#faves roundup

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favourite films watched in may 2022

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favourite films watched in august 2022

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favourite films watched in february 2022

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favourite films watched in april 2022

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What are some of ur new favorites ?

hi nonny! ahhh, so many new favourite films this month :’)

to start with, i finally saw one for the road (2021), which i’ve been desperate to watch for over a year, and it really didn’t disappoint—it definitely didn’t end up being exactly what i expected, but it was so beautifully and meticulously constructed. watching it felt akin to watching a very accomplished stage magician: you logically know that it is a series of tricks and illusions, but the show is so compelling and well-performed that you don’t want to do anything but sit back in your seat and experience it and admire the craftsmanship—and, if you look hard enough, you might spot some of what’s really going on beneath the flashy hand movements. in the end, i was entranced by the film’s delicious blend of artifice and authenticity—using the true to lend depth to the artificial, and vice versa. it was a true treat to watch; i really loved it

i watched the entirety of yasujiro ozu’s noriko trilogy—late spring (1949), early summer (1951), and tokyo story (1953)—which was just… really as much of a masterpiece as everyone says. it isn’t a conventional trilogy—the films are all unconnected, except for the fact that each one stars setsuko hara as an unmarried 28-year-old called noriko (the three norikos are all different characters, though). they’re all incredibly quiet, but beneath the serene surface there is just—so much emotion and sadness and love that it feels like it would swallow the characters whole if they ever acknowledged it. basically, they fucked me up (particularly tokyo story) and i cannot stop thinking about them. absolute masterpieces of humanist cinema that took the mundane relationships of everyday life and transformed them into something truly transcendent.

i rewatched wong kar wai’s in the mood for love for the first time in years and followed it up with 2046 (which i hadn’t seen before), and they were absolutely sublime. i feel like i’m being too liberal with the word ‘masterpiece’, but there’s really no other way to describe in the mood for love, which is possibly one of the most perfect films ever created. while 2046 doesn’t have the exact same magic as it’s predecessor, it creates a whole new magic of its own.

i also really loved infernal affairs (2002), which was just a pitch-perfect crime thriller starring andy lau and an incredibly beautiful tony leung. it was just *so good* and i had such a good time watching it.

also! this week i finally got a chance to see everything everywhere all at once (in cinema!). it contained *so much* and i’m still formulating my thoughts on it, but overall it was just as fantastic as i’d hoped it would be (and made me cry, to boot).

and though it was only a short film, i was enchanted by the night it rained (1967), an absolutely fantastic iranian metadocumentary that i could compare to rashomon or the films of abbas kiarostami—but won’t, because it succeeded in establishing its own character beautifully. i’ll definitely be watching more of kamran shirdel’s films

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✨ TOP 2021 MID-YEAR DRAMAS

i was tagged by @shangyangjunzhu and @natahjikio 💕💞

i’ve been away from tumblr for a bit so idk who’s already done this but i’ll tag @tichawongtipkanon @kittychicha @thanaerngs @wjmild @taytawan @kaonoppakao @ahysopae @pangwave @nohshinwoos @gayshinwoo @sir-gauwain @gooseras @curlykytta (only if you want to ofc!!)

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44 for movie buff ask game?

ooooh you truly picked the hardest question, didn’t you 😅

44. Top 5 favourite films (in no particular order)

Malila: The Farewell Flower (2017) ~ Anucha Boonyawatana best director <3 But Malila in particular is a sublimely crafted film that says so much about the nature of love and life and grief; it changed something in me, I think

In the Mood for Love (2000) ~ possibly the most sublimely perfect film ever created?

The Adolescence of Utena (1999) ~ impossible to describe; impossible to explain; deeply, deeply rooted in my psyche

Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy (2013) ~ Ter Nawapol is a director who transforms the ephemerality of the modern world into truly fantastic cinema, and who makes me excited about the future of film. Mary is Happy is one of his most distinctive and innovative and wondrous works and I love it to pieces

The Handmaiden (2016) ~ do I even need to explain this one

It was very hard to whittle down, but all of these are films I love beyond words, and they represent so many of my different favourite things about cinema :)

movie buff ask game

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i was tagged by nico @lovingtrans 💙 to post my favourite films of 2021! since i already did a roundup of my top 10 films of last year here, i thought i’d list some of my other favourites that didn’t make the cut (in no particular order!)

samui song (2017)

the scent of green papaya (1993)

syndromes and a century (2006)

city without baseball (2008)

viva erotica (1996)

down the river (2004)

the teacher’s diary (2014)

it was a faint dream (1974)

the blue mountains, or unbelievable story (1983)

tagging @kittychicha @jomjamspch @wongkarawai @hislaststar @praninlove @01432853 @mydaylight @tontawantu @patspran @burninglilys @pranspat (but only if you want to ofc!!!)