Take Out (2004)

I used to love Mumblecore films. The idea that you could take a few friends and film an improvised drama or comedy on consumer-grade cameras was inspiring to my younger self. Sean Baker is not part of the mumblecore movement, but he taps into the same part of my brain that loves mumblecore. Baker’s films have the same lo-fi, improvised feel as a mumblecore film. He also uses numerous non-professional actors, often in major roles, but there’s a key difference that not only separates Baker from that movement but also elevates his work above most of those films.

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Ratcatcher (1999)

Lynne Ramsay’s coming-of-age drama Ratcatcher is the kind of film I hate writing about. Don’t get me wrong—it’s artful and subtle in a way that can only be truly communicated through film. The problem—excuse me, my problem—is that I like to believe a good review provides both questions and answers. Ratcatcher is a film where there are no easy answers, and I’m not even sure what questions I should be asking.

What I mean is that it’s hard for me to tell, scene by scene, what decisions are deliberate and what decisions exist to show the randomness of childhood. Film logic dictates that every scene moves the narrative forward, but here, I just don’t know how. Let’s see if we can find out.

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Mystery Train (1989)

I love anthologies! Why don’t they make more anthologies? Yorgos Lanthimos made Kinds of Kindness this year—did I see it? Oops, I’m part of the problem! But I look forward to seeing it because anthologies are perfect for short attention spans (like mine). Don’t like the story? Just wait for the next one. If you want to argue that anthologies are annoying because the movie keeps having to stop and restart, let me try to convince you to reconsider with this review of Jim Jarmusch’s Mystery Train.

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Streetwise (1984)

The first time I read about Martin Bell’s 1984 film Streetwise was in the December 2009 issue of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine. The issue was dedicated to “75 Years of Seattle Movies,” and no film in that issue piqued my interest like Streetwisee. A gritty documentary about teens living on the streets of my city? But Seattle’s not a dangerous, hardened, urban jungle like New York, right? Right?!?

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Quadrophenia (1979)

The Who? I love bands. I’ve loved The Who ever since they were the Hillbilly Bugger Boys. So why hadn’t I seen this movie before? Because I’m not a big fan of the album. I like Quadrophenia, but I don’t LIKE like Quadrophenia. It has my favorite Who track, “The Real Me,” but it also has one of my least favorite Who tracks, “Love, Reign o’er Me.” And you better believe that song makes its presence known throughout that album’s sprawling 81-minute runtime. But what about the movie?

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Wise Blood (1979)

I can’t believe John Huston, grizzled director of the iconic The Maltese Falcon and director of propaganda films to support the war effort during WWII, was not only still directing films in 1979, but films that were just as weird and compelling as anything being made by the twentysomething hippies and burnouts of New Hollywood. This is a man who worked with Humphrey Bogart, now filming a man stealing a shrunken mummy from a museum and a guy pounding his chest in a gorilla suit. What a career and what a film.

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