NEW RELEASES SEEN,
2022
([s] short, under 30 minutes; [m] medium length, 30-69 min; *
grade changed upon repeat viewing)
[pretty much flawless]
[really freaking great]
Coma (Bertrand Bonello, France)
Devil's Peak (Simon Liu, Hong Kong / U.S. / U.K.) [m]
Instant Life (Anja Dornieden, Juan David González Monroy, Andrew Kim, Germany) [s]
[very strong]
After Work (Céline Condorelli and Ben Rivers, U.K.) [s]
Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg, Canada / Greece)
Detective vs. Sleuths (Wai Ka Fai, Hong Kong)
urban solutions (Arne Hector, Vinicius Lopes, Luciana Mazeto, Minze Tummescheit, Brazil / Germany) [m]
When We Were Monsters (Steve Reinke / James Richards, U.K.) [s]
[all in all, I quite enjoyed this film]
Against Time (Ben Russell, France) [s]
At the Edge of the Curtain (Antoinette Zwirchmayr, Austria) [s]
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, Ireland / U.K. / U.S.)
Becoming Male in the Middle Ages (Pedro Neves Marques, Portugal) [s]
Blind Date (Jan Soldat, Germany) [s]
Bouquets 31-40 (Rose Lowder, France, 2015-2022) [s]
The Cathedral (Ricky D'Ambrose, U.S. / Italy)
Confess, Fletch (Greg Mottola, U.S.)
Configurations (James Edmonds, Germany / U.K.) [s]
A Couple (Frederick Wiseman, U.S. / France) [m]
Darkness, Darkness, Burning Bright: Oraison (Gaëlle Rouard, France) [m]
Darkness, Darkness, Burning Bright: Prelude (Gaëlle Rouard, France) [m]
Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook, South Korea)
The Demands of Ordinary Devotion (Eva Giolo, Italy) [s]
Dos Estaciones (Juan Pablo González, Mexico)
Either or Neither (Daniel Barnett, U.S.)
EO (Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland / Italy)
EVENTIDE (Sharon Lockhart, U.S. / Sweden) [m]
Exhibition (Mary Helena Clark, U.S.) [s]
Expedition Content (Ernst Karel and Veronika Kusumaryati, U.S.)
Fabian: Going to the Dogs (Dominik Graf, Germany)
Fairytale (Aleksandr Sokurov, Russia)
F1ghting Looks Different 2 Me Now (Fox Maxy, Mesa Verde Reservation / U.S.) [s]
Fire of Love (Sara Dosa, U.S. / Canada)
A Floating World (Jean-Claude Rousseau, France / Japan) [m]
Flora (Nicolás Pereda, Mexico) [s]
gewesen sein wird / will have been (Sasha Pirker, Austria) [s]
The Girl Who Is (Sara Sowell, U.S.) [s]
Glass Life (Sara Cwyner, Canada) [s]
Glass Onion (Rian Johnson, U.S.)
Golden Jubilee (Suneil Sanzgiri, India / U.S.) [s]
Gush (Fox Maxy, Mesa Verde Reservation / U.S.) [m]
Heliotrope (Janie Geiser, U.S.) [s]
Heron 1954-2002 (Alexis McCrimmon, U.S.) [s]
High Heel Beloved (Leslie Thornton, U.S.) [s]
Hit the Road (Panah Panahi, Iran)
Hors-Titre (Wiame Haddad, France) [s]
Human Flowers of Flesh (Helena Wittmann, Germany / France)
Di Humani Corporis Fabrica (Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, France / U.S.)
I Thought the World of You (Kurt Walker, Canada) [s]
Impersonator (Andrew Norman Wilson, U.S.) [s]
Jackass Forever (Jeff Tremaine, U.S.)
Kicking the Clouds (Sky Hopinka, Ho-Chunk / Luiseño) [s]
Last Screening (Darezhan Omirbayev, Kazakhstan / Kyrgyzstan) [s]
Light Signal (Emily Chao, U.S.) [s]
Lingui (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Chad / France / Belgium / Germany)
Lungta (Alexandra Cuesta, Mexico / Ecuador) [s]
Maria Schneider, 1983 (Elisabeth Subrin, U.S. / France) [s]
Master (Mariama Diallo, U.S.)
