Films I Watched This Week — Jul 28 – Aug 3, 2025
Old Joy (2006)
Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy (2006) is a tender road movie that reflects male bonding, aging, and masculinity using the exceptional use of silence and meditative space to create a sort of minimalist beauty all in the short span of just 73 minutes.
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
Sally Hawkins gives a spunky charismatic performance in one of my favorite comedies of 2008 with Happy-Go-Lucky, another wonderful film by the brilliant British director Mike Leigh.
Wings (1927)
Loulou (1980)
Nelly (Isabelle Huppert) is a restless parisian woman trapped in a dull but financially stable relationship but finds an exciting escape in the arms of Loulou (Gérard Depardieu), a charming ex-con low-life with a ravenous sexual appetite. Loulou exudes a bad-boy eroticism that proves irresistible to Nelly, who leaves her middle-class husband for a marginal existence with him. Director Maurice Pialat is one of my favorite French directors working throughout the 80s and 90s and his film Loulou (1980) is one of his very best. It is a dangerously anarchic romance that explores everything from sexuality, misogyny, infidelity, class struggles, and the complexities of erotic desire.
Polyester (1981)
If you are in the mood for both a trashy John Waters film and a Douglas Sirk melodrama I recommend this one. Polyester (1981) is definitely a more watered-down John Waters movie and a good cross-over from the early shocking underground years of Pink Flamingos to his later more commerical polished years of Hairspray. It's the perfect middle ground for a viewer making it John Waters most fully realized masterpiece.
All We Imagine as Light (2024)
"Some people call this the city of dreams, but I don't. I think it's the city of illusions. There's an unspoken code in the city. Even if you live in the gutter, you're allowed to feel no anger. People call this 'The Spirit of Mumbai.' You have to believe the illusion or else you'll go mad."
Ruben Brandt, Collector (2018)
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