Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Personal Shopper (2016)

Maureen: So we made this oath... 

Whoever died first would send the other a sign.

Ingo: A sign? From- from the afterlife?

Maureen: You could call it that; 

you could call it a million things.

Ingo: But... how do you know if it's a sign?

Maureen: I'm a medium. He was- 

he was a medium. I'll just know it.

Ingo: Have you... communicated with spirits before?

Maureen: Um. Lewis thought they were... spirits. 

I'm- I'm less sure. But yes. Uh, somewhat.

I mean there are invisible... presences... around us. 

Always. I mean whether or not they're the souls of the dead, 

I don't know, but... You know when you're a medium 

you just are attuned to some sort of... vibe.

Ingo: What do you mean by- by vibe?

Maureen: It's an intuition thing; it's a feeling. 

You... You see this door... That's only like slightly, ajar.

Ingo: Well... How's within that, that the 

soul... continues to exist... after death?

Maureen: I don't even know if I believe in that.

Can you believe that this movie is turning 10 this year? Time really has ceased having meaning. Anyway we're not here for that -- it didn't premiere at Cannes until May of 2016 -- we are here because actor Lars Eidinger, who played Ingo in the film and of whom we're an enormous fan, is turning 50 today. We previously did a great big gratuitous post on Lars for on his 45th birthday right here, but we're circling back on him because in the five years since then he's only made more of a name for himself -- he can seen briefly in Noah Baumbach's film Jay Kelly right now, but the biggest news of all dropped a few weeks ago -- he's playing the villain Brainiac in the next Superman movie! That is WILD casting. Great, interesting, and surprising casting -- you'd think they'd go with a big name, but they went with a great actor instead. And Lars is also, it must be added with great fondness and appreciation, a massive freak. We approve, James Gunn!

NYFF Make My Dreams Come True

Just a couple of weeks ago I shared the poster and a teaser trailer for Park Chan-wook's new movie No Other Choice starring his ol' pal Byung-hun Lee and I said therein, and I quote, "This movie's premiering at Venice  and I am keeping all of my assorted limbs knotted up in hope that it'll head to NYFF from there." Well unknot me cuz it came true! NYFF just announced their Main Slate this morning for their 2025 edition and Master Park's movie is up in its business -- as are several other movies I am champing at me bit to gnaw right into. So why not a list? Not counting the Opening Night film (which is Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt and so obviously my jam) here are the 10 movies out of the Main Slate that I'm the most anticipating...

My 10 Most Anitipcated NYFF63 Main Slate Movies

No Other Choice -- dir. Park Chan-wook

There's really nothing I can shriek in enthusiasm about this movie that I haven't been shrieking since it was announced. Park Chan-wook is a god, period, the end.

Jay Kelly -- dir. Noah Baumbach

Normally I try to steer clear of George Clooney vehicles but I tend to love Baumbach movies whatever he throws at me and most importantly he got his gal pal Greta Gerwig acting again. Gerwig seals the deal every time. Plus Patrick WIlson, Laura Dern, Riley Keough, Jim Broadbent, Emily Mortimer, Billy Crudup and Isla Fisher! Also Emily Mortimer co-wrote this! 

The Mastermind -- dir. Kelly Reichardt

Not only is it the never-steers-me-wrong Reichardt behind the camera and not only does the movie star Josh O'Connor but the movie stars Josh o'Connor looking like the raffish lit professor everybody, including the other teachers and parents, are all trying to fuck.

The Secret Agent -- dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho 

Wagner Moura is one of the greatest (and come on, look at the picture, sexiest) on the world stage right now, and his teaming up withthe genius behind Bacurau is white hot shit. Plus Moura won Best Actor at Cannes and Mendonça Filho won Best Director so hopes are obviously big.

Sentimental Value -- dir. Joachim Trier

And speaking of Cannes this follow-up from the director and star of the masterpiece The Worst Person in the World won the Grand Prix at that fest. I will follow these two anywhere, together or seperately, but together tastes best!

Peter Hujar's Day -- dir. Ira Sachs

It's Ben fucking Whishaw playing Peter fucking Hujar -- you think I'm not all over this? Anyway I was extremely annoyed I couldn't see it at Sundance so I'm happy to have been given this second shot, even if I wasted months -- months!!! -- of my life without it. I won't hold it against you, Ben!