Mnemonics of Shape and Reason (Sky Hopinka, Ho-Chunk Nation / U.S.) [s]
Moire / Écume (Maxime Hot, France) [s]
Moonrise (Vincent Grenier, U.S. / Canada) [s]
M*U*S*H (Jodie Mack, U.S.) [s]
NE Corridor (Joshua Gen Solondz, U.S.) [s]
The Newest Olds (Pablo Mazzolo, Argentina) [s]
Nobody's Hero (Alain Guiraudie, France)
Notes, Imprints (On Love): Part II, Carmela (Alexandra Cuesta, Ecuador / U.S.) [s]
Object Permanence (Alix Blevins, U.S.) [s]
Oh, Butterfly! (Sylvia Schedelbauer, Germany / Japan / U.S.) [s]
open sky / open sea / open ground (Martín Baus and Libertad Gills, Ecuador) [s]
Paradiso, XXXI, 118 (Kamal Aljafari, Palestine / Germany) [s]
The Passengers of the Night (Mikhäel Hers, France)
A Perfect Storm (Karel Doing, Netherlands) [s]
Picasso in Vallauris (Peter Nestler, Germany) [m]
El Planeta (Amalia Ulman, U.S. / Spain)
Prometheus (Dominic Angerame, U.S.) [s]
Puerta a puerta (Jessica Sarah Rinland and Luis Arnías, U.S. / Mexico / Venezuela) [s]
Rewind and Play (Alain Gomis, France / Germany / Lebanon) [m]
Robe of Gems (Natalia López Gallardo, Argentina / Mexico / U.S.)
Safe Place (Juraj Lerotić, Croatia / Slovenia)
Sea Series 23 (John Price, Canada) [s]
seeing her (Lindsay McIntyre, Canada) [s]
The Sky's In There (Dani and Sheilah ReStack, U.S.) [s]
Sometimes a little Sin is good for the Soul (Alex Beriault, Canada) [s]
Subtraction (Mani Haghighi, Iran)
TÁR (Todd Field, U.S.)
The Time That Separates Us (Parastoo Anoushahpour, Jordan / Palestine / Canada) [m]
The Tomb of Kafka (Jean-Claude Rousseau, France) [s]
Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund, Denmark / France / Germany / Greece / Mexico / Sweden / Turkey / U.K. / U.S.)
2020 (Friedl vom Gröller Kubelka, Austria) [s]
ul-Umra (Guatam Valluri, India / France) [s]
Unrest (Cyril Schäublin, Switzerland)
Vecino Vecino (Camila Galaz, Chile) [s]
Viking (Stéphane Lafleur, Canada)
Vortex (Gaspar Noé, France / Belgium / Monaco)
Welcome (Jean-Claude Rousseau, France) [s]
What Distinguishes the Past (Ben Russell, U.S.) [s]
What Do We See When We Look At the Sky? (Alexandre Koberidze, Georgia / Germany)
Will-o'-the-Wisp (João Pedro Rodrigues, Portugal / France) [m]
Word (Beata Parkanová, Czechia / Slovakia / Poland)
XCXHXEXRXRXIXEXSX (Ken Jacobs, U.S., 1980 / 2021)
[mostly has my admiration, but there are definite flaws]
The Adventures of Gigi the Law (Alessandro Comodin, Italy / France / Belgium)
The African Desperate (Martine Syms, U.S.)
After Blue (Dirty Paradise) (Bertrand Mandico, France)
After Yang (Kogonada, U.S.)
Aftersun (Charlotte Wells, U.K.)
Answering the Sun (Rainer Kohlberger, Austria / Germany) [m]
Autoimmune (Marcos Serafim, U.S.) [s]
Azor (Andreas Fontana, Argentina / France / Switzerland)
Black Hole Space Debt (Stephen Wardell, U.S.) [s]
The Bob's Burgers Movie (Loren Bouchard and Bernard Derriman, U.S.)
CafeBarRestaurant (Nick Collins, U.K.) [s]
Candyman (Nia DaCosta, U.S. / Canada)
Chyme (Brandon Wilson, U.S.) [s]
Concrete Valley (Antoine Bourges, Canada)
Condition / Decondition (Jason Osder, U.S.) [s]
Corsage (Marie Kreutzer, Austria / Germany / Luxembourg / France)
The Day Lives Briefly Unscented (Brandon Wilson, U.S.) [s]
Dry Ground Burning (Adirley Queirós and Joana Pimenta, Brazil / Portugal)
Eami (Paz Encina, Paraguay / U.S. / Germany / Netherlands / Argentina / France)
Elvis (Baz Luhrmann, U.S. / Australia)
Encanto (Byron Howard and Jared Bush, U.S.)
Entrunken (Friedl vom Gröller, Austria) [s]
Eternal Beach (Nisi Jacobs, U.S.) [s]
Everything Went Fine (François Ozon, France)
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, U.S.)
