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year 2019 thoughts

i find myself in the position again. a year of continued substantial interest in moviewatching.

i stare at some brutal imagery from roegs eureka wondering what will happen tomorrow. ordinarily how much this film would interest me. i have loved the films i watched this year, but i still have the sense that the novels had a more substantial effect.

a year ago, plus or minus a day, i drove to see zero. the movie proved unbearable, and i left before interval. at home i put on jab tak hai jaan instead. this is not really working. this pace is so stilted and uninspired.

i moved back to colorado and didn't see another film for a week. the early part of the year had near daily violent jags between my moviewatching and work efforts.

there's nothing like a shit day at the office to instill in yourself concepts of sunk cost. i saw many great films in january. i watched sekhar kummala's fidaa; the experience was a bit strange since the colors were sort of blinded on my freezing computer. somehow this enhanced the experience of sai pallavi and varun tej falling in love in suburban midwestern america. or was it texas. i still don't know how that film actually looks.

nearly every weekend i skipped the slopes to watch more nonsense. i scoped out showings in denver and road conditions on i seventy.

in the mouth of madness was tough, but prince of darkness stuck awhile. chupke chupke was a bit of a revelation, even if it didn't land perfectly. domino had some early moments like vertigo. achilles and the tortoise was a dense text, maybe i'm not ready for it all quite yet.

in the summer i started reading novels regularly, mostly sticking with things that were more methodical. on the porch i'd wait for the head of my beer to melt and then read a page or two between sips. sometimes i'd get up to check the twins. those later dog-day months really seemed to work out. i discovered brisseau. i saw white hunter black heart. i saw magnum force. i went to dora. i resurrected mr. india! i watched gangs of wasseypur in the heat--not sure i made it through.

the year sort of ended around this time. i saw geethanjali--a movie impossible to describe; there's nothing but comedy, love, and death. i saw the last dive and blacked out. the imax saaho started in dull gray, but moved into a rapturously paced action sequence that went on and on. i took a trip back on labor day. the chicken was lovely. i rediscovered the eiger sanction and found rejtman, pineiro, and llinas. then the year ended (or is ending) somehow.

things are the same as they were. reshuffling the deck again. i didn't drink and to make the weird come back. eurekas still going.. an odd year, but i'll make it. that guy looks like bowie

Some performances I liked

Mai Kiryu in The Chrysanthemum and the Guillotine
Pilar Gamboa / Laura Paredes / Elisa Carricajo / Valeria Correa / Agustina Muñoz in La Flor
Adam Sandler / Julia Fox in Uncut Gems

Shane Nigam / Anna Ben / Sreenath Bhasi / Jasmine Mètivier in Kumbalangi Nights

Sruthi Hariharan in Nathicharami

Paul Walter Hauser / Sam Rockwell in Richard Jewell 

Al Pacino in The Irishman

Rosa Salazar in Alita: Battle Angel

Brad Pitt / Margot Robbie / Margaret Qualley in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

Radhika Apte in Bombairiya

Isabela Merced in Dora and the Lost City of Gold

Lakshmi in Oh! Baby

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in Domino

Rakul Preet Singh / Sai Pallavi in NGK

Saoirse Ronan in Little Women

Ruth Negga in Ad Astra

Asif Ali in Uyare
Lupita Nyong'o in Us

Alan Alda in Marriage Story

Michael Fassbender in Dark Phoenix

Naomi Scott in Charlie’s Angels