THE FLAVOUR OF GREEN TEA OVER RICE

 In post-war Japan a middle-aged couple's arranged marriage is in trouble. Made just before "Tokyo Story", Yasujiro Ozu's "The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice" is one of the director's least highly regarded works and yet this is as incisive a study of marriage as anything by Bergman or Albee, the only difference being that Ozu's characters are so much more gentle, more humane. Even as the wife, (Michiyo Kogure, superb), wishes her husband would just disappear there is none of the harshness we find in films and plays from the West. Ozu clearly has a deep affection for all the characters in his films.

The husband Mokichi, (an equally superb Shin Saburi), may be a bore to his wife for no reason other than he is a good, quiet man whose life is simple and unexciting yet neither is she a typical harridan , just a woman who could have had more and who has, not too unhappily, settled for what she sees as her lot.

There is a subplot involving the wife's niece, (Keiko Tsushhima, excellent), who is now rebelling against her own planned arranged marriage and once again Ozu seems very much on her side. Like so much of Ozu's work this is another study of the role of women in Japanese society, mature, often very funny and absolutely essential.

THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER

 Having made two films on the essence of cinema or at least on the filmmaker's craft, (her own), Joanna Hogg has now turned her attention to ... a ghost story albeit one without a conventional ghost. "The Eternal Daughter" is set in the kind of hotel that says very loudly either 'Downton Abbey' or 'The Haunting' and it's on the latter than Miss Hogg has decided to concentrate but being an art-house kind of director this is no "Scream"; rather it's closer in tone to the kind of ghost story or horror movie Chantal Akerman might have made in her best "Jeanne Dielman..." mode.

Tilda Swinton is the daughter and she's also her mother and they are staying in this stately pile together and they both seem to be cut from the same cloth but Swinton, who is at her very best here, isn't someone you would want to spend too much time with. For a start all the creaks and bangs and the things we usually associate with haunted houses all seem to start with her, at least with the daughter, (her mother is more amenable).

It appears that the hotel was once the mother's family home and Hogg's film is really a journey into the past, an attempt to reconnect that doesn't appear to be working. In both roles Swinton is superb, the daughter presumably yet another incarnation of Hogg herself and apart from a few minor characters, she's really the only person on screen. In dramatic terms nothing really happens and yet the film is haunting in its own pervasive way, proof that Swinton could hold our attention just reading the telephone book and that Hogg is a singular talent no matter what material she turns her hand to. Hopefully next time, however, she will make something a little more lively.

RIPLEY

 I didn't think it possible to improve on what I considered to be perfection but Steven Zallian's 8 part television series "Ripley" puts all previous screen 'Ripley's' in the shade. Adapted from Patricia Highsmith's novel "The Talented Mr. Riley" it has in Andrew Scott a Ripley not so much talented as lucky. Tom Ripley kills twice in the course of the series without really thinking too much about the consequences of his actions and once he decides to take over the identity of his first victim, Dickie Greenleaf, he seems to be living entirely on his wits as well as on Dickie's money, barely keeping one step ahead of the police.

Scott, one of our finest actors, is simply magnificent as Ripley, full of nervous charm and tightly controlled terror and there's terrific work, too, from Dakota Fanning as Dickie's girlfriend Marge, suspicious of Tom's motives from the start and from Maurizio Lombardi as the dogged Italian detective on Ripley's trail without actually knowing whose trail he's on.

The murders themselves, (the two take up almost all of two of the eight episodes), are messy and gripping in ways that murders seldom are on film and benefit considerably from being shot, 'Psycho-style', in perhaps the best black and white cinematography I've seen on any screen, large or small, certainly in recent times; the cinematographer is the great Robert Elswit. In fact I'm pretty sure I won't see anything better than this again in the coming twelve months. Oh, and it's also very funny in its grisly way and has the best 'performance' by a cat that I can remember seeing...ever.

LUMINOUS PROCURESS

 Clearly aimed, if aimed at anyone, then at a 'midnight matinee' audience turned on by experimental erotica, "Luminous Procuress", like "Pink Narcissus" which came out the same year, came and went in the blink of an eye only to be rediscovered decades later and heralded as something of a cult classic.

Plotless, dialogue free, except for some 'spoken' gibberish, and impossible to describe, this is a partly engaging though, more often than not, mostly boring piece of pop art that makes no real sense and, like so many films of its kind, is also highly pretentious; a home-movie accessible only to those involved and yet, in its wildly over-the-top fashion, it is also difficult to dismiss. Visually it's often remarkable and in the end, like other similar experimental pieces, perhaps best seen as an installation in a gallery rather than in a cinema.

