The Untamed and the Neverending Cycle

**This will contain significant spoilers for the plot of The Untamed**

        For the past few months, my wife and I have been undertaking a slow-burn rewatch of The Untamed, the 2019 Chinese live-action adaptation of the novel series Mo Dao Zu Shi, or The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. Part danmei, part wuxia, part original fantasy, this bona fide, global smash hit has broken open the gates that usually restricted access to/interest in its, let's say, rather specific aesthetic and thematic milieus. The freewheeling style of its storytelling encompasses multiple decades and skips back and forth constantly, weaving together incredibly rich tales of love, betrayal, retributive and social justice, war, social inequalities, animal phobias, and a whole lot more. Plus it's gay as all hell; approximately 61.74% of its runtime consists of scenes of impossibly beautiful Chinese men staring silently at each other with unbearable longing. And really, gay romance is the story's core; at its heart, this is a love story between Lan Zhan and his once-dead (maybe), but now resurrected (kinda) flame, Wei Wuxian, whom- it is repeatedly implied- was done in by the other clans for turning to this universe's version of the Dark Side.

        At any rate, after my wife had pulled me into the show halfway through her first viewing, we agreed to start over together so I could the full- or rather, untamed (I'm so sorry)- experience. Also so I could finalize the rules for the Official Untamed Drinking Game. The show is (as of this writing) available in its entirety on Netflix, so at least until the company crumbles into dust, access remains a non-issue. Which is itself a sign of how far we've come; when I was a kid, this sort of thing could only have been viewed via horrid, fan-made VHS dubs that could only be assembled piecemeal via seedy roadside movie stores. Less interaction with strangers makes just about everything better!

        But I digress (again). Really, even for someone with zero past experience with wuxia, or any fantasy genre, this is the kind of grand storytelling anyone can have fun with. And in these bleak times, brief moments of joyous distraction are all the more important. As I've delved deeper into the plot of the show, though, one particularly impressive narrative throughline has stood out to me; the show is a masterclass in depicting the „Nothing ends, nothing ever ends“ mode of storytelling. That is to say, it's entire plot revolves around how justified ends (the defeat of a Bad Dude doing Bad Things) can all-too-easily empower or offer fig-leaf cover to Other Bad Dudes doing Even Worse Things.

        I'm not even talking so much about the motivations and arcs of specific characters (though that does play a role), but rather what we see about the broader power structures and inequalities within the Untamed universe. The politics of this alternate reality centers around various dynastic clans that rule their own various towns and feifdoms more or less in loose concert with each other. Warring States Feudalism with Flying Magic Swords, if you will. The first section of the story centers around how one particular clan, the Wen, has jumped the gun and gone all-in on Mystical Fascism, seeking specific magical items to aid its desire to, what else, TAKE OVER THE WOOOOOORLD!!!!!

        Classically, this is the sort of plot that would provide the beginning, middle and end of the whole shebang, the logical endpoint being the defeat of the Wen by a coalition of both willing and hesitant allies meant to restore order and balance to the Force, I mean the Four Nations, I mean Middle Earth, I mean....you get the idea.

        But here? Child, that literally isn't even the half of it; in the show (I'm going off that, since I haven't read the books yet), Wen „Pig Iron Hitler“ Ruohan bites it in Episode 23.....out of a 50-episode runtime. Now, the very first few episodes of the show start 16 years after this happened, showing us Wei Wuxian's return and dropping all sorts of hints about what a Bad Guy he was. So, we know from the start that the fall of the Wen isn't The End and that other shit is about to go down, but the implications as to the exact nature of said Shit that the show keeps winking at up to this point end up being a whole barrel of pickled red herrings packed with dwarves. In short, by the halfway point you are abruptly informed that this is not the story you thought you were watching. No, „The Untamed“ is playing a much deeper game than I initially thought. And the exact nature of that game is revealed through exactly how the socio-political fallout from the Wen's defeat and Wei Wuxian's fall from grace play out.

        Here it must be noted that, while the various clans are at least theoretically no more or less legitimate than others, a couple enjoy „first among equals“ status. The Wen were one, but the biggest, wealthiest, and grandest was and is the Jin, whose decadence, massive palaces, glittery pure-white getup, and literal armies of servants scream „Op-U-Lence, but the Bratty Kind.“ It's ultimately their involvement and bankrolling of the Sunshot Campaign that helps bring together enough arms and resources to topple the Wen. Which, again, was definitely the right thing to do, because the Volcano-Uruk-Hai Wen Rouhan was tossing about were all sorts of yikes.

        BUUUUUT, once the battles are won and the dust has settled, the Jin's leader, already established to be both a) an incessant womanizer and b) a wholly absent father to every child of his except „The Heir,“ starts soaking in as much Hero Prestige as he can, and both he and a bunch of other Jin start tossing around Big Dick energy that is, let's say, questionably deserved. That would be grating enough, but of course it doesn't stop there. After all, nothing ever ends.

        No, the real kicker comes when it's revealed that the Jin are not just pursuing and punishing (killing) the formal soldiers and agents of the Wen clan itself, but all of the subordinate clans they had had under their thumb, even those who took no part in their crimes. There's no way to sugercoat it; it is an attempt at literal genocide, even including concentration camps and killing fields rolled into one. This is mostly exemplified through the travails of the Qishan Wen, led by Wen Qing and her brother, Wen „Puppy Dog“ Ning. Wen Qing herself very much was involved in the early schemes of Wen Rouhan, but it is made explicitly clear almost from the beginning that this was effectively under duress; her clan's subservience to the Wen was longstanding and nothing she could alter without Wen Rouhan literally wiping her people out. Not that she tries to pull the „just following orders“ excuse; she admits up front that, yeah, she did some shit and she's earned just punishment. Just let her brother and the rest of her people, who she literally shielded from the worst, in peace.

