Best Movies of the Decade (Vol. 2)
A band of animal misfits, a house party for the ages and a grandma on an impossible mission are this week's streaming recs.
Apologies for the late send. A family emergency held me up this week. Will be back to your regular Thursday send next week.
Happy Friday and for those reading from the northeast, I’m sorry for your loss. I’m of course talking about the gorgeous 78 degree weather that has been so unceremoniously taken from us and replaced with the cold and dreary rain.
However, that fleeting bit of summer has me thinking of the freedom of warmer weather. So, for today I’m continuing my best movies of the decade series with some recommendations about the intoxicating feeling of freedom. You can see my volume one recs here.
I wrote this newsletter listening to Snail Mail’s terrific and limitless new album “Ricochet”. Have a listen here.
Streaming on Prime Video
“Lovers Rock”
What it’s about: It’s the 80s. West London. A group of teens and twentysomethings scurry about a house making preparations for a party that night. Once the sun goes down and the records come on, they leave the world at the door and give themselves up to the irresistible feeling and emotion of music. Watch the trailer.
Why you should watch it: For most of his career, Steve McQueen has dealt heavily with trauma (“12 Years A Slave, “Blitz”). But with “Lovers Rock”, the standout entry in his “Small Axe” anthology series, he focuses on the visceral weight of joy. Set over the course of a single night at a 1980s house party in West London, the film trades a traditional plot for a sustained, rhythmic mood. It is an all-out sensory immersion: the smell of goat curry wafting through a cramped kitchen, the sight of condensation dripping down wallpaper, and the tactile friction of bodies swaying in a blue-lit room.
In one scene, the party’s DJ is playing Janet Kay’s “Silly Games.” He slowly fades the song out, but like they’re in a trance the people on the dance floor continue to move. With closed eyes they dance, they hold each other, and they sing. It’s a moment you want to live in forever. “Lovers Rock” surrounds and consumes you as you watch the partiers dance, fall in love, and feel unbridled joy. Just bodies in a room moving together making you want to join in.
68 mins.
Streaming on HBO Max
“Flow”
What it’s about: In a near future (or alternate present), a solitary black cat living in the ruins of what seems to be human civilization is faced with a catastrophic flood. Seeking refuge on a drifting sailboat alongside a capybara, a lemur, a dog, and a secretarybird, the unlikely band of misfits have to find a way to survive. Watch the trailer.
Why you should watch it: Not a single word is spoken in Gints Zilbalodis’ extraordinary second feature, and honestly? It doesn’t need any. Built entirely in open-source software by a Latvian director still in his twenties (like show-off much), “Flow” starts, well, flowing and doesn’t stop. The nonstop plot is reminiscent of “Mad Max: Fury Road”. Just trade the post-apocalyptic desert for a post-apocalyptic great ocean and the last survivors of human civilization for a ragtag group of animals.
It has the visual grammar of a dream and the emotional pull of something deeply human. Watching that cat inch toward its fellow survivors, sharing fish, learning to steer, you feel something loosen in your chest. Cinema doesn’t always need language. Sometimes it just needs a cat and its friends on a boat at the end of the world.
85 mins.
Streaming on Hulu
“Thelma”
What’s it about: When 93-year-old grandmother Thelma Post (June Squibb) is conned out of $10,000, she takes matters into her own hands to get her money back. With help from her retirement home friend Ben (Shaft himself, Richard Roundtree) and his motorized scooter, she treks across Los Angeles to reclaim her money and prove she can do it all on her own. Watch the trailer.
Why you should watch it: “Thelma” is one part delightful comedy of manners that only gets wilder and funnier as it goes on. June Squibb’s performance as the headstrong (but sometimes technologically-challenged) Thelma is hilarious as she tries to navigate a dangerous world (and yes, a set of stairs are the danger). Josh Margolin treats Thelma’s journey like an entry in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise, except instead of skydiving from the Burj Kalifa she’s trying to get a box from a high shelf.
However, what makes “Thelma” great is the other part of the story. One about resilience, the dignity of getting older and how our family’s underestimation can cut deep at any age. Delightfully mad, surprisingly moving, and constantly entertaining, it’s one of the best movies of the decade.
98 mins.
In Movie News
There were a slew of new trailers this week:
“Mother Mary”: David Lowery (“A Ghost Story”, “Pete’s Dragon”) returns to with a psychological drama-thriller-horror-musical (forgive me if I left off a genre). Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel with music by Jack Antonoff, Charli xcx, and FKA Twigs. Trailer here.
“Backrooms”: I guess they’re making 4chan threads into movies now! The infamous “backrooms” internet meme is coming in the form of a horror-thriller starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, and Mark Duplass. Trailer here.
“Masters of the Universe”: You know that twink from “Red, White, and Royal Blue”? He’s buff now… and playing He-Man. The comic book superhero turned queer TV icon finally has his own movie. And yes, the blonde bob is bobbing. Trailer here.
That’s it for this week. Love you. See you next week!
Karl
📽 P.S. You can see every movie I’ve ever recommended right here.
🍅 I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes! You can find new movie reviews here and here.
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The new Snail Mail record is great!