Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021) | Directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi

 4.5/5

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is a lovely and delicate little film whose power becomes more and more apparent as it moves along and its triptych of stories accumulate. It’s a poignant and bittersweet look at individuals’ fumbling attempts to reach out for connection and the ways those attempts can be painful, liberating, joyous, or destructive. Each of the three stories are anchored by long conversations filled with confessions, vulnerability, and revelations. It’s a testament to Hamaguchi’s sense of staging and framing – and each of the incredible performers – that these long conversations never feel boring or static, there’s always a sense of movement and a trajectory of emotional connection within each sequence. As the characters lay their souls bare in an effort to find love or connection, the camera is willing to linger – on faces, on empty spaces – to let moments breathe. There’s a quiet poignancy to each of the stories here, characters may not always find connection in the way they liked or hoped, and sometimes their attempts go awry, but the attempt is made. And for Hamaguchi and the characters in the film, it’s the attempt itself that matters.

Where to Watch

Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (2020) | Directed by Lili Horvát

 4.5/5

Lili Horvát’s Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time is a haunting and unsettling exploration of love, connection, and all of the unreasonable expectations we bring into each new relationship. Horvát brings in elements of noir and supernatural thrillers, playing with the ways that we all read and misread every gesture or missed phone call in a new relationship. Márta’s empty apartment becomes the perfect visual metaphor for her own aimlessness and sense of dislocation. The fluidity of time and space conveyed through the loose, handled camera and careful editing rhythms is another tool at Horvát’s disposal to show how Márta is cut off from connection and community. And while things appear to be moving toward wholeness and connection, the tenuousness of the final image leaves the ending appropriately ambiguous for a film that is this thoughtful and mysterious. This is a really beautiful, hypnotic film, one that will leave you eager to return to its mysteries.

Where to Watch

C’mon C’mon (2021) | Directed by Mike Mills

 4.5/5

While Mike Mills’s C’mon C’mon had the potential to be just another story of a weary and broken man whose life is changed by the time he spends with a child – a clichéd narrative structure that is all-too-often tiresome and emotionally manipulative – Mills is able to assemble a such a beautiful and genuinely moving film that earns its emotional beats, rather leaning hard into mawkish sentimentality. So much of that is due to fantastic performances from the entire cast – from the adults leads and the phenomenal child performer, to the exceptional supporting actors. They help ground what could otherwise be a saccharine melodrama and give this film about the need for connection more weight and substance. The incorporation of interviews with real children is an essential component that helps to ground the film and effectively contrast Johnny’s ability to connect with kids he has just met with the very real struggles he has in caring for his nephew. The film’s use of time and memory are lovely here – the fluid breaks from the present are perfect representations of the ways that the past is always with us, and in this film, the ways that the family’s present continues to be shaped by past hurts and wounds. With Johnny’s work in public radio, the sound design is stellar, and as he introduces his nephew to the tools of his profession, the film’s soundscape is spectacular – opening Jesse up to a world of sonic possibility. So many narratives in this vein completely sideline the child’s parents to ensure that the new adult caregiver can have their moment of growth, so it’s refreshing that Gaby Hoffmann’s character remains a constant presence throughout the film and is given her own arc. It’s a rich and rewarding family drama that never comes by its emotional moments through manipulation or cheap narrative tricks, but through great performances and an incredibly honest script about the ways life rarely turns out the way we expect and our need for connection and community to weather the inevitable sorrows along the way.

Where to Watch

Pig (2021) | Directed by Michael Sarnoski

 4.5/5

Michael Sarnoski’s Pig is an incredibly moving film, anchored by a tremendous performance from Nicolas Cage and complimented by the stellar supporting cast. The film complicates our relationship to revenge narratives at every turn, becoming a much more profound meditation on loss, grief, and what it means to let go of those we love, to move on and rebuild our lives in their absence. Food becomes the medium of interaction at every point along the characters’ journey throughout the film – it’s how characters barter and make plays for power, it’s how they show their love for one another and make connections, it’s how they bring comfort and soothe one another’s grief. As such, the food in the film is lovingly shot, each meal (and its preparation) filmed in a gorgeous light that connects the characters to a warmth and humanity that much of the film, drained of its color, lacks. And the way these meals – be they extravagant or humble – can forge connections and understanding is truly moving. As Cage’s character moves through a world he tried to leave behind, we’re reminded that it can take tremendous loss to encourage us to throw off the expectations of others and finally connect with your true passions. This is a truly remarkable film and keeps surprising at each and every turn.

Where to Watch

Ascension (2021) | Directed by Jessica Kingdon

 5/5

Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension is a masterful work of creative nonfiction that slowly traces its way through the rungs of Chinese society to examine the “Chinese Dream.” The documentary tactics here are strictly observational – there are no interviews, voiceovers, or onscreen text to orient us to the images and sequences presented. But through Kingdon’s meticulously conceived organizational structure, we’re given a series of images and sequences that are juxtaposed in such a way that it raises questions about inequity, working conditions, the obsession with western ideas of wealth, and our own reliance on underpaid labor to bring us inexpensive goods. Edits and cuts are made with visual or thematic resonances in mind, so that the transitions move us from factory work, to trade schools, to the wealth of the upper middle classes. The cinematography throughout is gorgeous, the procession of images hypnotic and mesmerizing. Kingdon has crafted a remarkable film that, while specifically about China’s rapid growth, asks us to reflect on the consequences for any society in which capitalism is allowed to create unfettered inequity.

