Gothika (2003)

IMDb plot summary: A depressed female psychiatrist wakes up as a patient in the asylum where she worked, with no memory of why she is there or what she has done.
Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. Starring Halle Berry, Robert Downey Jr., Charles S. Dutton, and John Carroll Lynch.

When Halle Berry looks the bad guy in the eyes and says, "Logic is overrated," she is absolutely trying to convince the audience to like this movie, because it is absolutely ridiculous. But I found myself liking it way more than I should, in a cheesy lurid B-movie kind of way. A lot of reviews of this movie cited Halle Berry's performance as being good even among the mess, and I absolutely agree, I think she's what holds this thing together for me even while the plot is spinning off into goofiness. A silly, enjoyably atmospheric watch for me, but it is a ludicrous movie.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Gothika < Lost in America
Gothika > Life with Father
Gothika > Metropolis (1927)
Gothika > Incredibles 2
Gothika < The Deer Hunter
Gothika > Lazer Team
Gothika < South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Gothika < La Haine
Gothika < Air Force One
Gothika < Tokyo Story
Gothika > First Blood
Gothika < Inland Empire
Final spot: #1720 out of 3150.

Tomboy (2011)

IMDb plot summary: A family moves into a new neighborhood, and a 10-year-old named Laure deliberately presents as a boy named Mikhael to the neighborhood children.
Directed by Céline Sciamma. Starring Zoé Héran, Malonn Lévana, Jeanne Disson, and Sophie Cattani.

This is such a lovely simple little movie. I love that it doesn't jump all over the place trying to dig into the psyche of or diagnose this child or provide All These Reasons why she did what she did... it just tells the story of the time she told people she was a boy and how that went. Gender expression can be complicated. I really loved the scenes with the little sister who not only accepted but loved Laure/Mickael, whether as her sister or her brother. Really beautifully done.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Tomboy > A Foreign Affair
Tomboy > Gremlins
Tomboy < Broadway Danny Rose
Tomboy > The Bumblebee Flies Anyway
Tomboy > A Streetcar Named Desire
Tomboy < Black Panther
Tomboy > Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Tomboy > I've Loved You so Long
Tomboy > Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Tomboy < High School Musical
Tomboy < Now, Voyager
Tomboy < In the Loop
Final spot: #448 out of 3149.

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989)

IMDb plot summary: An unbalanced but alluring former mental patient takes a porn star prisoner in the hopes of convincing her to marry him.
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Starring Victoria Abril, Antonio Banderas, Loles León, and María Barranco.

(Spoilers ahead.)

Oooooof. So from what I've been reading about Almodovar's take on this movie, I THINK I'm supposed to end the movie sympathizing with the kidnapper and rooting for their relationship in some dark quirky way, and I just... can't. He's just so clearly going to murder her the first time they have any disagreements. I can kind of make it work if I assume that her tears at the end are a Graduate-style "what have I done" response, but reviews and synopses are telling me those are tears of happiness. It's apparently suppposed to be half romantic comedy and half horror but it's just full horror for me, and far too realistic in how he treats her for me to even lean into the "But, Hannah, you like Beauty and the Beast!" vibe.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! < The Good Dinosaur
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! > Life with Father
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! < Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! < The Little Princess (1939)
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! < The Dinner Game
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! < Sorry, Wrong Number
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! < The Love Witch
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! < Without a Clue
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! < A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! > Blue Velvet
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! < Star Wars Uncut: Director's Cut
Final spot: #2357 out of 3148.

Live Flesh (1997)

IMDb plot summary: After leaving jail, Víctor is still in love with Elena, but she's married to the former cop -now basketball player- who became paralysed by a shot from Víctor's gun...
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Starring Javier Bardem, Francesca Nero, Liberto Rabal, and Ángela Molina. 

(Mild spoilers.)

Several reviews call this out as one of Almodovar's more restrained films, which perhaps allows this to work a little better for me than most of his others have. I was really struck by the characterization in this. While I couldn't for the life of me figure out who I was actually supposed to be rooting for (Clara maybe? Victor by the end?) it actually improved my opinion of the movie because it felt here like a result of nuanced characters rather than a muddled worldview. And every dramatic twist seemed to be genuinely tied to their characters, rather than a curveball thrown in my fate, allowing me to follow the characters' arcs. I admit the political angle is lost on me here -- I can't figure out how the title card detailing loss of civil rights in 1970s Spain connects to the rest of the story -- but at least the strictly narrative pieces here felt less inscrutable than my previous Almodovar's. I'm making progress!