Feathers (Omar El Zohairy, Egypt / France / Netherlands / Greece)
Fluid Dynamics: Steady Flow (Maximilien Luc Proctor, U.S. / France) [s]
From the Ground (Anna Marziano, Italy / France) [s]
Harkis (Philippe Faucon, France / Belgium)
A Hero (Asghar Farhadi, Iran / France)
Horse Opera (Moyra Davey, U.S.)
In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun (Sylvia Schedelbauer, Germany / Japan / U.S.) [s]
The Integrity of Joseph Chambers (Robert Machoian, U.S.)
It Is Night in America (Ana Vaz, Italy / Brazil / France) [m]
The Kingdom: Exodus (Lars von Trier, Denmark / Sweden / Belgium)
Looking Backward (Ben Balcom, U.S.) [s]
Madness Remixed (Rhea Storr, U.K.) [s]
Medicine Bundle (Thirza Cuthand, Canada) [s]
Mother and Son (Léonor Serraille, France)
My Imaginary Country (Patricio Guzmán, Chile / France)
The Novelist's Film (Hong Sangsoo, South Korea)
of and from (Nick Collins, U.K.) [s]
Paris, 13th District [Les Olympiades] (Jacques Audiard, France)
Partial Differential Equation (Kevin Jerome Everson, U.S.) [s]
Patent 1,571,148 (Kevin Jerome Everson, U.S.) [s]
Pigment-Dispersion Syndrome (Jennifer Todd Reeves, U.S.) [s]
Pleasure (Ninja Thyberg, Sweden / Netherlands / France)
The Potemkinists (Radu Jude, Romania) [s]
Puncture (Carleen Maur, U.S.) [s]
Punctured Sky (Jon Rafman, Canada) [s]
Riotsville, USA (Sierra Pettengill, U.S.)
RRR (S.S. Rajamouli, India)
Saint Omer (Alice Diop, France)
Sea of Sighs (J.M. Martínez, U.S.) [s]
She Gather Me (Miatta Kawinzi, U.S.) [s]
Slaughterhouses of Modernity (Heinz Emigholz, Germany)
Solace (Chantal Partamian, Lebanon) [s]
The Sower of Stars (Lois Patiño, Spain / Japan) [s]
Splendid Isolation (Urszula Antoniak, Netherlands)
Squish! (Tulapop Saenjaroen, Thailand / Singapore) [s]
Stars at Noon (Claire Denis, France / U.S.)
Station II (Michael Hubbard, U.S.) [s]
Stonewalling (Ryuji Otsuka and Huang Ji, China / Japan)
Surface Rites (Ryan Ferko, Faraz Anoushahpor, and Parastoo Anoushahpor, Canada / Iran) [s]
The Tale of King Crab (Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis, Italy / Argemtina)
Talking About the Weather (Annika Pinske, Germany)
A Thousand Years Ago (Edgar Jorge Baralt, U.S.) [s]
III (Alexandre Larose, Argentina/ Canada) [s]
Three Thousand Years of Longing (George Miller, Australia / U.S.)
Three Tidy Tigers Tied a Tie Tighter (Gustavo Vinagre, Brazil)
Tommy Guns (Carlos Conceição, Angola / France / Portugal)
Top Gun: Maverick (Joseph Kosinski, U.S.)
Triforium (Jayne Parker, U.K.) [s]
Unclenching the Fists (Kira Kovalenko, Russia)
The United States of America (James Benning, U.S.)
The Unstable Object II (Daniel Eisenberg, U.S. / Germany / France / Turkey)
A Vessel, The Ideas Pass Through (Linnea Nugent, U.S.) [s]
What Rules the Invisible (Tiffany Sia, U.S. / Hong Kong) [s]
When There Is No More Music to Write, and Other Roman Stories (Éric Baudelaire, France / Italy) [m]
A Woman Escapes (Sofia Bohdanowicz / Burak Çevik / Blake Williams, Canada / France / Turkey)
X (Ti West, U.S. / Canada)
You Could Have Seen the Mona Lisa (Doug Dillaman, U.S. / New Zealand) [s]
[average, but with some merit]
A Chiara (Jonas Carpignano, Italy / France / Sweden)
Aipeia (Nick Collins, U.K.) [s]
Armageddon Time (James Gray, U.S. / Brazil)
Berlin Fire (Pedro Maia, Germany / Portugal) [s]
Belle (Mamoru Hosoda, Japan)
Bigger On the Inside (Angelo Madsen Minax, U.S.) [s]
Both Sides of the Blade (Claire Denis, France / U.K.)
