Boys State

BOYS STATE (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Director: Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss. Cast: Ben Feinstein, Steven Garza, Robert MacDougall 

Something between a documentary and a reality TV show turns out to be an fascinating account into a week-long annual program in which a thousand Texas high school boys seniors gather for an elaborate mock exercise: building their own state government.

What comes out is an astonishing portrait of American today: this is a microcosm of political division, masculinity, racism. It’s terrifying, infuriating, gobsmacking, exciting and even moving at times..

What this amazing documentary does (and I call it documentary because to call it “reality TV would diminish it, and this piece of work should really never be undermined!) is actually appealing to both the believer and the cynical in equal measure. I started watching this almost with two fingers in my month ready to vomit and shaking my head in disbelief more often that I thought it would be possible, and yet, by the end I somehow managed to come out of depression and I was actually left with a glimmer of hope for the future.I hope you’ll give this a go: it is an exciting, enlightening, revealing and moving piece of work. It might not be the best documentary of the year, but it’ll certainly be one of those who’ll stay with me for longer.

Very highly recommended.On Apple +

#AMovieADay – 2020

This year I challenged myself (for no apparent reason) to watch a film a day. Don’t ask me why… I just did it.

In the beginning I was a bit doubtful and just wanted to do one month… so I slapped together the hashtag #AMovieADay and started not really sure where and when I would stop. 

I ended up doing the whole 2020 (I only missed a few days when I was stranded in the mountains with no internet connection). 

As it turned out, this little exercise gave me not just a little window into a better world during possibly one of the most difficult year of my life (and I know I’m not alone), but also a sort of refuge, a safety blanket (even though most of the film have broken me down to tears) and a space where I could lose myself and forget about everything else that was happening around me.

I’ve been trying to diversify as much as possible: dramas, comedies, animation, sci-fi, blockbusters, old classics, foreign language films, hidden gems, a few shorts and even a video-game which as it happened was better than many of the films I’ve watched. 

I’ve also tried to reach all the possible streaming platforms: Netflix, Prime, Sky, Apple+, Disney+ and lately through the Bafta streaming site where I was able to access some of the latest offerings (but also things which have not been released yet).

As I near the end of 2020, I’m coming up with the impossible task of drawing list of my top 10 favourite.

Interestingly most of the ones I really liked were actually classic movies like “Il Sorpasso”, “One Flew of the Cockoo’s nest”, “ET , or film which I happened to see this year but were released in 2019 like “Corpus Christi”, “The Guilty”, “Marriage Story”  and even some TV series “Unorthodox” “When they See Us”  “Unbelievable”.

With my son we did weekly #movienight and ended up watching a lot of animated  ones too (“Tangled” one of my favourite, “My Life as a courgette” the biggest surprise).

Finally many which were officially released in 2020, but I got to see it last year (1917, Jojo Rabbit, Parasite), so those didn’t make the list.

Anyway, here’s the list (though if you ask me tomorrow I might give you different ones).

My 10 favourite of 2020. (#AMovieADay)

1 – The Mole Agent

2 – Father soldier son

3 – Collective

4 – The father

5 – Dick Johnson is Dead

6 – Boys State

7 – Crip Camp 

8 – Soul

9 – The Farewell 

10 – Dear Ex.

Some honourable mentions too: Host  , Supernova,  the Invisible Man, I Lost My Body the spectacular short  “If Anything happens I will Love You” … and the amazing video game The Last of US.

