Nobody Knows (2004)

Koreeda is the master of the family-themed drama. This is perhaps the most tragic of his movies. Sadness is usually tempered by sweetness, but the tragedy in this one is really overwhelming. That these children manage to find happiness amidst their horrifying situation is heartbreaking. And the director just tugs and tugs and tugs until the ending which offers no resolution. The child actors, particularly Yuya Yagira, are phenomenal. He is a portrait of fortitude and survival throughout and then we are reminded that he is just a kid being deprived of his childhood and desires. And so he struggles to maintain the one thing he has: his siblings. As always, Koreeda's direction is delicate. His writing is careful and deliberate. His camerawork is beautiful. Nobody Knows is trademark Koreeda.

Burning (2018)

Burning has that special quality of staying with you long after you leave the theater. This movie haunted me for a week. It's a slow burn as the title suggests. The tension builds and builds until finally it yearns for release in this psychological "thriller".  None of the questions are answered, but all the answers are implied. That intense atmosphere manifests on screen in silence, glances, colors, mise-en-scene and the contrast between flashy Gangnam and the North Korean countryside border. Is it possible to feel the milieu? Because it gave me goosebumps. Steven Yeun is so devilishly good in Korean, you easily forget that it is his first Korean role.

Ash Is Purest White (2018)

This is a modern Chinese movie if there ever was one. How many gangster movies feature a tough female protagonist? You see how fast and drastically China has changed in just 17 years.The passage of time is a major theme in the movie, simply told against the backdrop of a changing China. The grand scope doesn't always benefit the movie, but I get it.

Long Day's Journey Into Night (2018)

I wanted to like this more than I did. I've been reading about this movie since it premiered at Cannes last year, about its grand ambition and enthralling cinematography. Yes, that tracking shot is astonishing. Nearly an hour long (in 3D in the cinema though I saw it on a plane), the tracking shot features a trick billiards shot that threatens to derail the whole thing. Bi Gan deserves all the praise he gets. It is visually stunning. But he can work on his storytelling a little bit. Maybe it's my fault I couldn't follow it, but I'm going to blame it on him.

Gloria (2013)

This was an exercise in watching the same movie in a different language with different actors. For me, it was basically the same. Except they don't use the English-language version of Gloria. Paulina Garcia is great but I felt like the tone was different in Spanish. It wasn't as funny in Spanish, or maybe I didn't get the humor in Spanish. That's probably on me.

Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy (2018)

The martial arts scenes are well-choreographed fun, especially the glass of whiskey scene, and the fight atop the famed neon signs of Hong Kong. But the rest of Master Z is god awful. There is a combination of Mandarin and English; no Cantonese despite taking place in 1960s Hong Kong. It's near impossible to tell which Chinese people understand English and which white people understand Chinese. There are some half-hearted efforts to translate in the scene, but the biggest question remains...does Bautista's character understand Chinese? There are some unintentionally funny scenes amidst the bad dialogue. The movie is abnormally chaste for an action movie, there being only a slight tease of a romantic story line. And one note on the sound effects. Good sound effects usually have the quality of not particularly standing out because they sound natural. Just imagine how bad the sound effects have to be for me to notice. It's like they've never heard what gift wrap sounds like.

Still the Water (2014)

Naomi Kawase's self-proclaimed masterpiece is beautifully filmed. There are a number of breathtaking scenes. But the movie as a whole is not very coherent. The two kids are great. Though the child porn at the end was unsettling.

Climax (2018)

I've seen over a thousand movies. I have never seen a movie as intense as Climax. This is the most deranged, not necessarily scary, movie I have ever seen. And yet, Gaspar Noe's latest is mesmerizing. It is provocative yet watchable It is Step Up in Hell. It is Suspiria on drugs. It is about a dance troupe that is about to go on tour. They have their final rehearsal (in which they totally kill it) and then celebrate. Long story short, someone spikes the sangria with LSD and the second half of the movie is one bad trip. The movie is extremely energetic. The movie is made up of some highly ambitious shots. Not only is there obviously the dance choreography, but the camera movement is also very choreographed. There are many long unbroken takes. I know there are some cuts but many you don't even notice. I just want to be able to talk to someone about this, but I can't in good faith recommend this movie to other people. I watched this by myself and it messed me up.

Everybody Knows (Todos lo saben) (2018)

Everybody Knows is Asghar Farhadi's Spanish-language debut. What made him decide to make this movie in Spanish, I don't know, as it isn't really a uniquely Spanish movie. It's a kidnapping drama about secrets in a small town. As the title suggests, everybody knows, everybody but the audience. But even the audience can deduce the secret constantly hinted at. I think the real twist is that knowing the secret doesn't solve the mystery. It doesn't answer who the kidnapper is. It sort of makes that central mystery inconsequential. And that's why though we get an answer at the end, the movie abruptly comes to a fade to white close. It's not about the kidnapper, but the secret.

The Wandering Earth (2019)

Make no mistake, this film is a landmark, China's first foray into science fiction. And it is a film of great ambition and imagination. Based on a book by the highly regarded author of the Three Body Problem, The Wandering Earth is hard science fiction. I really quite liked it. It is a little wanting in the execution--the dialogue is sort of cheesy in an action movie kind of way, and the style is distinctly Chinese. You can be sure that the film is made for a Chinese audience, that's where the money is, expected to make a billion dollars in China alone. It won't necessarily resonate with Western audiences accustomed to the Hollywood polish, but if you can get past that and enjoy the high concept science fiction, it's a good time.

Solo con tu Pareja (1991)

Alfonso Cuaron's first feature is a raucous romantic comedy. He has come a long way since then. It's almost hard to believe that he has excelled in so many different genres, everything from rom-com to Harry Potter to art film to space epic. This movie is kind of darkly hilarious. It's sort of dated and pretty un-PC. There's a whole AIDS plot twist that is kind of funny but kind of cringy. The whole first act is executed perfectly.

