Such a pleasure to see a new Kaurismäki as it comes into the world. Another of his dry, tragicomic delights, with cinephilia worn lovingly on its sleeve. The colors!! You could dip a spoon into some of these surfaces. So lovely.
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The Delinquents 2023
Between this wondrous movie, Trenque Lauquen, and a new Martín Rejtman, Argentine cinema is having a very fine moment.
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Friends and Strangers 2021
Who knew Australian mumblecore was even a thing, let alone that it’s this enchanting? The milieu and deceptively airy surface might evoke Rohmer, but the awkward struggles to communicate amongst self-absorbed millennials are more like something out of a Bujalski film than an eloquent Rohmerian gabfest. That said, the unique rhythm and sense of place, the latter established through frequently off-kilter shots of Sydney’s cityscape and sunny coastline, are all Vaughan’s own, and a tremendous delight.
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Residue 2020
A woozy, intimate, impressionistic debut, and a great one at that. The story is about Jay (Obinna Nwachukwu), a young filmmaker who returns from LA to his childhood neighborhood in Washington D.C. to work on a script. When he gets there, he’s troubled and disoriented by the gentrification he finds is revamping the streets on which he made the memories of his youth, and by the gun violence and drug use/dealing for which some of his old friends are doing serious…
