ISSUE #84
BEAM FROM THE BOOTH | GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY
[EDITED BY: GRIFFIN SHERIDAN & SPENCER EVERHART]
Hello and welcome back to an all-new, very special installment of BEAM FROM THE BOOTH brought to you by GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!
We have a very special issue ahead, but before we get to that, a refresher on the three events we’re hosting this week!
First, TONIGHT (1/13) at 8:00pm, MICHAEL MANN-UARY continues with a screening of Mann’s 1981 feature debut, THIEF.
TOMORROW EVENING (1/14) at 6:00pm, ROUGH CUT NIGHT finally returns! Our free social event where local filmmakers have the opportunity to screen unfinished cuts of their shorts (or snippets of a feature) for feedback from an intimate live audience. Those interested should join us in the Koning MicroCinema — located inside Wealthy Theatre.
And finally, our next series MOVIES AT THE MUSEUM begins THIS THURSDAY (1/16) at 7:00pm with John Cassavetes’ OPENING NIGHT (1977). We are thrilled to be teamed up with the Grand Rapids Art Museum to bring you this exciting series, hosted at the GRAM’s own screening room, for FREE. Be sure to join us for the first of three screenings.
Now for this week’s installment! With 2024 falling further and further into the rearview, the GRFS Committee has had time to reflect on our individual years in cinema, and— just like the previous year — we felt compelled to share them all with you.
Enjoy!
DAVID BLAKESLEE:
I have no doubt whatsoever that 2024 was the best year of movie watching that I’ve experienced over the course of my life. While I’ve been around for quite a few of the so-called “greatest years in cinema” (e.g. 1999, 2007, 1975, 1994, 1989, 1982, etc.) that are frequently cited by various polls and list makers among us, and enjoyed many of the films that established those reputations when they were new releases, 2024 stands out uniquely in my appraisal. A big reason for this is my ongoing involvement with the GRFS, which allowed me the privilege of helping to program some personal favorites and the opportunity to discover an unforgettable range of new and classic titles suggested by others. I also continued to enjoy the pleasure of watching a lot of great movies at home through my library of discs and selected streaming services, as I’ve been accustomed to for quite a while now.
But my favorite cinematic highlight of 2024 had nothing to do with any of that! The peak experience I have in mind happened over in London this past summer, when I was able to watch Barry Lyndon in the Prince Charles Cinema, nestled right between Leicester Square and Chinatown. This was not a planned activity for our vacation, but very serendipitously fell into my lap, much like the uncanny luck experienced by the film’s titular character! My spouse Julie and I went to England in August to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary and had so much fun exploring London, Oxford, the Cotswolds, and Bath.
For most of those two weeks, I set aside my cinephile habits in order to focus my attention on the splendid cultural attractions that surrounded me at every turn. But as our time overseas wound down, we were both ready to slow the pace a bit and plop ourselves down in a movie theater to take in a show. After chancing upon the Prince Charles in our wanderings around the heart of London’s tourist district, I was delighted to review their scheduled offerings, a superb blend of recent releases and repertory classics. And when I saw that Stanley Kubrick’s 1974 masterpiece starring Ryan O’Neal was slated for a Wednesday 2:00pm screening, it felt like destiny had drawn me to the place. That was our last full day in London, with our flight home scheduled for the following afternoon. I immediately booked the movie tickets online the night before, and I’m glad I did because there were no walk-up seats available when we arrived a half-hour before showtime.
So much of my attention during the trip, and even in the weeks preceding it, was focused on encountering various aspects of English history and culture. Most of the places we visited had a lot to offer in giving me firsthand exposure to artifacts from events and personalities I’d been reading or hearing about all my life. Some of them were referenced in Barry Lyndon, such as King George III, who makes a brief appearance in the latter half of the film. In our visit the previous weekend to Kew Gardens, we toured the palace (small in comparison to most other royal residences) where the king was notoriously subjected to barbaric physical and psychological torments by his personal physicians under the guise of what we would nowadays call “mental health treatment.” Though events of the film occurred before His Highness infamously descended into madness toward the end of his life, seeing the place where King George once lived, and being personally saturated in so much “Britishness” at that moment, conveyed extraordinary vividness to the depiction of that era’s civilization up on the screen.
