Hello! Welcome to my first paid-tier article, which you can get full access to if you pay $5 a month or $50 for the year. If interested, it supports my writing and allows me to spend more time doing this sort of thing. Of course, don’t feel like you have to, since I’ll have plenty of free posts every week as I have since launch.
What I Watched Recently will remain a paid-only series, but I’ll give everyone access to the first bit of the articles, so you—regardless of your subscription status—can get a sense of what to expect.
In this series, I’ll highlight what I watched recently movie-wise, with the dates listed in the title, and give a brief review for each. In this case, I’ve viewed 17 movies during the first two weeks of the year, most of which I really enjoyed or loved. Whether you want to upgrade your subscription or if you’re already a paid tier, I appreciate you checking out my substack.
Also, apologies for the late email. I wanted to get this article out before the week ends, so here we are.
The Daytrippers (1996)
Genre - Comedy
Director - Greg Mottola
Writer - Greg Mottola
Starring - Hope Davis, Stanley Tucci, Parker Posey
About - When she discovers a love letter written to her husband by an unknown paramour, the distraught Eliza turns to her tight-knit Long Island family for advice.
Rating - 8 out of 10
I mentioned The Daytrippers in my post for Music and Movie Talk #2, specifically since it was the first movie I viewed for the year. While The Daytrippers has some minor flaws, I really enjoyed it. It has very dry humor with dense enough characters that make it easy to follow along and wonder how it’ll play out.
Shoplifters (2018)
Genre - Drama
Director - Hirokazu Koreeda
Writer - Hirokazu Koreeda
Starring - Lily Franky, Sakura Andô, Kirin Kiki
About - A family of small-time crooks take in a child they find outside in the cold.
Rating - 9 out of 10
Pretty much from the start, you’ll know Shoplifters is a special movie. While some of its final act didn’t pan out as well as the rest of the film, that doesn’t mean it’s not great. It’s very unique and has a tonal shift that’ll leave you devastated. As user Iana said on Letterboxd, Koreeda’s films are like hugs until they punch you in the heart.
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