        This, of course, is a No Can Do from the Jin powers that be. Pulling out all the old classics- all Wen are the same, the only good Wen is a dead Wen, a Wen a day, blah blah blah- they either directly agitate for mass murder or go to extreme lengths to shield the worst of their actions from the other clans. Which, let's be real, that's always a tell- anytime you feel the need to hide under pain of death what you're really doing...you're due for a „Are We The Baddies“ moment.

        At any rate, this is obviously some bad shyte and you can't help but wonder if getting rid of the Wen only paved over some deeper, more profound sicknesses in this world; even after some of the worst stuff comes out, there is a whole row of lesser clan leaders whose entire characterization is „Lick any floor a Jin trods upon.“ And it's here where the most important thematic turn of the story comes. After several dozen episodes building up the question of what, exactly, happened to Wei Wuxian, we finally find out why a whole generation was raised to believe that he was literally the Devil. The answer is.....he tried to stop the genocide.

        Seriously. That's it.

        Now, granted, he did dabble in forbidden magic to help defeat the Wen, but at the end of the day that didn't get him much worse than some grumpy side-eye from the other clans. No, what really got the monocles a-popping and the headbands a-dropping was when he basically stood up and said-

WEI WUXIAN: Guys, seriously, mass murder's a no-no. If the Geneva Convention existed in this world, you'd be trampling all over it. Also the Jin are robe-pissing crybabies and I will never stop giving them wedgies.

RANDOM CLAN LEADER #1: Who's Geneva??

RANDOM CLAN LEADER #2: The fuck's a convention????

JOHN CLEESE: E'S A WITCH, BUUURN 'IM!!!!

        So, yeah...in the end, the „super-duper bad thing“ Wei Wuxian did was....rock the boat by standing up to say the status quo was not ok. And, in the end, enough (though not all!) of those in power were far too spooked to try and re-examine the systems they were part of. Better to (literally!) shoot the messenger and pretend there never was a message in the first place.

        I find this especially brilliant because this so perfectly mirrors the dynamics of our own world. Put aside the flying swords, the wavy glowing hand-magic, the numerous sorts of ghosts and spirits and possessions that happen; at the end of the day, the Untamed universe is just like ours. Those in power will, occasionally, sanction the removal of bad actors. But anything that threatens to truly alter or upend the system will provoke a deep instinct of self-preservation, no matter how misplaced.

        In fact, Wei Wuxian's brother, Jiang Cheng, perfectly encapsulates how these pressures can be especially potent for people who are at heart decent and, all else being equal, would stand right beside Wei Wuxian and fight for what's right. For Jiang Cheng, though, all is NOT equal- his parents and nearly all of his clan were horrifically massacred by the Wen, so he is still struggling with his grief and trauma over that. However, the very fact of that massacre makes him Clan leader by default following the Wen's defeat, so he is immediately drawn into the greater power structure by other clan leaders and feels the very, very powerful (and entirely justifiable) pull to rebuild his clan, reclaim its status, and in doing so avenge his parents' death. Oh, and his sister is a) under a longstanding betrothal to the heir of the Jin, and b) actually happens to love the prick for some reason, so if for no other reason than that, he has a very direct and personal reason to keep things at least peaceful between the Jiang and the Jin.

        So when his brother starts upending stones and making „good trouble,“ even though a part of him clearly knows something is up and he tries to split the difference....in the end, he does have to choose. And when things get so crazy that their sister is tragically killed, it's not that hard to understand why he decides to stick with the powers that be, at least for that point in time. It's easy to dunk on Jiang Cheng, and he is absolutely a complete dunderhead A LOT of the time. But even then, the show allows you to fully understand all the powerful interests, both from within and from others, that bear down on him. I get him. And I feel bad for him.

        This whole conflict makes up Act Two of the show, a meaty and complicated soup where even the nicest and most upright characters have to make some really hard, messy choices that have no easy, satisfactory answer. Where, at the end, even if you try your hardest and have the best of intentions, there sometimes just isn't a way out. Compared to the less-morally-gray opening and closing parts, this is where, for me at least, the narrative is at its most engaging and engrossing. The Wen arc is a great opener, and seeing how the many threads are tied together at the end is immensely rewarding, but it's right in this weird, uncomfortable, and morally hard in-between bit that The Untamed really earns its keep as some of the best storytelling I've experienced over the past two years.

        Will this land for everyone? No, most certainly not. Wuxia shows are very much centered around massive amounts of camp, and that's something I know huge chunks of the West still aren't ready for. For, oh child, is The Untamed FILLED with camp. But nonetheless, the show is still making the rounds and the fanbase is only growing. My wife is certainly doing all she can to spread this particular gospel. And like any gospel, even when bits and pieces might not work the same for everyone, there are always some crucial grains of Truth to be gleaned that we all need to hear from time to time. Like, for example, the importance of not letting one kind of evil overshadow or excuse another. Power will always have ulterior motives, so even if it is being bent to an important end, constant vigilance and moral awareness are virtues that everyone must actively cultivate throughout their lives. Only when we can do that can we be truly secure from the ghosts of the past.

Commentary on Proposed Decision Overturning Roe v Wade

 **the following is a guest post of a good friend and former college classmate/theatermate of mine.  He and I are furious and angry about the recently-revealed decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade and are in the process of planning what next steps are necessary**

        In my first semester of law school, I recall a professor telling our class that the law was not like the social sciences, and that, "when you win, you're right." That perspective currently guides my approach to the practice of law and quite a bit more. That perspective was right when I first learned it six years ago; it is still right, even as it seems likely the Supreme Court will overturn Roe.

        There are two ways to approach the proposed decision in Dobbs if you disagree with it. First, you could accept despair, throw your hands in the air, and wonder where everything went wrong. You can point fingers at every single person, place, thing, concept, or group that you believe failed to protect a most fundamental right. You can even blame yourself for not doing enough. You can stew in that self-loathing for so very long, because the water is always warm.

