I think this counts as an Asian-American film as not a single white person appears in it. More than that, it stands out as a distinctively Hawaiian film by a director, Christopher Makoto Yogi, who I haven’t heard of before this, but seems to ground almost all of his work in that state. This kind of close, personal association is always a good sign in my book. This film didn’t always work for me as it sometimes reaches for the sublime and doesn’t quite touch it. Still, it’s a very fine film that contemplates a man’s death after a long life.

I’ve loved every one of Asghar Farhadi’s films I’ve seen so far and I do consider this to be another great film. However the story seems to have been inspired by a real-life event as covered in a documentary made by a student of Farhadi named Azadeh Masihzadeh. She claims that Farhadi pressured her to sign a statement that the original idea came from him which she now denies and the two have since been embroiled in contentious lawsuits. I don’t think ideas belong to anyone as execution is everything but Farhadi seems to be in the wrong to me at least in being so insistent about not acknowledging any contribution whatsoever from someone so much further down the hierarchy of power than himself. Ironically this is itself the theme of the film and makes its statement about Iranian society much more powerful.

So this is certainly an eye-catching title for a film. My contention in this post will be that while the main character may be seen be as a bad person as judged in accordance to conventional values, director Joachim Trier employs the title ironically and tries to portray her in a mostly sympathetic light. As always the mark of an interesting film is how much discussion it engenders and this makes for a wonderful subject of conversation. I’ve never watched any of Trier’s work before this but I believe he is really on to something when it comes to the future of human relationships.

This Pixar film didn’t seem to make much of a splash on its release and I even preferred to watch Turning Red from a year later before this. I came back to this after seeing some beautiful still images of the fictional town of Portorosso it is set in and realized that it’s inspired by Italian culture. Pretty as its art is, its themes and its story make it too juvenile to take seriously and its references to Italy too generic to be meaningful. It’s watchable but it feels almost boring next to Turning Red.

I had this pegged as an American film on my list, was surprised to see the opening set in London and that’s it’s full of British characters and then later read that it is American after all. That actually makes sense given how much it exaggerates English mannerisms and makes fun of how one is supposed to behave according to one’s class from a perspective of an outsider to their society. Unfortunately while this film has its amusing moments, its many flaws causes it to fall short of true greatness and it isn’t that memorable.

Every one of Satyajit Ray’s films we’ve seen so far has been at the very least strong contenders and this one impresses us once again as a powerful invective against traditional superstition. I particularly love how this film very small and yet very large at the same time. It’s based on a short story and limits its scenes entirely to one family and their household. Yet its themes encompass the pantheon of Hindu deities and carry all of the weight of tradition, the patriarchy and wealth. It says so much and so powerfully in one compact package.

I’m not really an enthusiastic fan of the films of Wes Anderson even if I tend to enjoy them and this newest one makes for a pretty good illustration of why. It’s almost pure style with no real underlying theme except for a love of its setting. There’s no character development and it actively tries to avoid emotional engagement. Anderson himself calls it a love letter to journalists, well, maybe a very specific kind of foreign correspondent from a bygone era. But it feels to me like more of a tribute to France, at or at least a kind of idealized France of the 1960s according to the American imagination. It’s supremely gorgeous and fun but ultimately feels hollow and unsatisfying.