so i logged 100 films on letterboxd this year, by coincidence and not design - and i may have rewatched a couple or caught something on live tv and forgotten to log it

i might actually set a goal this year? the highest months had 14 films logged so using that i could aim for 168 this year but i would rather have some leeway so i will split the difference and say 134

https://boxd.it/1aMnn  you can add me if you’re also on it

the films i watched or rewatched and rated at least 4/5 were:
-jeanne dielman, 23, quai du commerce 1080 bruxelles (chantal akerman, 1975), 5*, incredibly brilliant
-the farewell (lulu wang, 2019), 4.5*, v touching while darkly funny, fantastic performances

by the way i forgot to mention i am making serious efforts to redress the gender imbalances in who directs the films i watch

-parasite (bong joon-ho 2019), 4*, honestly it was on track for 5* for most of the film but i didn’t care for the severity of the tonal shift in the final act even tho you could argue it’s kinda the point. still vvg tho

-skate kitchen (crystal moselle, 2018), 4*, quiet and understated portrayal of being a quiet and understated teenage girl, plus all the good bits about the skate community, delightful, sad, moving, etc

-girlfriends (claudia weill, 1978), 4*, idk how to summarise this one. manages feminist text and subtext which despite being upfront don’t derail it. just a naturalistic and accurate portrayal of the ways it is shit to be a woman lol

-queen of earth (alex ross perry, 2015), 4*, elisabeth moss does a good line in playing women who are falling apart. also it’s yet another film about female friendship and the tensions therein. is there perhaps a theme developing

-portrait of a lady on fire (céline sciamma, 2019), 4.5*, gorgeous, aching, tender
-high life (claire denis, 2018), 4*, all the different ways to unravel, in space. difficult to say more without spoilers

-wild rose (tom harper, 2018), 4*, this was so much better than its marketing made it look? i assume it being set in glasgow made me warm to it but the central performances are unflinchingly great

-little women (greta gerwig, 2019), 4*, i have never seen such an accurate portrayal of having a bunch of sisters

-never rarely sometimes always, (eliza hittman, 2020), 5*, blinding, quiet, important, real, and there is nothing like the bond between teenage girls

-river of grass (kelly reichardt, 1994), 4*, it’s a lot like, jankier and less restrained than her other films but has the same sense of frustration and suffocation, only this time as farce

-sorry we missed you (ken loach, 2019), 4.5*, grim as fuck, triggering as fuck because realistic as fuck, poverty destroys people, destroys relationships, fuck this evil shithole country and fuck capitalism

-paper moon (peter bogdanovich, 1973), 4*, idk it’s just fun and who doesn’t love a 9yo conwoman
-12 angry men (sidney lumet, 1957), 4.5*, the claustrophobia, the tension, the continuing relevance 60 years on, my god

-girl asleep (rosemary myers, 2015), 4*, i just found this very charming and am a sucker for weird breaks from reality that reveal a character’s interiority with humour but also sensitivity and this does that

-down with love (peyton reed, 2003), 4* and granted one of those stars is for the set design bc i want to live in a midcentury barbie dreamhouse but it was also an enjoyable romp/sendup of nudge-wink humour. austin powers but make it good

-the philadelphia story (george cukor, 1940), 4*, you can’t do much better for compelling viewability than katharine hepburn, cary grant AND james stewart and also although it’s about getting married it’s basically about how getting married is meaningless. thanks

-singin’ in the rain (stanley donen & gene kelly, 1952), 4.5*, i’m mainly in it for the weird prolonged psychedelic broadway melody dream ballet scene in the middle tbh

-now and then (lesli linka glatter, 1995), 4*, i will not be taking any questions i just want to watch films about gals vibing
-a league of their own (penny marshall, 1992), 4*, see above

-the witches of eastwick (george miller, 1987), 4.5*, honestly everyone in this film is giving 100% and it’s fuckin great

-make up (claire oakley, 2019), 4*, the liminal setting of a holiday park is perfect for the uneasy, uncanny, intense feelings of being on the cusp of adulthood with nothing figured out, and the elements of horror are so well-pitched, such a good debut feature, i want to see more

-us (jordan peele, 2019), 4.5*, genuinely gripping, unsettling, fucked up, etc
-the muppet christmas carol (brian henson, 1992), 4.5*, the muppets hate landlordism, would be 5 but i find the ghost of christmas past a bit insipid, should be played by a muppet

-klaus (sergio pablos, 2019), 4*, it’s a good christmas film idk what else to tell you
-how the grinch stole christmas (ron howard, 2000), 4*, not as good as the original grinch (5*) but retains the spirit of it way better than the 2018 one (2.5*)

-shirley (josephine decker, 2020), 4*, that’s right it’s elisabeth moss falling apart again

that’s all

only 1/3 of what i watched was not by men despite making an effort, it’s hard because of whose films actually get made (and even harder for racial parity, and more so because my brain is usually too xzfkmxljdndcnkd for subtitles) but i’m going to aim for 50% not men this year

i made myself do this bc i have to keep pushing myself to talk about stuff i like; i was v much not raised to do so and when people don’t like stuff i love i find it difficult to take bc of rejection sensitive dysphoria, though more with music than films tbf. feels less invested