ryo yamada2001
ryo yamada2001
this is neat because on my birthday (oct 26) i always remake my top 25 films list, even though it's becoming increasingly possible to order let alone choose which films make the list: here
spent most of the year focusing on tv anime and such (and i'll spare y'all the thoughts on those lol), so didn't see as many movies as i'd liked. nonetheless, i still managed to see so many beautiful films, and discovering myself and some of my favorite directors in the process. more than ever i'm convinced movies are sacred, magical things and that it's something worth living for
my first time watches that i've hit with a 5/5 this year, in watching order:
- videodrome (cronenberg); so dense, atmospheric, and fascinatingly philosophical that after the credits it felt like 8 hours had just passed. it's the experience i only really get from binging a book, except in cinema form. but cronenberg's work remains so wonderfully grotesque that it's a joy to watch also
- king of new york, the addiction, new rose hotel, bad lieutenant (ferrara); formalist excellence within sleazy frameworks, few things more poignant than king of new york's ending, more visceral than the addiction's graduation party, more prescient than new rose hotel (my favorite review ive ever written), or deeply moving as bad lieutenant's apparition of christ. very wounded, intimate, spiritual, conflicted etc. a remarkably rewarding filmmaker and i cannot help but commend a man who bleeds himself and all of his faults upon his own canvas
- the passion of joan of arc (dreyer); one of the most spiritual experiences i've ever had, genuinely has remained with me for months. joan being burned at the stake could be considered the best scene of all time, and it was made in 1928. they'd solved the movies back then everything we got after is just bonus tbh.
- knock at the cabin (shyamalan); in a year and decade where homophobic and transphobic sentiment is on the rise, where queer people are getting increasingly endangered in the US, where it feels like the apocalypse is perpetually right around the corner, where all feels truly lost, knock at the cabin was such a revelatory and important movie that asserted that we're always going to be here, we're always going to matter, we will always persist. it's a queer movie that acknowledges all that is lost but all that can and still will flourish; an assertion that we deserve to live even in times where it gets so difficult to believe that. a declaration of love from shyamalan, cried so much over this
- digimon adventure (hosoda); won't talk about this too much but hikari struggling and fighting so so hard to save the friend she'd made just earlier in the day just makes me sob man
movies i saw in cinemas this year:
- shoplifters (kore-eda; obviously good while not exactly my speed, sakura ando might be the best actress nobody talks about)
- m3gan (cringe)
- creed iii (potent cinema, quite hopeful about mbj's future directorial career)
- fast x (real cinema, from the flame to the kid to the nos to the dom to the cross to the bicep through the fucking car. real cinema is fucking back)
mission impossible dead reckoning part one (funny how a movie warning about the spooky AI might as well have been made by AI)
- oppenheimer (visceral and a behemoth, turned me into a nolan believer)
- barbie (i turned around and saw all of the teenage girls in the theater crying, like damn. whatever i can say about how shallow i find its feminism has to be offset by the fact this is probably the first time all of those teenagers found representation and catharsis through film, and that's ultimately what it's about to me. + immaculate production design and ryan gosling swept)
- killers of the flower moon (more qualified people have spoken about the decision to focus on ernest burkhart over mollie -- i think it undercuts some of its potential, as scorsese seems to struggle to balance ernest's filmic arc and the very real and very serious ramifications of the Osage's killings -- but its admirable that its been made regardless)
other things i wanna talk about a bit:
- watched a few de palma's this year. great movies but the one that stuck with me most is blow out (ending; nsfw). jesus christ man. i think the montage scene assembling the crash's pictures and sound together is one of the most essential scenes in film history. de palma remains underrated; capable of mending fierce political expression with formalist (re-)construction. and then u got shit like snake eyes which is just a pure fun sugar rush so who knows
- twilight baseball scene. sickly blue filter gives a persistent feeling of cold and wetness in some forgotten bumfuck part of the US where nothing ever happens. awful awkward stilted conversations between people who are experiencing these feelings for the first time. such a fascinating document and depiction of contemporary youth novel aesthetics/being an edgy high schooler. can't help but be sucked into its forgettable mundanity and its subsequent suspension thereof, climbing through treetops and exploring a world totally unknown like bella does. so it's unstylish and lame and every line is difficult to get through (though very funny in retrospect, like how we laugh at the cringey we used to say) but that doesn't make twilight bad; it makes twilight all the better!
