In order to have a meaningful conversation about cinema and grow as a cinephile and film critic one must become fluent in the history of the art. If I hadn’t watched the “40 Year Old Virgin” this year, I may have never understood the relevance of Judd Apatow and the type of comedy he helped usher in the mid-2000s. If I hadn’t watched Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother), I would continue to believe (wrongly, I may add) that as good a filmmaker as Pedro Almodovar has shown me he can be, he was incapable of crafting a story that was truly moving and personal. Instead, I learned that Almodovar is much more than a provocateur with a keen eye. At his best, as he proved in Todo Sobre Mi Madre, Almodovar can take the tale of a grieving single mother and make it both intimate and universally inspiring.
Best Blind Spots of 2018
2018 Reviews, Film ReviewsAkira, Alex Proyas, Antonia San Juan, Bill Murray, Ethan Hawke, Grave of the Fireflies, Gus Van Sant, Jonathan Demme, Judd Apatow, Julie Delpy, Katsushiro Otomo, Keanu Reeves, Kiefer Sutherland, Pedro Almodovar, Richard Linklater, River Phoenix, Rushmore, Seth Rogen, Steve Carrell, Studio Ghibli, The Talking Heads, Wes AndersonThe Blog of Big Ideas