Miroirs No. 3 -- Christian Petzold

Since 2012 Christian Petzold has made five straight up masterpieces in a row with Barbara, Phoenix, Transit, Undine, and Afire -- I'm hoping he hasn't broken that streak by daring to make a movie with a title that has more than a single word in it, but I think we might be in safe hands. I mean he's reunited with actress Paula Beer yet again. We're gonna be fine.

The Fence -- dir. Claire Denis

I tend to swing wildly on my opinion of Denis movies, but the main thrust seems to be I like her more recent work while her earlier, typically more lauded works have left me cold. I'm such a maverick! Anyway Denis regular Isaach De Bankolé is her leading man this time, which is always a good sign, but this also co-stars Matt Dillon and Tom Blyth? Mkay.

Rose of Nevada -- dir. Mark Jenkin

Yeah yeah okay it stars Callum Turner and George MacKay

as fisherman, obviously it was gonna make my list. 

That's literally all I know or need to know. Fish me good, fellas!

Landmarks -- dir. Lucrecia Martel

Since The Headless Woman in 2008 

I've been a Lucretia ride-or-die-for-lifer.

Not even reading what this is about. Sign me up.

--------------------------------------

Runners-up:  It Was Just an Accident (dir. Jafar Panahi), A House of Dynamite (dir. Kathryn Bigelow), Resurrection (dir. Bi Gan), Romería (dir. Carla Simón), Kontinental ’25 (dir. Radu Jude), If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (dir. Mary Bronstein), Duse (dir. Pietro Marcello)

Just a footnote on the concept of "Runners-up" here -- I literally could have listed every single other movie that didn't make my top ten. The only reason there are runners-up at all is I limited myself to a list of ten. As happens with every NYFF there are titles that come out of nowhere to slam me onto the floor in the best of way, and sometimes the ones I'm most excited about don't totally land. Usually though I always leave NYFF happy, because as I've said before they might not get all of the big exciting world premieres but year after year they do an incredible job curating the movies from around the globe that are the most worth seeing. I love my hometown fest! Click here to buy passes -- general tickets go on sale on September 18th (and earlier for FLC members). The fest runs from September 26 through October 13, 2025. 

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Frances Ha (2012)

Frances: Sometimes it's good to do

what you're supposed to do

when you're supposed to do it.

Like how about wishing Frances Ha a happy 10th anniversary on its 10th anniversary? Yes, let's do that. Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig's master-work Frances Ha premiered at Telluride in 2012 but didn't make its way into proper theaters until the following May of 2013, exactly ten years ago today! I know there are people who find this movie insufferable but I am not one of them -- this is one of my favorites, an absolute comfort watch, and I've seen it a dozen times if not twice as many. If I were to make a list of the greatest films since the turn of the millennium this would be high high high up. I already loved Greta before this -- I'd been a fan since her small not-the-babysitter turn in Ti West's The House of the Devil -- but this one cemented the deal. I would and I have followed her anywhere after this. I mean I'm now a person who is excited about a goddamned Barbie movie, like wtf?

My 20 Favorite Movies of 2022

Well I didn't plan on doing this today but what the hell -- seize the moment and such. Unlike last year, where I still haven't shared my favorite movies of the year, that is. That's right -- I'm just going to go ahead and give you my favorite movies of the year 2022 right now, right this moment. Wham bam let's just get it done. I've made it pretty clear here and elsewhere that my hatred for lists and awards has truly gotten the best of me -- ranking something as individual and personal as art as "the best" within a broad context has become nonsensical to me. I don't really even see the use of it anymore.

That said, individually I do find it fascinating -- seeing a single person's favorites, that is. Groupthink obliterates the outliers and quirks of individuality (which is how shit like Green Book or CODA ends up winning a Best Picture prize) but if there's a writer or friend whose opinion I trust I wanna see what they liked, as a singular person, in hopes that they'll direct me to something I might not have paid attention to. See John Waters' list at ArtForum every year -- I've gotten more out of those than any Oscars ceremony ever.

Anyway since I'm a member and/or a writer for a few places where I have had to submit my favorite movies of 2022 a few times already I did make this list awhile back, and I've had it sitting here staring at me. So why not share it? I don't know that I'll ever have the time to do a great big slew of "Golden Trousers" awards like I was doing a decade ago -- with a full-time real-life job AND writing regularly for two other websites AND keeping MNPP itself going my time is thin gruel right now y'all. But please, enjoy this much, if you care to!

