Movies Watched -- A Taste of Honey (1961)

100 minute running time … incredibly grim, I only made it 20 minutes in before going to fast forward … who wants to see the squalid lives of white working-class (or lower) Brits from 1960? Just awful. I have John Farr to blame for recommending this one (yes, there’s a gay angle), but it’s just dreadful “Kitchen Sink Realism” stuff, nothing redeeming about it. Farr writes that “Richardson’s work stunned sixties audiences with its groundbreaking treatment of homosexuality and interracial relationships,“ but I don’t care about any of that in 2021.

Can I keep it?

Movies Watched -- Alps (2011)

93 minute running time … turns out that Yorgos Lanthimos, who is my kind of Gen-X smartass, makes the same movie over and over and over. Don’t get me wrong, I like his approach, his sense of humor, but this is not mainstream stuff … 99% of viewers will flee from this and even among the snooty arthouse crowd, he’d lose a majority of the audience. But I like it, I get it, he’s an absurdist. He’s interested in human behavior (“role playing”) and relationships. It’s not just whacky, it’s thoughtful, maybe even deep. And it’s funny as hell. Instead of giving this individual movie a green-go, I just give Lanthimos a blanket green-go … same as Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who also makes the same (great) movie over and over again.

Prince isn’t dead.

Movies Watched -- Dating Amber (2020)

92 minute running time … homosexual teen story from Ireland, set in 1995, you know, the pre-Internet era when no one knew anything about anything … this was cute and funny and sweet and touching in the end … I’m going to hold off from giving it a green-go rating for now, but it may get elevated to that status once I’ve worked my way through all the worthy movies from 2020.

You can't be who you need to be here.

Pay the Cost of Losing

Yebba singing “Distance” … sort of an EZ Listening vibe, but I still dig it:

Movies Watched -- His House (2020)

93 minute running time … only on Netflix … I’m not big on horror movies, but this one was different, it was a smarter story, very deep, and well told … scary, yes, but not silly … the refugee angle was really well played, the grief of losing a child, the terror of mass murder, the trauma while escaping war, the reality of dreadful council flats, and survivor guilt. This is a green-go, recommended movie.

Our ghosts follow us.

Movies Watched -- Blood on Her Name (2020)

85 minute running time … sort of a made-for-TV vibe … pacing was poor, story was pretty dumb, acting was second-rate … white trash crime tale (lots of crummy dark trailer interiors on display) but the lead actress had good bones and teeth so it didn’t make sense … fake Southern accents not maintained well … her son was a dead ringer for A.J. Soprano though … childhood trauma, guilt, violence, cycles of violence, etc., blah blah. On RottenTomatoes’ more or less useless Top 100 list (everything on there is over 90% Fresh), so I unfortunately watched it. You don’t have to make the same mistake.

Not the bones of a grease monkey

Movies Watched -- Yes, God, Yes (2020)

78 minute running time… this is a W.D. By movie, probably made by a fallen Gen-X Catholic woman from Iowa, you know, semi-autobiographical. Exploring sexuality, hypocrisy and the closed, pre-Internet world. It wasn’t bad, but it also doesn’t make my recommended list.

I’m going to have to tell Father. (Half Somalian, half Norwegian)

Love Let Me Hold You

Emily Sage singing “Nearer To You” … she grew up in Portugal; I’d love to hear the Portuguese version of this one:

Movies Watched -- A White, White Day (2020)

In Icelandic … 109 minute running time … heavy on the screechy violin music … a movie about grieving, complicated by the discovery that your late wife had been whoring around on you … pretty slow, I wasn’t thrilled. No sweet dreams after this grandpa’s bedtime stories. Not terrible but certainly doesn’t make my recommended list.

Carson Lund wasn’t thrilled either.

I can be a monster.

Movies Watched -- Saint Frances (2020)

106 minute running time … I haven’t seen many movies from 2020 yet, but I’m pleased to say that one of the first ones I watched, this one, I liked well enough to recommend … it’s honest and funny and well-written and the lead actress makes it all work. Green-go.

You try even when you’re scared.