        Second, you can decide that you need to win so badly that you re-evaluate why you are wrong. You accept the fundamental truth that, “when you win, you’re right.” You recognize you are wrong, because wrongness stems from losing. You can then recalibrate; what does it take to win? That question has objective answers; many people would rather keep losing because it is comfortable and familiar. To those who sneer at voting "blue no matter who"; stow it. What does moral purity get us aside from encroaching fascism? Do you talk to people outside your political bubble? Do you try to meet people where they are, and do the hard work to convince them that what you're offering is good? Do you learn what people actually want and learn how to give it to them? Have you considered that participating in a broken system might be better than abandoning it, because the effect of abandoning the system is the same as abandoning the people in it? Do you start worker cooperatives, or start a business so that you and yours can control your fate? Have you and your friends gone out to the woods to practice training exercises and solidarity like militias do, or gone into urban environments to build networks and spread your message? Have you tempered your messaging to be less inflammatory? You can do big things while speaking quietly.

        To those who blame the left in this country for this situation and think that there is some virtue in reflexive moderation; you run the country whenever the Democrats win. Your track record is not great. Have you considered that all of your condemnations of Republicans' procedural abuses are fundamentally misplaced, as the Republicans are showing you how to succeed in today’s environment? Have you considered their behavior might be inspirational, because they are willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish their objectives? Have you considered that unflinching loyalty to decorum and tradition is a hindrance to providing for the welfare of the public? Have you considered that your high-minded principles are asymmetric to adversaries who seem intent on eroding our democracy? Unfortunately, your governments have not shown the ability to protect democracy nor address the needs of the public. Half measures cannot solve whole problems.

        Everything written above also applies to me. I know I have not done enough to fight fascism here or abroad. I had every opportunity to do so, and I took too few of them. We all have been contributors to this reality, and for far longer than many of us are willing to admit. Collectively, we have gotten so used to failure, so used to losing, that we have learned despair. Despair will not help us now, just as it has not helped anyone else at any other time.

        Instead, let us learn something more valuable. Let us learn how to win. Once we learn how to win, we can win. Once we win, we get to say what's right. When we get to say what’s right, it becomes easier to win again. The reason why "when you win, you're right" is inspirational is because it recognizes the necessity of something else separate and apart from right and wrong. Goodness is not rightness, nor badness wrongness. Neither goodness nor badness themselves determine our ability to win; however, they can have an impact on right and wrong. We should all fight to make what is good, right; however, to do that, we have to win. Winning is the precondition to make what is good, right. Let us learn how to win, before the lesson becomes much more costly.

Aaron M. Harmaty is an attorney who practices law in the State of New Jersey.

Death to Fascism. 

Decade Look-Back: Ranking My OWN Top Ten Picks!

        Well, well, well. I'm not sure what I expected to happen when I first started this small, very basic, and quite poorly-named site as a dumping ground for my efforts to turn into a film critic. But it's been a solid decade now, and here I still am, though both the content and amount of it have undergone significant changes in recent years.

        Regardless, one thing that has remained a mainstay are my listicles, especially my yearly Top Tens. And with a decade now behind me, I have a whole 10 of them to look back and reflect on. So, I figured, what better way to celebrate a decade of my musings that to go the extra mile and rank...myself!

        Yep. We're doing this. I am going to go back and take MYSELF to task for all my #1 picks so far. Which did I get wrong? Which don't hold up under the harsh lens of hindsight? Did I ever miss the mark entirely? LET'S FIGURE IT OUT TOGETHER!

        Just so the ground rules are clear in advance, I will consider this list from two angles. First, I will try to recapture what led to me picking each film that I did in a given year to see if, even then, my pick was justified. Second, I will consider if another film I saw that year would, in hindsight, have been a better pick, especially if one has ended up aging better in the intervening years. What I will NOT do is engage in an alternative timeline where I somehow saw every film on time, because that was just never in the cards for me (and still isn't). Meaning, any movies from a given year I had no access to then and only saw much later won't figure into this, since they would not have been able to make my lists to begin with. No sense in making things more complicated than necessary. That's what my crippling self-doubt is for!

        The rankings will be like a normal Top Ten list, meaning a lower pick like 9 or 10 means my pick was worse, with #1 obviously representing my best pick.

        I think this'll be fun.

Number 10: 2012

What I Picked: Lincoln

What I Should Have Picked: Cloud Atlas

        Figures. At the very bottom for my „Worst Best“ pick, we gotta wind it all the way back to the early months of this site, when I was but another young, fresh-faced, Roger-Ebert-Wannabe. As opposed to what I am now; a weary, aged, and beaten-down Roger-Ebert-Wannabe.

        See, with this being the first Top Ten list I'd ever done, I felt a lot of wholly self-inflicted pressure to ape all the „real“ critics I followed. And since many of them had Lincoln somewhere on their Best Of lists and nearly all of them roundly ignored Cloud Atlas, that meant pulling the lever for so-called „prestige.“

        Now, let me be clear- this is not a knock on Lincoln. It was and is a great film, definitely in the upper half of Spielberg's filmography, and Daniel Day-Lewis deserved all the awards. But was it the best film of that year? It is even MY favorite from that year? No and no. And the sad thing is, this isn't just hindsight- I knew that at the time. Even when I first did the list, a very clear voice in my head kept saying, „C'mon...you know Cloud Atlas is the real fave.“ But I chose to shunt that voice away and go with the safe „conventional“ choice, just like the Academy so often does. So yeah, this is all on me- I shoulda stuck to my guns, and this remains the one case where I very clearly made the mistake of not doing that.

Number 9: 2020

What I Picked: Hamilton

What I Should Have Picked: Corpus Christi

        Ok, so this will be the most complicated one here to explain to anyone reading this in the far future where the COVID pandemic and the GOP are but fading memories. For those of us who were there, no explanation is needed, but to sum up; 2020 sucked. Like, generational, emotionally scarring suckage. All the years of dealing with a Fascist, death cult of an administration, building into a global pandemic where said administration made every conscious effort to hinder relief and cause as much death and suffering as possible, was something so beyond sense and morality that it was literally traumatizing to those of us who had to bear witness.