Here’s the list:

#1 – The Lion King (2019)  (1^st January) 

#2 – It. Chapter 2 – (2^nd January)

#3 – Farmageddon (3^rd January)

#4 – Little Women 2019 (4^th January) 

#5 – Parasite (5^th January)

#6 – The Two Popes (6^th January)

#7 – Marriage Story (7^th January)

#8 – American Factory (8^th January)

#9 – Rocketman (9^th January) 

#10 – The Indian in the Cupboard (10^th January) 

#11 – For Sama (11^th January)

#12 – Uncut Gems (12^th January)

#13 – Bombshell (13^th January)

#14 – I Lost My Body (14^th January) 

#15 – The Laundromat

#16 – Atlantics (16^th January)

#17 – The Missing Link (17^th January)

#18 – Joker (18^th January)

#19 – Dolomite is my Name (19^th January)

#20 – The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (20^th January)

#21 – The Report (21^st January)

#22 – Just Mercy (22^nd January)

#23  – Ingrid Goes west (23^rd January)

#24 – Waves (24^th January)

#25 – Eight Grade (25^th January)

#26 – The Personal History of David Copperfield (26th January)

#27 – THE HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE (27^th January)

#28 – THE WHITE HELMETS (28^th January)

#29 – CITIES OF GHOSTS (29^th January)

#30 – ETRE ET AVOIR (30^th  January) 

#31 – Annie (31^st January)

#32 – A Story of Children and Film (1^st February)

#33 – Queen & Slim (2^nd of February) 

#34 – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (3^rd February)

#35 –Green Room (4^th February)

#36 – Booksmart (5^th February)

#37 – Wild Rose (6^th February)

#38 –Kung-Fu Panda (7^th February)

#39 – One Cut of the Dead (8^th February)

#40 – The Farewell (9^th February)

#41 – Judy (10^th February)

#42 – Dark Waters (11^th February) 

#43 – Jungle  (12^th February)

#44 – Le Mans ’66 (Ford Vs Ferrari) 13th February

#45 – Apollo 11 (14th February)

#46 – Sonic (15th February)

#47 – The Children Act (16^th February)

#48 – Boy (17^th February)

#49 – Snowpiercer (18^th February)

#50 – Period. End of Sentence. (19th February)

#51 – Heroin(e). (20th February)

#52 – Zion. (21^st February)

#53 – See You Yesterday. (22^nd February)

#54 – Late Night (23^rd February)

#55 – Velvet Buzzsaw (24^th February)

#56 – Private Life (25^th February)

#57 – The Perfect Host (26^th February) 

#58 – The Sting  (27^th February)

#59 – Stan & Ollie (28^th February)

#59 – Onward (29^th February)

60# – Prince of Egypt (1^st March)

#61 – The Invisible Man (1933) (2^nd March)

#62 – The Invisible Man (2020). (2^nd March)

#63 Birds of Prey (3^rd March)

#64 How it ends (4^th March)

#65 All the Bright Places (5^th March)

#66 Snoopy and Charlie Brown: the Peanuts movie (6^th of March)

#67 Midsommar (7^th of March)

#68 Escape from Pretoria (8^th of March)

#69 Audrie & Daisy (9^th of March)

#70 Spenser Confidential (10^th of March)

#71 12 Angry Men (11^th of March)

#72 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (12^th of March)

#73 Friday the 13^th  (13^th of March)

#74 King Fu Panda 2 (14^th of March)

#75 The BFG (15^th March)

#76 Modern Times (16^th of March)

#77 City Lights (17^th of March)

#78 The Kid (18^th March)

#79 Lost Girl (19^th of March)

#80 Monsters Vs Aliens (20^th of March)

#81 Turbo (21^st of March)

#82 6 Underground (22^nd of March)

#83 The Platform (23^rd of March)

#84 A Fall from Grace (24^th of March)

#85 Il Sorpasso (25^th of March)

#86 Blinded By the Light (26^th of March)

#87 Honey I shrunk the Kids (27^th of March)

#88 Goosbumps (28^th of March)

#89 Doctor Sleep (29^th of March)

#90 Horse Girl (30^th of March)

#91 Honey Boy (31^st of March)

#92 Pieces of April. (1^st of April)

#93 Go  (2^nd of April)

#94 101 Dalmatians (3^rd of April)

#95 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (4^th of April)

#96 Come to Daddy (5^th of April)

#97 Luce (6^th of April)