Beyond the feeling of coolness that accompanied seeing Barry Lyndon in such close proximity to where it had been situated and filmed, the theater itself was wonderful to experience. The place has a decent display of film posters and other memorabilia, fantastic programming, and dedicated attendees. I do understand of course that London is a huge city and just about any Stanley Kubrick film they might have booked would have likely drawn substantial interest. But the fact that they sold out a Wednesday afternoon matinee in mid-August to show a 3+ hour historical costume drama made quite an impression on me! I’ve followed the PCC on social media ever since, and now view the establishment as nobility, of a sort, a most admirable role model to emulate in our own efforts here in Grand Rapids to bring top quality cinema to our local community.
SPENCER EVERHART:
As I did for our ‘Best of 2023’ issue, I’ll share my “Discoveries” list first, a collection of the best new-to-me/first watches I experienced last year. (One of the most revelatory surprises there was When a Stranger Calls Back, a brilliant made-for-TV sequel so sharp and scary and assured, and one which feels like the exact thing so many cinephiles say they wish contemporary progressive genre cinema could be).
What follows below are most of the true highlights of 2024 releases for me paired with a few 2024 musical release highlights to accompany each selection; the list is largely unranked, but it was clearly a banner year for the master Kiyoshi Kurosawa with an amazing output of three terrific films. However, Bonello’s latest does loom largest in my mind — still — so it sits at the top, and regardless of whether or not The Beast can be said to be the best film of 2024...to me it is without a doubt the most 2024 film of last year.
The Beast (Bertrand Bonello)
Chime (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Serpent’s Path (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Between the Temples (Nate Silver)
Evil Does Not Exist (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg)
Rap World (Conner O'Malley & Danny Scharar)
Watch on Youtube here.
MATT EVERITT:
I don’t want to be another person putting Anora at the top of their ‘Best of 2024’ list for two reasons:
I still haven’t seen Nickel Boys or The Brutalist so can I honestly say it’s my #1?
Everyone knows about Anora. The people who read this newsletter either know they want to see it or have seen it already.
So I’d rather highlight three films that have come to define the year for me. These are the films that I’ve thought about more than anything else, each for different reasons. In no particular order:
Red Rooms (Plante)
Movies aren’t the quickest to adapt to the new ways we experience the world through technology, especially how that technology brings forth new expressions of old human traits. Films like We’re All Going to the World’s Fair and Rap World have found ways to put certain 21st century experiences on the screen with a unique stylistic expression that reinforces their stories. What I find so fascinating about Red Rooms is that it attempts to capture our unique obsession with true crime, vigilante justice, and DIY investigations — but rather than match the lo-fi nature of those things, it pulls its style from David Fincher. It never tries to put an updated spin on the old Fincher formula, and I think it’s because of that fact that this film is as disturbing as it is. In films like Seven or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the deeply fucked up protagonist(s) always meets someone way more fucked up and obviously evil. But there’s something about seeing the lengths Kelly-Anne (played by Juliette Gariépy) goes to in her pursuit that made me question if there’s any value in comparing the levels of wrongdoings. The credits rolled, and I haven’t seen the world quite the same since.
Oh, Canada (Schrader)
Oh, Paul.
I can understand why some people were left cold by the film — I get it! It’s Paul Schrader. He’s not for everyone. But for the faithful, this movie is the equivalent of your 80 year-old pastor showing up with an entirely new wardrobe, replacing the stodgy worship band overnight with Phospherescent, and somehow delivering the most engaging sermon since he was in his 40s. For anyone who loves Schrader’s films, his particular view of the world, and the way he uses cinema to interrogate himself like he did in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, this film is like opening your water bottle to find it overflowing with wine...and when asked about it, Jesus responds with “Did you see Babygirl? Why the hell can’t men make movies like Babygirl?”
I LOVED this movie. It’s one that I can’t wait to revisit for decades to come.
I Saw the TV Glow (Schoenbrun)
Behold: the lightning rod of the year. It’s been a while since there has been a film where friends whose opinions I deeply respect have disagreed THIS strongly about a film (even now, I wanted to write “friends whose opinions are WRONG”). What’s inarguable is that this is a bold film by a bold new voice in American film. It’s so damn exciting to have a true indie breakout star like Jane Schoenbrun double down on their vision rather than developing a mid-tier Apple TV show or capitulating to the MCU (seeing Sebastian Stan get some awards for his post-Marvel work made me realize just how strong the repetitional gravity of Marvel is if you’re not Robert Downy Jr.). They could have watered down their vision in a bid for broader appeal, could have chosen a different performance style for their actors to make it more ‘engaging,’ could have had a character explain the plot mechanics to the audience...but we got none of that. We got a film by a filmmaker that didn’t want to explain it to you and made with a budget of 9 million dollars! What a gift!