- looking for an angel. queer people die too much
- i understand why southland tales is so divisive (though i think its aesthetics of screens-within-screens causing information overload is incredibly inventive and prescient) but even then its ending gotta be so undeniable, "i forgive you" (nsfw) being one of those things that have sat with me all year
- miami vice (2006) is unreal. colin farrell gives one of the best performances in film history here. painting with digital. fucking unbelievable
- im too tired to write more but please watch rehearsals for retirement by phil solomon. perfect movie in just 12 minutes, perfect editing cinematography storytelling through visuals further developing the medium through a deeply personal way
- my goal for this year is to watch at least the movies in this list, though i may deviate from it
i'm still at the start of my journey through cinema and it's so exciting. i already love it so much and i can only feel my love for the movies grow each passing year. god bless. wishing y'all another wonderful year with the movies, may you find a bunch of new favorites. thank you bkc for tagging
Crash (Cronenberg)
Heat (Mann)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Hooper)
The Matrix (Wachowskis)
Angel's Egg (Oshii)
The Matrix Revolutions (Wachowskis)
Ghost in the Shell (Oshii)
Knock at the Cabin (Shyamalan)
Cléo from 5 to 7 (Varda)
House (Obayashi)
Rehearsals for Retirement (Solomon)
New Rose Hotel (Ferrara)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer)
Cat Soup (Sato)
Miami Vice (Mann)
Melancholia (von Trier)
Halloween II (Zombie)
Gummo (Korine)
Spirited Away (Miyazaki)
American Psycho (Harron)
Runaway (Kanye West)
Sherlock, Jr. (Keaton)
Trainspotting (Boyle)
The End of Evangelion (Anno)
Hana-bi (Kitano)
Heat (Mann)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Hooper)
The Matrix (Wachowskis)
Angel's Egg (Oshii)
The Matrix Revolutions (Wachowskis)
Ghost in the Shell (Oshii)
Knock at the Cabin (Shyamalan)
Cléo from 5 to 7 (Varda)
House (Obayashi)
Rehearsals for Retirement (Solomon)
New Rose Hotel (Ferrara)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer)
Cat Soup (Sato)
Miami Vice (Mann)
Melancholia (von Trier)
Halloween II (Zombie)
Gummo (Korine)
Spirited Away (Miyazaki)
American Psycho (Harron)
Runaway (Kanye West)
Sherlock, Jr. (Keaton)
Trainspotting (Boyle)
The End of Evangelion (Anno)
Hana-bi (Kitano)
spent most of the year focusing on tv anime and such (and i'll spare y'all the thoughts on those lol), so didn't see as many movies as i'd liked. nonetheless, i still managed to see so many beautiful films, and discovering myself and some of my favorite directors in the process. more than ever i'm convinced movies are sacred, magical things and that it's something worth living for
my first time watches that i've hit with a 5/5 this year, in watching order:
- videodrome (cronenberg); so dense, atmospheric, and fascinatingly philosophical that after the credits it felt like 8 hours had just passed. it's the experience i only really get from binging a book, except in cinema form. but cronenberg's work remains so wonderfully grotesque that it's a joy to watch also
- king of new york, the addiction, new rose hotel, bad lieutenant (ferrara); formalist excellence within sleazy frameworks, few things more poignant than king of new york's ending, more visceral than the addiction's graduation party, more prescient than new rose hotel (my favorite review ive ever written), or deeply moving as bad lieutenant's apparition of christ. very wounded, intimate, spiritual, conflicted etc. a remarkably rewarding filmmaker and i cannot help but commend a man who bleeds himself and all of his faults upon his own canvas
- the passion of joan of arc (dreyer); one of the most spiritual experiences i've ever had, genuinely has remained with me for months. joan being burned at the stake could be considered the best scene of all time, and it was made in 1928. they'd solved the movies back then everything we got after is just bonus tbh.
