Eyes Wide Xmas
As we enter the last weeks of the year and prepare for our two annual “holiday movies” — [ Xmas = “Eyes Wide Shut”, and New Year’s Eve = “Whatever Works”] — we look over what cinematic wonders we’ve seen…
The Anomalous Duo are two senior citizens who watch a movie every couple of days. This means that they watched roughly 180 movies during 2024. The vast majority of these being films from directors outside the Unites States although independent American filmmakers like John Sayles or Woody Allen are always welcome.
Most were seen at home. This year we saw films that ranged from having been made in 1923 to 2024.
No superheroes on our list — no sequels nor prequels nor franchises. Vanishingly few car chases or gun fights as well. Most of what we watch requires subtitles — but even when they don’t, we turn them on when available. The old folks also keep a list because otherwise we’d forget what we saw. At the end of a film, we discuss a rating we can agree on — up to 5 stars. ★★★★★
This is far from some exact measurement — mostly it is what our experience was at the moment after viewing the film. Some grow in stature over time, some fade.
Below is a list of the movies that scored 4, 4.5 or 5 stars in 2024.
Some with links to trailers . . .
First is this separate list of the films of Ken Loach, who we obviously focused on this year.
The Wind That Shakes The Barley Free (Ken Loach) (2006)★★★★.5
I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach) (2016) ★★★★.5
Land and Freedom (Ken Loach) (1995) ★★★★.5
Route Irish (Ken Loach) (2010) ★★★★.5
Ladybird Ladybird (Ken Loach) (1994) ★★★★
Hidden Agenda (Ken Loach) (1991) ★★★★
Riff-Raff (Ken Loach) (1991) ★★★★
Jimmy's Hall (Ken Loach) (2014) ★★★★
Up The Junction (Ken Loach) (1963) ★★★★
Looking For Eric (Ken Loach) (2009) ★★★★
Spirit of 45 (Ken Loach) ★★★★
Up The Junction (Ken Loach) (1965) ★★★★
Cathy Come Home (Ken Loach) (1966) ★★★★
[Less than 4 stars.
My Name is Joe (Ken Koach) (1998) / The Navigators (Ken Koach) (2002) Bread and Roses (Ken Koach) / (2000) / Raining Stones (Ken Loach) (1993)]
5 ★★★★★
Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World (Radu Jude)
Saraband (Ingmar Bergman) (2003)
Husbands and Wives (1992)
Pain And Glory (Pedro Almodovar) (2019)
Love and Death (Woody Allen)
4.5 ★★★★.5
The Room Next Door (Pedro Almodovar)
Best Man (Franklin J. Schaffner) (1964)
Coup de chance (Woody Allen) (2023)
Hamlet (Kenneth Branaugh) (1996)
Another Woman (Woody Allen) (1988)
Perfect Days (Wim Wenders) (2023)
Janet Planet (Annie Baker) (2023)
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Anna Hints) (2023)
The Disappearance Of Shere Hite (Nicole Newnham) (2023)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston) (1948)
Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman) (2017)
The Wolf House (Cristóbal León, Joaquin Cociña) (2020)
4 ★★★★
Hannah And Her Sisters (Woody Allen) (1986)
Planes Trains and Automobiles (John Hughes) (1987)
Conclave (Edward Berger) (2024)
The Master And Margarita (Michael Lockshin) (2023)
Nights Of Cabiria (Federico Fellini) (1957)
Plastic Semiotic (Radu Jude)
The Peasants (Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman) (2023)
Song Of The Earth (Margreth Olin) (2023)
There's Still Tomorrow (Paola Cortellesi) (2023)
The Importance of Being Earnest (Anthony Asquith)(1952)
Ask Dr. Ruth (Ryan White)
The Happiest Girl In The World (Radu Jude) (2009)
Lost Illisions (Xavier Giannoli) (2021)
Unfinished Piece For A Player Piano (Nikita Mikhalkov) (1977)
Wrinkles (Ignacio Ferreras) (2017)
Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (Woody Allen) (1982)
A Woman Of Paris (Charles Chaplin) (1923)
The Bubble (Eytan Fox) (2006)
Bloody Sunday (Paul Greengrass) (2002)
Storytelling (Tod Solondz) (2001)
The Zone Of Interest (Jonathan Glazer) (2023)
Picnic At Hanging Rock (Peter Weir) (1975)
Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song (Dayna
Goldfine, Dan Geller) (2022)
We Are Many (Amir Amirani) (2014)
Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard)(1990)
Copenhagen (Howard Davies) (2002)
Israelism (Eric Axelman, Sam Eilertsen)(2023)
Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard)(1990)
The Year of The Everlasting Storm (Chen, Lowery, Panahi) Poitras, Sotomayor, Vitthal, Weerasethakul) (2021)
Borders Of Love (Tomasz Wiński) (2022)
Much Ado About Nothing (Kenneth Branaugh) (1993)
Masked and Anonymous (Larry Charles) (2003)
Anything Else (Woody Allen)
Bob Roberts (Tim Robbins) (1992)
Plastic Semiotic (Radu Jude)
Accattone (Pier Paulo Pasolini) (1961)
Paul Goodman Saved My Life (Jonathan Lee) (2011)
The Aristocrats (Paul Provenza, Penn Jillette) (2005)
About Dry Grasses ((Nuri Bilge Ceylan) (2023)
Sarah Millican - Control Enthusiast (2018)
Sarah Millican - Outsider (2016)
Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson) (1999)
The Kinks: Echoes of a World -
The Story of the Kinks Are the Village Green
Preservation Society (Charlie Thomas) (2018)
A Few Days from the Life of I. I. Oblomov (Nikita Mikhalkov) (1980)
Best of Enemies (Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville) (2015)
Zappa (Alex Winter) (2020)
The M Word (Henry Jaglom)(2014)
The Bottom Feeders: ★★.5 or lower . . .
They Live (John Carpenter) (1988) ★.5
A Quiet Passion (Terence Davies) (2016) ★.5
You Hurt My Feelings (Nicole Holofcener) (2023) ★.5
Love Actually (Richard Curtis) (2003) ★.5
Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) (2021) ★.5
The Past (Asghar Farhadi) (2013) ★.5
Hans Christian Andersen (Charles Vidor) (1953) ★★
Tess (Roman Polanski) (1979) ★★.5
Musical Interlude . . .
• Those Young and Innocent Days •
(and Joseph and Mary and sheherds, and angels and livestock)
118 Avenue C, Lower East Side, Manhattan, 1950s
Donations: HirkArt™© PayPal
(With great big ♥ thanks ♥ to those who have!)