RYE LANE

 When the opening credits of a film announce 'a BBC film and/or B.F.I presents' I still get a frisson of pleasure because I know from past experience the film is likely to be pretty good and "Rye Lane" is certainly no exception, even if the opening scene just might make you cringe which, of course, it's meant to do.

Debut director Raine Allen-Miller has fashioned a genuinely sweet romantic comedy about a couple of strangers who meet in, of all places, a unisex toilet and spend a day together in South London, getting to know each other and basically falling in love.

It's a small film with a very big heart and leads David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah are superbly cast; they don't seem to be acting at all, just being themselves which works perfectly in a film like this. At times it might look like a series of sketches but it also looks great, makes terrific use of its London locations, is funny, charming and inventive and of how many films can you say that these days. I loved it.

FREMONT

 Jim Jarmusch and Aki Kaurismaki would be proud. Babak Julali's gorgeous "Fremont" is minimalism gone wild. So little happens over the ninety or so minute running time you might (just) be forgiven if you drift off. Donya, (newcomer Anaita Wall Zada), is an Afghan who worked as a translator for the US military and who now lives in Fremont, working in a fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Desperately lonely and unable to sleep she cheats her way into seeing a psychiatrist, (a wonderfully deadpan Gregg Turkington), who just wants to read Jack London's "White Fang" to her.

One day Donya slips a message into one of the fortune cookies giving her name and phone number and waits for the result, hoping it will lead to romance or at least a blind date like the ones her friend and colleague Joanne, (Hilda Schmelling), goes on. What happens next is as sweet and unexpected as you will find in any rom-com for, in its quiet, unassuming way, that's what "Fremont" surely is. Beautifully photographed in black and white by Laura Valladao and superbly acted by the entire cast this is an out-of-nowhere gem that really shouldn't be missed.

THE TEACHER'S LOUNGE

 Nominated for Best International Film at this year's Oscars "The Teacher's Lounge" is a genuinely disquieting thriller and one that is all the more chilling since it involves children. It begins with an investigation into a number of thefts at the school with a child the prime suspect, (he is also the child of immigrants), but the child's teacher, (a superb Leonie Benesch), has considerable reservations about the way the school authorities are conducting their investigations. As she pursues her own line of enquiry what she discovers makes her question where she stands in her relationships both with the students and her fellow staff members.

The fact that Ilker Catak's film only once, and then briefly, leaves the confines of the school adds to its claustrophobic effect and the heightening tension. What begins as perhaps a small problem becomes a powder keg about to explode. Here is a thriller filmed with an almost documentary-like zeal and it's brilliantly played by the entire cast, adult and child alike. It's definitely a movie to put knots in your stomach and yet one that is ultimately deeply moving. Hitchcock himself would be proud.

CARRIE

 A camp horror classic and one of the most enjoyable horror films ever made, "Carrie" was the film that really launched Brian De Palma and Sissy Spacek into the big time. Based on Stephen King's novel it's about the high school ugly duckling with telekinetic powers who is the victim of a truly cruel 'prank' at her school prom and who then uses her powers to take revenge on the perpetrators.

As Carrie, Spacek is simply magnificent and Piper Laurie, in her first film role in 15 years, is scene-stealingly brilliant as Carrie's mad-as-a-hatter mother. As somewhat over-aged students John Travolta, William Katt, Amy Irving and Nancy Allen work wonders with their formulaic roles. It's also, as you might expect from its director, ultra-stylish while the bloody prom climax and final shock ending have already passed into film folklore Almost 50 years on it still stands up and in 2010 was voted the greatest horror film ever made by the Guardian newspaper.

OTHELLO

Trimmed to a sharp ninety or so minutes and 'told' in flashback, (Othello's dead, Iago's a prisoner), Welles' version of "Othello" is naturally more Wellsian than Shakespearean and is none the worse for it, (no written credits; they are spoken by Welles and it's visually stunning despite, or perhaps because of, the five credited DoP's).

It had a troubled production and was filmed over a period of three years so it's not just remarkable that it's as good as it is but that it exists at all. It's not perfect and purists may hate it but if it seems less than great Shakespeare, it's certainly great Welles. He's a wonderful Othello yet even he is upstaged by Micheal MacLiammoir's Iago. Suzzane Cloutier's Desdemona is a weak link as is Michael Laurence's Cassio but when everything else is so good that's a small price to pay. It's also a hundred times better than Welles' disastrous version of "Macbeth".