        And as a result, I felt truly broken for most of the year. As if my entire being had gone into lizard-brain survival mode and shut off all capacity for emotion or feeling just to preserve whatever shred of sanity I had left. I spent the entire first half of 2020 feeling like I should feel something, but instead feeling nothing. You feel me?

        And then Disney dropped the live recording of the original, Broadway cast of Hamilton, and when I watched it, I cried. I cried and cried and cried. I remembered who I was, what I valued, that I am not just a film bluff but a motherfucking THEATER NERD, and that there remained beauty and power in the human spirit that would outlive the fuckery. Hamilton has its flaws, certainly, but it was exactly what I needed at that moment in time to get me through the rest of the single worst year I had experienced to date. And there was simply no getting around that. So no, I do not, and will never, regret picking this as my „Film of the Year“ when all was said and done.

        BUUUUUUUT.....yeah, no, a Broadway stage recording, no matter how expertly done, is not filmmaking. Hamilton is NOT a movie, and if it had dropped in any other year, or had 2020 been anything approaching „normal,“ I would not have spent even one second contemplating bending myself into so many pretzels to put it on my Year End list. So let's assume there exists a mythical alternate dimension where 2020 was slightly less shitty and Hamilton hits streaming in, say, December of 2019. Under such magical circumstances, Corpus Christi would have waltzed away with the top spot (although I could have made an argument for Totally Under Control).

Number 8: 2013

What I Picked: Asura

What I Should Have Picked: Inside Llewyn Davis

        Unlike the year before, by the time I came around to doing my 2013 list I had shed myself of the desire to be „conventional“ with my writing. Nonetheless, picking my number one came down to the wire, with my top two films just about dead even in my brain. In the end, I went with this oddball, independent Japanese animated film about a rapid, partially-cannibalistic child in feudal times for the very specific reason that I found it's ending incredibly emotionally resonant. I still feel that way and absolutely think Asura is a criminally underappreciated gem.

        However, while my reasoning at the time made sense to me and I can still get why I felt that way, as the years have gone by Asura has more or less stayed put, while Inside Llewyn Davis has vaulted ahead of it in leaps and bounds. There's just no denying the Coen Brothers when they are in top form. Not only has this long since established itself as my favorite of 2013, it even landed within the Top Ten on my Films of the Decade list from two years back. This is an all-time classic, and if I were to redo this list today, it would easily top the cake.

Number 7: 2016

What I Picked: 13^th

What I Should Have Picked: Swiss Army Man OR Silence

        My reasoning behind this pick, which came in the wake of the 2016 election and all the darkness that descended with it, was as follows; 13^th, the first documentary by Queen Ava DuVernay, long may she reign, featured the single greatest sequence in all of film from that year. Said scene was a supercut of one of the more odious pieces of audio from a GOP rally, where Trump openly called for violence against his opponents and reminisced about „the good old days,“ where uppity Blacks were treated much differently, set to a montage of black-and-white footage from Civil Rights protests where we see, in violent detail, precisely what Trump meant by „the good old days.“ It remains one of the most on-point and powerful pieces of documentary filmmaking I've ever encountered, and the entire film deserves to be considered a modern classic.

        However, while I think this was the right choice to make at the time and don't regret it, a single scene, no matter how good, doesn't necessarily make a film the greatest of a particular year. Plus, I think there is a slippery slope to picking number ones based on how topical a film is, because on that criteria alone, my lists would consist of documentaries and nothing else. While I do find outlets for that sort of thing- see my Films for the Trump Years collection- I want my Top Tens to be a little bit more fun and interesting, because we all need some escapism from time to time.

        Plus, when you get right down to it, 13^th just isn't my favorite film from that year anymore; my number two pick, Swiss Army Man, quickly supplanted it the more I contemplated its batshit brilliance. If you had asked me maybe a year or two later to redo the list, I would have switched the places for these two.

        However, now that even more time has gone by, another contender has entered the chat; the least-discussed Scorsese film from the 2010's, an adaptation of a Japanese novel about the trials and pains of spiritual and existential uncertainty, set in feudal Japan. With a subject matter and approach that strikes deep at my own personal background and current mindset regarding religion and faith, Silence quietly (heh-heh) snuck up on me until, when putting together my Decade List in 2020, I found myself comfortably slotting it into my Top Ten, way ahead of Swiss Army Man. If I were to revisit this year now, these two would be dead ringers for the top spots, and I'm honestly not sure which would end up on top.

        Sorry, my Queen. I beseech thee for thy royal pardon.

Number 6: 2017

What I Picked: Get Out

What I Should Have Picked: A Silent Voice OR The Last Jedi OR Thor Ragnarok

        This might be the year that got scrambled the most for me in the subsequent years, with lots of movies shuffling around in my head. Get Out is a masterpiece, was one of the year's best films, and was criminally under-rewarded at that year's Oscars. However, like with 13^th, I was once again being more topical with this pick than anything else. As great as the film is, the very things that make it great are also the reasons why the film is such a hard watch that I may never be able to sit through it start to finish again.

        But what else could have taken its place? A Silent Voice, Star Wars TLJ, and Thor Ragnarok all cracked the top 15 in my Decade List, so any of them would have been solid picks. Plus, I haven't done a full rewatch of Lady Bird yet and that is exactly the sort of film that might hit me way harder the second time around. It's tough to say, but at the time the most likely alternative pick would probably have been A Silent Voice, which would have meant a full half of my first ten #1 picks would have been animated works. I guess I'm nothing if not consistent (Narrator: He isn't).

Number 5: 2019

What I Picked: Jupiter's Moon

What I Should Have Picked: Jupiter's Moon....but maybe Parasite? Portrait of a Lady on Fire? The Lighthouse?? Little Women???

