I have this thing, an abiding passion really, for movies that deal with or explore grace. This movie is rich in grace and understanding. The characters interact with each other the way real people do. I thought this was beautiful and I cried often.
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Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet
Incredible cinema. Sandra Hüller gives the performance of a life time: a multilayered, nuanced, sensitive and credible performance that compels you to focus utterly on her when she’s on the screen. The rest of the movie is smart and makes good use of its nearly two and a half hour run time. A new favourite.
Mr Bates vs The Post Office, season one
Watch this and be prepared to develop very strong feelings about how evil the Post Office is. The series tackles a real crisis that is so symptomatic of the weaknesses of modern society: a reliance on the private sector to deliver essential public services; a reliance on the infallibility of computers over humans; and the failure of justice.
Cocoon, Geometric Interactive
A triumph of a puzzle game, wherein you jump between interconnected worlds to solve problems. Minimal storytelling in a game that features essentially no text. It ended just as it was getting good which is better, I suppose, than hanging around too long.
Talk to Me, the Philippous
creating an Australian movie that doesn’t make me cringe to a degree is a real achievement; I didn’t think this was an amazing movie, but I thought it was a good teen horror romp. I was a little dismayed to discover both a prequel and a sequel are in development, however.
The Quiet Girl, Colm Bairéad
A beautiful, quiet film about how we all need the right environment to be nurtured. Plus it plays very much into my interest in the idea of a found family as being more important than one’s biological family. It is also lovely to see a film set almost entirely in Irish, although I found the few English lines to be almost incomprehensible without the use of subtitles, which frustratingly weren’t available on the first platform I used to watch the film. Another sad case for piracy.
Hunger, Sittisiri Mongkolsiri
the first Thai film I’ve seen, and what a great starting point. The film is like a darker version of the Bear that is more focussed on the class divide and the corruption of the elite.Â
Spy x Family, season two
This series continues to be so incredibly charming you almost forget the show has seemingly abandoned its overarching narrative. Sometimes more of a good thing can be okay but not forever. I’m giving it a recommendation but they better not try to get away with this again.