doesn't earn its keep.

  i think the endpoint of Anora's character arc is immediately knowable from the movie's premise (gulp) — but justifying it requires a lot of emotional seed work that this movie is literally devoid of. Anora has no clear motivations, no relationships to read into, and no moments of…