#98 Germany Year Zero (7^th of April)

#99 Rome Open City (8^th of April)

#100 Ladri di Biciclette (9th of April)

#101 The Goonies (10th of April)

#102 Up (11^th of April) 

#103 Life as a Courgette (12^th of April) 

#104 Still Walking (13^th April)

#105 Blue Valentine (14^th of April)

#106 Scary Story to tell in the Dark (15^th of April)

#107 The Hunt (18^th April)

#108 The Little Prince (19^th April)

#109 Ratatouille (20^th April)

#110  Blue Ruin (21^st April)

#111 Buried (22^nd April)

#112 The professor and the Madman (23^rd April)

#113  The Wandering Earth (24^th April)

#114 Audition

#115 Open Season

#116 Extraction (25^th April)

#117 Sing (26^th  April)

#118  Miracle in Cell n.7 (27^th April)

#119  A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE 

(28^th April)

#120  Attack the Block (29^th April)

#121 Days of Heaven (30^th April)

122 Spiderman (1^st of May)

#123 The Secret Life of Pets (2^rd May)

#124 The Assistant (3^th May)

#125 Moffie (4^th May)

#126 Frankenstein (the Play). (5^th May)

#127 February (6^th May)

#128 The Descendants (7^th May)

#129 Upload (8^th May)

#129 Secret Life of Pets 2 (8^th May)

#130 Pete’s Dragon (9^th May)

#131 Dial M for Murder (10^th of May)

#132 Becoming (11^th of May)

#133 The Peanut Butter Falcon (12^th of May)

#134 The Whitlers (13^th of May)

#135 Hollywood (14^th of May)

#136 Abominable (15^th of May)

#137 A Cat in Paris (16^th of May)

#138 Men in Black (17^th of May)

#139 Rebuilding Paradise (18^th of May)

#140 The trader (19^th of May)

#141 The Ghost of Sugarland (20^h of May)

#142 Unbelievable (21^st of May)

#143 Robots (22^ndof May)

#144 Boxtrolls  (23^rd of May)

#145 Corpus Christ (24^th of May)

#146 Honeyland (25^th of May)

#147 Adam (26^th of May)

#148 Alita: Battle Angel (27^th of May)

#149 The Belly of the Whale (28^th of May)

#150 The Princess Bride (29^th of May)

#151 The Guilty (30^th of May)

#152 THE VAST OF NIGHT (31^st May)

#153 FRUITVALE STATION. (1st June)

#154. Extremis. (2nd June)

#155 THE INSIDE JOB. (3^rd June)

#156 UNORTHODOX (4^th June)

#157  The Polar Express (5^th June)

#158  Tarzan (6^th June)

#159. WHEN THEY SEE US (7^th June)

#160. DAYS OF THE BAGNOLD SUMMER. (8^h June)

#161. Source Code  (9^h June)

#162 Blindspotting.  (10^th June)

#163 DATING AMBER. (11^th June)

#164 CALL OF THE WILD. (12^th June)

#165 SHIRKERS. (13^th June)

#166 GNOMEO & JULIET (13^th June)

#167. Da 5 Bloods  (14^h June)

#168. The Invitation.  (15^th June)

#169 You Were Never Really Here. (16^th June)

#170 Life Overtakes Me (18^th June)

#171  The Ground Beneath My Feet  (19^th June)

#172 The Incredibles. (20^th June)

#173  MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO. (21^st June)

#174  7500. (22^nd June)

#175 The Kids Are All Right. (23^rd June)

#176 Dads (24^th June)

#177 Athlete A. (25^th June)

#178 THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER. (26^th June)

#179 Spiderman 2.1  (27^th June)

#180 A White, White Day (28^th June)

#181 Booksellers (29^th June)

#182 JOSHUA: Teenager vs Superpower (30^th June)

#183 Summer 1993 (1^st July)

#184 5 short films – DAUGHTER, SISTER, MEMORABLE, HAIR LOVE, 

KITBU  (2^nd July)