THE BALLAD OF TAM LIN

 Probably no period in the last one hundred plus years has dated as badly as 'the swinging sixties'. Looked at today the fashions, music and behaviors in general of that decade now seem as remote as Ancient Greece though Roddy McDowall's sole effort as a director, "The Ballad of Tam Lin" made in 1971 but clearly a product of the sixties, tries to circumvent that by making a 'Wicker Man' style piece of folk-horror.

Ava Gardner is the undeniably beautiful, 'ageless' but ageing Earth Mother who seems to keep her youth, not in a box at the bottom of the bed as the old joke goes, but by surrounding herself with beautiful young things, chief of whom is current lover Ian McShane but when McShane sets his sights on vicar Cyril Cusack's daughter Stephanie Beacham, (yes, she too was young once), Ava doesn't take too kindly to it.

Nicely shot by Billy Williams around the Scottish borders and actually rather well played by Gardner, Beacham and a surprisingly good Richard Wattis in a rare dramatic role as Ava's sinister secretary this is a lot better than its reputation would suggest, (a commercial flop, it disappeared and is now considered something of a cult movie). It may not work as a 'horror' film, (it's really rather silly), and yet McDowall handles it all with considerable brio. It's certainly stylish and suggests McDowall could have had a future as a director. Good music, too, from the folk group Pentangle.

 

MY HONORS FOR FILMS SEEN BETWEEN 1ST JANUARY 2023 AND 31ST DECEMBER 2023

 

Best Film: KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (Scorsese)

Runner-up: Past Lives (Song)

 

Best Director: AKI KAURISMAKI for FALLEN LEAVES

Runner-up: Celine Song for Past Lives 

 

Best Actor: BRADLEY COOPER for MAESTRO

Runner-up: Bill Nighy for Living

 

Best Actress: SAOIRSE RONAN for FOE

Runner-up: Carey Mulligan for Maestro

 

Best Supporting Actor: ROBERT DE NIRO for KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

Runner-up: Robert Downey Jr. for Oppenheimer 

 

Best Supporting Actress: CATALINA SAAVEDRA for ROTTING IN THE SUN

Runner-Up: Julianne Moore in May December

 

Best Original Screenplay: DAVID HEMINGSON for THE HOLDOVERS

Runner-Up: Celine Song for Past Lives.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay: ERIC ROTH and MARTIN SCORSESE for KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

Runner-Up: Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer 

 

Best Cinematography: MATTHEW LIBATIQUE for MAESTRO

Runner-Up: Rodrigo Prieto for Killers of the Flower Moon

 

Best Production Design: SARAH GREENWOOD for BARBIE

Best Costume Design: JACQUELINE DURAN for BARBIE

Best Film Editing: JENNIFER LAME for OPPENHEIMER

Best Sound Recording: OPPENHEIMER

Best Special Effects: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE

 

Best Music Score: OLIVER COATES, PARK JIHA and AGNES OBEL for FOE

Runner-Up: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for The Killer 

 

Most Promising Director: CELINE SONG for PAST LIVES

Most Promising Actor: EDEN DAMBRINE for CLOSE

Most Promising Actress: LILY GLADSTONE for KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON 

 

Best Comedy: SICK OF MYSELF

Best Thriller: HOLY SPIDER

Best Musical: MAESTRO

Best Western: KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

Best Horror Film: THE MENU

Best War Film: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Best Documentary: ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED and NAVALNY (tie)

Best Animated Film: CRYPTOZOO

Best Action Film: BULLET TRAIN

Best Entertainment: THE KILLER

Most Imaginative Film: BEAU IS AFRAID 

 

Most Disappointing Film: ASTEROID CITY

Most Overrated Film: ANATOMY OF A FALL

Most Underrated Films: BEAU IS AFRAID and FOE

Most Neglected Film: FOE

 

Best Classics seen for the first time: BATAILLE DU RAIL and THE SAGA OF ANATAHAN 

 

Best Re-Issues: BLOW UP, CLUNY BROWN, THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE, THE NIGHTS OF CABIRIA and REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT

 

And Six Turkeys: A HAUNTING IN VENICE, A VIGILANTE, ENYS MEN, FAYA DAYI, MARLOWE and PLEASE BABY PLEASE.

 

MY TEN BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR.

 

1) KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (Scorsese)

2) PAST LIVES (Song)

3) FALLEN LEAVES (Kaurismaki)

4) OPPENHEIMER (Nolan)

5) CLOSE (Dhont)

6) BROKER (Kor-eda)

7) THE HOLDOVERS (Payne)

FOE (Davis)

9) NAVALNY (Roher)

10) MEMORIA (Weerasethakul)