Kursk (2018)

IMDb plot summary: The film follows the 2000 K-141 Kursk submarine disaster and the governmental negligence that followed. As the sailors fight for survival, their families desperately battle political obstacles and impossible odds to save them.

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Starring Matthias Schoenaerts, Léa Seydoux, Peter Simonischek, and August Diehl.

Kursk, or The Command, as Netflix titles it, tells the real-life story of a Russian submarine that sank in an accident in 2000, stranding several crew members on board for days. Those aware of the incident will already know whether or not the crew was ultimately able to be evacuated, but I wasn't familiar with it, so I'm not going to spoil that for anyone else also unfamiliar. The film does a stellar job of demonstrating the camaraderie between the main characters. The opening scene, where they celebrate one sailor's wedding, gives us such a strong sense of teamwork and friendship for all the men, and that sense carries all the way through the film, making it easy to care for this team as a unit even if you don't remember individuals all that well. The scenes with the women desperately fighting for their government to accept foreign aid and rescue their husbands are also very powerful, and it becomes increasingly more upsetting every time their pleas are dismissed. All the emotional moments in this film ring true, which can't be said of all disaster films. This one is well-structured and well-written, which drew me into it and kept me engaged from beginning to end.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Kursk > Deceiver

Kursk < The Road Warrior

Kursk > Spanglish

Kursk > Evita

Kursk > Henry V

Kursk < Reservoir Dogs

Kursk < The Awful Truth

Kursk < The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

Kursk > RoboCop

Kursk < Gandhi

Kursk > Dangerous Liaisons

Final spot: #891 out of 3202, or 72%.

Native Son (2019)

IMDb plot summary: A young African-American living in Chicago enters into a seductive new world of money and power after he is hired as a chauffeur for an affluent businessman.

Directed by Rashid Johnson. Starring Ashton Sanders, Margaret Qualley, Nick Robinson, and KiKi Layne.

Native Son has been a polarizing story since its inception, with some saying it effectively condemns a racist system for its role in perpetuating violence, and others voicing concerns that the protagonist embodies all the worst caricatures of his race. I have now read the book, seen a play adaptation, and seen this film, and I feel a similar ambivalence every time. This version makes a few big changes: it updates the story to modern day, keeps alive a character the novel kills off, and omits the entire third act, the trial. To my surprise, I didn't miss the trial section at all, and I found it fascinating how well the updated timeline works... though also wildly depressing. It says something if you can transport a pre-Civil Rights Movement story about racism to 2019 with so few plot changes and have it still feel plausible. I honestly don't have much beyond that to expound upon because, in every form, Native Son makes me think more about the complicated ideas behind it than the events of the story, and that's something I appreciate.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Native Son > Stage Fright

Native Son < Match Point

Native Son > Death to Smoochy

Native Son > Swing Girls

Native Son < Henry V

Native Son < Seconds

Native Son < I and You

Native Son < The Shoes of the Fisherman

Native Son > The Happening

Native Son > Death by Hanging

Native Son < Full Metal Jacket

Final spot: #990 out of 3201, or 69%.

Innocent Lies (1995)

IMDb plot summary: In 1938, British detective Alan Cross travels to a small French coastal town to investigate the mysterious death of a close friend. Soon he becomes entangled in the strange lives of his prime suspects, the Graves, an aristocratic English family hiding many dark secrets.

Directed by Patrick Dewolf. Starring Adrian Dunbar, Gabrielle Anwar, Stephen Dorff, and Sophie Aubry.

(Spoilers ahead.)

If you've ever read an Agatha Christie book and thought, "You know what this needs? More incest," then, well, I suppose this will be the exact film you've been looking for. It's very very very loosely based on the Agatha Christie novel Towards Zero, but the Christie estate refused to let them use the title or character names upon reading this script, and that was the right move. It's a nonsensically salacious film, in which "whodunnit" is not discovered but literally confessed by the murderer to the detective during their sex scene. The film also employs unintentionally hilarious editing that cuts abruptly away from over-the-top moments to unrelated scenes. There may be some adequate actors here but this film does them no favors at all, or anyone else who was creatively involved. What. A. Mess.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Innocent Lies < Jack Strong

Innocent Lies < Batman Begins

Innocent Lies < A Decade Under the Influence

Innocent Lies < Sahara (2017)

Innocent Lies > Un Chien Andalou

Innocent Lies > Yours, Mine & Ours (2005)

Innocent Lies < Loving Annabelle

Innocent Lies < C.H.U.D.

Innocent Lies < Gridiron Gang

Innocent Lies < The Wedding Planner

Innocent Lies < Journey for Margaret

Innocent Lies < At the Earth's Core

Final spot: #3050 out of 3200, or 5%.

In the Name of the Father (1993)

IMDb plot summary: A man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. An English lawyer fights to free them.

Directed by Jim Sheridan. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Emma Thompson, Pete Postlethwaite, and Corin Redgrave.

