Favorite Films I Watched in January
January was busy. I started a new job, I started pitching articles again (and even got one published about The Apartment), and I watched a lot of movies. Here are my favorites.
All of Us Strangers (2023)
Andrew Haigh did it again. I also love his film Weekend, which serves as an excellent bridge into another lonely apartment queer tale in All of Us Strangers. But this one is on another plane (literally). It’s best to go in knowing as little as possible, and I’m glad I did. I was blown away and nearly sat and waited for another showing. I didn’t want to leave this devastating but hopeful little world.
Belle De Jour (1967)
Another interesting film about reality versus fantasy and how both factor into our identity as lines are blurred. A very interesting character study of a bored (and possibly traumatized) housewife who becomes a sex worker by day (“beautiful day”) to bring excitement into her life. My first foray into Luis Buñuel.
Certain Women (2016)
I have really been digging Kelly Reichardt’s left of center films, mostly about women, often surrounded by nature. There is something so truthful in this quiet film and all its 16mm glory. I especially enjoyed the third vignette, where Lily Gladstone’s character just brings me to tears.
21 Jump Street (2012)
A bit of a change of pace, to say the least, but a thoroughly enjoyable and laugh-out-loud buddy comedy. I also had a great time watching the sequel, 22 Jump Street, but the first slightly edges it out for me. A great duo. More, please.
The Passenger (2023)
And an anti-buddy movie. Let’s just call it forced coworker bonding and dealing with your own trauma by forcing your younger coworker to deal with his. This would make a good double feature with Jerrod Carmichael’s On the Count of Three (2021). Shot well and reminiscent of some offbeat 90s bloody comedy-thrillers, like Kalifornia or Freeway.
Heat (1995)
I’ll take Goodfellas over it any day, but it’s a staple high-action movie about the choices we make and what they make of us.
Society of the Snow (2023)
La sociedad de la nieve is a Spanish-language film about the victims (and survivors) of the 1972 Uruguay Flight 571 flight that crashed in the Andes mountains. A very human and respectfully-made, nail-biting film about survival and humanity.
Ghost (1990)
A movie that walks such a fine line not just between life and death but between grief and humor, corruption scandal and buddy comedy (Patrick Swayze and Whoopi Goldberg — who knew?), not to mention romance. God, I love ambitious 90s movies as much as I love low-key 90s movies.
Anyone But You (2023)
I love a good romantic comedy, but this one surprised even me. The mostly-full theater was laughing out loud for much of the movie, even at some of its more kitsch 2020s slang. These two can lead a romcom, and its supporting cast helps keep it afloat through all its Shakespearean nonsense. More theater-filling romcoms 2024.
I also really enjoyed…
Sunburn (1999)
A perfect little Irish slice-of-summer, with lots of classic American movie tropes delivered through a different, indie lens.
Mistress America (2015)
Greta Gerwig takes up the entire screen with a character a little different from the one she usually plays, and it’s quite funny.
Asteroid City (2023)
I will have to write about how I think this is Wes Anderson’s mission statement on life and art, almost 30 years into his career.
Bonus: rewatches.
I only rewatched a few movies this month because I prioritized watching new-to-me movies, but I rewatched a few greats.
The Apartment (1960)
One of my all-time favorites, Billy Wilder’s Best Picture-winning The Apartment only improves every time I watch it, and it’s virtually perfect as it is. I rewatched it to aid in writing this piece, “The Apartment: The Elevator Between Eras,” about how this wonderful film and its corporate milieu and romantic inclinations (and subversions) serves as a bridge between the Classical and New Hollywood eras.
Stand By Me (1986)
I hadn’t seen Stand By Me since I was around the age of the boys that star in the film. A powerful, funny, famously sob-inducing movie that it barely 90 minutes. It’s absolutely essential. Such an excellent exploration of the one life we have to live and make the most of, and a meditation on mortality through morbidity.
Thanks for reading, and I’ll be making an effort to post more this year. Here’s to a February full of films!
What were your favorite first-watches of January and what are you excited to see in February?