#film of the year

[christhebrit2]

1000/10 I'm fucking shook Godzilla Minus One is fucking outrageous! Best movie I've seen in years.

[cptrs]

[denimbex1986]

'All of Us Strangers may have missed out on awards earlier in the year (no Bafta wins, no Oscar nominations) but it has won the prize that matters: the Guardian’s best film of 2024. It is the second time that director Andrew Haigh has received this accolade – 45 Years, his searing study of a marriage plunged into crisis, was the Guardian’s choice as best film for 2015.

On the face of it, the two films are sharply contrasting expressions of Haigh’s craft. 45 Years is resolutely realist in its portrait of a retired couple living in Norfolk, investing its middle-class milieu with an understated arthouse aesthetic. All of Us Strangers, meanwhile, returns to the gay themes that marked Haigh’s breakthrough Weekend, but in a shift from his past work operates in an unstable, dreamlike atmosphere that ultimately calls into question whether anything we are watching is supposed to be real.

But the two films share a powerful theme in common: the past’s hold over the present and the unnerving realisation that while we can never revisit our past, it has ways of finding us, sometimes shocking us into a new sense of ourselves.

Working in both cases from source material by other writers, Haigh alights on two brilliant conceits to explore this idea in each film.

In 45 Years, adapted from a short story by David Constantine, Geoff (Tom Courtenay) learns that the body of his old girlfriend Katya has been found more than 50 years after she fell into a crevasse in the Alps. This discovery disinters memories and passions that have lain deep inside Geoff, while his wife, Kate (Charlotte Rampling), scrambles to prevent the disintegration of a long and apparently happy marriage.

We never find out if Geoff makes the journey to see Katya, and we never see the body – but it looms large in our minds. As in Greek tragedy, the horrors of death are kept off stage, all the more to set our thoughts racing. In its ice-preserved youthfulness, Katya’s imagined body somehow rebukes the old age into which Geoff and Kate have sunk.

Kate is twice confronted with the image of the young Katya: in a photograph Geoff shows her (there is a resemblance between the two women) and then, in an unforgettable, Hitchcockian scene, through the primitive magic of a slideshow, which reveals Katya was pregnant.

Haigh finds an equally unsettling way to dramatise the collision between the past and the present in All of Us Strangers (which was inspired by a novel by Japanese author Taichi Yamada). Adam (Andrew Scott) has a series of encounters with his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) as they were when he last knew them, before they died in a car crash when he was 11. They have not aged in appearance and behave as if it is still 1987, yet recognise that Adam has got older – perhaps a little older than they are. They are unchanged artefacts from the past, just like Katya in 45 Years, unattached to the present and yet acting upon it.

Readings of All of Us Strangers vary, but it seems that these eerie meetings in Adam’s old childhood home may be visions from his subconscious as he wrestles with the devastating effects of losing his parents so young – as well, perhaps, as scenes from the script we see him starting. Haigh presents us with two intriguing thought experiments: what if you could meet people from your past and have the conversations you were never able to have? And what if you could talk to your parents now as they were when they were bringing you up, meeting as equals? These scenes are so carefully scripted and impeccably acted that what is inherently unreal feels intensely authentic.

In both films, the intrusion of ghosts from the past is highly disruptive. Kate and Geoff go through with their 45th wedding anniversary party, but we are left wondering if their marriage can survive. For Kate, the revelations about Katya have cast her life with Geoff into a disturbing new light, as if it were all built on a false premise. Kate seems to intuit that Geoff loved Katya more than her, and that this old relationship has shaped their marriage without her being aware of it.

Meanwhile, Adam’s meetings with his parents seem to have been part of a reckoning with long suppressed trauma on multiple fronts. In parallel with his home visits, he has embarked on a doomed relationship with Harry (Paul Mescal), which we come to interpret as another fantasy in which he plays out his apparently unfulfilled desire for a loving relationship with another man.

Both films threaten to bear out Oscar Wilde’s line that “one’s real life is so often the life that one does not lead”. Adam’s story is suffused with the sadness of bereavement and lost opportunities, but it could be regarded as more optimistic than Kate and Geoff’s in 45 Years. Adam seems to have undergone a kind of cathartic process, and – assuming he is still alive at the end of the film (as Scott says he is) – he has found, in the world he has conjured up in his mind, a potential path to happiness in the future. Kate and Geoff have much less time ahead of them to find an authentic way to live, whether together or – as seems more likely – apart.

But whatever future awaits his characters, Haigh seems to be reminding us that the past will always cast its shadow over us, whoever we are. You don’t have to have lost your parents in a car crash to mourn the passing of your childhood world; you don’t have to be haunted by a decades-old tragedy to be troubled by the way your life has turned out. Haigh’s innovative exploration of our vexed relationship with the past gives both these remarkable films their deep melancholy power.'

