18 Comments
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Tomas Leach's avatar

I liked this a lot. And Close Up is amazing.

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jen harrington's avatar

Thanks! Close Up is definitely on my 'To Watch' list now.

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Decarceration's avatar

Claire Denis is the greatest working filmmaker in the world.

Fromtheyardtothearthouse.substack.com

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jen harrington's avatar

My husband thinks it's crazy I haven't seen any Claire Denis films. I hope to rectify this mistake soon!

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Michael C. Nachoff's avatar

Regarding Almodovar, try All About My Mother first - excellent. I need to scroll the list, but Withnail and I is one of my top tens, definitely. And I believe you can call yourself a cineaste.

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jen harrington's avatar

Ah, cineaste! That sounds right. All About My Mother seems like THE ONE to start with based on feedback I'm getting.

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Michael C. Nachoff's avatar

It's quite a beautiful film, in my opinion.

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Sean King O’Grady's avatar

This is a great idea for an article. So much fun to read.

Also forced me to think about my own knowledge gaps. And I have a really weird one: mid-2010s cinema except anything that premiered at a festival. Reason being: I was trying to fill my own knowledge gaps at this time and watching films from every period but contemporary, while also going to a lot of film festivals. So I was seeing tons of movies that were in limited release, or not released beyond the festival circuit — but all the big culture defining movies and/or box office successes of that era — I completely missed them.

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jen harrington's avatar

It's so weird how depending on what's happening in our lives we might totally miss out on cultural touchstones etc that to others would have seemed impossible to miss.

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Brooke Berman's avatar

also yes, women on the verge. yes

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jen harrington's avatar

I swear I'm gonna see it eventually.

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Brooke Berman's avatar

Vagabond is one of my favorite films! i saw it when i was in high school (!!) and it stayed with me. it has been a touchstone for me in accumulative structure. i love it even more than cleo!

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jen harrington's avatar

Oh wow! Now I HAVE to see it!

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Brooke Berman's avatar

if you hate it, call me.

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Maddey D's avatar

really enjoyed this article

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jen harrington's avatar

Thanks!

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Doug Hesney's avatar

The Variety list is a bad list.

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jen harrington's avatar

it is really bizarre, honestly. I wonder how they came up with it.

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