Taste of Cinema 2019. ‘Cape Fear’ (1991) Martin Scorsese took on his first remake in 1991 with this iteration of the 1962 … Find news, trailers and tickets for upcoming independent movies, foreign cinema and art house films. In ‘Still Lives’, song gives respite to hard times, and is a binding force between the characters, giving the community a unique voice beyond their usual working class lives. Who is and who isn’t? Our critics will be rolling out our annual cheeky tribute to the movies we loathed, our Top Ten of 2020, along with reviews of some of the hottest titles now streaming.Leading the pack is our toast to 15 of the stupendous art house offerings that this year delivered. A Hidden Life is not Malick’s best film, but it does see him firing right back on form. So, Pajiba’s reviewers have singled out some of the best art house films that 2019 had to offer. We run down 10 indie movies you should keep on your radar in 2020, including Promising Young Woman with Carey Mulligan and Viggo Mortensen's Falling. (Part of the Small Axe anthology.) This week, we’re celebrating the cinema of 2020, for better and for worst! and Wunmi Mosaku (whom you should recognize as Ruby from Lovecraft Country). This has a truly brilliant finale. Though what is evident of the art film is its indisputable importance in film history, contributing towards beautiful, daring, and stimulating cinema. By Pajiba Staff | Film | December 29, 2020 |. What I hadn’t expected was just how heart-wrenching yet ultimately uplifting its arc on Patton would be. And it is absolutely. Shirley Each and every one of these films is a pleasure (and possibly a masterpiece). “It began with a gallery heist caught on tape. However, this story is not as heartwarming as that setup might suggest. Hailed as the best representation of Hollywood actors. With much of … Moss is great, as usual, as is Michael Stuhlbarg as the gregariously charming but quietly repulsive Hyman, and their utterly toxic and yet strangely reciprocal partnership is easily the most intriguing relationship dynamic on display. Funeral Parade of Roses makes the outsider (which coincidentally seems to be a running theme throughout this list) the protagonist. 6. Let us have a great year for film.- I have to point out this was written back in January. A beautiful father daughter love story about loneliness and identity. It’s a remarkably non-judgemental film about hedonism and addiction, one that invites you, the viewer, to decide how much sympathy or understanding to give these men.” —Kayleigh Donaldson, 8.Relic Our critics will be rolling out our annual cheeky tribute to the movies we loathed, our Top Ten of 2020, along with reviews of some of the hottest titles now streaming. Zappa Privacy Policy (http://www.tasteofcinema.com/privacy-notice-and-cookies/) Theme by, Taste of Cinema - Movie Reviews and Classic Movie Lists, 10 Great Arthouse Movies You’ve Probably Never Seen, Taste of Cinema – Movie Reviews and Classic Movie Lists, 10 Great Recent Movies With Brilliant Sound Design. 5 Shows After Dark: 'Moonshiners: Master Distiller' Season Two on Discovery, ABC's 'The Year: 2020' The great thing about Zappa is that you don’t have to like Frank Zappa, or his music, or even know who he is, to get something out of this film. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200702-the-best-films-of-2020-so-far Minari “Singing a song of outcasts, drunks, and failures, this film—however you choose to categorize it—invites audiences into the fold, tenderly tugging us into earnest debates, urging us to drink in the stories, guzzle down the atmosphere, and swallow the hard-won lessons found at the bottom of a bottle.” —Kristy Puchko, 14. Who is able to proclaim what is American and what isn’t? Abbas Kiarostami’s final film 24 Frames (2017) is an undeniably experimental work that abridges the still and moving image. Privacy Policy / Advertise Art-house films are usually smaller films aimed at niche markets. A single evening at … Older millennials and Gen Xers will more likely identify with Kay. Let's Talk About Penelope Featherington's Arc in 'Bridgerton' | And Wong Kar-wai continues to bring striking images to film-goers by experimenting with bold colouring. Stark Insider. Our annual poll of the year’s top movies – at cinemas, festivals or online – as chosen by over 100 of our contributors from around the world. ... what streaming services offer the best selection? Buy a Pajiba T-Shirt at the Pajiba Store. Alongside our countdown of the best films of 2020, our chief film critic selects his favourite movies, directors and performances of the year Last modified on Thu 17 Dec 2020 … 10 Great Arthouse Movies You’ve