Betsy’s best films of 2024:
Telluride Film Festival:
- Emilia Pérez
- Conclave
- Outrun, The
| Anora | B |
| Barry Lyndon | C |
| Better Man | D |
| Bird | A |
| Blink | A |
| Conclave | A+ |
| Emilia Pérez | A+ |
| Friend, The | C |
| Maria | C |
| Martha | C |
| Nickel Boys | B |
| One to One: John & Yoko | B |
| Outrun, The | A |
| Saturday Night | B |
| Social Studies | A |
| Will & Harper | B |
| Zurawski vs. Texas | A+ |
Anora
People go absolutely nutty for Sean Baker films! And I get it. His flair for storytelling feels cooler than other films. Anora has his signature cartoonish Tom & Jerry-fights between our hero and the bad guys. It’s fun! That said, some of the “Fuck you” “No, fuck you” scenes felt kinda repetitive. I liked it. I didn’t love it.
Update: What do I know? This film won Best Picture. Hah!
Barry Lyndon
I had never seen Barry Lyndon, let alone on the big screen. Overall (sadly), my assessment was “Meh”. At 3+ hours, I was bored much more than I was delighted… ok, Stanley Kubrick – was that the point? People RAVE about this film. Kenneth Lonergan who introduced it, as a masterpiece (and who I admire as a masterpiece-filmmaker) said this is his favorite film. TOmato, toMAto, right? My favorite: Moonstruck. Barry Lyndon is no Moonstruck.
Better Man
Oof. Disclaimer: I don’t love Robbie Williams. So maybe that’s important in order to like this film. And – maybe this film sounded better in the pitch. Because Robbie Williams is a pop star and people know what he looks like so when he wanted an animated monkey to play him… well, maybe that sounded artsy and cool? One can only guess. But the execution – oof. Missed the target by 1000%. This film was pretty unwatchable. I walked out. And that’s rare… I walk out of a film every 10 years. Better Man was the winner!
Bird
Directed by Andrea Arnold (which is the reason I wanted to see Bird… because Andrea Arnold is such a beautiful filmmaker. And I like Bird a lot.
Blink
Conclave (One of my faves at Telluride Film Festival)
Emilia Pérez (My fave at Telluride Film Festival)
Netflix now
Friend, The
Maria
Martha
Side note: It would be really fun if SNL would do a mashup of Maria & Martha (called, naturally: Marthia) where Martha Stewart parades around a Parisien apartment in a long white macramé robe talking about her glory days as an opera singer while basting a turkey. Just a thought.
Nickel Boys
One to One: John & Yoko
Outrun, The (One of my faves at Telluride Film Festival)
Saturday Night
Social Studies
Love Lauren Greenfield’s films! In another TFF programmed documentary, The Kingmaker, Greenfield captured Imelda talking about putting DIAmonds in DIApers… How could we ever forget? Social Studies is about the direct impact that social media is affecting teenagers mental health. It’s terrifying – as you can imagine. The desire to be reckless, famous, rich… that’s not a new concept for adolescents.
Will & Harper
This is a good How To documentary for people who need a way to relate to Will Ferrell as a regular guy with a trans friend. To me, the story was told a bit too much of Ferrell’s POV. It’s also not one of the best docs I’ve seen this year – that top prize was clearly Between the Mountain and the Sky.
Showing now on Netflix.
Zurawski vs. Texas
If you’ve read my reviews in previous years, I’ve often said “Now – here’s a film that exemplifies precisely why WOMEN MUST TELL THEIR STORIES… we need to see ourselves.” This film demonstrates this perfectly. What could be more of a women-focused story than one talking about the need for safe abortions? This is the film that tells our story. These women who are suing Texas for safe healthcare are warriors. They should be celebrated. Wow. Oh yeah… and we got to shake Hillary Clinton’s hand. The woman who was supposed to be our president… only the world wasn’t ready. Or something. Now look were we are. UGH. How long must we wait? More info: https://reproductiverights.org/zurawski-v-texas/
Biggest TFF Regret: I missed September 5 which is my TFF regret (as I was told by Katie Trainor – TFF veteran, who gave it rave reviews). Alas, the film is being released for Christmas. Can’t wait to see it on the big screen, as God (and everyone who loves films) intended.
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