JACKSON EZINGA:
Like many of you, I have a seemingly endless watchlist. My Letterboxd watchlist is currently 221 movies, but I almost certainly have hundreds more that are in the watchlist I keep in my head or that people have recommended to me and I say “I'll have to check that out!” My watchlist has always been daunting, but I tried to empty it out a little last year and these are the top five movies that, if you haven't seen, you should add to your watchlist (if they aren't in there already), and you'll have to check out!
5. Sexy Beast (2000) dir. Jonathan Glazer
Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin (2013) rocked my world when I saw it for the first time I saw it and The Zone of Interest (2023) was about to released in theaters. I had added his features to my watchlist shortly after seeing Under The Skin and decided to watch Sexy Beast as a primer for Zone. Ben Kingsley gives an absolute powerhouse performance that left me with my jaw on the floor. A hot, sweaty, vulgar, and a little goofy crime thriller.
(Watched on Criterion Channel)
4. Holy Motors (2012) dir. Leos Carax
I have a lot of Palm d'Or nominees and winners on my watchlist, but this one seemed so up my alley that I'm surprised I didn't get to it sooner. Denis Lavant gives the performance of a lifetime playing nine different parts in this surreal, bizarre, visually striking, and somewhat experimental feature film satirizing the nature of performance. There are images from this movie that I don't think I'll ever forget.
(Watched on Kanopy)
3. Gentlemen Broncos (2009) dir. Jared Hess
The reason this stayed in my watchlist since its release was simply Napoleon Dynamite fatigue. While I do still love and appreciate Napoleon and I enjoyed Nacho Libre when it came out as well, I just felt spent on Jared Hess’ unique brand of humor. I finally decided to give Gentlemen Broncos a shot and found myself laughing throughout the entire runtime. Jennifer Coolidge, Jemaine Clement, and Mike White deliver some unforgettable supporting performances in this awkward, goofy, and poignant tale about artistic integrity.
(Watched on Amazon Prime Video)
2. Take Out (2004) dir. Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou
Another watchlist pull to prepare for the director's upcoming movie (I watched this shortly before seeing Anora). Baker has always impressed me with his casting and Take Out is no exception. His 2nd feature (this time co-directed by Shih-Ching Tsou) is a DIY marvel where every frame of this mini-DV feature feels like a documentary. It follows an illegal immigrant and Chinese take-out delivery guy, Ming Ding (played with raw authenticity by Charles Jang), who is busting his butt to make enough money to pay off his loan shark by the end of the night — with an ending that will make you cry both sad and happy tears!
(Watched on Criterion Channel)
1. Interstellar (2014) dir. Christopher Nolan
I know, I know. I missed this in theaters during its initial run and then tried (and failed) to watch it at home three times. When it returned to theaters for its ten-year anniversary, I had no excuse. And I GET IT NOW. If you haven't seen it, you might as well wait until its 15th or 20th anniversary and see it as big as you can! It was moving to see this with a sold-out IMAX crowd. My immersion was broken slightly during a particularly intense sequence when I leaned forward in my seat and then looked to my left and then to my right and noticed how everyone in my row was also leaning in towards the screen. It was kind of magical. It's a visually stunning film, and the effects haven't aged a day. One of my top theater-going experiences of 2024 without a doubt!
(Watched in IMAX at Celebration North, available on Netflix and Paramount...but see it it a theater if you can!!)
CALEB FRANCIS JENKINS:
Perfect Days (Wim Wenders)
For helping me slow down.
I Saw The TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun)
For opening someplace-something new in me.
Kinds of Kindness (Yorgos Lanthimos)
For making me feel uncomfortable and also...
Janet Planet (Annie Baker)
For re-sparking my imagination.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham)
For lightening my heart.
BREANA MALLOY:
I watched a lot of good films this year, many of them thanks to the GRFS committee. So instead of taking hours to try and decide which amazing film was the best, my pick will be based on the experience it provided for me.
With that, my best of the year entry for Beam is The Idea of You. Was it the best movie of the year story-wise? No. However, it was one of the best movie experiences of the year for me. I had fun. And isn’t that what movies are all about?
I went to this movie with two of my dear friends. We were invited to watch it in theaters the same day it was premiering on streaming. As someone who grew up on rom coms, I was so excited. The three of us had our snacks and, as the movie progressed, we were giggling, gasping, kicking our feet. It was so much fun. I mean, it’s Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine — how could we not enjoy it!?