Probably Never Seen Posted on January 23, 2020 January 23, 2020 by Edwin Miles It’s always nice to remind oneself of those films that try and innovate – the independent, the experimental – those that take an unusual or distinctive glimpse at the world, or the films that just try something a little different. This week, we’re celebrating the cinema of 2020, for better and for worst! After… Steven Yeun Oscar nomination when? Truly, this is one of the most riveting docs of the decade.” —Kristy Puchko, 4. Some handle their drink better than others, and some succumb to addiction very quickly. Pennebaker or the Maysles brothers brought new non-fiction styles through a handheld, independent observational etiquette. Some of these movies are now streaming! Any viewer old enough to be renting VOD titles without getting thwarted by parental controls can see themselves in one of the three central figures. In one exhilarating scene, she and Hoult face off in a vicious and powerful showdown so kinetic it pulled me to the edge of my seat.” —Kristy Puchko, 9. “The heavyweight here is [Essie] Davis, who is savage in scenes tragic and tender. Whether you’re looking for outrageous documentaries, tender dramas, stellar sci-fi, or heart-wrenching horror, we’ve got you covered. That said, Odessa Young is the real standout among the cast, bringing a remarkable depth and nuance to Rose and her tale of an ingénue’s fall into disillusionment that in other hands could have easily been something irredeemably trite.” —Ciara Wardlow, 1. While the film has its fair share of visually spectacular moments, it exhibits a fundamental understanding that visual spectacle is neither a match nor a replacement for well-acted, character-focused storytelling and innovative craftsmanship, resulting in a film that feels pleasantly nostalgic and excitingly fresh all at once.” —Ciara Wardlow, 5. Orson Welles’s ground-breaking Citizen Kane (1941) reminded Hollywood that one man could make storytelling clever and inventive. Lovers Rock. Alcohol works differently from person to person, and for our quartet of pseudo-scientists, the results vary. Sight & Sound’s 50 best films of 2020. Things go well for some of the men because of the drinking, but that does not outweigh the inevitably disastrous consequences of being a perpetual day-drinker while trying to maintain a job teaching children. The main ‘movement’ is initiated by the music that seamlessly bridges different moments and times; Davies uses a song or hymn as a reason to pan around a room or slowly drift from one location to another. With each frame edited to make roughly four and half minutes of action, Kiarostami truly challenges our patience. All on Fandango's Indie Movie Guide. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets Even the title flashes 20 minutes in, a brief but insouciant reminder that we are watching a film. Chung’s semiautobiographical film hits on so many different emotional levels thanks to a fantastic cast that understands how the family at the center of this film is torn between a dream that might never be realized and a reality that might never be enough. ‘Do you like men?’ is answered with ‘yes… no… I like gays.’ ‘Do you not see women as sexual objects?’ ‘It really depends; there are many types of gays.’ The effect is a blurring of fact and fiction to place poignant, progressive points of discussion at the heart of the narrative—it’s easy to forget that this film was made in the late 60s. Crucially, his mother—who speaks through operatic song—teaches the young Jodorowsky about God, about facing the dark, and about not fearing the anti-Semitism he and his family are—sometimes violently— confronted with. Funeral Parade of Roses (1969, Toshio Matsumoto). It is a bright and beautiful film packed with song, comedy, and a host of wild, surreal characters. “I’d anticipated Scream, Queen! —Kristy Puchko, 6. Check our guides to the best movies now on Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Apple TV+, HBO Max, Showtime, and Disney+. Ingmar Bergman gave us philosophical meditations on the human condition. In following transsexual Eddie (played by Pîtâ, recognisable for his role in Akira Kurosawa’s Ran [1985]) we are led through a world in which he struggles with his identity while he and his lover Jimi (Yoshimo Jô) continuously try and avoid the jealous Leda (Osamu Ogasawara), the head transsexual at a gay nightclub. Never Rarely Sometimes Always > The 15 Best Arthouse Sci-fi Films of All Time ... 