Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  Past Lives 2023

  ★★★★½ Watched 22 Jan 2025

  An excellent meditation on life's branching paths, couched in the story of an immigrant navigating her dual roots. I think the fact that this movie could have become a cheesy mess by its premise alone and didn't is proof of how deft its script is. It's not so hyperspecific to Nora's scenario that it doesn't invite more general questions on how we navigate what-could-have-beens, but it never does so in a way that undercuts Nora's story. Everything feels genuinely lived-in,…

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  The Brutalist 2024

  ★★★★ Watched 11 Jan 2025

  For a three and a half hour movie, this really breezed by in a good way. A proper intermission makes a world of difference when digesting an epic. There isn't really a lot to dislike here. The visuals are extremely arresting (what awesome uses of shadow!) and the acting, audio, script, etc. are all top-notch. I think the best compliment I can give the film is that it well-and-truly commits to visual and environmental storytelling. You're only viewing snippets of…

Popular reviews

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  Walker 1987

  ★★★ Watched 19 Sep 2022

  Letterboxd Season Challenge 2022-23
  Week 1: September 19th-25th
  Central American Independence Week

  Like AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD on crack. I'll admit that when I heard about WALKER's deliberate anachronisms, I was a bit worried that they'd be played for cheap laughs. Don't get me wrong, they definitely are, yet there's also a surprising thoughtfulness behind them. If this had been constructed as a straightforward historical drama, Walker would be too easy to brush aside as nothing more than idiotic…

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  Aguirre, the Wrath of God 1972

  ★★★★ Watched 25 Sep 2021

  This was one of my first forays into a genus of fiction oriented around military descents into madness. I have not watched Apocalypse Now, nor have I read Heart of Darkness, but my first impression of Aguirre, the Wrath of God has moved those up my reading / watch lists. Aguirre is delightfully simple, even bordering on minimalistic, and while I think it was a bit thin when it came to character motivation, overall it evokes a lot of emotion…