#185 Incredibles 2

#186 Hotel Transilvania (4^TH July)

#187 Barney’s Version (5^th July)

#188 Gemini Man (6th July)

#189 Captain Fantastic (7th July)

#190 Back Roads (8^th July)

#191 Resurface (9^th July)

#192 Innerspace (10^th July)

#193 Ponyo

#194 Greyhound (12^th July)

#195 The Last of Us (part 1 & 2) (13^th July)

#196 The Old Guard. (14^th July)

#197 Dear Ex (15^th July)

#198 Alex Rider (16^th July)

199 Scoob! (17^th July)

200 The Greatest Showman (18^th July)

201 The Good Fight Season 4 (19^th  July)

202 Clemency (20^th July)

203 Giant Little Ones (21^st July)

#204 Game Night (22^nd July)

205 Condor (23^rd July)

#206 Ex Machina (25th July)

#207 Harry Potter & The Philosopher Stone (26th July)

#208 The Miseducation of Cameron Post. (27th July)

#209 The Mosquito Coast. (28th July)

#210 Crip Camp.  (29th July)

#211 In the Fade (30^th July)

# 212 Raw (31^th July)

#213 Animal Crackers (31^st July)

#214 Ghostbusters (1^st August)

#215 I may Destroy You. (2^nd August)

#216 The Speed Cubers. (3^rd August)

#217 Insidious (4^th August)

#218 The King of Staten Island. (5^th August)

#219 How to Build A Girl. (6^th August)

#220 Dream Big. (7^h August)

#221 Upgrade.  (8^th August)

#222 Clue   (9^th August)

#223 Father Soldier Son.  (10^th August)

#224 Monos.  (11^th August)

#225 Evil. (12^th August)

#226 E.T. The Extra Terrestrial  (13^th August)

#227 Romeo & Juliet. (14^th August)

#228 Boys State. (15^th August)

#229 Project Power. (16^th August)

#230 Catfish. (17^th August)

#231 Ocean’s 8. (18^th August)

#232 Nobody know I’m here. (19^th August)

#233 50/50. (21st August)

#234 Stand By Me. (25th August)

#235 Rising Phoenix (31st August)

#236 Tenet. (1st September)

#237 Official Secrets. (2nd September)

#238 The Hater. (3rd September)

#239 Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets. (4th September)

#240 Searching. (5th September)

#241 I’m thinking of Ending things. (6th September)

#242 The Gift. (7th September)

#243 Asterix & Cleopatra. (8th September)

#244 The Twelve tasks of Asterix (9th September)

#245 Cobra Kai. (10th September)

#246 Monsters University. (11th September)

#247 Flushed Away (12th September)

#248 The Social Dilemma. (13th September)

#249 Alive. (14th September)

#250 The Mole Agent. (15th September)

#251 Rocks. (16th September)

#252 The Devil All the Time. (17th September)

#253 Pinocchio (18th September)

#254 The Willoughbys. (19th September)

#255 Cuties. (20th September)

#256 Safety Not Guaranteed. (21st September)

#257 The Gentlemen. (22nd September)

#258 Carmilla. (23rd September)

#259  Camp Cretaceus   (24th September)

#260 The Missing Link. (25th September)

#261 The Lorax.  (26th September)

#262 System Crasher.  (27th September)

#263 8 ½. (28th September)

#264 Umberto D (29th September)

#265 Sulla Mia Pelle (On My Skin). (30th September)

#266 Enola Holmes. (1st October)

#267 The Adventures of Tintin – The Secret of the Unicorn (2^nd October)

#268 The Father (3^rd Oct)

#269 The Wrong Trousers (4^th Oct)

#270 The Boys in the Band (5^th Oct)

#271 Stray (6^th Oct)

#272 Relic (7^th Oct) 

#273 Honeymood (8^th Oct)

#274 Supernova (9^th Oct)

