Sophie's Choice (1982)

IMDb plot summary: Sophie is the survivor of Nazi concentration camps, who has found a reason to live with Nathan, a sparkling if unsteady American Jew obsessed with the Holocaust.

Directed by Alan J. Pakula. Stars Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Peter MacNicol.

Sophie’s Choice is one of those cultural touchstones films I "should have" seen already... but I'm not convinced it quite deserves that title. The film follows a young writer who becomes entangled with Polish Holocaust survivor Sophie, played by Meryl Streep, and her highly volatile lover, played by Kevin Kline. The relationship between the latter two is both magnetic and toxic, filled with love, cruelty, and instability, and the writer becomes an audience insert observer of their dynamic. Streep is extraordinary here. Her acting choices for Sophie are both distinct and completely believable. Kline is also incredible, though, filling his scenes with a terrifying mania, making the pair fascinating but sometimes very difficult to watch. All that praise aside, though, I came away ultimately disappointed. Their relationship goes round and round in circles, peeling away layers and back story, until it culminates in the story of Sophie's titular "choice"... but that scene feels oddly disconnected from the rest of the story. It isn't the smoking gun revelation about Sophie that it's set up to be, it's just one more horrifically tragic piece of her past that then gets jumped past to tie up loose ends. Maybe the novel handles this better. I’m curious to read it and see if it's able to make that connection. As it stands, Sophie’s Choice is beautifully acted and very compelling for much of its runtime, but somehow both too long and not long enough to tie its pieces together.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Sophie's Choice (1982)

📊 Ranked #1613/4068 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 61

beat Cinderella (#2030 → #3078)

lost to Pig (#1013 → #1018)

lost to Muppet Treasure Island (#1520 → #1519)

beat Spy (#1776 → #2268)

beat Batman Forever (#1647 → #2262)

lost to Spider-Man 2 (#1584 → #1583)

lost to True Romance (#1615 → #1617)

beat Cake (#1631 → #1634)

beat Undercover Blues (#1623 → #1628)

lost to The Slipper and the Rose (held at #1619)

beat Logan (#1621 → #1624)

lost to The Trojan Women (#1620 → #1622)

I'm Still Here (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A woman married to a former politician during the military dictatorship in Brazil is forced to reinvent herself and chart a new course for her family after a violent and arbitrary act.

Directed by Walter Salles. Stars Fernanda Torres, Fernanda Montenegro, and Selton Mello.

I'm Still Here is a Brazilian film based on a true story about a family living through Brazil's military dictatorship of the 60s through the 80s. When the husband, a dissident politician husband, is arrested and disappears, we follow his wife holding her family together and seeking out the truth of what happened to her husband. The film unfolds slowly -- so slowly, in fact, that it took me almost the entire runtime to really get invested in the story. But patience pays off here: the final scene brings everything together beautifully and makes the rest of the story click into place for the first time. This is why I don't give up on movies halfway through if they're not working for me -- sometime you have these endings that flip it around entirely. It makes me want to rewatch it now that I know where it’s heading, because I feel like it would be an entirely different emotional experience for me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 I'm Still Here (2024)

📊 Ranked #1617/4067 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 61

beat Wristcutters: A Love Story (#2030 → #2031)

lost to Date Night (#1013 → #871)

lost to The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (#1541 → #1525)

beat The Help (#1741 → #1760)

beat The Long Kiss Goodnight (#1648 → #1704)

lost to Metal Lords (#1585 → #1551)

beat Vanya on 42nd Street (#1616 → #2161)

lost to Pushing Tin (#1584 → #1582)

lost to Godzilla (#1607 → #1494)

lost to The Shining (#1612 → #1607)

beat De-Lovely (#1614 → #2043)

beat Marie Antoinette (#1613 → #1658)

Silkwood (1983)

IMDb plot summary: A worker at a plutonium processing plant is purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing worker safety violations at the plant.

Directed by Mike Nichols. Stars Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher.

