Fav First-Time Watches: March 2026
Lenz (Moorse, 1971)
Yam Daabo (Ouedraogo, 1987)
Baixo Gávea (Marinho Barbosa, 1986)
The Sealed Soil (Nabili, 1977)
River Returns (Kaneko, 2024)
This House (Charles, 2022)
The Movement of Things (Serra, 1985)
Phantosmia (Diaz, 2024)
Fav First-Time Watches: Feb 2026
Transfiguration (Ghoghoberidze, 1968)
Shanghai Rhapsody (Fukasaku, 1984)
The Parallel Street (Khittl, 1962)
Brand of Evil (Horikawa, 1964)
Aido: Slave of Love (Hani, 1969)
Peggy Sue Got Married (Coppola, 1986)
Ariel (Patiño, 2025)
Fav First-Time Watches: January 2026
A Performance of Hamlet in the Village of Mrdusa Donja (Papić, 1973)
A Fidai Film (Aljafari, 2024)
The Hidden Trail of the Beasts (Murakawa, 1981)
Paruthiveeran (Ameer, 2007)
A Tale of Filipino Violence (Diaz, 2022)
The Four Days of Naples (Loy, 1962)
Anatomia Extinction (Nishimura, 1995)
The forgotten lovechild of Tetsuo and the 80s SOV horror. Immensely visceral filmmaking, lots of contrasting textures - from fleshy to early CGI. Full of feeling that would mostly vanish from Nishimura's later work.
The new The Ruins of Beverast record if you haven't already listened to that one.
Deewaar (Chopra, 1975)
One of the best examples of a kind of career restart. Chopra's known extravagances toned down for a film who's pleasures are about contrasts. There's a directness here that only reinforces the seething discontent of within each image.
Christopher Columbus, The Enigma (Oliveira, 2007)
Rewatched last night and was just charmed how the second half plays not just as a love letter to history but to Oliveira's own wife. The two of them just wandering around looking at artefacts and statues and photos is very sweet.
Since I didn't watch that many films from this year, here are my 25 fav records from this year
Anari (Mukherjee, 1959)
Kapoor acts as the conduit for Mukherjee's more melancholic side. It's perhaps the best example of this quality in its most uncut and unfiltered, with even the comedic qualities here coming across as mere masks against the intensity of emotions.
Meet Me in St. Louis (Minnelli, 1944)
A Christmas classic (even if only the final third really takes place during Christmas). Just some of the most quintessentially cinematic moments ever created. What can only be put forward through the medium. Beautiful.
Murakawa was one of the best stylists working in the 80s. Just a host of incredible films - of which I would argue this is on the lower end. Just an astoundingly talented filmmaker.
Here Is a Spring (Imai, 1955)
Some of the best work of Imai's career here. Beautifully blending its social realist elements with more melodramatic sentimentality. I was reminded of the work of Gosho at times. Some utterly inspired close-ups.
Current ranking of Alan Clarke - some of the best stuff I've seen this year.
Far from Manhattan (Biette, 1982)
Working through meanings of creation. Breaking down the form to essential frames - each one, not a painting, but a discussion. In dialogue with itself and that which it is interrogating.
The Trace of Your Lips (Hernández, 2023)
One of the most talented working filmmakers plays the hits in such fine succession. The formal acumen on display throughout is simply magical but it's the desperate longing, the agonizing horniness, that makes this one sing.
Messa is my fav of the year so far. Such a leap forward for them, I'm glad it's getting out to as many people as it seems to have. Gonna have to look into some of these other ones that I'm not familiar with.
Top First Time Watches: May 2025
Psy-Warriors (Clarke, 1981)
Minamata Revolt: A People's Quest for Life (Tsuchimoto, 1973)
Treasure Island (Brac, 2018)
One Night Stand (Rissient, 1976)
The Romantic Exiles (Trueba, 2015)
End of Desire (Astruc, 1958)
Coconut Head Generation (Kassanda, 2023)
The Box Man (Ishii, 2024)
Very Aster-coded. Tired, exhausting, Ishii's adaptation strips away a lot of the horror in favor of inconsistent comedic beats and not particularly interesting phycological examinations. Disappointing. Could potentially be a career low for him.
Psy-Warriors (Clarke, 1981)
One of the best things I've seen this year.
Beloved Infidel (King, 1959)
A dying star of a romance. Collapsing from the moment the two first meet. Perhaps King's most cynical work, there's little room for hope or romanticism as everything was always bound to end in tragedy anyway. So much for the American Dream.
Somehow one of the most overwhelming shots I've seen in some time. Didn't remember this one at all from prior watches but feels like something unearthed. Depths too far to reach through my own pale descriptions. I thought of Oliveira and Bing here but it is also neither.
Jesse James (King, 1939)
In which myth, the idea of a man, is more important that history - but the myth exists. As form which mutates and expands and contracts along with and alongside of history. The natural world contains it. What is captured is both - history and myth.
Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing (King, 1955)
The impossibility of connection. The American desire for conquest can never fully comprehend the complexities of the world around it. All the desire, passion, and love cannot bridge what can and cannot be bridged.
Thanks for reading! Really appreciate it! 100% agree. These films mean so much to me.
The Sparrow in the Chimney (Zürcher, 2024)
Far funnier than I've seen most mention. The first half's bitterness is so close to fracturing the whole piece yet remains in tact thanks to such precise control. The final act's embrace of the ecstatic is maybe a bit extended for my taste but still good.
The Gunfighter (King, 1950)
An eternal quest. A land in search of redemption. A legacy carried from one man to the next, from a father to a son, from one lover to the other. What's in a name? A majestic work who's power only grows with time.
The Flame of Devotion (Kurahara, 1964)
Dramatically not of particular note - Kurahara's attempts at channeling Naruse and Kinoshita here fall flat. The locking into Asaoka's psycho-sexual psychosis are the most interesting parts, which they would expand upon in their next collab.