- knock at the cabin (shyamalan); in a year and decade where homophobic and transphobic sentiment is on the rise, where queer people are getting increasingly endangered in the US, where it feels like the apocalypse is perpetually right around the corner, where all feels truly lost, knock at the cabin was such a revelatory and important movie that asserted that we're always going to be here, we're always going to matter, we will always persist. it's a queer movie that acknowledges all that is lost but all that can and still will flourish; an assertion that we deserve to live even in times where it gets so difficult to believe that. a declaration of love from shyamalan, cried so much over this
- digimon adventure (hosoda); won't talk about this too much but hikari struggling and fighting so so hard to save the friend she'd made just earlier in the day just makes me sob man
movies i saw in cinemas this year:
- shoplifters (kore-eda; obviously good while not exactly my speed, sakura ando might be the best actress nobody talks about)
- m3gan (cringe)
- creed iii (potent cinema, quite hopeful about mbj's future directorial career)
- fast x (real cinema, from the flame to the kid to the nos to the dom to the cross to the bicep through the fucking car. real cinema is fucking back)
mission impossible dead reckoning part one (funny how a movie warning about the spooky AI might as well have been made by AI)
- oppenheimer (visceral and a behemoth, turned me into a nolan believer)
- barbie (i turned around and saw all of the teenage girls in the theater crying, like damn. whatever i can say about how shallow i find its feminism has to be offset by the fact this is probably the first time all of those teenagers found representation and catharsis through film, and that's ultimately what it's about to me. + immaculate production design and ryan gosling swept)
- killers of the flower moon (more qualified people have spoken about the decision to focus on ernest burkhart over mollie -- i think it undercuts some of its potential, as scorsese seems to struggle to balance ernest's filmic arc and the very real and very serious ramifications of the Osage's killings -- but its admirable that its been made regardless)
other things i wanna talk about a bit:
- watched a few de palma's this year. great movies but the one that stuck with me most is blow out (ending; nsfw). jesus christ man. i think the montage scene assembling the crash's pictures and sound together is one of the most essential scenes in film history. de palma remains underrated; capable of mending fierce political expression with formalist (re-)construction. and then u got shit like snake eyes which is just a pure fun sugar rush so who knows
- twilight baseball scene. sickly blue filter gives a persistent feeling of cold and wetness in some forgotten bumfuck part of the US where nothing ever happens. awful awkward stilted conversations between people who are experiencing these feelings for the first time. such a fascinating document and depiction of contemporary youth novel aesthetics/being an edgy high schooler. can't help but be sucked into its forgettable mundanity and its subsequent suspension thereof, climbing through treetops and exploring a world totally unknown like bella does. so it's unstylish and lame and every line is difficult to get through (though very funny in retrospect, like how we laugh at the cringey we used to say) but that doesn't make twilight bad; it makes twilight all the better!
- looking for an angel. queer people die too much
- i understand why southland tales is so divisive (though i think its aesthetics of screens-within-screens causing information overload is incredibly inventive and prescient) but even then its ending gotta be so undeniable, "i forgive you" (nsfw) being one of those things that have sat with me all year
- miami vice (2006) is unreal. colin farrell gives one of the best performances in film history here. painting with digital. fucking unbelievable
- im too tired to write more but please watch rehearsals for retirement by phil solomon. perfect movie in just 12 minutes, perfect editing cinematography storytelling through visuals further developing the medium through a deeply personal way
- my goal for this year is to watch at least the movies in this list, though i may deviate from it
ignore the top 4 labels (its for picking letterboxd favorites, i wanted to change my lineup every month but i fell off halfway through the year)
i'm still at the start of my journey through cinema and it's so exciting. i already love it so much and i can only feel my love for the movies grow each passing year. god bless. wishing y'all another wonderful year with the movies, may you find a bunch of new favorites. thank you bkc for tagging