How it entered my Flickchart:
Live Flesh > The Stalking Moon
Live Flesh < Gremlins
Live Flesh < Wonder Man
Live Flesh > Phantom Thread
Live Flesh < Ice Age
Live Flesh > Limitless
Live Flesh < Notes on a Scandal
Live Flesh > The Master
Live Flesh < You Can Count on Me
Live Flesh < My Favorite Year
Live Flesh < Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997)
Live Flesh > Alice (1990)
Final spot: #1313 out of 3147.

Bad Education (2004)

IMDb plot summary: An examination on the effect of Franco-era religious schooling and sexual abuse on the lives of two longtime friends.
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Starring Gael García Bernal, Fele Martínez, Daniel Giménez Cacho, and Lluís Homar.

Pedro Almodovar really likes to toss just, like, every plot device in his movies, huh? I've now seen two back to back (with more to go, as I'm watching a bunch of his movies for a movie group I'm in) and they both leave me with a similar feeling, of being just... too busy and too all-over-the-place. I can't settle into what I'm supposed to be getting out of this, either experientially or intellectually. That being said, as a "just buckle in and enjoy the ride" with some good scenes, including one that really only hit me hindsight. But this director hasn't snapped into place for me yet.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Bad Education > The Stalking Moon
Bad Education < Gremlins
Bad Education < Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Bad Education < I Saw the Devil
Bad Education > Star Trek: Nemesis
Bad Education < Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Bad Education > Les Miserables (2012)
Bad Education > Camp
Bad Education > Ratatouille
Bad Education > My Week With Marilyn
Bad Education > The Seventh Seal
Bad Education < The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair (1990)
Final spot: #1427 out of 3146.

In the Year of the Pig (1968)

IMDb plot summary: A documentary chronicling the background to, and history of, the Vietnam War.
Directed by Emile de Antonio.

While this is fascinating as a documentary in that it is *so* close in time to the Vietnam War, it's also a war documentary, which is just not my genre at all. I'm a little embarrassed to admit just how little I know about our time in Vietnam, and watching this documentary happening right in the thick of it speaks to an audience with a greater shared understanding of the conflict as current events than I have as someone born 20 years after it ended. It could very well be one for me to come back to sometime with a stronger grasp on the details of the conflict, but for now I'm interested in it more as a piece of history documentation than as an engaging watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:
In the Year of the Pig < Cake
In the Year of the Pig > Shrek 2
In the Year of the Pig < The 400 Blows
In the Year of the Pig > Where to Invade Next
In the Year of the Pig > When Strangers Click
In the Year of the Pig > The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)
In the Year of the Pig < Pat and Mike
In the Year of the Pig > Sliding Doors
In the Year of the Pig > Despicable Me
In the Year of the Pig > Vantage Point
In the Year of the Pig > Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
Final spot: #1992 out of 3145.

Broken Embraces (2009)

IMDb plot summary: Harry Caine, a blind writer, reaches this moment in time when he has to heal his wounds from 14 years back. He was then still known by his real name, Mateo Blanco, and directing his last movie.
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Starring Penélope Cruz, Lluís Homar, Blanca Portillo, and José Luis Gómez.

Oh goodness, all the drama in this one. It's a very soap opera-esque plot, full of hidden secrets and dramatic reveals, and I had trouble really connecting with it deeply because I was all a little too aware of the farfetchedness of so many plot points. I did enjoy the ending, and I liked some of the visuals. A lot of reviews I read pointed specifically to the use of primary colors throughout, which was definitely distinct, though it wasn't quite enough to wow me when the plot didn't.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Broken Embraces > Dumbo
Broken Embraces < Forgiving Dr. Mengele
Broken Embraces < Once Upon a Mattress (2005)
Broken Embraces < White Nights
Broken Embraces < The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Broken Embraces > Dunkirk
Broken Embraces > Smokin' Aces
Broken Embraces < Closer
Broken Embraces < Poulenc: Dialoguess des Carmelites
Broken Embraces < The Vanishing
Broken Embraces < The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe (1988)
Broken Embraces < Cinema Paradiso
Final spot: #1498 out of 3144.