So although it was not even in my top five movies this year, The Idea of You was my top experience, which is just as important sometimes. As much as we should watch movies for their storytelling, cinematography, etc. don’t forget you can watch one for fun, just for the experience.
LAUREN PATCHETT:
When I first became interested in film, it was almost as if I watched movies to rate them, or at least to have an opinion on them. In life and in film, I find myself becoming far less critical. The act of watching a movie, especially in a theater, brings me a lot of joy.
Sure, I might still use Letterboxd and its stars to log the viewing, but it’s more so as a tool for expressing my feelings on what was within it; though, sometimes, I don’t even do that (more and more frequently!).
Having the pleasure of helping to decide what is screened for the Grand Rapids Film Society means that I have been able to see many wonderful films on the big screen. Some I have known and loved and some for the first time, helping me to get very cool movies off of my watchlist. So when asked about my favorite movies/experiences in 2024, it was very hard to know how to respond. To answer this question more concisely, I gave myself some limitations. I picked something that: 1) was a first watch, and 2) was screened at Wealthy Theatre.
...and you know what? I kept on returning to Smiles of a Summer Night (1955).
When fellow committee member David Blakeslee recommended the GRFS screening series “Seasons of Bergman,” I was excited to dive in. I constantly feel that my journey with consuming media (of all forms) is more likened to a game of catch-up than anything else, and as such, many things feel like I am getting to them late. It was high time I saw what Bergman was made of. Of course, before I watched this film, I saw The Virgin Spring (1960) earlier in the series which left me stunned and melancholic. David mentioned that the film that followed was a romp — on its own and especially in comparison to what preceded it.
My Letterboxd diary entry from immediately following the screening: “a delightful mix of pretty, horny, and strange! I adored it!” And...yeah! It’s true! For some reason, the director I have come to love for themes of guilt, regret, and moral conundrums made a film about morally ambiguous, intertwined relationships with a lot of chaos — but made it so FUN.
I went into this film blind, and I have no regrets about doing so. I would recommend you do the same if you have yet to see it. But to give you some reasons to do so, I thought I would share some notable quotes in Roger Ebert’s analysis of it:
“It flirts at times with screwball, but chooses more decisively to use...verbal wit...”
“We are meant to understand that [each character’s] sensibilities are erotically alert...”
“What happens during the course of the long night involves smiles and a great deal more...”
“Pauline Kael called this a nearly perfect film. Having not seen it for most of a lifetime, I was startled by how quickly it beguiled me. There is an abundance of passion here, but none of it reckless; the characters consider the moral weight of their actions, and while not reluctant to misbehave, feel a need to explain, if only to themselves.”
...truly, just watch it and thank me later. Or, if you attended the screening too, find me and let’s reminisce about it.
GRIFFIN SHERIDAN:
***
Check back next issue for PART 2 — featuring a slew of excellent special guest contributors!
UPCOMING EVENTS
THIEF (Mann, 1981)
WHAT: MICHAEL MANN-UARY CONTINUES! A highly skilled jewel thief, Frank longs to leave his dangerous trade and settle down with his girlfriend, Jessie. Eager to make one last big score in order to begin living a legitimate life, Frank reluctantly associates with a powerful gangster.
WHEN: Monday, January 13th, 7:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
WHAT: A FREE social event where local filmmakers will have a chance to screen rough cuts of their current projects!
WHEN: Tuesday, January 14th, 6:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
OPENING NIGHT (1977)
WHAT: Our MOVIES AT THE MUSEUM SERIES kicks off! We’re partnering with the GRAND RAPIDS ART MUSEUM for this all new series to bring you some of our favorites at an exciting venue, FOR FREE.
In John Cassavetes’ Opening Night, Myrtle — a capricious, aging actress played by Gena Rowlands — who is thrust into a downward spiral when cast in a role that forces her to confront her age and perceived obsolescence.
WHEN: Thursday, January 16th, 7:00pm
WHERE: The Grand Rapids Art Museum
And so we’ve arrived at the end of another BEAM FROM THE BOOTH! We appreciate you taking the time to read it and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to get each issue in your inbox every week, and stay up-to-date on all things GRFS.
Plus, join us on social media! We’d love to chat with everyone and hear YOUR OWN thoughts on everything above (you can also hop in the comments section below).
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Look for ISSUE #85 in your inbox NEXT WEEK!
Until then, friends...
Ugh. So fun. A+