Boys Beware (Eden Poag, U.S.) [s]
Broker (Hirokazu Kore-eda, South Korea)
Causeway (Lila Neugebauer, U.S. / Finland)
The City and the City (Christos Passalis and Syllas Tzoumerkas, Greece / Germany / U.S.)
Close (Lukas Dhont, Belgium / France / Netherlands)
Curve the Night Sky (Peggy Ahwesh, U.S.) [s]
Deep Water (Adrian Lyne, U.S.)
Domingo and the Mist (Ariel Escalante, Costa Rica / Qatar)
Falcon Lake (Charlotte Le Bon, Canada / France)
Fire Emergencies (Kevin Jerome Everson, U.S.) [s]
The Following Images Never Happened (Noé Grenier, France) [s]
Framing Agnes (Chase Joynt, Canada)
Girl Picture (Alli Haapasalo, Finland)
Global Fruit (G. Anthony Svatek, U.S.) [s]
Happening (Audrey Diwan, France)
Hunt (Lee Jung-jae, South Korea)
I Want You Back (Jason Orley, U.S.)
The Kegelstatt Trio (Rita Azevedo Gomes, Portugal / Spain)
Kimi (Steven Soderbergh, U.S.)
A Little Love Package (Gastón Solnicki, Austria / Argentina)
The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Greece / U.K. / Israel / U.S.)
The Maiden (Graham Foy, Canada)
Magdala (Damien Manivel, France)
Mutzenbacher (Ruth Beckermann, Austria)
Nanny (Nikyatu Jusu, U.S.)
The Night of the 12th (Dominik Moll, France / Belgium)
Nitram (Justin Kurzel, Australia)
Nope (Jordan Peele, U.S. / Japan)
The Northman (Robert Eggers, U.S. / China)
Notebook From 22 (Nick Collins, U.K.) [s]
Of This Beguiling Membrane (Charlotte Pryce, U.S.) [s]
100 Ways to Cross the Border (Amber Bemak, Mexico / U.S.)
Paper Bag Test (Trevon Jakaar Coleman, U.S.) [s]
Das Rad (Friedl vom Gröller, Austria) [s]
Return to Seoul (Davy Chou, France / South Korea / Belgium / Cambodia / Germany / Qatar / Romania)
A River Runs, Turns, Erases, Replaces (Shengze Zhu, China)
SEAM (Sheri Wills, U.S.) [s]
Shashin no Ma (Tetsuya Maruyama, Japan) [s]
shadow swells (Karissa Hahn, U.S.) [s]
A Short Story (Bi Gan, China) [s]
Skinamarink (Kyle Edward Ball, Canada)
Stone Turtle (Woo Ming Jin, Malaysia / Indonesia)
Sundown (Michel Franco, Mexico / France / Sweden)
Suzanna Andler (Benoit Jacquot, France)
The Tragedy of Macbeth (Joel Coen, U.S.)
Tropicollage (Astria Suparak, U.S.) [s]
Turning Red (Domee Shi, U.S.)
Under the Fig Trees (Erige Sehiri, Tunisia / France / Switzerland / Germany / Qatar)
Up Close (Sam Gurry, U.S.) [s]
Upwards Tide (Daniela Zahlner, U.S. / Germany) [s]
You Have to Come and See It (Jónas Trueba, Spain) [m]
[all in all, I did not enjoy this film]
The Adam Project (Shawn Levy, U.S.)
Alive in Death (Maliyamungu Muhande, U.S.) [s]
The Dam (Ali Cherri, Sudan / France / Germany / Serbia)
Dark Glasses (Dario Argento, Italy / France)
death by fantasies by mirrors (Charlotte Clermont, Canada) [s]
CODA (Siân Heder, U.S. / France)
Contour (Fabio Andrade, Brazil) [s]
Cow (Andrea Arnold, U.K.)
Dans les cieux et sur la terre (Erin Weisgerber, Canada) [s]
Do Revenge (Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, U.S.)
The Eternal Daughter (Joanna Hogg, U.K.)
Flux Gourmet (Peter Strickland, U.K. / Hungary / U.S.)
45th Parallel (Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Canada / U.K. / U.S.) [s]
Fresh (Mimi Cave, U.S.)
from time without beginning (Lorenzo Gattorna, U.S. / India) [s]
Holiday (Azucena Losana, Argentina / Brazil / Mexico) [s]
Holy Spider (Ali Abbasi, Denmark / France / Sweden / Germany)
The Inspection (Elegance Bratton, U.S.)
La Jauría (Andrés Ramirez Pulido, Colombia / France)
Joyland (Saim Sadiq, Pakistan)
Leonor Will Never Die (Martika Ramirez Escobar, Philippines)
Luminae (Dominic Angerame, U.S.) [s]
Memory Playthrough (Sim Hahahah, U.S.) [s]
Men (Alex Garland, U.K.)
