Happy Holidays!

Lots of gratitude to and appreciation for friends, family, and felines whose presence and support helped get through another unusual year. Like many of you, Maxie and Freddy are ready for the year to end. Their reactions below pretty much sum up the past year. Here’s to a better 2022!

Hope you have a safe and healthy holiday season and all the best for a fabulous 2022!

Cheers, Ed

Now on to this year’s compilation of favorite film and other streaming experiences.

TOP OF THE HEAP

The Power of the Dog

It’s best to go into the film not knowing much about it, like I did. Westerns are not my favorite genre, so this didn’t seem appealing on the surface. But it turns out to be a psychological thriller, taking place against the beautiful backdrop of 1920s Montana (actually shot in New Zealand). It’s an intense and gripping slow-burn tale of manliness and masculine sexual repression, sibling rivalry, psychological cat/mouse cold war, and ultimately, revenge. Outstanding performances by Benedict Cumberbatch (a far cry from his kind, gentle turn in another favorite of the year, The Electric Life of Louis Wain—a must-see for any cat-lover), Kirsten Dunst, and an unusually mesmerizing Kodi Smit-McPhee. The Jonny Greenwood score heightens the sinister, suspenseful tension.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/LRDPo0CHrko

Mass

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more profoundly affecting and extraordinary ensemble acting performances this year: Martha Plimpton, Jason Isaac, Ann Dowd, and Reed Birney. While it feels like a play, this is the impressive writing and directing debut of veteran actor (and HW alum) Fran Kranz. I first saw Mass at virtual Sundance in January, and it remains the most indelible viewing experiences of the year. The entire film revolves around the meeting of two sets of parents several years after a school shooting—one set whose son was killed in the shooting and the other, the parents of the shooter. An emotionally powerful, intense, and nuanced story of the aftermath of this tragic event with its subsequent grief, redemption, and ultimately, forgiveness.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/WgvsfKhGdgI

The Hand of God

Paolo Sorrentino’s masterful and deeply personal autobiographical coming of age tale takes place in Naples in the 1980s and focuses on teenager Fabietto (a terrific Filippo Scotti), a fan of both Fellini and Maradona. In the first half, we are introduced to an array of vividly eccentric family members through humorous and rambling vignettes, but then tragedy turns the second half into a beautiful and evocative parable of fate, love, loss, and the eventual birth of a filmmaker.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/i_1VW_0i6vo

The French Dispatch

What can I say? I just love myself some Wes Anderson. The ultimate visual stylist presents an anthology film that is meticulously composed of several discrete stories, structurally brought together like a magazine chock full of idiosyncratic articles and colorful characters. It’s an ode to the writers, illustrators, and editor of a fictional New Yorker-type magazine of a bygone era. Funny and delightful in that uniquely Wes Anderson manner.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/TcPk2p0Zaw4

The Mitchells vs. The Machines

SO MUCH FUN. This is one charmingly fantastic film not to be missed. I think it flew under the pandemic radar with its Netflix release back in March. The kooky and dysfunctional yet loveable oddball Mitchell family is kind of the anti-Incredibles who find themselves having to work together to save the world from the robot apocalypse. The combination of 3-D and 2-D animation is beautiful and inspired (from the people who brought you Into the Spider-Verse). The storytelling is delightfully funny, hip, silly, sweet, and heartfelt. Guaranteed fun for the whole family!

Trailer: https://youtu.be/_ak5dFt8Ar0

LOCKED IN A VAULT SINCE THE SUMMER OF ’69

The Beatles: Get Back

Peter Jackson’s three-part, seven-plus hour opus is a must see for Beatles fans. Carefully pieced together from nearly 60 hours of an abandoned documentary and over 150 hours of previously unreleased audio, you are a fly on the wall during the Beatles’ recording sessions for the Let It Be album and their 42-minute live Saville Row rooftop concert, which turned out to be their last ever performance together. Edited at an extremely leisurely and relaxed pace, you feel like you’re just hanging out with friends, who just happen to be John, Paul, Ringo, and George…and Yoko. When I finished it, I really started to miss them. If you’re a Beatles fan, you will fall in love; if not, this might feel like a tedious, directionless livestream. Get Back captures many magical moments, as songs you’ve listened to countless times are birthed out of casual strumming, as well as revealing the brotherly love, tension, charm, and intimate moments of creative geniuses just having fun.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/Auta2lagtw4

Summer of Soul (… Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

This is an essential piece of history never before seen. In the summer of 1969, while Woodstock was happening upstate, something else was cooking in New York City: the Harlem Cultural Festival. Compiled from found footage of a concert series that took place in Harlem (including blues to rock to gospel to soul), this amazing and powerful documentary by Questlove is absolutely thrilling, capturing an important cultural moment that hasn’t previously been a part of the historical narrative of the Summer of Love.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/1-siC9cugqA

BROADWAY PRODIGIES: SONDHEIM TO LARSON TO MIRANDA

West Side Story

Spielberg + Kushner + Rita Moreno + original Bernstein & Sondheim (aged 27 when he wrote the original lyrics for the 1957 Broadway production) = superb revisioning of the 1961 classic film. The brash Technicolor-look makes it feel like 1950s, but Kushner’s touch with more character background and context and contemporary casting is a 21st century upgrade. And I loved seeing David Alvarez, who I last saw on stage in his Tony-winning title role of Billy Elliott when he was 14, in the role of Bernardo.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/A5GJLwWiYSg

tick, tick…BOOM!