Daniel Day-Lewis is unsurprisingly great here. As always, he disappears fully into the role and seems to be radiating young furious anger from the inside out. His relationship with his father, who is imprisoned along with him, is the backbone of this story even more so than their fight for freedom, which really makes this story stand out. What's most impressive is Day-Lewis' ability to take a character who is not a particularly good person and still help us sympathize with him and the egregious injustices facing him. His redemption story is not obvious or even maybe redemption at all. But the movie highlights how you don't have to be a perfect person to deserve fair legal treatment or to suffer under a corrupt system. It's a really compelling character drama.

How it entered my Flickchart:

In the Name of the Father > Molly's Game

In the Name of the Father > Match Point

In the Name of the Father < The Disaster Artist

In the Name of the Father < Clue

In the Name of the Father < The Secret of Santa Vittoria

In the Name of the Father < The Sting

In the Name of the Father < The Goodbye Girl (2004)

In the Name of the Father > Woman in the Dunes

In the Name of the Father > Key Largo

In the Name of the Father < The Quick and the Dead

In the Name of the Father < Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

In the Name of the Father > Elf

Final spot: #780 out of 3199, or 76%.

Uncut Gems (2019)

 

IMDb plot summary: With his debts mounting and angry collectors closing in, a fast-talking New York City jeweler risks everything in hope of staying afloat and alive.

Directed by Benny and Josh Safie. Starring Adam Sandler, Julia Fox, LaKeith Stanfield, and Eric Bogosian.

The only other film I've seen by the Safdie Brothers was Good Time, which genuinely surprised me with its unique take on the crime genre. This one isn't such a bright spot, instead treading incredibly familiar ground and feeling wildly predictable to me. Additionally, it's one of the most abrasive films I have ever seen. The lights, sounds, language, acting and camera work are all pushy and in-your-face and chaotic. In a way, yes, this immerses us in the chaos of the world, but in more practical terms, it gave me a headache and make me anxious for the film to end. Adam Sandler's character is one of the most unpleasant "protagonists" I have ever seen onscreen (right up with every comedic character Sandler has ever played) and waiting for his looming, obvious downfall was all I really had to look forward to in this film. I struggle to see what this film adds to the genre that other, less obnoxious, films haven't presented as well or better.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Uncut Gems < Last Holiday

Uncut Gems < Highlander

Uncut Gems > Monkey Business (1931)

Uncut Gems > Young Mr. Lincoln

Uncut Gems < Barry

Uncut Gems < After Hours

Uncut Gems < Deja Vu

Uncut Gems < The Butterfly Effect

Uncut Gems > Dinosaur

Uncut Gems > 27 Dresses

Uncut Gems < Silver Streak

Final spot: #2589 out of 3198, or 19%.

Enemy (2013)

 

IMDb plot summary: A man seeks out his exact look-alike after spotting him in a movie.

Directed by Denis Villeneuve. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent, Sarah Gadon, and ISabella Rossellini.

At first I thought the film was just aiming for a moody, paranoid atmosphere, aided by the dingy yellow lighting that pervades the film. The narrative itself certainly doesn't warrant the level of panic Adam feels on discovering his doppelganger, nor the escalating paranoia. But then the final shot, one of the most startlingly incomprehensible endings I've maybe ever encountered, makes me think that there must be some other entirely symbolic level on which I'm meant to view this story, and I'm just... not interested in that, not with this setup. Maybe on a second or third watch it would snap into place, but frankly I didn't enjoy it enough to watch to commit that time to it. If you like weird surreal symbolism, check this out. If not... maybe don't.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Enemy < Last Holiday

Enemy > Highlander

Enemy < Rebecca

Enemy > The Devil's Brigade

Enemy < Whisper of the Heart

Enemy < The Rescuers

Enemy < Play Misty for Me

Enemy > Dazed and Confused

Enemy > Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Enemy > A Mighty Wind

Enemy > The Iceman

Enemy < Show Boat (1951)

Final spot: #2175 out of 3197, or 32%.

Y Tu Mamá También (2001)

IMDb plot summary: In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Starring Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal, Maribel Verdú, and Daniel Giménez Cacho.

Very young Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal are better here than in any movie I've subsequently seem from them, but the film overall fell a little flat for me. The tone of their constant playful sexual commentary is interestingly at odds with the darker moments of their sexual journey, as well as the frequent narration that feels a bit like a glimpse into "the real world" that these kids just don't get. As with many coming-of-age films, I was frustrated by the lack of resolution at the end, since the rest of the movie was interesting and I wanted it to be tied together more strongly by the ending. Without the strong resolution I was hoping for, I just don't see this film sticking with me very long.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Y Tu Mamá También > Chocolat

Y Tu Mamá También < Crocodile Dundee (this is about 400 spots too high on my chart, I need to rerank it)

Y Tu Mamá También < Young Frankenstein

Y Tu Mamá También < The Room

Y Tu Mamá También > Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Y Tu Mamá También > Hamlet (2000)

Y Tu Mamá También < Alice Adams

Y Tu Mamá También < The Forbidden Kingdom

Y Tu Mamá También < The Birds

Y Tu Mamá También > How I Live Now

Y Tu Mamá También < Strictly Ballrom

Final spot: #1444 out of 3196, or 55%.