2020 by Pyke Haans. An important watch. The Italian Neorealists provided a crude cinema as a comment on the harsh post-War Italian landscape, whereas the French New Wave pioneered a self-aware, iconoclastic filmmaking style as a rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions, adding a fresh, original edge to their work. List of the latest thriller movies in 2021 and the best thriller movies of 2020 & the 2010's. His hair spiking out between her white knuckles and she growls a message of menace and loyalty. As we notice the harshness of its snow, then the sound of its wind, then the many more intricacies of its beautiful landscape, the rewards of taking time out to observe our world are highlighted to us. 10. Remember how you felt when Sean Maguire tells Will Hunting that it’s ‘not your fault?’ That’s the vibe of Driveways, the whole way through.” —Roxana Hadadi. 11 December 2020. Based on the true story of conscientious Austrian objector, Franz Jägerstätter, A Hidden Life mirrors his internal conflict through Malick’s free-flowing camerawork to reinforce ideas of struggle and displacement. He pushed himself, and his collaborators, to their limit for decades, constantly chasing a form of perfection only he could ever identify. Loosely inspired by Davies’ own life, the film meditates on the importance of family and memory whereby the three central siblings remember their father through different perspectives. It’s a music documentary, sure, filled with rare concert footage and talking heads testifying to Frank Zappa’s unique genius. By The Editors. All rights reserved. Chimienti and Jensen have created a celebration of A Nightmare of Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge that’s a must-see for slasher fans and queer horror lovers alike. We got an Edgar Wright movie coming, a new James Bond film, and a new Christopher Nolan film. An autobiographical work, the film depicts a young Jodorowsky (Jeremias Herskovits) as he navigates childhood monitored by an abusive, prideful atheistic father (played by Jodorowsky’s son, Brontis)—once a circus strongman, now a Stalin-idolising Communist. Painters capture only one frame of reality and nothing before or after it.” – Abbas Kiarostami. Yet Mirabella-Davis charts a course all his own, by breaking his heroine out of the movie’s initial theatricality to reflect her personal evolution. “Decker’s directorial chops are undeniable. True History of the Kelly Gang “Athlete A” (Review) In 1995, sports journalist Joan Ryan published “Little Girls in Pretty Boxes,” a … ‘Arthouse’ or ‘avant-garde’ are terms difficult to whittle down and define; the ramble above suggests that the art film takes many forms and styles by varying techniques. “I always wonder to what extent the artist aims to depict the reality of a scene. It’s not trying to cement a musical genius in the annals of history, but explore what it takes to be a genius. creepy old people!’ school of horror utterly lacks.” —Ciara Wardlow, 7. What director Alex Winter, of Bill & Ted fame, has created with the blessing of Zappa’s estate and full access to his archive, is a portrait not only of a man, or an artist, but of the work that goes into a “work of art.” Always more of a musician’s musician than a mainstream figure, Frank Zappa was an avant-garde composer who dabbled in any genre he felt like, prolifically, to the sort of acclaim that made him a household name almost solely in Eastern Europe. I’m Thinking of Ending Things From the vibrant colouring of the houses—reminiscent of the work of Pedro Almodovar—to the hundreds of birds flocking over a beach full of dead sardines, or a half naked Theosophist (Axel Jodorowsky), Jodorowsky meanders the fantasy of the past: things are exaggerated, made up, or altered. In a film of distinct halves, the first, ‘Distant Voices’, is a memory of a father (portrayed with a firmness and severity by Pete Pothlethwaite). “By blending dark humor and unnerving visuals to explore the story of female experience through self-destructive rebellion, Swallow feels like a sister film to two of my personal favorites, David Wnendt’s sickening coming-of-age comedy Wetlands and Agnieszka Smoczynska’s psychological satire Fugue. Because Patton bravely allows us into his darkest lows, we get to more fully experience the highs that follow. His House manages that tricky combination of things that tangibly go bump in the night and things that creep into your memory, and it’s an attack from all angles.” —Roxana Hadadi, 11. Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali’s combined effort Un Chien Andalou (1927) was a keystone in surrealist filmmaking. She is a mother so ferocious in her love that she’s damn near feral. !” —Roxana Hadadi, 10. The Best Movies of 2020. Art films aren’t made for money, and they’re not seen by a large number of people: they’re deep and intriguing, complex and daring. Auteurs like Andrei Tarkovsky and Bela Tarr offered us slow, meandering meditations on existence, time, and place. She lashes out viciously at those who threaten her brood and clutches a defiant Ned by the scruff of his neck. In doing so, he’s created a film that is alive with humor, horror, and humanity, and positively punctured with surprises.” —Kristy Puchko, 2. In the case of Frank Zappa, it took innate talent, a ferocious independent streak, and a singular obsession: To manifest the music he heard in his head into being, exactly as he heard it, for no audience other than himself. See much more of our review of the year in our Winter 2020 … This dreaminess was generally considered aimless and dizzying in his most recent films, but in this case it is grounded beautifully in the mud and dirt of Franz’s rural homeland and the struggle he encounters when captured by the Nazis. →. Yet the sum of all those parts is something else entirely. Each one immerses us into its environment and mood, forced to dwell in its confinement. Scream, Queen! We’ve proclaimed our favorite comfort movies of the year, and we wallowed in the absolute worst flicks of this trash-fire of time. Being a genius isn’t something you are, it’s something you do, to the exception of nearly everything else. “A compact and intimate piece of filmmaking, Relic is packed full of smart choices that unsurprisingly pay off very well. Then, things take turns that involve surreal explosions of emotion, jarring time jumps, a curious B plot, and a talking pig voiced by Oliver Platt. You can follow her on Twitter. Sarah Gubbins’ screenplay is solid even if somewhat self-indulgent in its navel-gazing, as is only befitting its academic ivory tower setting. Vitalina VarelaNo stranger to the exploration of grief and mortality, Pedro Costa’s Vitalina Varela is … “A phenomenally gentle, gorgeously poignant film about the two ends of life—growing up, and growing old—Driveways is the sort of healing experience we might all need right now. All things indie movies. The Vast of Night Filmed and set mostly in Jodorowsky’s actual hometown of Tocopilla, the film is littered with magical and memorable images. Mostly though, he never stopped working. A Hidden Life (2019) continues Terence Malick’s style of filmmaking widely panned in his recent few efforts; critics have declared it washy, plodding, and unspecific. And it may only make you a household name in Eastern Europe. Funeral Parade of Roses (1969), directed by visionary Toshio Matsumoto, is a film way ahead of its time and should be considered a landmark in LGBTQ+ cinema. David Lynch burst onto the scene with surreal, dreamlike critiques of Hollywood and modernity. The Painter and the Thief “The Vast of Night recaptures the brilliance of the original run of The Twilight Zone better than either reboot of the series has. 2020's Best Movies; ... Top 100 Art House & International Movies. —Tori Preston, 13. Many art-house directors and producers create films for artistic value, they have something to say and have more value beyond mere entertainment. November 27, 2020 | Not Rated. Heartwarming but realistically bittersweet, it’s a subtly layered and nuanced portrait of Black womanhood, about having the audacity to dream and pursue something for one’s self, and a shining debut from an up-and-coming filmmaker who ought to be on your radar.” —Ciara Wardlow, 3. Miss Juneteenth 24 Frames is a film that takes cinema back to its roots and celebrates the single, moving image. Now, finally! “Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari is the kind of film that makes you probe at your preconceived conceptions about American identity, and about the projections we place upon it. “One of the most engrossing horror films I’ve seen in a long time, Remi Weekes’s film has heavy, unrelenting weight, but it’s also elegantly constructed, visually adventurous, and grounded by a pair of excellent performances from co-leads Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù (very good right now in Gangs of London, which you should be watching!) My Nightmare on Elm Street to be an informative and entertaining journey through one of horror cinema’s most controversial titles. Below, there are daring directorial debuts and savage sophomore efforts, cutting comedies and harrowing horror, ravishing romances and dramas we just can’t forget. There are positives as well as negatives. Let's Talk About Penelope Featherington's Arc in 'Bridgerton', 5 Shows After Dark: 'Moonshiners: Master Distiller' Season Two on Discovery, ABC's 'The Year: 2020'. Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988, Terence Davies). Kiarostami has melded his dual loves for filmmaking and photography by structuring this work around a set of 24 different paintings or photographs, referred to as ‘frames’, digitally editing them to allow insight into what happened before and what follows. 9. Top 50 Best Films of 2020 by diego_cuevs21 | created - 11 months ago | updated - 10 hours ago | Public A new decade, a new year for watching incredible films. From thoughtful dramas to unconventional romances, these independent treasures from a variety of countries offer something deeper than the usual Hollywood movie. Release Date:January 23 Cuties follows the story of an 11-year-old girl called Amy who lives with her mother Mariam and her younger brother, who are all waiting for her father’s return from Senegal. Amy joins a group of dancers at school called “The Cuties,” to escape her dysfunctional household and rapidly grows aware of her proliferating femininity – upsetting her mother and her values in the process. A product of the Japanese New Wave, Funeral Parade is a loose adaptation of Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex and tackles the taboo subject of Tokyo’s underground gay culture. There’s dirt under her nails, fire in her eyes, and blood on her hands. Its story begins with an unnamed young woman (Wild Rose’s Jessie Buckley), on her way to meet her bland boyfriend’s (Jesse Plemons) parents (David Thewlis and Toni Collette). Essential viewing for those wanting to explore the arthouse genre. Perhaps often overshadowed by the politically-charged films of Ken Loach, or the emphatic naturalism of Mike Leigh, the tender and poetic work of Terence Davies transfigures the kitchen sink realism most associated with British cinema into new, beautiful experiences. As such, Davies’s films are more hopeful; their characters are collectively expressive and emotional. Most impressive is how Weekes weaves together typical horror elements—jump scares, spooky kids—with the film’s more inward-minded exploration of the damage we carry with us and the transgressions we might never get over. The painter, stunned by the loss, became fascinated by one of the thieves. Posted at 1:12 PM, Dec 31, 2020 and last updated 2020-12-31 16:15:29-05 LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Las Vegas film critic Josh Bell shares his favorite films from 2020. “Another Round has no interest in proselytizing the evils of booze or teaching its audience a black-and-white lesson about alcohol/ Real life doesn’t work that way, and Vinterberg is deeply invested in telling a realistic story, even with a plot this potentially absurd. However, whether or not this movie is for you, it’s hard to deny there’s something savagely bold in its execution. The Dance of Reality (2013) was Alejandro Jodorowsky’s first film in 23 years. One of these many side characters, many of whom are characterised by harsh disabilities symbolising a widespread misery, comments that ‘nobody can escape their destiny.’ By the end of the film, Jodorowsky drifts off alongside a skeleton; perhaps he has found a way through his art to reconcile his past with his destiny. We’ve toasted some of the best art-house movies that 2020 had to offer. It’s always nice to remind oneself of those films that try and innovate – the independent, the experimental – those that take an unusual or distinctive glimpse at the world, or the films that just try something a little different. He was endlessly inventing and creating and challenging, and he was rarely if ever satisfied. Lists It Appears On: IMDB. Is there an art house offering that you loved, but didn’t make our list? Much like its subject, Zappa is a hard film to categorize. The first half of 2020 has been one of the most tumultuous periods in the century-plus history of the motion picture industry, as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the entire activity of theatrical movie-going for the first time since… well, since the last pandemic, back in 1918. Top thriller movies to watch on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+ & other Streaming services, out on DVD/Blu-ray or in cinema's right now. Director: Max Barbakow Writer: Andy Siara Cast: Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, and J.K. Simmons Palm Springs is one of the best movies of 2020, and the less you know about it … Arthouse Films. But, the good news is 2020 has still produced some fine movies—even sexy ones! Two massive paintings stolen in broad daylight. Leading the pack is our toast to 15 of the stupendous art house offerings that this year delivered. And who are you to assert superiority over someone else based on that answer? Best of Rotten … ← The Dance of Reality (2013, Alejandro Jodorowsky). With everyone locked inside, now is an ideal time to catch up on the best movies of 2020. like June 4, 2020 11:21 am. His House She is monstrous, motherly and majestic. He would become her unlikely muse and unexpected friend. My Nightmare on Elm Street 10. Charlie Kaufman’s adaptation of Iain Reid’s novel is a real mindf*ck, to put it mildly. Documentary directors such as D.A. George Melies experimented with new editing and set design techniques to make cinematic magic tricks; Sergei Eisenstein adapted editing to form symbolic montage, witnessed most famously in Battleship Potemkin (1925). 15. Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Bi Gan’s sophomore feature, was received primarily as a staggering technical feat. Shout it out in comments! The film’s most effective device, though, is its use of documentary-style interviews. This motion can turn quickly wide-shots of vast landscapes into extreme close-ups, making it an effectively delirious watch which is in turn capable of displacing its viewer in a way. Driveways The 50 best films of 2020. There’s tales of excess, and shots of him rubbing elbows with John Lennon or Alice Cooper. For Boomers and above there’s Edna, because Relic has the basic compassion and thoughtfulness the M. Night Shyamalan ‘beware! Tue 7 Apr 2020 11.50 EDT. Another Round “At once a portrait of a woman, a relationship, and a community, Miss Juneteenth feels at once intimate and expansive. If Winter were only trying to make a movie to appease Zappa’s fanbase, that would be a satisfying but limiting endeavor — and I say that as someone who was raised on Zappa’s music. This is often expressed lyrically as the characters are regularly found singing, either in a moment of communal joy or one of pain, in a pub or in an air raid shelter. Feb 4, 2020 - Strange and wonderful cinema. And the result is a journey that’s thrilling and tragic, joyful and horrific, but ultimately exhilarating.” —Kristy Puchko, 12. Sturla Brandth Grøvlen’s darkly dreamy cinematography hits all the right notes. This … It is an experiment Kiarostami takes his time with, trusting in the significance and beauty of the photographed moment. Here is Pajiba’s Top Ten Films of 2020, decided by our crew of critics. The 64 best movies on Netflix right now (June 2020) Share this article 725 shares share tweet text email link Nate Scott. See more ideas about arthouse movies, movies, cinema. Swallow There’s a radiant humanity to this horror-doc that takes it from fascinating fun to truly stupendous. Enter the Void (2009) directed by Gaspar Noé. Beware this is not for those who fall asleep during films. Unlike Loach who explores social injustice and the effects of external forces on the working class, Davies in Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) intimately explores how internal forces— family, home, community, the pub—keep them afloat. As rules have been (literally, in some cases) […] Quora. Combine all those questions with that opening line of The Godfather (“I believe in America”), a Malickian veneration of the American land (similar to Mudbound), and a consideration of old-world vs. new-world tension (reminiscent of The Farewell), and you’ll begin to see the layers of Minari. Kristy Puchko is the managing editor of Pajiba. Posted on January 14, 2020 January 14, 2020 by Giacomo Zanon Arthouse movies are difficult to describe and analyze. Apple TV+, HBO Max, Showtime, and Disney+. A lot of Gen-Zers and younger millennials can likely see some bit of themselves in Sam, still struggling to figure out what to do with her life. Inspired by the work of the French New Wave, Funeral Parade of Roses is a combination of various devices: chopped up music, vividly brutal flashback sequences, harsh jump cuts, brightly lit sex scenes, montage, and random cue cards that flash on screen with unjustified exclamations. The result is film that polarized critics, including our own crew. A magical mix of landscape pictures, snowy scenes filled with cows and crows, and monochrome images of windows, he displays and builds story through cleverly layered editing. Young Jodorowsky is helped by the prudence of Jodorowsky himself, who acts as an occasional ghost of Jodorowsky’s future, guiding the young man away from suicide. Here's which new films of the year are a must-watch and made our 2020 list, many of … Here, however, Malick places his swooping cinematography and grandiose aesthetic into the context of World War Two, to great and successful effect. Though some art-house films can also be incredibly entertaining. Its frames often begin in stillness, like photographs, before being interrupted by an abrupt act of violence.