Battle in Heaven (2005) | Directed by Carlos Reygadas

 3/5

Carlos Reygadas’s Battle in Heaven is a beautifully shot, narratively confounding film that never quite gelled for me on this first viewing. The long, slow panning shots are gorgeous panoramas of life in contemporary Mexico, and our (nominal) protagonist’s malaise is highlighted by the film’s deliberate pace. The effect of all this is to create an overwhelming sense of melancholy and dread that blankets the entire film. The narrative borrows plot points from more traditional thrillers, but Reygadas doesn’t maintain an effective balance between the more pedestrian story beats and the metaphysical and spiritual concerns he wants to explore through his aesthetic choices. Confounding and frustrating as the film may be, I find something incredibly compelling about Reygadas’s stylistic choices and thematic concerns that will most certainly draw me back to this film once I’ve explored more of his filmography.

Where to Watch

Pain and Glory (2019) | Directed by Pedro Almodóvar

 4/5

Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory features a tremendous performance from Antonio Banderas – maybe the performance of his career. Playing a thinly fictionalized version of Almodóvar, Banderas shows a vulnerability and emotional honesty that stars of his stature rarely allow. This leads to some profoundly moving scenes as the character reconnects with his past and comes face-to-face with many of the deep regrets of his life. Some of the expositional voice-overs – while clever and fun – feel out of place and disconnected with the rest of the film, and I’m not sure that the ways Almodóvar structures the flashbacks and time shifts completely work. Still, it’s the performances that really sell the film, and there was enough going on with plot, structure, and imagery to keep me emotionally invested and eager to revisit and potentially reassess my first impression.

The Decline of Western Civilization Part III (1998) | Directed by Penelope Spheeris

 4.5/5

Penelope Spheeris’s The Decline of Western Civilization Part III is the best film in the trilogy and perhaps the best film in Spheeris’s filmography. In focusing more on punk’s fans than on the musicians, she’s able to dig more deeply into the culture and paint a more accurate portrait of the youth who live on the fringes of society and inspired some of her earlier films. It’s a truly heartbreaking, sobering work of documentary filmmaking. Spheeris has an obvious affection for her interview subjects, a deep empathy for these self-described “gutter punks” who were forced to the margins by parental abuse, addiction, and countless other traumas. We come to care so much for the film’s interview subjects that late film revelations come as gut-punches that are hard shake even after the credits roll.

Dolemite Is My Name (2019) | Directed by Craig Brewer

 5/5

Starring the inimitable Eddie Murphy, Craig Brewer’s Dolemite Is My Name is an absolutely joyous and celebratory film about an artist coming into their own and discovering their voice. Eddie Murphy is incredible here, effortlessly blending his comedic talents with the more serious and dramatic side that he’s been developing over the last several year. The result is a beautifully nuanced, incredibly rich depiction of a man who continues to persevere – even after countless setbacks and at an age when most people would simply give up. Brewer uses the visual language of ’70s blaxploitation films, without ever descending into camp or goofiness. The film is an absolute delight from beginning to end, a moving film about the power and important of representation and diversity – both behind and in front of the camera.

Where to Watch

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988) | Directed by Penelope Spheeris

 3.5/5

Penelope Spheeris’s The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years is an intriguing, fun, but ultimately empty follow-up to Spheeris’s exploration of the punk scene. In looking at the ’80s metal scene, her subjects are more narcissistic and less self-aware – which may be an accurate representation of the culture, but it makes for a much less compelling, more surface-level documentary. Many interviews with some of the more established names in the business are obviously staged – playing into their own personal mythology. It’s curious to see some of the major stars talk about getting sober, and Spheeris does manage to cut through the bluster from time to time to find some truly honest moments. The film’s at its best when it spends time with the aspiring musicians, capturing a naivety that is both laughably absurd and undeniably charming.

Suburbia (1983) | Directed by Penelope Spheeris

 4/5

Penelope Spheeris’s Suburbia is an incredibly compelling – if deeply flawed – film about those on the margin of society. There’s a messiness to the film, a do-it-yourself aesthetic that results in a sloppy narrative and amateurish performances. Add to those rough edges some early moments of shocking violence and gratuitous sex and nudity, and it’s easy to dismiss this sobering look at street youth as needlessly grim or exploitative. But if you allow yourself to get acclimated to the film’s technical limitations, there’s a profoundly moving and deeply tragic undercurrent that works in spite of its limitations. As rough as the performances can be, most of the young, non-professional actors actually lived some variation of this story, so there’s a genuine heft and emotional weight that helps the film rise about any of its flaws.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) | Directed by Werner Herzog

 5/5

I hadn’t seen Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams since it was released theatrically, so I had forgotten how stunning and absolutely spellbinding this documentary from one of our master filmmakers really is. In exploring the Chauvet caves and the stunning artwork of more than 30,000 years ago left perfectly preserved on the cave walls, Herzog continues to be guided by his intense curiosity and musings of what it means to be human. The film’s philosophical ruminations continually draw a line between those of us in the present and our distant, cave-dwelling ancestors, and Herzog is just as interested in the individuals who study these paintings (not to mention his own tangents) as he is in the paintings themselves. The use of 3D here is stunning, getting us as close to experiencing what it must feel like to be in the caves – complete with simulated flickering torchlight – as possible. Getting to see the curve of the cave walls and the ways ancient artists used the natural formations to achieve dramatic effects. It’s a gorgeous documentary, one that is only amplified by Herzog’s distinct voice and style.