Three Times (最好的時光) (2005)

Three Times is a triptych, three separate stories on the related topic of love featuring the same two actors at three periods of Taiwanese history: A Time for Love (1966), A Time for Freedom (1911), and A Time for Youth (2005). The line between beautiful and boring is blurry. A Time for Love is literal perfection, 5 stars. A Time for Freedom is also very good, 4 stars. But the last third, A Time for Youth, is nearly unwatchable and really dragged it down for me. I'm afraid there's something I'm missing. I just did not understand the last one. There are not many words said. Not much needs to be said. Love is communicated in looks and The Platters over billiards (Smoke Gets in Your Eyes is such a cinematic song, used in 45 Years too).And if you think there was little dialogue in the first third, just wait till the second third, entirely silent, but with notably more dialogue in intertitles. And the accompanying piano music is extraordinary. I can't find sheet music online though. I get echoes of Wong Kar Wai's trilogy of love stories told through Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung--maybe because they're Chinese but I like to think it's the evocative visual poetry of Mark Lee Ping-bing. Hou Hsiao Hsien's camera placement is so careful. It moves very little because he's already found the perfect spot. He is undoubtedly slow and that's not bad...but slow does not even begin to describe A Time for Youth. He does period pieces better than contemporary ones.

A Touch of Sin (天注定) (2013)

A Touch of Sin preceded Wild Tales by 2 years. It's hard to believe that Damian Szifron was unfamiliar with this movie. I assume that someone in film would be familiar with the works of Jia Zhangke. But Szifron essentially remade A Touch of Sin in Spanish. They are both anthology movies based on a theme of revenge or anger (except the second story doesn't quite fit the theme, and is my least favorite of the four stories). I quite like both movies, but I think I liked Wild Tales a little better because it's comedic. But Jia's movie is enthralling nonetheless. It is surprisingly critical of Chinese society. Well, it's not surprising that Jia is critical of Chinese society, it's surprising that China allowed him to be so critical. It's pretty bleak, dare I say an accurate portrayal of China.

Roma (2018)

Roma is beautiful. Mexico is beautiful. Life is beautiful. The gorgeous black and white cinematography (done by Alfonso Cuaron himself while Chivo was busy) evokes memory. Cuaron lovingly paints a picture of the Mexico City of his childhood, growing up in a middle class neighborhood in the 1970s, raised by his housekeeper. It is a very personal project, Cuaron supposedly drawing on memories from his childhood, how many of them actually happened I don't know. But such is memory, flowing back in a rush like a wave, or like buckets of water washing a stone driveway. The story starts very close, honing in on a family. But eventually he zooms out, to reveal political context in a changing Mexico affected by the Cold War (ironic that Cold War came out this year too). It is done so seamlessly and effectively really grounding the story in a particular time. Ultimately this movie is a love letter to the housekeeper that raised him. Housekeepers are not the supporting cast in this movie. No, Cleo is the heart of this movie, and the glue keeping this family together. Some of the most beautiful shots to highlight: inside the theater and the beach.

Secret Sunshine (Miryang) (2007)

Secret Sunshine is about grief. It's about faith. It's a bold, powerful movie anchored by a visceral performance from Jeon Do-yeon. What she conveys in just looks is as strong as the words and cries. She is such a complex character feeling a wide range of lows. There is a particularly stirring scene in a prison in which we face a murderer who has been saved. It is not her most emotional scene. But it is a turning point for her. And her blank stare we can read so much suffering. The movie goes really deep into her suffering.

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (2017)

This documentary is just a bit too long. It's quite beautiful but I fell asleep it was so long and kind of slow (sort of Japanese-style slow). Ryuichi Sakamoto is a legend. His music is stunning--the soundtrack to . And his career is very impressive, not just as a composer but as an actor, music star, activist, etc.

Simon of the Desert (1965)

I don't think I got it. It wasn't as surreal as his other works that I'm familiar with. It wasn't even obviously satirical to me. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention. Though that cut in the end is pretty funny if it's meant to be. Rock 'n' roll is the devil's music.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005)

The New York Times said this was one of the top 25 films of the century, so I had to see it. The best description is that three hour Romanian movie. It is excellent, but man is it painfully long. And it is such a devastating theme to last for three hours. It's about a dying man who over the course of a night goes to hospital after hospital, all of them refusing to treat him. It is described as a dark comedy. But it is hardly funny. There are some ridiculous situations that we know are actually based in truth. Is that funny? It's more sad than funny. I really have a hard time describing it as a comedy. There were a couple times I laughed, but it didn't really seem right.

Our Little Sister (Umimachi Diary) (2015)

Hirokazu Koreeda is the master of family dramas. He makes you smile, makes you cry, and makes you do both simultaneously. He chooses his words carefully, his dialogue so carefully scripted. His movies are delicate and quiet. He makes beautiful, life affirming movies. Our Little Sister is no different. Three adult sisters take in their younger stepsister to live with them following the death of their estranged father. The sisters have such great chemistry on screen. It makes you want to be a part of their family. It's a movie with a simple premise that just works. It's not his best work (it's a high bar) but it is a fantastic movie nonetheless.

Embrace of the Serpent (2015)

An Amazonian adventure shot in beautiful black and white, Embrace of the Serpent is excellent. I thought the movie was much better than The Lost City of Z, another recent Amazonian adventure. The visuals are absolutely stunning. The original story is interestingly complex but easy to follow without too much effort. There are two timelines with echoes of the past. And it asks deeply intriguing questions about colonization, human nature and our relationship with nature. Long story short, I am awe struck by this cinematic experience.