My 20 Favorite Movies of 2022

20. Soft & Quiet (dir. Beth de Araújo)
-- my review here -- 

19. Everything Everywhere All At Once (dir. The Daniels)
-- my review here -- 

18. Close (dir. Lukas Dhont)
-- my review here -- 

17. Pearl (dir. Ti West)
-- my review here -- 

16. White Noise (dir. Noah Baumbach)
-- my review here -- 

15. Brian and Charles (dir. Jim Archer)
-- my review here -- 

14. Peter Von Kant (dir. François Ozon)
-- my review here -- 

13. The Northman (dir. Robert Eggers)
-- my review here -- 

12. The Eternal Daughter (dir. Joanna Hogg)
-- my review here -- 

11. Aftersun (dir. Charlotte Wells)
-- my review here -- 

10. Mad God (dir. Phil Tippett)
-- my review here -- 

9. Please Baby Please (dir. Amanda Kramer)
-- my review here -- 

8. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (dir. Laura Poitras)

7. Tár (dir. Todd Field)
-- my review here --

6. Living (dir. Oliver Hermanus)
-- my review here -- 

5. Great Freedom (dir. Sebastian Meise)
-- my review here -- 

4. Benediction (dir. Terence Davies)
-- my review here -- 

3. Decision to Leave (dir. Park Chan-wook)
-- my review here --

2. Bones and All (dir. Luca Guadagnino)
-- my review here -- 

1. Flux Gourmet (dir. Peter Strickland)
-- my review here -- 

------------------------------------

Runners-up: Fire Island (dir. Andrew Ahn), The Inspection (dir. Elegance Bratton), Holy Spider (dir. Ali Abbas), Bodies Bodies Bodies (dir. Halina Reijn), Triangle of Sadness (dir. Ruben Östlund), Three Thousand Years of Longing (dir. George Miller) A Wounded Fawn (dir. Travis Stevens), Dinner in America (dir. Adam Rehmeier), Women Talking (dir. Sarah Polley), Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris (dir. Anthony Fabian),  Alcarràs (dir. Carla Simón), Pleasure (dir. Ninja Thyberg), The Banshees of Inisherin (dir. Martin McDonagh), Watcher (dir. Chloe Okuno), The Cathedral (dir. Ricky D’Ambrose), Resurrection (dir. Andrew Seaman), The Quiet Girl (dir. Colm Bairéad), Nope (dir. Jordan Peele), Satan's Slaves 2 (dir. Joko Anwar), After Yang (dir. Kogonada)

So there that is! Go watch all of those movies, please.

And on to 2023 we officially move...

Holly Jolly Heave Ho Ho

Well that is that -- I'm off for the holidays, as forecasted in last evening's mention. MNPP proper will most likely be stock-still quiet til January 3rd... I always say I might post and I am always a big fat dumb liar. I'll surely be active on the social medias all linked in the right-hand column though, and I will have a couple of reviews hitting Pajiba over the next week (you can keep track of me there in particular at this link)...

... like my take on Babylon goes up tomorrow, you won't want to miss that. I asked my editor's permission to swear a lot! And two old reviews for movies I saw at film festivals will be re-upped as the films get released, including Living (with a career best Bill Nighy) right here and Noah Baumbach's White Noise, which hits Netflix next week and which I talked about here. Both of those are terrific and 100% worth seeking out.

Other than that I just wish you all a happy holiday and a happy New Years and let's see if we can make 2023 a year to remember for good reasons. If anybody wants to make a donation to MNPP's coffers out of appreciation for my annual nonsense efforts, you can do so right here -- every penny's and nice comment is appreciated. Hell even the nasty comments are appreciated -- just pay attention to me dammit! In all seriousness I love my readers, y'all rule, thanks for coming back all these many years. I would still do this without you because my brain is chaos but y'all make it easier! Thank you!

I'm a Barbie Girl

The teaser trailer for Greta Gerwig's inexplicable Barbie movie is here and y'all, it's a delight. I'm trying to remember the last time I saw a quality 2001 spoof and I feel like it's been awhile, so this delighted me. But I'll shut up before I give away too much -- just watch the damn thing:

Fun, right? I am of course a Greta Gerwig stan from way back and never truly doubted my girl, even though I think we all, even the most stalwart of us, were like, "... huh?" This tease doesn't tell us what the story is that she and Noah Baumbach came up with but it's so funny and the glimpses we see are so colorful and camp (little girls sleeping on prehistoric rocks is camp, don't come at me with your Sontagian definitions) that, of course. Of course they knew what they were doing. This is out on July 21st! Bring it on, baby doll! Thoughts from you people?