Silkwood tells the true story of Karen Silkwood, a worker at a plutonium processing plant who becomes a whistleblower when she starts to realize how many serious safety violations her company is allowing. This of course leads to pressure from the company for her to stop talking. Meryl Streep is so down to earth in this movie. I often don't like her playing "regular" people and find her more believable in more extreme characterizations, but she completely disappears into this role. Karen feels authentic, with a quiet strength that makes her feel realistically flawed but easy to root for. The story itself is infuriating -- in a "this should never have happened" way, not a "this is poorly written" way. You really feel the injustice of the big corporation crushing the sole individual speaking out. There is a good chunk of the film devoted to Karen's interpersonal drama with her boyfriend and her best friend roommate, and that's a lot less compelling, but it does offer some more context for her character, so I don't have too much of a complaint about it -- just that it's the least interesting part of the film. Overall, it’s a pretty good film: grounded, angry in all the right ways, and in many ways that's due entirely to Streep's strong performance.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Silkwood (1983)

📊 Ranked #1551/4066 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 63

beat Mame (#2029 → #2031)

lost to The Menu (#1013 → #1019)

lost to Superlopez (#1519 → #1367)

beat Evil (#1775 → #1783)

beat The Help (#1646 → #1779)

beat The Intouchables (#1583 → #1578)

lost to Malcolm X (#1551 → #1543)

beat Pushing Tin (#1567 → #1601)

lost to River's Edge (#1559 → #1550)

beat The Chorus (#1563 → #1723)

beat Blow Dry (#1561 → #1809)

beat mother! (held at #1560)

The Mean Season (1985)

IMDb plot summary: When a teenager is shot at the beach, a journalist from The Miami Journal is sent to cover the story. He's called by the murderer and told there'll be four more.

Directed by Phillip Borsos. Stars Kurt Russell, Mariel Hemingway, and Richard Jordan.

The Mean Season stars Kurt Russell as a journalist investigating a serial killer, when he begins to get phone calls from the killer himself, asking Russell to publicize his story. This one definitely takes a while to get going. The setup drags quite a bit before the thriller elements really kick in, and even then, it keeps dampening the tension so it never feels as sharp as it could. However, there is a kind of pulpy fun to it once things start moving. I see it taking a stab at some statements about fame and media obsession which could be extra interesting through today's social media lens, but unfortunately those ideas get muddled and never quite land. Additionally, while I like Kurt Russell in other roles, he's pretty wooden here, playing his character too detached to hold me. That's a lot of negative tossed at the film, but mostly it's just "fine." Middle-of-the-road, unmemorable, but watchable.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Mean Season (1985)

📊 Ranked #2366/4065 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 41

lost to Girl Shy (#2029 → #1877)

beat Benedetta (#3045 → #3047)

beat Chocolat (#2536 → #2540)

lost to The Wailing (#2283 → #2250)

beat National Theatre Live: The Habit of Art (#2409 → #2418)

lost to Dunkirk (#2346 → #2298)

beat Mudbound (#2377 → #2407)

beat It Comes at Night (#2361 → #2388)

lost to Maverick (#2353 → #2277)

beat Aakrosh (#2357 → #2360)

beat Le Week-End (#2355 → #2359)

beat Jimmy the Kid (#2354 → #2377)

Millennium Actress (2001)

IMDb plot summary: A TV interviewer and his cameraman meet a former actress and travel through her memories and career.

Directed by Satoshi Kon. Stars Miyoko Shôji, Mami Koyama, and Fumiko Orikasa.