[littleplasticthings]

Limbo, 2023

[sincenewyorks]

across the spiderverse is truly the best movie released this year

[cassianandfenrysaremyboyos]

Goncharov coming third in tumblr's top 100 movies of 2023 is so damn funny. Imagine being a film studio exec who spent millions making some of the other 97 movies listed below it only to be beaten by a film that cost exactly zero dollars to make and doesn't exist

[sinnerbeam]

Okay Its the end of the year and i wanna do a rec list, Let's Go! (May contain spoillers)

Cool things I watched and played in 2024

(I won't be listing any content warnings for these, please look those up if you need to)

Also probably people have played alot of these already, but they're so good i just wanted to talk about them a little.

Games

1000x Resist :

Do you like visual novels? Do you like revolutions? Do you like intergenerational trauma? This game is nominally about a kinda sci-fi, post-apocalyptic society but its actually about way, way more than that and you should play it if you like cool storytelling.

Also i think there's a different (less confusing) map on the steam workshop pages.

Sorry We're Closed

I love this game, its silent hill but cunty. 💅 The art style is gorgeous, the combat is cool, the characters are amazing, and theres a hot demonic they/them you can maybe date if you want. Also the boss music is awesome. (Also there's at least 3 they/thems in this game!!!! I love!!!! )

Signalis

Cards on the table this one was too scary for me to finish, so i watched the rest on Laila Dyer's letsplay. The music is gorgeous, there's queer robots on a space mining facility. It's amazing queer horror.

Another Crab's Treasure

I really enjoyed Aggro Crab's first game (Going Under) so i was excited for this, and it's genuinely so cute. It's sort of a souls-like (but with GREAT accessibility options, so if 'hard games' aren't your thing, fret not. You can give crab a 1-hit-KO gun) where you play as Kril, the hermit crab who can try on different shells and use them as weapons! It's really inventive, and the story is really sweet. Really worth giving it a go!

Honourable mentions:

Chants of Senaar - awesome linguistics game!

Umurangi Generation - anti-colonial photo taking game! Killer OST.

How fish is made - short, didn't realise it was made by the Mouthwashing folk until like last week. It's really cool! Arty.

We ❤️ Katamari: Reroll- what can i say, i love katamari.

Dawntrail - i loved the story, its really cool, I love Lamaty'i, she is my special princess babygirl, also it took me until now to realise that... ffxiv is a visual novel. With occasional dungeons. (Also I hope the next patches aren't going to be about ... redeeming Sphene? They might not be, but... let's not do that)

Films:

I Saw the TV Glow- if your trans you should watch this. If you want really thoughtful queer psychological horror, you should watch it. It's been months and I'm still thinking about it. 🏳️‍⚧️

Monkey Man - fuck, i love Dev Patel. He's so good in this. Super violent 👍👍👍💪💪💪

Love Lies Bleeding - Would Kirsten Stewart inject steroids into my butt if I asked nicely, do you think... 💪💪💪💪💪💪❤️❤️❤️ Filled the muscle quota for the year. Please look up content warnings for this one 🙏

Challengers- Trent Reznor soundtrack 🙏🙏🙏 Gay Sexy Tennis 🎾

Honourable mentions:

Hackers - great OST, gay sexy hacking 🖥 👨‍💻

The Fall - i understand now why I've been seeing these gifs on tumblr for years now.

Bend It Like Beckham - i really liked it! Its very early 2000s, dont let the 'they don't get togehter in the end' put you off.

Videodrome- what if your whole torso was a vagina, and you could hide videotapes in it. Bonus points for unexpected Debbie Harry. Not sure this is actually a recommendation.

Sonic 3 - perfect movie, no notes. Shadow has a motorbike and a gun. (Better action sequences than ive seen in a cgi heavy movie in years)

Wicked - :) 💚💖

[soranatus]

Dreaming of Good Times

A wonderful Pokemon chinese animated short film directed by DaiWei (All Saints Street) and produced by MTJJ / HMCH studio (Legend of Hei) for Chinese New Year.

Youtube link

[daincrediblegg]

OK THIS IS NOT A FUCKING DRILL EVERYONE FUCKING REPEAT AFTER ME. THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL DO WHEN YOU WATCH MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL THIS YEAR:

You will navigate to the page on disney plus (and it has to be here. Unless someone has actually uploaded the REAL movie anywhere else you cannot get it elsewhere)

BUT YOU WILL NOT HIT PLAY. You won’t do it. Because it’s NOT THE REAL VERSION OF THE FILM AND DISNEY IS FUCKING LYING TO YOU AS IT ALWAYS DOES

You will scroll down HERE. To EXTRAS instead. You MUST GO HERE. This is non -negotiable

THEN YOU WILL SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE EXTRAS AND YOU WILL THEN HIT PLAY ON THIS BAD BOY: THE FULL LENGTH VERSION

And you will watch it. And you will thank me for having been so blind and led astray by that stupid fucking mouse. You’re welcome.

[timefadesaway]

what was the best and/or your favourite film that you watched for the first time this year?