#275 The Emperor’s New Groove (10^th Oct)

#276 Wallace & Gromit & The Curse of the Wererabbit.  (11^th October )

#277 Kajillionaire (12^th October )

#278 Mogul Mogwli (13th October)

#279 Dick Johnson is dead. (14^th October )

#280 – American Murder – the family next door.  (15^th October )

#281 Kronk’s new groove. (16^th October )

#282 Paddington.  (17^th October )

#283 The Trial of the Chicago 7. (18^th October )

#284 The half of it. (19^th October )

#285 Time   (20^th October)

#286 Rebecca (2020) ** (21^st October )

#287  Brave Blue World (**) 22^nd October

#288 Over the moon  (23^rd October)

#289 Raiders of the Lost Ark (*****). 24^th October 

#290 Paddington 2

291 Borat Sebsequent Moviefilm (**) 27^th October

#293 Summerland (**) 28^th October

#294 Summer of 85 (***) 29^th October 

#295 Zootopia (***) 30th October

#296 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (31^st October)

#297 Halloween 2018 (1^st November)

#298 Dr. No (2^nd November) 

#299 His House

#300 The West Wing Special 

#301 Tangled 

#302 A Shot in the Dark

#303 About Endlessness

304 From Russia with love

305 Goldfinger

#306 Saint Maud

#307 Terminator :Dark Fate

#308 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – Friday 13^th November

#309 The Pink Panther strikes back – Saturday 14^th November

#310 – Everybody Flies  Sunday 15^th November

311 Duel Monday 16th November

312 The life ahead (17^th November)

313 The Sugarland Express (18^th November)

314 Sorry To Bother You (19^th November)

315 The rescuers –  20^th November

316 The Borrowers – 21 November 

317 If anything happens I love you

318 Fireball

319 Host – 24^th November

320 Collective – 25^th November

321 One Night in Miami – 26th November

322 The Book of Life – 27th November

323 Anima- 28th November

324 Yes, God, Yes – 29th November

325 The Undoing – 30th November

326 The man without Gravity (L’uomo senza gravità)

327 Angela’s Christmas

328 The Queen’s Gambit (3^rd December)

329 Mickey’s Christmas Carol (3^rd December)

330  The Rescuers Down Under (4^th December)

331 Citizen Kane (5^th December)

332 Young Sherlock Holmes.   5^th December 

333 And then we Danced.  6^th December

334  Mank. –  7^th December 

335 Climb blind. – 8th December

336 I am Greta.  –  9^th December

337 Long Shot  –  10^th December

338  Angela’s Christmas Wish.  11^th December

339  The Return of the Pink Panther.  12^th December 

340 Canvas. 13^th December

341 Falling. 13^th December

342 Minari.  14^th December

343  76 Days. (15^th December)

344 The Dissident.  (16^th December) 

345 Miss Juneteenth.  (17^th December)

346 Arthur Christmas. (18^th December )

347 Peter Pan (19^th December)

348 A Christmas Carol (20^th December) 

349 Nowhere Special (21 December)

350 Nomadland (22^nd December)

351 News of the World (23^rd December)

352 The Midnight Sky (24^th December)

353 Soul (25^th December)

354 Santa Claus: the Movie 

355 Wonder Woman 1984 (26^th December) 

356 Death to 2020 (27th December)

357 Cops and Robbers (28th December)

358 Rose Island (L’Isola delle Rose) (29th December)

359 Babyteeth (30th December)

360 Home Alone (31 December)

Father Soldier Son

Father Soldier Son ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Director: Leslye Davis, Catrin Einhorn. Cast: Brian Eisch, Isaac Eisch, Joey Eisch 

I must confess that the title didn’t inspire me particularly but I am so happy I went beyond those simple three words.

As I started watching this documentary I had no idea what an emotional journey this was going to be. It brought tears in my eyes a few times (A very unexpected turn of events about half way through actually reduced me to a real wreck) but by the end of it I was able to find a little bit of redemption and comfort too, something I never thought would be possible while watching it.