Millennium Actress is an anime film about an aging actress giving a rare interview about her decades of work. The film jumps back and forth in time, showing us the memories she’s sharing with her audience. I had high hopes for this one because I loved Perfect Blue, but I just didn’t quite gel with Millennium Actress. It took me a long time to really grasp the concept -- what was memory, what was movie, what was metaphor -- and by the time it locked in, I felt a bit distanced from the story. As a result, it never quite carried the emotional weight I think it was supposed to. That said, I can see how it might play out better on a rewatch, knowing where it’s going and what it’s trying to say. Overall, it’s interesting, and it looks gorgeous, but it didn’t quite hook me on this first viewing.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Millennium Actress (2002)

📊 Ranked #1544/4064 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 63

beat The Inspector General (#2032 → #2310)

lost to The Substance (#1016 → #1017)

lost to The Wolf of Wall Street (#1511 → #1512)

lost to The Mummy (#1781 → #1766)

lost to American Teen (#1902 → #1538)

beat Natural Born Killers (held at #1977)

beat 21 (#1897 → #1898)

beat Hans Christian Andersen (#1917 → #1983)

beat Miss Europe (#1911 → #1918)

beat Swing Girls (#1903 → #1911)

beat Krull (#1856 → #1861)

Romero (1989)

IMDb plot summary: The life and work of Archbishop Oscar Romero who opposed, at great personal risk, the tyrannical repression in El Salvador.

Directed by John Duigan. Stars Raul Julia, Richard Jordan, and Ana Alicia.

Romero stars Raul Julia as real-life El Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who encouraged the church to take a stand against government corruption, despite the danger it put his life in. This is a slow burn, but I'd say the story is worth it in the end. I'm always drawn to stories about people of faith standing up for justice, and this one handles that theme with nuance. Julia does a great job playing this character. He is not flashy, but he brings quiet conviction to the role, making him feel very human -- extremely important for a film that could lean into sappy adoration. By the time the credits rolled, I found myself wanting to learn more about Romero himself. While the film is often very dry, I suspect its final effect is that it will linger with me for awhile.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Romero (1989)

📊 Ranked #1973/4063 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 51

beat How I Live Now (#2030 → #2032)

lost to The Impostors (#981 → #983)

lost to Kajaki (#1521 → #1533)

lost to Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (#1776 → #1767)

beat Sweet Charity (#1902 → #1929)

lost to A Warm Corner (#1837 → #1795)

lost to Orgazmo (#1870 → #1578)

lost to Kanal (#1886 → #1677)

beat The Ladykillers (#1894 → #1921)

beat Roma (#1890 → #1898)

beat King Kong (#1888 → #2139)

lost to To Be or Not to Be (#1887 → #1862)

Kneecap (2024)

IMDb plot summary: When fate brings Belfast teacher JJ into the orbit of self-confessed "low life scum" Naoise and Liam Óg, the needle drops on a hip hop act like no other. Rapping in their native Irish, they lead a movement to save their mother tongue.

Directed by Rich Peppiat. Stars Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara, and DJ Próvaí.

Kneecap is a fictional biography of the Irish hip-hop group Kneecap, starring all the members as themselves. It tells the story of how they got together and rose to fame despite pressure from multiple sides to quit. This movie is such a strange surprise, made all the more so when I discovered this was a real group and not just a fully made-up story. How much of the story is true? Who knows, but it doesn't matter much because the story and the songs within it are so good. The music is really the emotional core here -- hip-hop is a great musical genre to pair with a story about the fight for Irish identity, and it works all the way through. I loved getting to hear them rap in both English and Irish. It becomes such a powerful statement about rebelling and being counterculture, and it gives extra impact to the story. Overall, this film is very enjoyable, and it also left me wanting to check out Kneecap's music afterward. Definitely worth watching!

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Kneecap (2024)

📊 Ranked #1179/4062 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 72

beat Earth (#2031 → #2748)

lost to Pariah (#1017 → #989)

beat Flora and Son (#1521 → #1520)

beat Glory (#1269 → #1444)

lost to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (#1158 → #1118)

lost to Marjorie Prime (#1206 → #1099)

beat Garbo Talks (#1234 → #1340)

beat Wag the Dog (#1225 → #1226)

beat VeggieTales: Where's God When I'm S-Scared? (#1212 → #1352)

beat The Bells of St. Mary's (#1171 → #1172)

beat Going My Way (#1169 → #1170)

beat Time Bandits (#1209 → #1238)