Three films in the new year

We’ve watched three movies over the past two week and each one has been incredible and memorable and almost-perfect in very, very different ways.

Parasite

I have no clue how to describe or characterize Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, but that inability to peg it down may be exactly why I adored this movie so much. Part family drama, part comedy, part thriller, part heist, part satire, and part who-knows-what-else, this film is delectably shot, perfectly-acted, and incredibly acute in its devastating takedown of social inequality. It is the movie for our time; it is the movie of our time. It is unsettling and unnerving, but more than that, it is undeniably fun. I’ll have to go watch it again soon, but in the meantime, enjoy this great breakdown of Parasite’s perfect montage by The Nerdwriter:

The Farewell

I was raised by my grandmother; she is the woman who has had the most influence in making me the man that I am now. It’s no surprise that I was in tears for the majority of The Farewell: not just tears of sadness, but also tears of joy from witnessing and relishing the great bonds we have with our grandmothers, and the delight we find when we are all together, a great big family, whether in sadness or celebration. My family is large, and close, and loving; it was such a treat to see this same dynamic on screen in The Farewell, to see a family navigate hard times with grace and humour and togetherness, and especially with love. I loved listening to Lulu Wang break down how the drafts of The Farewell’s screenplay changed in Vanity Fair’s Notes on a Screenplay:

Little Women

I wonder, sometimes, why they didn’t make me read Little Women, the novel, in school, or at any time in my childhood. Was it because I was a boy? Was it because they didn’t think I would find the story, the characters, captivating? If the novel is even half as entertaining and exciting as Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women, I would have devoured it, ravenously. Gerwig’s film is funny and heartfelt and thrilling; the art direction and costumes are period-perfect, and the way the camera moves and captures it all is engrossing. The acting is superlative (Florence Pugh especially shines) and the script, with all the time and space shifting, is engrossing. I’ll be seeking out a copy of Little Women, the novel, later this month, just based on the strength of Little Women, the film.