The Boy and the Heron + Godzilla Minus One + Monster + Fallen Leaves
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! That’s right: movie awards season, and I’ve been busy watching some of the most enticing films that remain on the 2023 docket and submitting my ballots for the few critics groups that will have me as a member.
Those obligations have left me precious little time to actually write the damn things up, but I wanted to offer a few brief thoughts on some of the best offerings currently in theaters — all of which happen to be foreign language films.
With its weird and wonderful tale of a boy grieving the loss of his mother via an adventure in a parallel universe, The Boy and the Heron thrives thanks to the top-shelf imagination that only writer/director Hayao Miyazaki can deliver.
Masaki Suda’s quirky, expressive voice work as The Grey Heron should be up for awards and the work itself will hopefully win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature for the stunning visuals and themes of passing the torch, which feel especially poignant considering where the filmmaker is in his career. It’s a fitting farewell for Miyazaki — but then we said the same thing about The Wind Rises a decade ago.
Grade: A-minus. Rated PG-13. Now playing at AMC River Hills 10, Carolina Cinemark, the Fine Arts Theatre, and Regal Biltmore Grande.
(Photo: Gkids)
Writer/director Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One is a good Godzilla movie, which means it’s a good action movie, but awarding it additional laurels would be generous.
The focus on “failed” kamikaze pilot Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) who seeks to restore his honor and forms an unconventional family with some fellow survivors offers decent human drama and something to care about as the big lizard keeps disrupting Shikishima’s rebuilding process. But those interruptions are the main draw and they mostly deliver in the thrills department — certainly more than Hollywood’s subpar MonsterVerse efforts over the past decade.
With such a solid foundation in place, Godzilla Minus One sticks its landing with a satisfying emotional climax, but Yamazaki doesn’t know when to fade to black and tacks on a manipulative and, frankly, implausible — even in a Godzilla movie — second ending that negates much of the would-be ending’s richness.
Grade: B. Rated PG-13. Now playing at AMC River Hills 10, Carolina Cinemark, and Regal Biltmore Grande.
(Photo: Toho Studios)
Prolific director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s phenomenal (unmatched?) recent run continues with Monster, a deceptively simple troubled child drama that evolves into something far more engaging.
Yûji Sakamoto’s script presents a Rashomon-like scenario, but one that stretches into numerous situations to show how incorrect conclusions can be reached despite the best intentions. The results are cumulatively devastating — and bringing tissues with you to the theater is highly recommended.
Grade: A-minus. Rated PG-13. Now playing at Grail Moviehouse.
(Photo: Well Go USA)
Aki Kaurismäki has a formula, but he makes it work damn near every time.
Six years after one of the few times he’s come up short — the so-so The Other Side of Hope — the Finnish writer/director returns to form with Fallen Leaves, an 81-minute (including credits!) marvel in which lonely Helsinki loners Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) attempt to share hearts despite (and because of) their quirks.
Imbued with Kaurismäki’s copy-written deadpan charms, these lovable lovers traverse the frustrations of manual labor jobs and find relief through life’s simple pleasures — much like we poor souls seek solace in the filmmakers’ beautiful slice-of-life dramas.
Grade: A-minus. Not rated, but with adult themes and language. Now playing at Grail Moviehouse
(Photo: MUBI)
