Netflix hits it out of the park again with an animated series that replicates the flowing beauty of Japanese anime but is a Western production through and through. It has a bit of a slow start with a somewhat clichéd premise but I was hooked once once I saw the amazing fight choreography. Even better is that it is unabashedly an animated show for adults. It was deaths and amputations galore, full frontal nude shots, sex scenes, the works. I loved the story as well but of course it runs off of Western moral values and not Asian sensibilities. About the only complaint I have is that it ramps the stakes up so high that it’s a little ridiculous how only Mizu, the protagonist, is the only one who can get anything done.

As I recently noted, there aren’t that many good films about businesses so it’s heartening that there were two interesting ones in 2023. The rise and fall of the BlackBerry devices should be a familiar one for those of us who lived through the era so it’s great to have the story on film. It’s a fantastically entertaining account too, complete with cinematic embellishments and dramatic flourishes that make it legible to those not technically-inclined or don’t speak business lingo. Unfortunately it’s also probably not a very truthful depiction of events and some parts of it are downright icky. I did love the dynamic they establish between the two co-CEOs but as far as I understand, the characterization is entirely fictional.

We really should be watching more of the work of Wim Wenders and this tight package that is almost as perfect as the days it portrays is a good reason why. It’s such a neat confluence of exactly the elements that we tend to like in cinema: very sparse dialogue that relies on visual storytelling, a protagonist working a mundane job with a rich, inner life, and a positive attitude towards life. It does cheat a little I feel as I doubt that the daily routines of a real-life toilet cleaner even in Japan is this stress-free and Wenders’ musical picks alone carry so much emotion, but this really is one of the best films I’ve watched this year.

This is one of Lars von Trier’s best known films so it was always necessary to watch it at some point. It’s also one of his most accessible works as the director takes great pains to ensure that the audience understands exactly what is going on and what he means to say. I don’t much care for the psychosexual elements but it wouldn’t a von Trier film without them and it probably wouldn’t have as much shock value. This portrayal of a harsh version of Christianity doesn’t do the religion any favors but I think it’s more honest than the sanitized version we usually get and that’s a credit to this film.

This anthology horror film by Masaki Kobayashi consists of four separate stories and clocks in at three hours. The stories are all adapted from Japanese folklore, which explains why some are likely variations of stories everyone has already heard of. It’s rough going at first as it looks very much like something shot on a stage and the plot is just too predictable. But then I noticed that stories steadily improve in sophistication and even production values and started to appreciate the film better. I won’t say the film looks that good as you have to make a deliberate effort to buy into the stagecraft but it does some make bold artistic choices. The selection is overall quite good, representing a broad spectrum of traditional Japanese ghost stories.

I’m not sure I’ll ever watch anything else by director Luigi Comencini but I thought it might be worthwhile to experience at least one of his so-called pink neorealism films. It’s a lighthearted romantic comedy set immediately after the Second World War and stars Gina Lollobrigida, one of the most famous Italian sex symbols. This is another film that will never be considered great but it is an exemplar of the best entertainment available then. Lollobrigida sizzles onscreen from her very first appearance and she even sings excellently. I do note that it shows the male lead as well as many of the other male characters acting very lecherously with no condemnation against them whatsoever. I’d consider that an indictment against Italian culture of the era.

This closes out the trilogy by Whit Stillman that I started years ago with Metropolitan and really, I shouldn’t have bothered. It’s still about young adults being self-important and clumsily falling in love, this time in Barcelona, Spain under a cloud of anti-Americanism. The fast patter of the dialogue Stillman appears to favor is familiar and there is a certain charm in his characters. But I can discern no meaningful heart in it and the attitude of both mocking the bourgeoisie and yet wholeheartedly embracing it is just grating when there is no real payoff to the dichotomy.