Where to Watch

Attica (2021) | Directed by Stanley Nelson

 5/5

Stanley Nelson’s Attica is a powerful and sobering look at the institutionalized racism that infects our policing, our prison industrial complex, and the very fabric of our nation. The interviews with surviving inmates of the Attica prison uprising (as well as the surviving family members of the guards, members of the media, and other key participants) are all profoundly moving – and at-time gut-wrenching at times – as they tell of the horrors they endured and the crimes that have been covered up for far too long. Nelson includes extraordinary archival materials – from contemporaneous news reports and footage behind the prison walls, to surveillance footage used by corrections officers, and stomach churning photographs of the aftermath. All of these sources are combined to methodically lay out the circumstances that led to the uprising and provide a day by day account – right up to its tragic end. Without needing to make direct parallels, Nelson does as good as draw a straight line between the law and order campaigns of Rockefeller and Nixon and the modern GOP. This is an essential historical documentary that still has so much significance for our country’s ongoing fight for racial justice.

Where to Watch

The Green Knight (2021) | Directed by David Lowery

 4.5/5

David Lowery’s The Green Knight is a gorgeous, hypnotic film filled with striking cinematography, lush colors, and captivating visual compositions. The use of wide angle lenses throughout heightens the film’s dreamlike sensibility as it explores the paganism buried within much of European Christianity and deconstructs Western notions of chivalry, honor, and the ways these are often tied to class, gender, and privilege. All of the royal finery is grounded in muck and grime, but with an eye toward the mystical and the transcendent. The episodic structure pays homage to the source material and provides a space for many incredible performers to pass through the narrative, but it’s all anchored by Dev Patel’s turn as Gawain. His performance becomes one of learning to lose yourself to find yourself, of abandoning self-interest and self-preservation for the sake of others. It’s a moving, beautiful film that invites much reflection, pondering, and an eagerness to return to its mysteries.

Where to Watch

The Sparks Brothers (2021) | Directed by Edgar Wright

 4.5/5

Edgar Wright’s The Sparks Brothers is an outstanding music documentary that is an absolute joy to watch. It gives a comprehensive overview of the life and career of Sparks and wisely shares enough of their music throughout so that anyone who isn’t familiar with their oeuvre doesn’t feel ostracized or unwelcome. In fact, it’s an incredibly generous film for anyone new to their music, and Wright has gathered an incredible assortment of interviews from fans, other musicians, producers, and the Mael brothers themselves to help provide context for the songs and albums. The use of archival material and found footage is phenomenal, and Wright proves to have a deft hand at structuring the material with interviews and just enough stylistic flourishes to match Sparks’ own style and personaes. It’s a fantastic, engaging, and thoroughly entertaining musical documentary.

Where to Watch

Black Power: A British Story of Resistance (2021) | Directed by George Amponsah

 4.5/5

George Amponsah’s Black Power: A British Story of Resistance is another exceptionally strong documentary in this series of films outlining the struggles of Black British citizens and immigrants fighting for their rights. This installment outlines the history of and explores the groups within Britain’s Black Power movement, and looking at both the internal and external forces that eventually led to its collapse. While inspired by the United States’ Black Power movement – and even though it certainly had ties to many of the groups and leaders – the film carefully illustrates the major differences and ways that the Black British community took the Black Power philosophy and made it their own. The powerful interviews with leaders and participants in the movement detail Britain’s long history of racism and discrimination, as well as the ways in which the various groups within the Black Power movement would overlap and work together. Like all of the films in this series, the use of archival material and found footage is exceptional, as are the musical selections that underscore the narrative. And it’s especially powerful to have the film draw such a clear through line between the Black Power movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s and today’s struggle for racial justice.

Where to Watch

Subnormal: A British Scandal (2021) | Directed by Lyttanya Shannon

 4/5

While Lyttanya Shannon’s Subnormal: A British Scandal makes use of the standard talking head documentary format, there are touches throughout that elevate it beyond traditional documentary fare. Shannon’s narration gives the film a personal touch and helps connect her family’s experience with the wider Black British experience within a discriminatory education system. And that personal touch also extends to her attempts to find individuals willing to speak on camera about their experiences – in spite of the shame and stigmatization they might face from having been wrongly placed in schools for the “educationally subnormal.” The archival materials and found footage effectively trace the roots of this scandal within the British educational system, lays out a damning case that speaks to the deep racism and prejudice involved, and draws a clear line between the issues from decades ago and their consequences for today. It’s powerful, moving, and shows how essential it is to have strong community involvement in a child’s education – especially in societies where racism put systems in place that disadvantage children of color.