This is a miracle of film, one of those documentaries that only happen once in a decade, and that’s exactly how long it took to make.

It is beautifully filmed and masterly edited (really!!), subtly observed and constructed with great empathy but at the same time without ever forcing any point of view. You might look at the patriarch of this family and think “this is a true American hero”, but you also might look at it and think “what an selfish asshole”.

It is an intimate portrait of a family, a stunning study of American masculinity, the need for purpose and place in life and a lot more.

It will frustrate you, annoy you, made you think, (inspire you?), move you like feel thing will.

I was astounded by it and deeply touched. Together with the Mole Agent (which is a lot more uplifting) this is my favourite film of the 2020.

The Mole Agent

The Mole Agent ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Director: Maite Alberdi. Cast: Sergio Chamy.

Ever since this troubled 2020 began, I’ve already watched more than 360 films and as it happens when the number is so high, most of them pass me through and they’re pretty much forgotten within a week. Some films are obviously indisputable masterpieces: the way they are told, filmed, put together, their music, their performances… Others are just terrible… And then there few (very few) which work on you in more subtle ways. There may not be “The Godfather” or “Casablanca”, but they leave you with something that almost changes the way you are and think about things.

That was the case for “The Mole Agent”, which unexpectedly came along and not only it touched me the way very few things have, but it somehow left something inside me that I will most likely carry for the rest of my life. This is a beautiful, heart-warming documentary sensitively talks about issues like old age, loneliness, family and companionship as it takes you inside a nursing home in Santiago (Chile), where an old man infiltrates so that it can spy on the staff and see if the patients are being treated properly. All this is only just the pretext for something a lot deeper.

It is a documentary but filmed with warmth and love like a feature film, to the point that at times I wondered: “is this really true?” (It is as a matter of fact, as I have been reading several articles about it). It is also hilarious: I found myself laughing more often than I did during most of comedies this year. It’s inspired, moving, uplifting, heart-breaking and one of the sweetest thing

I’ve seen in a time where we all really need not just beautiful stories but also things which make us think about our older friends.

I loved it and it is now on top of my favourite films of the year. I urge you to seek it out as soon as you can.

Babyteeth

Babyteeth

Director: Shannon Murphy Cast: Eliza Scanlen, Michelle Lotters, Toby Wallace, Essie Davis, Ben Mendelsohn

I watched this small independent Australian film with no expectations and I was actually blown away. Despite a seemingly known plot line and all the dangerous pitfalls that a story about a terminally ill young girl carries with it, “Babyteeth” feels like a breath of fresh air: for a start it’s unexpectedly funny, mischievous, delightful, full of light and life. It’s surprising to read that it’s been adapted from a stage play, because it feels anything but stagey and stuffy. But beyond the cancer plot itself (refreshingly not a single doctor or hospital is to be seen in the film), the film is actually a coming of age story and it’s just about the girl herself, Milla, Moses, the older boy from the wrong side of the track and a drug addicted. It is also about her family too (the extraordinary Ben Mendelsohn who’ll soon be owed an Oscar, plays the father). They agree to let her see Moses, because after all how can you deny a dying person to see the man she loves? This is the worst possible parenting I can imagine.” They say knowingly.

Needless to say, given the subject matter, the film is also devastatingly heart-breaking and yet some of the best scenes in the film have nothing to do with Milla’s illness, though it’s obviously always lingering in the background as all the characters are trying to grieve, though not very succesfully. Babyteeth is possibly one of the best debut film of the year.

Director Shannon Murphy treats the material with both sensitivity and a lightness of touch, with humour and realism. Her visual flair, choice of music and attention to detail gives her a unique voice and makes this a film full of love, more than illness.

The final coda had me crying like fountain but it encapsulates the whole film which manages to be both poetic and realistic, funny and poignant all at the same time.

The film is available on streaming to buy or rent right now.