The one or two of you reading this know that I run an independent film society, The Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film. Boston-based, but with national membership our mission is to teach audiences to view films actively. We do this through film discussion, special film events, and most famously, our annual Awards Ceremony, where we spotlight the memberships best in independent film for the year.
Because of my involvement with Chlotrudis, I tend to see a lot of films. In the golden years (late 90’s early to mid 2000’s) I would seen anywhere from 75 – 100 eligible films per year, but that number slipped to the 35 – 50 range for many years. Then a pandemic hit, and I made a conscious effort, since i wasn’t doing as much socializing, to work on my film viewing. It was easy, since most everything was streaming as the public was/is still hesitant to go back to the cinema, which makes me sad, but I understand. Now streaming outlets have made it SO easy to see films from the comfort of your own home, I worry about the future of cinema… again. At any rate, my point is in 2020 and 2021, I have met and surpassed my previous highs for movie viewing. In 2021 specifically, I saw 216 films, 138 of which were Chlotrudis eligible indies, two were Festival films that haven’t been released official;y yet, six were bigger releases that were not eligible for Chlotrudis consideration, and 70 of which were older films that I missed.
That’s a lot of films this year. I doubt I’ll be able to keep it up, but we’ll see. The catch-up viewing of older films really dropped off around September as I dove deeply into the Chlotrudis films to prepare for nominations (which are being announced publicly today — check out the Chlotrudis website tonight or tomorrow if you’re interested.)
For the next set of blog entries I will be talking about the films I saw in 2021, starting today, with just a straight list of older films that caught up on this year. I did this mainly because I finally started to listen to the Brattle Theatre’s podcast and listening to that team’s discussion of films throughout history inspired me to see a lot of films I’ve been meaning to, and just never got around to it. So for today, it’s just a list of those films that I finally watched for whatever reason.
Phoenix (2014) directed by Christian Petzold, ****
Alex of Venice (2014) directed by Chris Messina, *** 1/2
Aviva (2020) directed by Boaz Yakin, ** 1/2
Fireworks Wednesday (2006) directed by Asghar Farhadi, **** 1/2
Four Sheets to the Wind (2007) directed by Sterlin Harjo, *** 1/2
We Have Always Lived in the Castle (2018) dir. by Stacie Passon, *** 1/2
Transit (2018) directed by Christian Petzold, ****
Ikiru (1952) directed by Akira Kurosawa, **** 1/2
My Man Godfrey (1936) directed by Gregory La Cava, ****
Startstruck (1982) directed by Gillian Armstrong, ***
The One I Love (2014) directed by Charlie McDowell, ****
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) directed by Nicolas Roeg, *** 1/2
The Fountainhead (1949) directed by King Vidor, ****
Daughters of the Dust (1991) directed by Julie Dash, ***
Spotlight (2015) directed by Tom McCarthy, *****
Can You Ever Forgive Me (2018) directed by Marielle Heller, *** 1/2
You Can Count On Me (2000 directed by Kenneth Lonergan ****
Monsters (2010) directed by Gareth Edwards, ***
The Conversation (1974) directed by Francis Ford Coppola, **** 1/2
Blowup (1966) directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, ****
Labyrinth (1986) directed by Jim Henson, **
Citizen Kane (1941) directed by Orson Welles, ***
Orpheus (1950) directed by Jean Cocteau, ****
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) directed by Robert Wise, *** 1/2
The Wild Pear Tree (2018) directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, ****
Crazy Rich Asians (2018) directed by Jon M. Chu, ****
Gattaca (1997) directed by Andrew Niccol, **
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020) directed by Cathy Yan, *** 1/2
Eighth Grade (2018) dircted by Bo Burnham, ****
The Invitation (2015) directed by Karyn Kusama, ** 1/2
The Last Picture Show (1971) directed by Peter Bogdanovich, *****
Repo Man (1984) directed by Alex Cox, ***
Coma (1978) directed by Michael Crichton, ****
Enemy (2013) directed by Denis Villeneuve, **** 1/2
I, Tonya (2017) directed by Craig Gillespie, ****
A New Leaf (1971) directed by Elaine May, ****
Beauty and the Beast (1946) directed by Jean Cocteau, **** 1/2
Burning Cane (2019) directed by Phillip Michael Youmans, *** 1/2
Altered States (1980) directed by Ken Russell, **
Pikadero (2015) directed by Ben Sharrock, **** 1/2
The Seventh Seal (1957) directed by Ingmar Bergman, **** 1/2
Black Girl (1966) directed by Ousmane Sembène, ****
Blow-Out (1981) directed by Brian De Palma, **
The Out-of-Towners (1970) directed by Arthur Hiller, ****
Emma. (2020) directed by Autumn de Wilde, ****
Hud (1963) directed by Martin Ritt, ****
Love & Friendship (2016) directed by Whit Stillman, *** 1/2
Ishtar (1987) directed by Elaine May, ****
Stage Door (1937) directed by Kogonada, Gregory La Cava, **** 1/2
Yojimbo (1961) directed by Kogonada, Akira Kurosawa, ***
Columbus (2017) directed by Kogonada, *****
Alter Egos (2012) directed by Jordan Galland, *** 1/2
Afternoon (2015) directed by Tsai Ming-liang, **** 1/2
The Big Sleep (1946) directed by Howard Hawks, **** 1/2
Weirdos (2016) directed by Bruce McDonald, *** 1/2
Alphaville (1965) directed by Jean-Luc Godard, **
Key Largo (1948) directed by John Huston, ***
To Have and To Have Not (1944) directed by Howard Hawks, ****
Midsommar (2019) directed by Ari Aster, **
Rebels of the Neon God (1992) directed by Tsai Ming-liang, ****
Animals (2012) directed by Marçal Forés, ****
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) directed by Tay Garnett, ***
Barking Water (2009) directed by Sterlin Harjo, *** 1/2
Stray Dogs (2013) directed by Tsai Ming-liang, ****
The Lighthouse (2019) directed by Robert Eggers, * 1/2
Berberian Sound Studio (2012) directed by Peter Strickland, ** 1/2
His House (2020) directed by Remi Weekes, ***
Relic (2020) directed by Natalie Erika James, **** 1/2
La Llorona (2019) directed by Jayro Bustamante, ****
Sleep Dealer (2008) directed by Alex Rivera, *** 1/2