5/50

Movie Challenge Update #1

Tyler Barstow
March 14, 2023 • Est. Reading Time: 1 minute

Happy Pi Day everyone. I should have watched Primer for today but I didn’t so let’s move on. I’m 5 movies in so far, and only one out and out bust so my habit of picking movies like I used to pick wine (quality of cover art plus is there a woman on the front) continues to sort of work! Let’s get into it.

A ★★★★ review of Shiva Baby (2020)

Rachel Sennott feels like New York's delivery on the promise it made to us years ago with Lena Dunham. From a distance, I've always understood that New York is a particularly poignant backdrop for the early-20s nutribullet of snarkiness and heartbreak, but not since Greta Gerwig's "Francis Ha" have we really gotten something tender and self-alienated enough to feel deeply interesting. I don't think Dunham is untalented, but "Girls" was just "Sex in the City" for people who have used Venmo before and I don't think we need to exaggerate its depth beyond that. I wouldn't say that Shiva Baby

A ★★★★★ review of Tripping with Nils Frahm (2020)

It's rare to find a film this gripping about a live event, and Nils Frahm puts on a masterclass here as he has become accustomed to doing. Inspirational, life-altering stuff here if oddball piano work is up your alley.

A ★★★★★ review of Triangle of Sadness (2022)

I loved every single second of this movie, and I wish I would watch it again for the first time. If the mega-wealthy are a collective body, then Ruben Östlund's lens is the knife making the incisions. Towards the beginning of the film, there are moments when you feel like you may be watching surgery but by the end the purpose becomes more clear. Don't put this on while you're eating dinner.

A ★★★★★ review of The Worst Person in the World (2021)

I avoided this movie for a year or more because it felt impossible that a late 20s early 30s coming of age movie could possibly matter. As is often the case, I was wrong and I found this to be a masterful piece on a person's transition into a deeper sense of personal clarity. Renate Reinsve is incredible as Julie, and there are a few moments in this that are unsettlingly true. After it finished I spent half an hour wishing I had grown up watching stuff like this instead of You've Got Mail.

A ★½ review of Sharper (2023)

I'm not convinced that this movie wasn't written by ChatGPT and I'm 99% sure they used a clip from that Apple TV drone screensaver over Manhattan in here. It's fine I guess if you're stuck on a plane for awhile and this is your only option, but the standout scene was 6 or 7 seconds long when they're driving over a bridge and "Detroit" by Disasterpeace is playing. That song was better in "It Follows" though.