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Wonka (2023)
For what is essentially a prequel covering the origins of Roald Dahl’s famous candy man, the stakes are comically high in Wonka, tying Paul King’s eccentric wit, gentle slapstick, and charming sincerity into a tidy bow around a whimsical world where chocolate rules.
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The Boy and the Heron (2023)
If The Boy and the Heron truly is Hayao Miyazaki’s last film, then it is poetic that such a grand adventure into surreal fantasy and back again should be the one to conclude his decades of animated world building, contemplating the power of fiction to mould trauma into fiery strength and maturity.
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Weekend (1967)
Cars may have once been proud emblems of modern industry and progress a hundred years ago, and yet Jean-Luc Godard proves them to be nothing more than pathetically inept status symbols in the absurd odyssey of Weekend, whisking us through bizarre, dystopian landscapes that take down France’s materialistic bourgeoisie with deconstructive post-irony.
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Wings of Desire (1987)
The god’s-eye view of humanity that Wim Wenders grants us in Wings of Desire flies high above 1980s West Berlin with watchful angels, and swoops down low to tune into the intimate thoughts of its citizens, crafting a dreamy city symphony that finds childlike wonder in its everyday pleasures and private sufferings.
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Brief Encounter (1945)
Time is a precious resource at the train station where the secret lovers of Brief Encounter fall into a reverie, though David Lean exerts a fine control over its gentle flow in Laura’s nostalgic recollections, intertwining love and guilt within a complex affair that forces this heartbroken housewife into an even greater repression.