        Jesus Tapdancing Christ, 2019 was stacked. This honestly might have been, to date, the heaviest out of all the years I've been reviewing movies. There was practically zero breathing room between my top 3 at the time I made the list, and The Lighthouse and Little Women are no slouches either. I mostly stuck with Jupiter's Moon because it had the most I could relate to on a personal level, but looking back now, I could probably redo the exact order of my Top 5 a dozen different ways and still not feel satisfied. Which, granted, is about the best problem I could have as a film critic.

        And this isn't even including The Last Black Man in San Francisco, a heart-shattering masterpiece that never got widely released in Europe and STILL isn't available for streaming. It took an inexcusable TWO YEARS before I had the chance to see it and it immediately had me rethinking both this Top Ten and my Decade list. If this had made the mix on time, I truly do not know which movie would get the top spot.

Number 4: 2021

What I Picked: The Mitchells vs. The Machines

What I Should Have Picked: The Mitchells vs. The Machines....but maybe (one day) something else?

        I'm ranking this one a bit lower more out of a wariness of recency bias than anything else. It's only been a few months and, my initial surprise aside, nothing has yet led me to doubt this pick. That said, again, it's only been two months and there is still LOTS of stuff from last year I haven't had access to/time to watch yet, so there is still plenty of room for something that could have made my list to crop up. I suppose this is the one where I have to just shrug and stick a pin in it for now...

        ...but it WILL take a lot to supplant it, because Mitchells was legit great and there are STILL too many people sleeping on.

Number 1 (THREE-WAY TIE): 2014/2015/2018

What I Picked: The Tale of Princess Kaguya/Mad Max: Fury Road/Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

What I Should Have Picked: The Same. These picks were perfect and always will be.

        And now we get to the golden ones. These picks were all perfect then and they're perfect now; not only have these remained my unchallenged favorites from their respective years, they were all a virtual dead heat for the top 3 spots in my Decade list. They remain among the best films I've ever seen and are all-time personal favorites.

        Princess Kaguya ended up being the swan song of Isao Takahata, and what a note to go out on. From its eternal themes of struggling with societal restrictions, to its wholly unique animation style, to one of the best (and most underappreciated) Joe Hisaishi scores, to its devastingly emotional final moments, this remains one of the most profound experiences I have ever had in a movie theater.

        George Miller's return to the franchise that helped to establish his career, usually the sort of thing that so, so often ends in creative catastrophe (looking at you, Ridley Scott), was instead an absolute baller that took the world by storm. Not only did it make bank and waltz out of the Academy Awards with the most trophies, it provided an endless ream of meme and gif material to feed the internet forever. Oh, and it also allowed Charlize Theron to immortalize one of the greatest original characters of all time.

        And finally, in a world long overrun with comic book and superhero adaptations, practically drowning in studios aping each other to death, Into the Spider-Verse managed to outshine them all with one of the most engaging, memorable, and groundbreaking animation films to ever come out of an American studio, outshining nearly all the competitors to not only cement its status as (arguably) the best Spider-Man movie and one of the best comic book movies ever made, but an all-time great movie, period. I could watch Miles fall upwards into the New York City skyline forever.

Here's to the next 10 years.

-Noah Franc

My Top Ten Films of 2021

        With my first-in-awhile Best Soundtrack now finished, it's time for the big one! For, officially, the 10^th time on this site, we are about to go through my Top Ten favorite films of the previous year.

        Usual rules and disclaimers apply. While there were at least more occasions this year where I could enjoy a movie in theater, the shifts forced on the industry by COVID mean that things are still very fluid, so most of the movies I ended up seeing were either only availabe via streaming, or were quickly enough made available to allow me to see them. On the whole, I found it a pretty solid year, though the composition of this list remained a mystery to me right up until the end. And with that, away we go!

Honorable Mentions: Encanto, The Suicide Squad, Ushiku, Tick, tick….Boom!, In The Heights, The Matrix Resurrections

10. Passing (Rebecca Hall)

        Passing bills itself at first as a subtle, black-and-white arthouse commentary on race and the nature of identity in a discriminatory world, but at its most intense moments it veers straight into unremitting horror. Scenes of relatively innocuous, content, upper-middle-class life will be undercut with moments of raw, primal danger and the genuine fear that anything and everything terrible could happen at any moment. Which, of course, is the point, since that is the lived experience of so many minority and marginalized peoples all across America. And the strain that comes with that awareness, and whether avoidance or brutal confrontation is the best survival strategy, is precisely the sort of no-win scenario that can lead some like Ruth Negga's Clare to abandon their roots entirely in search of a place of real safety, even if it ultimately leaves them utterly adrift.

        Countering Ruth is Tessa Thompson as Irene, as compelling and radiant as ever in a role that might seem at first to hold something of a moral high ground. As the film moves forward though, and as we get to see more of her husband, a quietly brilliant performance by André Holland, her insecurities start to shine through as well, as well as the creeping notion that the stability in her own life she takes such pride in might only be so much window dressing.

9. West Side Story (Steven Spielberg)

        I grew up watching my parents' used, two-tape VHS set of the original, iconic 1961 West Side Story film adaptation, and Officer Krupke was one of the first stage roles I ever got to play, so if there was anyone under the sun with two opposable thumbs and a virulent scepticism of any attempt at a remake, it was *pokes chest this guy.

        In retrospect, I guess if anyone was to prove me entirely wrong, it would have been the return of Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, because not only does their remake hold its own against the original, it also mostly succeeds (with one egregious exception) in adjusting the source material in some desperately necessary spots. This is most noticeable in the expanded focus on bringing us into the world of the Sharks and allowing us to understand and appreciate the family dynamic between Maria, Bernardo, and Anita. As much as the original will always hold a special place in my heart, its exceedingly White focus was and remains its biggest flaw, so to see a big-name, mainstream American production like this include whole scenes in Spanish with nary a subtitle was hugely important.