Energetic, propulsive, and emotionally moving tribute to the struggle and elation of the creative process with a terrific Andrew Garfield as the pre-Rent 31-year old Jonathan Larson. Lin-Manual Miranda’s direction of Larson’s autobiographical one-man show is a must see for Broadway musical fans—and there’s one not-to-missed number that is Larson’s homage to Sondheim filled with legendary Broadway cameos.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/YJserno8tyU

In The Heights

Director Jon M. Chu’s (Crazy Rich Asians) own immigrant experience (and love of musicals) made him the perfect person to direct the filmed version of Lin-Manual Miranda’s first Broadway musical (which he produced at age 28, giving Latinos a voice on the Great White Way). This energizing and kinetic musical is a thrilling, joyful experience. With rap and hip-hop, salsa and merengue, and Busby Berkeley in a pool combined with tradition Broadway fare, the crowded apartments and streets of Washington Heights explode with dizzying colors, song, and dance in vibrant pursuit of a dream.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/U0CL-ZSuCrQ

WHAT DID I JUST WATCH?

Titane

This gender-bending, sci-fi, horror, love story is a bold and dark genre-defying experience. Julie Ducournau become only the second female director to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes in her sophomore outing. Prior to seeing it, I read three separate descriptions of the film, only to be further intrigued and confused as they seemingly described three completely different movies. Beyond the automobile sex (to clarify, that’s with, not just in), serial killer on the run, identity theft of long lost missing child, and the gore, this is a provocative and and uncomfortable tale of loneliness, the need and search for both love and family that will linger with you long after you’re finished watching it.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/Q5_w2W5G9OM

Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself

One of the most unusual viewing experiences of the year. Totally mesmerizing documentary, or rather, recorded document of conceptual magician Derek DelGaudio’s performance (stitched together from multiple shows), an existential and almost mystical experience. Trying to describe it will not do it justice, other than to say he explores the question of identify through card tricks, illusion, storytelling, and profound mentalism. While the filmed version isn’t quite the same as experiencing it in person, it’s a unique and very intriguing watch.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/_62BeXxd_jo

DON’T MISS OUT

Val

Fascinating and incredibly revealing documentary about oft-misunderstood actor Val Kilmer. You’ve seen him as Batman, Jim Morrison, Iceman, and so many other memorable characters—now see him as himself. Heartbreaking, candid, and touching, I never expected to be inspired by him, but I was. Little known is the fact that he has been documenting his entire life with a video camera—in fact, he needs a warehouse to store all the videos! Revealing his inner thoughts on his extensive career, including the present day voiceover help of his son (whose voice is uncannily like his dad’s) as throat cancer has ravaged his ability to speak. An intriguing watch.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/YqNnhgEyQCU

CODA

This is the feel-good film of the year. It was a Sundance Film Festival favorite and deservedly so. With a truly winning cast (particularly Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur as the protagonist’s parents), CODA (child of deaf adults) is the heartwarming and sweet story of a girl who is the only hearing member of her hard-scrabble, Gloucester-based fishing family who wants to break away and pursue her passion for singing in college. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll love CODA.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/C6R7eI_HhvU

Try Harder!

Asian students + Asian parents + high pressure public school = great documentary about the hyper competitive world of college admissions process as played out at San Francisco’s Lowell High School.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/8mxwsLslSHs

AND MANY OTHER ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCES

Being the Ricardos

Belfast

Cruella

Don’t Look Up

Dune

The Electric Life of Louis Wain

Exterminate All the Brutes

The Green Knight

King Richard

The Lost Leonardo

Licorice Pizza

Promising Young Woman

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Spencer

This is a Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist

The Truffle Hunters

In the Queue

Drive My Car, Flee, The Lost Daughter, Nightmare Alley, Parallel Mothers, Passing, Pig, Red Rocket, The Tragedy of Macbeth

AND SOME OF MY FAVORITE STREAMING EXPERIENCES IN 2021

1. Succession (HBO Max)—Can’t get enough of these despicable people! This full-blown Shakespearean tragi-comedy is the best show.

2. Money Heist (Netflix)—With the season 5, the series comes to a truly satisfying end.

3. Crash Landing on You (Netflix)—My first foray into the K-drama realm—and I absolutely fell in love with all these characters!

4. Squid Game (Netflix)

5. Ted Lasso (Apple TV)

6. The White Lotus (HBO Max)

7. Colin in Black and White (Netflix)

8. What We Do In the Shadows (Hulu)

9. Mare of Easttown (HBO Max)

10. Hacks (HBO Max)

11. WandaVision (Disney+)

12. Ramy (Hulu)

13. The Other Two (HBO Max)

14. The Great (Hulu)

15. Sex Education (Netflix)

16. Elite (Netflix)

17. Lupin (Netflix)

18. The Chair (Netflix)

19. Never Have I Ever (Netflix)

20. Imposters (Netflix)

21. FBoy Island (HBO Max)—I don’t understand these people at all, but I’m fascinated.