+17
Two from my ballot, and including #15, that makes three in a row.
14. The Florida Project - Imagine a film about all the absolute worst that's lurking amongst the lower economic scale, from the point of view of children, and how they perceive the world during that brief stage of complete innocence. It took me a while to get on board, but after a while this novel vantage point really got under my skin and I found The Florida Project to be one of the absolute best films of the 21st Century so far. “You know why this is my favorite tree? Because it tipped over, and it’s still growing.” - a quote like that from a small child, and I'm thinking "that's one of the best movie quotes I've heard - one to remember." This film is full of moments to remember, and the ever-present presence of Willem Dafoe adds that special counter-point to our pint-sized misfits. Clever and unique, it's a film that also makes us more aware of the lasting impact our harmful behaviour has on our children and the next generation of hopeless drug addicts and hustlers - heavy stuff, but delivered in an energy-packed narrative with a child's optimism, so you come away from the film inspired instead of depressed. The Florida Project was my #7.
13. The Master - I miss Philip Seymour Hoffman more than any other actor who has passed away in recent memory. Together with Joaquin Phoenix in this, their characters forming a kind of homoerotic bond between pseudointellectual and easily influenced, an acting masterclass is formed and I'm just carried away watching both of them in this film. After a while it becomes obvious this is all about L. Ron Hubbard, and I really enjoy the way this film just exposes his vanity, and his intellectual limits, while also giving us an example of the kind of person who falls for this fake mystic persona. The Master makes me think that perhaps Paul Thomas Anderson is the best mainstream filmmaker of the early 21st Century, for he has so many great works to add to it - for anyone else, this would be their masterpiece. I have to mention Amy Adams as well, who does an absolutely fine job - but without Anderson I don't think the three actors could have been pushed to these heights. I am long, long overdue for a rewatch when it comes to The Master. It was my #10.
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Seen 79/88
Films on my radar : 4
Films I've never even heard about : 5
Films from my list : 13
#13 - My #10 - The Master (2012)
#14 - My #7 - The Florida Project (2017)
#15 - My #6 - Phantom Thread (2017)
#19 - My #21 - Get Out (2017)
#21 - My #3 - Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
#25 - My #20 - Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
#41 - My #16 - Melancholia (2011)
#54 - My #11 - Under the Skin (2013)
#60 - My #4 - Joker (2019)
#64 - My #8 - Manchester by the Sea (2016)
#71 - My #12 - Ida (2013)
#93 - My #15 - It Follows (2014)
#96 - My #1 - Hereditary (2018)
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Remember - everything has an ending except hope, and sausages - they have two.
We miss you Takoma