        An additional feather in the film's cap is the astonishing success of the cast, in particular Mike Faist and Ariana DeBose, in providing performances that never feel overshadowed by their predecessors. Trying to redo legendary performances like Russ Tamblyn's Riff or Rita Moreno's Anita is the sort of task that sinks many a movie and acting career, but like their forebears, Faist and DeBose are bona fide stars. Did this movie need to happen? A year ago I've have said “HELL no,” but now? Yes, we very much needed this.

8. The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson)

        I don't know guys, there's just something in how absolutely controlled and minutely crafted every single frame of Anderson's films are that grabs me every time. While I get the critiques that this movie, at least on the whole, doesn't reach the sort of profound emotional depths of, say, Moonrise Kingdom or The Royal Tenenbaums, there's more going on here than I think most viewers gave it credit for. The cast is, as always, ridiculously stacked, but somehow it never feels overstuffed; each person gets what, in the end, feels like just the right number of moments for us to construct an entire lost world out of their persons and relationships to each other. It's definitely a tight balancing act and the fact that the movie exists at all is a testament to the incredible prowess of Wes Anderson and his collaborators.

7. Along the Sea (Akio Fujimoto)

        There is an incredible power in how quiet and downplayed Fujimoto is able to be in his filming style and in the performances he gets out of his cast, while still delivering heavy emotional blows as he tackles oft-ignored issues around living as illegal immigrants in Japan. Both this and his previous film, Passage of Life, are absolute masterpieces in this regard, capable of being so very minimal, while still bring across a sense of genuine danger that its characters can experience at any time, from any direction. In both cases there just are not any easy answers to be had, no possible refuge that is forever. Just very, very hard choices and a final scene that remains utterly haunting even though I have only seen each film once. He may be one of the most criminally underappreciated filmmakers in Japan today.

6. The Green Knight (David Lowery)

        There's not much at this point I can add to my thoughts on this film that I didn't touch on in my review. Dev Patel gives us, in my opinion, his finest performance to date in the best King Arthur adaptation we've gotten in awhile. Working as a slow-burn deconstruction of the nature of myth, and how and why we twist or alter the facts when conveying stories, we are pulled into a place of utter desperation when forced to confront the cold, hard facts of human mortality. Perhaps there is no belt that could truly prevent us from dying, but if there were, who among us can honestly say they would not be sorely tempted to take it?

5. Dune (Denis Villeneuve)

        This was the EVENT movie of the year, the love letter to the experience of the big screen that last year's Tenet wanted so very, very hard to be. I went in with zero prior experience of the Dune extended universe, but I am now all on board with Villeneuve's vision and very much hope he at least gets to continue this franchise up through Dune Messiah (casual moviegoers will fliiiiiiip...).

        Hans Zimmer returns in force and a powerhouse cast on par with West Side Story or The French Dispatch, plus one of the year's most immersive and fascinating production designs, carries us into the world that, now that I'm in the know, is so obviously one of the birth-mothers of Star Wars. I definitely get why this was considered “unfilmable” for so long, but now that it's finally here, it feels like this is exactly what a best-case adaption would look like. There is a grandeur to the desert, especially the sheer size of the great worms, that hearkens back to the earliest days of adventure epics like Lawrence of Arabia. This is so very much a modern film produced out of our era of IP-adaptations, but there is so much in it that is timeless that I do believe it will hold up better than most.

4. Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson)

        I dunno, man. I don't know how PTA does it. A barebones summary of what passes for “plot” in most of his movies would generally provoke a reaction somewhere along the lines of “....naw dude, that'll never work.” Yet here we are. Heaven help me, the film about a girl in her mid-twenties falling for a minor (an absurdly over-confident minor, but still) against the backdrop of the 70's oil embargo....is one of the best movies of the year and I can't stop thinking about it.

        Why is that? There's no one thing I can put my finger on. I am not of the time nor place to have the sort of drenching nostalgia PTA has for SoCal circa the Nixon/Ford/Carter administrations, but damn if the shots aren't so tactile they make me feel like I could reach out through the screen and touch everything. I very much AM an old-school rock person, so the music drops were right up my alley. Plus, a few hilariously on-point pieces of stunt casting aside (Bradley Cooper CAN act! Hey ho!), I especially dig it when an established director eschews mainstream leads and brings in amateur or unknown talents, people who actually look and talk and act like us grubby, non-celebrity peasants. And to top it all off, he even manages to work in a faux-action scene with an out-of-gas moving truck that the kids have to somehow have to move down a VERY steep road without killing anyone. It comes out of left field, it's the highlight of the entire movie, and it's frankly better than most of the money sequences in the year's ACTUAL action movies.

        Rock on, Anderson. Rock on.

3. Spencer (Pablo Larrain)

        The year's best Horror film, and yes, there is no other lable more fitting for the tight, extremely claustrophic and hauntingly psychological dive into a single Christmas experienced by Kirsten Stewart's Princess Di. Stewart has spent a decade now refuting everyone, including a younger, more arrogant me, who wanted to write her off for her association with Twilight, and this time she just might get to roll that choo-choo into Oscar Station. Or rather, she better (glares sternly at the Academy). Beyond her performance are a wealth of small moments between her and the staff she is surrounded with and, quite often, deliberately controlled by, touching on relationships that might, in other circumstances have been able to provide her with more direct support, but instead can only cheer her on silently.

2. Bo Burnham: Inside (Bo Burnham)

        Bo Burnham should have just titled this Noah's Deepest Fears and Anxieties; A Netflix Special, because that's basically what it is. As such, this was my frontrunner for most of the year for the top spot on this list. Buuuut....at the end of the day, even in a COVID world, having a Netflix comedy special here is stretching my (admittedly liberal) definition of a “movie” to its absolute limit. And given that I have already played incredibly fast and loose with my own rules once before (see Hamilton), I couldn't bring myself to invite the same angst into this site again.

