Year is over and I capped it at 220 total new films watched.
Wish I had left it at 200, cause moving forward I figured 200 a year would be a nice enough goal, but due to OCD and such that means I'll have to get to 220 minimum next year as well, and hopefully not go overboard again.
Even though this year I watched over 200 of them, there weren't more favorites/best of the year for me compared to previous years, which I found to be a bit odd, but it could also be because the high volume of watches just didn't let some of them sink in properly.
Generally speaking, if I have to think for a bit too long about whether something I watched was a favorite of the year for me, I feel like I shouldn't include it otherwise it would feel forced, but more on that in a bit.
As of right now, unless I decided to add some more (but I probably won't), these were the best of the year for me:
- Enter The Void;
- Everything Everywhere All At Once;
- The Northman (to be honest, I was 50/50 about including this one, nowhere near as amazing overall as The Lighthouse, and even though the director isn't "happy" with the final cut due to studio interference, it's still hard to deny the meticulous crafting that went into making this film a reality
);
- Convenience Store;
- The Summit of The Gods;
- The Whaler Boy;
- Reprise;
- Oslo, August 31st;
- Stop-Zemlia;
- The Fool;
- The Girl Who Leapt Through Time;
- Leila's Brothers;
- Close;
- World War III;
- The Whale (it's not perfect in every single aspect, especially when it comes to the dialogues, but surprising no one, Brendan Fraser really carries this one and delivers one of the most surprising and emotional performances of the year.
)
There were also a few films I'd been saving for last because I was absolutely sure they'd floor me/be some of the best of the year for me, but in the end they turned out to be just... alright, I guess?
Namely
Broker and
Decision To Leave.
Broker had a handful of really good moments but it was nowhere near as gripping and emotionally investing as Shoplifters. I wanna say Song Kang-Ho was underused a little bit but I also understand what they were doing with his character. Feels like there was a lot of restraint from everyone, even the director, throughout the entire thing.
Decision To Leave... Not really sure how to go about this one. Movie started off at a really fast pace which was unexpected/not good for me. I had to double-check cause I was starting to think I had somehow missed the first 10-15mins, and that really made me feel a bit displaced.
Don't get me wrong, both of these films are good, definitely above the average among most of what I've seen this year, but I found them somewhat underwhelming when you consider who they came from.
Same thing for
Bones & All,
The Banshees of Inisherin, and
Tár, for example.
I found them to be just as good, I recommend them, but I don't know, in each case, they were missing that little "something" that would've pushed them into my list of best of the year.
Now if you'll allow me, I'll drop some suggestions/honorable mentions as well for you to check out if you feel like it (chances are I already spoke about some of these earlier this year):
-
How To Save a Dead Friend (documentary);
-
Flux Gourmet (weird little film, great sound design which is a key element throughout);
-
After Yang (could've made it to the best of the year list);
-
Mass (pure dialogue, 1 setting, 4 characters, the less you know about it, the better);
-
We're All Going To The World's Fair (not perfect, but unlike anything I expected it to be, probably one of the most surprising watches of the year);
-
Beauty and the Dogs (tough to watch, nauseating even, and sadly, still extremely relevant nowadays, closest thing to a horror film that's not a horror film);
-
Earwig as well as
Vortex, the first directed by Lucile Hadžihalilović, and the latter by Gaspar Noé, who are a married couple. I think each of these films show a growth from both of them, and are worth checking out;
-
Athena (could've made my way into the best of list just due to how it was shot/put together);
-
The Quiet Girl;
-
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On;
-
Reflection;
-
A Piece Of Sky (last one I saw this year).
And now some of the absolute worst:
- Hellbender (avoid like the plague, after I finished it I quite literally became physically ill with a sore throat for the rest of the day, not a joke);
-
Dawn Breaks Behind The Eyes (not necessarily "very bad" but just a total waste of time);
-
Terrorizers (2021);
-
The Novice;
-
The Yellow Wallpaper;
-
Carter;
-
Wolf (waste of potential);
-
Resurrection (don't even know what to say);
-
Buba;
-
Wolfkin;
-
Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon (had some decent expectations for this one, but this was beyond underwhelming, the type of film that makes you think someone pocketed 90% of the budget and they decided to make the film with the remaining 10%);
I already have something like 50-60 films ready to watch for 2023, namely some I didn't manage to get to this year, like
Memoria,
Fast and Feel Love (newest by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit whom I've praised plenty) and many others.
Guess I'll leave it at that for now, sometime soon I'll see if I can come up with a list of stuff I'm looking forward to seeing in 2023, hope you guys do the same, interested in your favorites of this year and what you're looking forward to as well.
With that said, hope you had a good year and that the next one is even better.