[popcornforone]

https://popcornforone.co.uk/cinema-club/the-year-in-film-2023/

Here we go my 2023 film awards peoples have a look & tell me what you think

[denimbex1986]

'We knew from the moment we first saw All Of Us Strangers all the way back in January that Andrew Haigh's film, a haunting queer romance centred around Andrew Scott's isolated writer Adam and the connection he makes with Paul Mescal's sad-eyed drifter Harry, was special. Is it a ghost story? A fever dream? A tangible construct formed of a grieving man's subconscious? We didn't — and still don't truly — know, but by God we felt every exquisite moment of its magnetising melancholy, its smouldering sensuality. So much so that when we came to write Empire's 'Best Movies Of 2024 (So Far)' list in June, Haigh's movie sat comfortably in podium place on the list. And now, a full twelve months since the movie first released stateside, All Of Us Strangers has taken root even deeper in our hearts — and soared right to the top of our Best Movies Of 2024 list.

“This is so cool," says director Haigh when Empire shares the news that his latest has just been voted our film of the year, "I’ve read Empire literally since it first came out." And for the Harrogate born filmmaker, whose past works include the likes of Looking, 45 Years, Lean On__Pete, and Weekend, the recognition still being given to his sixth feature offers an opportunity for reflection. "The idea that I could ever be even involved in film, let alone be a director, was so out of my imagination, so it’s very cool to now be here. I appreciate it," says Haigh. "When I made the film, I was never sure if it would find an audience. So it’s been the biggest joy that it has found that audience, and continually finds that audience. The fact that people still even talk about it a year later is really meaningful. It really seems to have resonated. You can’t ask for any more than that. It’s pretty exciting that it’s number one after all this time.

One of the things that has really All Of Us Strangers stand out among its peers in what has been another exceptional year for cinema is just how intensely personal its story of love, loss, and soul-deep longing truly is. Even now, Haigh finds himself wrestling with just how much of himself he poured into this one. “I’m not a particularly extroverted person, and the fact that there is now this kind of personal story about me out there, I’ve found that a little bit hard," Haigh admits. "It’s taken me, actually, a little bit of time to deal with that. Even the fact that I shot it in my [old] house."

But if putting his heart on the line for his art was a huge and, at least for a time, difficult step for Haigh, then it was also one that ultimately felt worth taking. "The want of most filmmakers is to be able to say something about how they see and understand the world, and allow that out into the world, to resonate with other people," the director explains. "So it is really quite a powerful thing, when you are sharing your own personal philosophy of life, and something based on some element of personal experience, and then have that speak to other people. And I can’t tell you how many people have come to me to tell me their own stories, whether it’s about losing a parent, or whether it’s about growing up gay, or whether it’s just about feeling alone in the world. That feels special."

Reflecting on the outpouring of pure emotion All Of Us Strangers has been met with now, almost a full year since it was released into the world, Haigh is as philosophical, poetic, and honest as his work. “If a piece of art can make you feel less alone, even if it’s desperately sad and melancholy, if it allows you to feel like, ‘Oh my God, I am not the only one that suffers in the world’ — that’s a very powerful thing," he shares. "Because we often don’t express how we feel, even to those who are closest to us. And art can tap into that shared loneliness that we all experience in the world. It’s also quite unusual sometimes: I’ve been in places and someone will start talking about the film and they’ll start crying. That’s quite a powerful thing to have to experience. Sometimes you don’t know what to do. You’re sort of, ‘Okay...’ Pat them on the shoulder. ‘I’m sorry for you...’ I literally could not have asked for more for this film. It’s more than I ever dreamed.” That's the power of love, right there, people. And the power of All Of Us Strangers, Empire's film of the year. *Dissolves into the cosmos as Frankie Goes To Hollywood plays us out*'

[title]

“May I rest my weary head on your shoulder?” (insp.)

In the Mood for Love (2000), Rafiki (2018), Cold War (2018), Your Name Engraved Herein (2020), But I’m a Cheerleader (1999), Moonlight (2016), Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), And Then We Danced (2019), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Anatomy of a Fall (2023), Lovesong (2016), God’s Own Country (2017), The Handmaiden (2016), Notorious (1946)

[the-invisible-queer]

Disclaimer: This is a loss of movies I watched or rewatched this year and loved. Not all released in 2023. This is specific to me and my blog but anyone is welcome to vote and reblog.

[razzafrazzle]

enough strong bads... time for strong sads (theres still a strong bad here)

[image description: a page of drawings of a human design of strong sad from homestar runner, where she is depicted as a fat, tan-skinned trans woman with gray and brown hair pulled into a bun and multiple piercings. she is wearing a gray sweatshirt, jeans, and steel-toed combat boots, and next to her is a note stating that she is trans and bisexual and that her pronouns are she/they. next to that is a drawing of her smiling and wearing a sloshy t-shirt, and above that is a comic of strong bad poking her in the stomach and saying "even her gender is my hand-me-downs", to which she stays silently angry at him. end id]

[mikimeiko]

Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes, 1998)