        Neverless! This is still the most deeply personal thing I saw all year, and incredibly powerful time capsule of the early-COVID mileau and a cutting deconstruction of the cynical toxicity of current internet celebrity. The songs are nearly all gangbusters and the visual displays a lone person with a few lighting rigs is able to conjure up is nothing short of astounding to experience. It's a hard watch, but an absolutely necessary one.

1. The Mitchells vs. The Machines (Michael Rianda)

        You know, this might be the most surprised I've ended up being at my own #1 pick. And yes, this is coming from the man who has declared an animated film to be his Film of the Year no less than three times. Obviously, given the background of the people involved in this movie, it was pretty much guaranteed to land in my Top 5 no matter what. But #1? It never really consciously occurred to me as possible until I finally sat down to sort titles.

        And yet, at the end of the day, this just fits. It feels right. This funny and warm and odd film about a robot apocalypse that reminds a divided family just how much they need each other hit every note I could have ever wanted it do and more. Is it the BEST movie, with the tightest screenplay and most interesting, original story? Most definitely not. I have my nitpicks about the rather unoriginal story concept and the fairly empty treatment of the movie's “villain;” there was absolutely some narrative potential left on the cutting room floor. But at the end of the day, that's immaterial. As the film's central family reminds us, sometimes the messiest things are what touch us the most, what move us to remember why we love ourselves, our families, our friends. And especially in these dark times, that's important stuff.

        Also, it's concluding beat-drop of Hoppipolla hits SO HARD it's almost shameful and I still haven't forgiven them.

-Noah Franc

My Top (Five) Film Scores of 2021

    Well. We've all been having a bit of a time, haven't we?

    And in spite of it, movies are still being and stories are still being told. And hey, after the garbage fire that was 2020, 2021 turned out to be a pretty great year at the movies! Before getting to THE list, though (and it's coming soon), let's do something that I just didn't have the energy to do in 2020. Yes, it's finally time to get back to talking about music. Specifically, the best in film scores and/or soundtracks.

    Since 2021 featured an unusually high number of film adaptations of musicals, I am focusing for the purposes of this list on only music or songs written specifically for a 2021 film. Meaning, films like In The Heights or the new West Side Story or Tick, Tick...Boom! were not considered, though those were all excellent.

    Welcome back!

Honorable Mentions: Luca (Dan Romer), Encanto (score by Germain Franco, songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Joel P. West)

5. The Green Knight (Daniel Hart)

    The Green Knight just might take home the trophy of Oddest Film of 2021, as it grasps hold of the inherent weirdness in much Arthurian legend with both hands and refuses to let go. Daniel Hart's score, committed to sounding (as far as we know) like what Arthur and his knights might have had played for them at the Round Table, perfectly enhances the bleak and dreary atmosphere the camera drenches itself in. It brings us perfectly into place, and then, like the cinematography, keeps us bound in a state of perpetual anxiety over what will happen next.

4. The Matrix Resurrections (Johnny Klimek and Tom Tykwer)

    Don Davis' iconic work in the original Matrix trilogy remains, in my view, criminally underappreciated. As such, though there were many aspects of Resurrections that did an incredible job of expanding on the best of the original films, I took particular pleasure in seeing the themes and motifs from Davis' scores reworked into this reboot that most certainly didn't need to happen, but at the very least more than earned its keep.

3. Spencer (Jonny Greenwood)

    Given how singularly effective pretty much every film score Greenwood produces ends up being, it staggered me to learn that it took until Phantom Thread for him to get an actual Oscar nomination. Well, between his work in this movie and The Power of the Dog, he should definitely get his second nod within the next week of this writing. Spencer feels like someone took the saucy royal drama of The Crown and filtered it through several funhouse mirrors to produce an effect of pure psychological horror, and the relentlessly off-kilter sound of Greenwood's music hits all the right extra notes (pun intended).

2. Bo Burnham: Inside (Bo Burnham)

    This time capsule into what it felt like being an internet-oriented millenial in the first year of the pandemic is half sketch-comedy, half musical, and the songs are almost all solid bangers. The first few skew more light-hearted- „Content“ is the perfect opener, and songs about being a problematic YouTuber or the frustrations of helping family members get the hang of new things like Zoom Calls get plenty of laughs. But as the film progresses the songs turn darker, meaner, more hopeless. „Welcome to the Internet“ is, of course, an instant classic, and as someone who himself turned 30 right as the pandemic was breaking in Europe and the US, uh, yeah, you better believe „30“ hit me like a none-socially-distanced freight train.

    When you get down to real talk, though,. I think the hardest truths are to be found in „All Eyes On Me,“ which functions both musically and visually as a descent into the Dantean Hell that is modern internet celebrity and the toxicity of most of its fandoms, something I have had to grapple with on a very personal level over the past 4 years. It's a state of being that, for the moment, seems pretty devoid of hope, where the only place left to go is even further down.

1. Dune (Hans Zimmer)

    Ah, Hans. I've missed you. Even during the fallow period following Inception and the Dark Knight Trilogy, when people seemed ready to lay every over-used trend in modern film music at your feet, you kept chugging along, while I stayed on board the choo-choo.
And even still, though you were still producing great stuff (like the Interstellar score, which far outstrips the movie itself), I couldn't help but feel that ít had been awhile since we'd gotten a really great, instantly classic original work from you. Lo and behold, not only did Denise and his crew do the unthinkable and actually make a great Dune movie, you were there as well with what is easily your best stuff in years.

    Welcome back, my friend. Welcome back.

-Noah Franc

Star Wars, Episode IX: Duel of the Fates: Chapter Fifteen- The Epilogue

**for previous chapters, please refer to the Table of Contents**

        A red-and-orange morning on a forested corner of Onderon. Finn rose silently, stretching himself towards the ceiling as he stood up so as to wake up just a bit quicker. Rose would be calling soon and it wouldn't do to be late. He glanced outside for a moment, pondering the gentle light of the morning and letting the Force-feel of the planet flow around and through him, drawing it consciously into his mind in small waves. It was the first exercise he'd learned from Rey. Hard to think it had already been a year since they'd started.

