I planned for the last night of the year to be filled with music, dancing, and loved ones, however I write to you ill in bed, riding out another flare up. Over the years, I’ve come to accept the overwhelming feeling of missing out that comes with being sick like this. I had to learn the hard way not to let stress over the pain further fuel and prolong the pain. The sick body does not abide by the pressures of scarcity, productivity, and optimization the way the well body foolishly does. The sick body is a staunch adversary of the status quo in this way, and I try to closely listen to its deep wisdom each time I become bedridden.

In lieu of going out tonight, I shall regale you with some thoughts I had about four of the films that came out in 2025. While I saw several films this year, I did not see as many new releases as I would’ve liked. Grad school and my impulse to indiscriminately agree to many other things this year stretched me quite thin, so my time spent in the sanctity of the theater was greatly reduced. I hope the coming year will make up for it.

Kill the Jockey directed by Luis Ortega

Both the rich cinematography and compelling lead in Kill the Jockey did nothing but delight me for the entire run time. The twist of Biscayart’s character further endeared me to this surreal and darkly funny film. Just as important, KTJ features an irresistible soundtrack filled with Argentinian pop and disco classics. Have a listen here.

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One Battle After Another directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

I was enraptured by One Battle After Another and obsessed over it for days afterward. Watching Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro thrive in their respective roles was like watching the DVD Video logo bounce perfectly into the corner of the TV over and over again. I also found it exhilarating to see Sean Penn be a psychotic little guy and Junglepussy burn fast and bright. OBAA worked for me for the same reason LCD Soundsystem does; I’m a sucker for stories about generational differences and getting older. I am captivated by the act of fading into obscurity through the gracelessness of aging. Indeed, we all must pass the baton to the kids coming up from behind. Such a fun ride.

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The Secret Agent directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho

I went into The Secret Agent blind and absolutely loved it. Moura’s performance was enchanting and award-worthy, and the moments spent with the cast of political fugitives in TSA really stuck with me. This film provided yet another killer soundtrack with narry a skip in sight. TSA re-ignited my interest in media about the U.S.-backed South American dictatorships of the 1970s which brought me to Missing (1982) a few days later. A great companion film to TSA, Missing tells the true story of Charles Horman, an American journalist and documentary filmmaker who was executed during the U.S.-Chilean Coup of 1973.

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Eddington directed by Ari Aster

Initially, the pieces Ari Aster sewed together for Eddington had me feeling like this film was tailor-made for me. Pedro Pascal AND Joaquin Phoenix? An appraisal of pandemic-fueled culture war acceleration? Niche political subcultures? Societal collapse wrought by social media? All within my home state of New Mexico? And yet, this movie deeply frustrated me. The uneven clash of the outlandish with the real was perplexing, and I sense this was Aster’s intent for whatever reason. I desperately wanted the bread-crumbing of Joe Cross’s ostensible insanity and the supernatural atmosphere to evolve and ultimately usurp what felt like a beat-by-beat autopsy of the summer of 2020. The antifa super-soldiers were unsatisfying not because I wanted or needed the plot to perfectly map out to my political will, but because I found their presence in proportion to the rest of the film to be disjointed. I wanted full-blown right-wing fantasy antifa super-soldiers. I wanted thorough and over-the-top SolidGoldMagikarp government collusion and money-grabbing conspiracy. I wanted a maximalist, paranoid descent into chaos; what we got instead was a tedious gunfight followed by a hasty ending. I am curious to see what depictions of the pandemic look like in film ten years from now, because it still feels too soon to tell any Covid-era story that is worthwhile.

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That’s all for now. I intend to write much more frequently in 2026, so stay tuned.

Until then, Happy New Year.

Sincerely,

CBR