The Gang Goes Gobble Gobble

There is very nearly too much out this week for me to even keep a handle on, but lemme try real quick, before I take off for the evening. I always say before a holiday that I might pop back on here to update things and then never do -- of course now that I have said I never do I probably will because there's nothing I love better than proving myself foolish. Well that's not entirely true -- I also really love being lazy. So it's a battle between those two to see which wins out!

Anyway -- lotsa movies is my point! Many of which I have already reviewed or will have reviews going up for sometime this week. But let's start with a movie that falls into neither of those categories -- Rian Johnson's Knives Out sequel Glass Onion, which I saw last night (see down at the bottom of this post for some video of Johnson and a choice friend introducing the movie) but which I have no plans to review. It's hitting some theaters this week and y'all should go, it's fun. I'm not these movies most enthusiastic fan but they're fun enough. I thought the endless cameos in this one were a little much, but I am after all joyless and dead inside so your mileage will probably vary.

Seeing Jack O’Connell’s cock at this point is like having an old friend pop by for a spot of tea

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) October 29, 2022

Oh and another movie out this week that I have seen but don't plan on reviewing is the new Lady Chatterly's Lover with Jack O'Connell -- even though I'm not writing about it doesn't mean it's bad, though. I liked it well enough. And not just because what I tweeted above. Although, you know, that never hurts. Literally never.

As for movies that I have already reviewed that are hitting theaters this week -- most importantly there is Luca Guadagnino's cannibal romance Bones and All, obviously. Here is my review of that. I think it's awesomely good and think you should see it. It got some Indie Spirit nominations today which surprised me -- I really think the film will be too weird for awards. But good for the Spirits. (Also I might have a piece coming on this exact subject hitting some time soon as well.) And then also out this week -- although only here in NYC, I think -- is Noah Baumbach's White Noise, which I reviewed right here. It's also terrific! Greta Gerwig, baby! They dropped a trailer today, too:



As for movies that I have reviews posting later this week -- keep your eyes trained on Pajiba for my takes on the films Devotion with Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell, as well as Steven Spielberg's autobiographical fable called The Fabelmans. Maybe I will pop back in here and share those links this week when the links arrive... maybe not. It's the most exciting thing that will happen all week, this guessing game! Make sure you hold your breath! Even when you're eating mashed potatoes. Especially when eating your mashed potatoes. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! (And don't forget to use MNPP's Amazon link to do your holiday shopping with!)

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Four From NYFF

A slew of my first reviews out of the New York Film Festival hit the 'net yesterday whilst I was in more press screenings of New York Film Festival movies all day long so I can write more reviews -- the film fest cycle is really something y'a.. Anyway I haven't been able to link to all of these reviews properly yet -- unless you keep track of my Rotten Tomatoes page -- so let's do that! First up here at Pajiba is my review of the fest's Opening Night film, Noah Baumbach's White Noise, starring Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig in an adaptation of Don DeLillo's "unadaptable" 1985 novel. I was a bit dazed when I walked out of this one but by the time I sat down to write about it my opinion had cemented better than I anticipated.

Next up here at The Film Experience is my review of the surgery documentary De Humani Corporis Fabrica from the duo filmmakers behind Leviathan. This movie got a lot of understandable walk-outs as it's filled with microscopic close-ups of real live human bodies being dissected and smashed and probed and everything you can imagine, but I found it hypnotic and contemplative and fascinating. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

Thirdly I will send you over to my review of Kelly Reichardt's triumphant reunion with muse Michelle Williams in the art-world observational Showing Up, which you can read right here again at The Film Experience. As I said on Twitter...

I just wanna live in the world the way Kelly Reichardt sees the world

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) September 27, 2022

I cannot overstate how much I love watching Kelly Reichardt movies, I really can't. Anyway lastly for today is another fantastic outing -- although this one far more cutting than anything Kelly Reichardt would ever, could ever, attempt -- here is my review at Pajiba of Todd Field's Tár starring a maybe never better Cate Blanchett. The rumors are true! She's astonishing in this. Given what she's gifted us with in the past it seems crazy to be contemplating a new peak, but here we are.