The Mountain (Thomas Salvador, France)
Postlude (Roger Deutsch, Hungary) [s]
The Restless (Joachim Lafosse, Belgium / France / Luxembourg)
Singing in Oblivion (Eve Heller, Austria) [s]
Skinship (Mike Hoolboom, Canada) [s]
Three Floors (Nanni Moretti, Italy / France)
Tora's Husband (Rima Das, India)
Tori and Lokita (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Belgium / France)
Underground Rivers (Simón Vélez, Colombia) [s]
A Valley Without Trees (Janelle VanderKelen, U.S.) [s]
VS (Lydia Nsiah, Austria) [s]
[very weak indeed (or in some cases just wrongheaded)]
Alone Sleeps the Water, Frozen She Awakes (Sofía Petersen, Argentina) [s]
D'Homme A Homme (Yashaddai Owens, U.S.) [s]
Leonora Addio (Paolo Taviani, Italy)
Microcosmos (Takashi Makino, Japan) [s]
That Kind of Summer (Denis Côté, Canada)
The Whale (Darren Aronofsky, U.S.)
[unusually, startlingly bad]
[no redeeming value whatsoever]
[walk-outs / turn-offs]
Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood (Richard Linklater, U.S. / Netherlands) (0:30)
Children of the Mist (Diem Ha Le, Vietnam) (0:27)
Emily the Criminal (John Patton Ford, U.S.) (0:56)
Happer's Comet (Tyler Taormina, U.S.) [m] (0:40)
Hot in Day, Cold at Night (Park Song-yeol, South Korea) (0:34)
The Innocents (Eskil Vogt, Norway / Denmark / Finland / Sweden) (0:30)
Once Upon a Time in Calcutta (Aditya Vikram Sengupta, India / France / Norway) (0:42)
Petrov's Flu (Kirill Serebrennikov, Russia / France / Germany / Switzerland) (0:34)
Pilgrims (Laurynas Bareiša, Lithuania) (0:41)
The Severing (Mark Pellington, U.S.) (0:30)
Watcher (Chloe Okuno, U.S. / U.A.E.) (0:34)
White Building (Kavich Neang, Cambodia / Qatar / China / France) (0:40)
[very briefly sampled]
Ambulance (Michael Bay, U.S.)
Animal Eye (Maxime Martinot, France / Portugal)
Argentina, 1985 (Santiago Mitre, Argentina / U.S. / U.K.)
Aribada (Simon(è) Jaikiriuma Paetau / Natalia Escobar, Colombia / Germany) [m]
Athena (Romain Gavras, France)
Blonde (Andrew Dominik, U.S.)
Bones and All (Luca Guadagnino, Italy / U.K. / U.S.)
Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (Nina Menkes, U.S.)
Constant (Sasha Litvintseva and Beny Wagner, U.K. / Germany) [m]
The Deep (Gavin Hipkins, New Zealand) [s]
Elephant (Maria Judice, U.S.)
The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra (Park Syeyoung, South Korea) [m]
First Hypnotic Suggestion (Brittany Gravely and Ken Linehan, U.S.) [s]
Granary Squares (Gonçalo Lamas, U.K. / Portugal) [m]
Kafka For Kids (Roee Rosen, Israel)
Lácrimas (Jeremy Moss, U.S.) [s]
Met Mes (Sam de Jong, Netherlands)
Mother Schmuckers (Lenny and Harpo Guit, Belgium)
Murina (Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, Croatia / Slovenia / Brazil / U.S.)
Peter von Kant (François Ozon, France)
Pinhole Park (Alex MacKenzie, Canada) [s]
Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush (Andreas Dresen, Germany / France)
Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1 (Mani Ratnam, India)
Shankar's Fairies (Irfana Majumdar, India)
Show Me Other Places (Rajee Samarasinghe, Sri Lanka) [s]
The Silver Reel (Josh Gibson, U.S.) [s]
Singing in the Wilderness (Chen Dongnan, China)
Strawberry Mansion (Kentucker Audley / Albert Birney, U.S.)
The Super 8 Years (Annie Ernaux and David Ernaux-Briot, France) [m]
Watch the Fire or Burn Inside It (Caroline Poggi / Jonathan Vinel, France) [s]
Who Is Afraid of Ideology? - Part 4 - Reverse Shot (Marwa Arsanios, Germany / Lebanon) [m]
You Won't Be Alone (Goran Stolevski, Australia / Serbia / U.K.)