        Outside was the semicircle of stone-and-thatch houses that he and Rey had so recently finished, about half of them already occupied by the first new students he and Rey had spent the past two weeks picking from across the galaxy, beings of all sizes and types and each with some noticeable level of Force awareness. Today was the first day that Rey would start their basic training.

        But first, time for an update on the other goings-on in the galaxy from his girlfriend.
Finn sat down at the small worktable in his own room and activated the comm tablet he had set into the opposite wall. After a short moment, the holographic receiver activated, bringing up a 3D image of Rose, speaking (he assumed) from her own room back on Coruscant. He knew his own upper body would now be visible on her end.

        Finn smiled. "Hey!"

        Rose smiled back. "Hey, you! Listen, this is perfect timing, Poe wrote me just a few minutes ago. He says he has something big and he wants us to hear it first."

        Finn started to suspect what it must be- Poe and Lando had been hopping around half the galaxy leading the hunt for Hux and his remaining ships ever since they'd resurfanced in the Outer Rim- but kept his excitement firmly in check in case he was hoping for too much. "Let's here it then!"

        Rose nodded and her shoulder moved with a gesture. Her figure moved slightly to the side and Poe's head, helmeted and clearly inside his cockpit, rose into view alongside her.

        Poe smiled, "Aw man, is it good to see your faces again."

        Finn's smile broadened, "You too. You and Lando alright?"

        "That's why I'm calling! I actually don't have much time, you can probably tell I'm in transit, so I gotta be quick, but get this; Hux is surrendering!"

        Finn felt his jaw drop at the same time as Rose's. For a split second, neither of them could speak.

        Rose came to first, "Holy shit, that's incredible! Finally! Does Leia know?"

        Poe nodded, "Lando's in communique with her right now. We managed to hole them up groundside on Gamorr about a week ago. Enough reinforcements came in that we outnumber them at least 3 to one. Hux tried to play staredown with us for about a week, but once we brought in a few Mon Cal ships that started bombing their perimeter he came around. Or at least the rest of his officers did. He commed Lando directly an hour ago and offered to discuss terms. We're heading to the rendezvous spot now."

        Finn was now more awake than he'd felt in awhile. Finally, he thought, it all finally ends. "That's....I can hardly believe it."

        "I feel ya buddy. But it's real. And once we wrap up here I plan to take a good, long vacation on your end. Gotta run for now though, I'll send you guys another message as soon as I can!"

        And with that, Poe tapped himself out of the call.

        Finn and Rose barely had a moment to turn and look at each other excitedly before Finn sensed Rey approaching rapídly, followed by a quick knock on his door.

        "Hang on," he said to Rose before he rose up to let her in.

        "I'm so sorry, I forgot Rose was calling today!" Rey said breathlessly. "Am I too late???"

        Finn grinned, letting his jubilation carry over into the Force. "No! You just missed Poe, but we've got the best news for you. C'mon!"

        Rey followed him back to the table where Rose was still waiting.

        "Rey! How are you?"

        "Nervous. First day of training. What's the big news Finn mentioned?"

        Once more Finn and Rose exchanged glances; "Hux is surrendering! Poe just told us, he and Lando are handling negotiations now!"

        Rey's face brightened as much as Finn's must have when he heard that. "Stars! You mean....it's really over??"

        Rose nodded eagerly. "Yep. And the timing couldn't be better. Just yesterday Leia and I helped finalize an election schedule for all the Core Worlds to send delegates for a full-time Senate. Within a few standard months the transition government can finally start handing over formal duties. Some delegations have dragged their feet, but I think the First Order finally being off the board entirely could be the kick they need."

        Finn's mood brightened even further. Things were falling into place. He had found his place.

        Rose continued, "I gotta run myself, Leia and I have another day full of meetings, but I second Poe; once everything is settled we're heading your way to properly celebrate."

        Rey smiled radiantly. "I can't wait."

        "I'll call again in a few days. And hey, Rey- good luck today."

        With that, Rose ended the call.

        The sun outside had fully risen over the horizon, and the first founds of the other students gathering in the clearing were already filtering in. Rey and Finn looked at each other.

        "Wow."

        "Yeah. Wow."

        Rey glanced towards the door, towards her first opportunity to train people who were basically strangers. Finn, she'd known, and that had made her feel a bit more at ease. This, though, felt like it would be a lot harder.

        "Hey." Finn's voice cut through her reflections. She turned back to him.

        "You're gonna be great. If you can teach this idiot," and with that, he jabbed his thumb towards himself, "you can teach anybody."

Rey had to laugh in spite of herself.

        "And you aren't alone this time. I'm here. No matter what." As he spoke, he clapped his hand on Rey's shoulder, giving it a reassurings squeeze.

        The nervousness still twisted around in her, but as always, Finn found just the right way to ease her worries. "Thanks Finn."

        She turned back towards the door and took a deep breath. "Alright. Let's get to it then."

        Stepping outside, her eyes moved over the figures assembled before her, eight in all. Two humans, a Bith, a Wookie, a Mon Cal, a Twi'Lek, even two Zabraks who had contacted her of their own accord...after Finn, her first real students. The new chance she'd been planning for, for a new Jedi order. And as of today, they had a genuine peace to fight for and protect.
Yes. As Leia had said almost a whole year ago; it was time for something new.

        "So," she began, hoping the evenness in her voice didn't betray her nerves, "For starters, thank you. Thank you for being here, and trusting me to help you find your ways in the Force. We'll start today with a simple meditation."

        With that, they each sat down slowly, forming a rough circle in the clearning. The slight chill of night was already warming away in the morning sun.  When everyone seemed settled, Rey continued, "Now, follow my lead, and focus first on your breathing. Let the Force flow gently flow with each inhale and exhale....and try to picture yourself between both the Light and the Dark sides of the Force. Imagine your body, yourself, being the balance between the two."

        "And when that image is fixed in your mind...breathe. Just breathe."

The End